The sun rose over the beach and cast a ray of beautiful colors all along the water. Whitney stood in the doorway of the balcony in a simple, thin strap, white dress, that cut off halfway down her thigh. Chad walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he kneeled down and kissed her shoulder.
"Isn't this amazing?" Whitney said, leaning back into Chad's chest.
"Absolutely. And I hope you enjoy this scenery your getting right now because you're not going to be seeing anything else like this the rest of the time we're here."
"Why? Is there a storm coming in or something?" Whitney asked turning around.
"No, it's just, this room," Chad took Whitney's hands and guided her back into their hotel suite, "is all you and I will be seeing for the rest of our trip."
"Oh really?" Whitney said.
"Really." Chad pulled Whitney into his arms again and met her lips halfway. A knock at the door broke the kiss.
"They'll go away." Chad said and moved to kiss Whitney again. only for another knock to interrupt.
"They're not going away." Whitney said.
Suddenly a voice came from the other side of the door. "Chad, come one rise and shine, kid."
"Hank?" Chad said confused.
The knocking proceeded once again, when Chad flew up out of bed. Realizing where he really was, he sighed and rubbed his hand over his face.
"Chad, would you wake up. I know you're in there." Hank said.
"I'll be right there, Hank! Give me a minute." Chad said reaching for his shirt. "I swear, I have been hanging around Theresa way too much." Chad said to himself, remembering his dream, "Soon, I'll be running around spouting 'Fate! Fate! Fate!' Then I will be a goner."
Chad opened the door and Hank walked in without a word.
"Oh won't you please come in and a good morning to you too." Chad said sarcastically to the spot where Hank once stood outside the door, before closing it.
"I always thought you were a morning person." Hank said.
"Well, not this morning."
"What's wrong with you? I talked to the new landlord downstairs and he said you've been here since the wee hours of the morning."
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I just decided to come on over here."
"Well, you sure weren't having trouble sleeping now." Hank pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess it's the atmosphere. Just being away from..."
"The Russell's? Something's going on that I don't know about. Do you want to tell me?"
Chad sighed, "I guess I need someone to talk to."
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Simone walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen to find her mother and father sitting at the table.
"Well, it's about time you got up." TC said in an angry tone, "Exactly how late were you past curfew last night?"
"Not much." Simone said grabbing the orange juice out of the refrigerator.
"It had to be late enough to make you stay in bed all morning."
"Why are you in such a bad mood?" Simone asked pouring herself a glass. "Didn't Whitney have a tennis practice or game or something. That usually puts you in a good mood, watching your star out there."
"I'm in a bad mood because you are constantly slacking off and yes, Whitney had practice today, probably the worst practice of her career."
It took all of Simone's strength to keep from smiling to Whitney's defeat, "Whitney's slacking in tennis? Why, that's so odd."
"Yes," Eve spoke up, "and something has obviously been bothering her lately. Do you know what it could be, Simone?"
Remembering what she had overheard the night before, Simone shook her head took a drink of her juice.
"Well, something's off with her. Maybe Chad knows."
"How could he?" Simone asked.
"Well, he and Whitney are good friends," Eve answered. "Is something bothering you too?"
"No, I'm great. I've got to meet Kay, so I'll see you all later."
"Bye." Eve and TC said as Simone left through the back door.
She looked back to make sure her parents weren't' looking as she went up to Chad's apartment. She knocked on the door and when there was no response she opened the door and saw the boxes as she walked inside.
"What? Oh no, no, no, he couldn't have left Harmony. He wouldn't have."
Hearing someone come up the stairs, Simone turned around to come face to face with one woman she thought responsible.
"You lying bitch! You did this!" Simone yelled.
"What? What are you talking about?" Whitney asked holding a small box.
She knew she shouldn't had come over to Chad's apartment, but she had things she needed to return to Chad and memories that she didn't' have the heart to throw away.
"You made Chad leave Harmony, didn't you?"
"No, I didn't even know he was gone."
Whitney couldn't believe the news. Chad was gone. He had left Harmony because of her.
"Well, he is. Look around. And it's all your fault. Just because of everything you told him!" Simone yelled.
"Told him? How do you know what I told Chad, Simone?" Whitney asked confused. The only other people who knew about what had happened last night were Theresa and Chad. Theresa was in Bermuda with Ethan. And Chad definitely wouldn't had told Simone.
Simone had to think fast. She couldn't believe she had let her ease-dropping slip.
"Everything you told him throughout the months he's been living here. You've always been nothing but mean to him. I'm surprised he stayed here this long. He'd probably rather sleep in a doorway that on the other side of a wall of you." Simone said cruelly.
Whitney thought back on all of the harsh things she had said to Chad. Believing he had gotten an underaged girl pregnant and left her had to be at the top of the list. He had almost left Harmony then. She had ignored all she had known about him and only concentrated on what she didn't know, which was and still is a lot.
"Face it, Whitney. You're not as perfect as everyone thinks. In fact you are in no way close to perfect, but hey, you do a great job pretending! Just like when you were pretending to be a loyal sister!" Simone yelled and walked out the door.
"First she calls me a liar and now a betrayer?" Whitney said, thinking out loud, "Could she know how I feel about Chad or most importantly how he feels about me? No, there is no possible way she could know, or ever find out."
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

"So let me get this strait. You were secretly dating Whitney?" Hank asked on sitting on the couch with Chad next to him.
"Well, I wouldn't say I was really dating her. Our relationship only lasted about 36, 37 hours." Chad answered.
"Wow, that's some record."
"Listen this may not have been the easiest relationship I've ever been in, but it was the best."
"So you and her just ended things?"
"Whitney's determined to keep Simone happy and in the dark. And I guess I just got tired of working and getting hurt all the time for something that would never happen."
"If you really love her, you wouldn't give up so easily."
"It hasn't been easy and I do love her. I love her more than my own life. She's just the one who doesn't really love me. She's the one who came up with this idea to keep Simone happy and make ourselves miserable."
Hank sat there for a minute, digesting everything he'd just heard.
"You can't possibly go one like this, Chad."
"You're right, I can't. That's why I have to tell Simone the truth. The whole truth."
"I thought you were keeping the truth from her to keep Whitney happy, or at least as happy as she can be. Or maybe until she wised up. How are you going to get her back if she's mad at you?"
"Screw getting Whitney back! If she doesn't love me enough to make a few sacrifices, then I'm not going to waist my time making her happy. For the first time in months, I'm going to do the right thing. I'm going to tell Simone the entire truth today."