Convincing Chloe

Having decided on their plan, one girl more than the other, Lisa departed from Ashley's company to take a shower in one of the bathrooms. Having nothing left to do in her room, Ashley returned to the living area to find Chloe alone and wiping her eyes.

"Oh, uh..." Ashley paused, looking around. "Hi."

"If you're looking for Zack, he went to lie down before dinner." Chloe told her, looking away from the blonde who had stolen her boyfriend.

"Ah, great...thank you," Ashley replied awkwardly. But she couldn't help but notice how red and puffy Chloe's face was. "Did...did he, um, say something to upset you?"

"Everything either one of you says upsets me at the moment," Chloe was quick to shoot back, but then, a little bit more calmly and considerate, she said, "No, he was actually trying to make me feel better."

"Oh, that's...that's great too," Ashley shuffled on the spot, trying to choose her words carefully. "And...well, do you?"

"I'm not ready to forgive, like either one of you, and probably never will be," Chloe said firmly, still refusing to look at her. "...but, I'm no longer thinking about smothering you in your sleep with a pillow, so that's something."

"Um, yeah...that's something," Ashley agreed, hoping that it was a joke.

"Hey Ash," came a voice from behind. Ashley turned to see Heather approaching her, a towel in hand, wiping her face clean and dry. "Lisa said you wanted to run something by me."

"Yeah, I was thinking of organising a hike for tomorrow," Ashley explained. "I thought you'd know of some neat places around here we could hike to."

"Oh yeah, there's a couple of places," Heather replied with a enthusiastic bounce in her voice. "There's a waterfall which is really pretty, or further along there's some caves that are worth exploring."

"Sounds interesting," Ashley admitted, and it honestly did. As much as she needed to get out of the cabin for her plan to work, the waterfall sounded like a cool place to see. Maybe she'd have to go back some day after this was all over, with just her and Zack. "Would you be up for coming along and acting as like a guide?"

"Sure. That might be necessary anyway since the trail can be sort of confusing and it's easy to get lost if you don't know the way." Heather cocked her head and put a finger to her chin. "Kurt might remember the way. I think he's been a couple of times. But, I'd love to go anyway. I haven't been up to the caves in ages."

"Excellent," Ashley clapped her hands together. "Maybe we could gather everyone after dinner and see who wants to go?"

"No problem," Heather said.

"Count me out," Chloe announced behind them.

Ashley spun around towards the redhead, frowning. She had expected this resistance from Chloe, but it was bothersome all the same.

"Oh come on," Ashley begged. "You can't sit in the cabin for the rest of the trip."

Chloe shrugged. "I just don't feel like trekking up to some cave and watching you and Zack be all lovey the whole way."

"Honestly, Zack might not be able to go. You just told me that he went to lie down before dinner," Ashley said. "Do you think he'll be fit to go hiking?"

Chloe glanced at Ashley for the first time since she'd entered the room and arched an eyebrow.

"You're telling me you want to go hiking up to some beautiful waterfall without your new boyfriend?"

"No, obviously I'd prefer if he were there," Ashley bit her lip, thinking of a way to leave Zack behind without rousing suspicions. "But, we don't have to do everything together. And I've been very involved with my own stuff lately. I was just trying to think of a fun activity we could all do."

Chloe pursed her lips, mulling over Ashley's reasoning. Before she could speak though, Heather joined in encouraging her to go.

"Yeah, come on, Chloe. You don't want to sit here and be sad. Come have fun with us," Heather suggested. "Ignore those two."

"I could do with letting loose a little...in a non-sexual way," Chloe admitted, and then with a shrug said, "Alright, I'll come along."

"Wonderful," Ashley said, relieved to have overcome one hurdle at least. "I'll go tell Vicky and help with dinner."