Yay, I Love Surprises! (Not) – Chapter One

“There it is!”

"There what is?” Mike asked.

"The Bahamas, you idiot," Shay pointed to the visible islands right below us.

I rolled my eyes. The beauty of brothers.

“Wow Mike. Been studying those geography books lately? Or maybe even your own plane ticket?” I asked him, eyebrow raised. Not expecting a fighting response, I placed my favorite pair of sunglasses on, covering my emerald green eyes, as I lay back in the seat.

"Whatever, Chris.”

“Nice comeback,” Shay commented.

“Bite me,” he replied.

“Mike, shut up.” I smacked his arm, attempting to stop the bickering, although I immediately closed my eyes again afterward.

"What? I get a smack and get yelled at, but Shay gets nothing?" he objected.

"Christina loves me, Mike. We’re best friends. She has to love me, or else." she threatened jokingly. "Plus, we hate boys, and for good reason," Shay stated matter-of-factly, sticking her tongue out at him.

“And you’re my brother. Why would I be nicer to you than to my best friend?” I asked, eyes still peacefully closed. Not that they could see that.

He leaned back in the seat, grumbling to himself, having nowhere else to go in the airplane. I heard him mumble something about injustices, and just rolled my eyes at him, choosing to ignore him being a boy.

I shook my head and laughed. "You're lucky I do love you, girl."

“Lucky? Ha,” she scoffed as she put her dark brown hair into a ponytail.

I glared at her, taking the sunglasses off for effect, and she knew exactly what I wanted from her.

“Okay okay… Maybe I am lucky,” she grumbled begrudgingly. I grinned happily.

See, Shay’s kind of a tough girl who doesn’t really like to show a sensitive side, even jokingly. It makes life difficult sometimes, so I decided she should become my project. I mean, the girl even looks tough, with her dyed-black hair and choppy haircut framing ice blue eyes. Her look just screamed, “Get out of my face.”

Okay, let me explain. I have this thing about fixing people. I love doing it, and every now and then I decide to take somebody on and help them change their personality for the better. Of course, they all do this willingly (although they might’ve had some… let’s call it… influence). I’ve been working on Shay to show her sensitive side, something she never does, with anyone. It’s been going quite well, although she has been rather stubborn, which is to be expected from Shay. Actually, the only reason why Shay gave in this time is because, for the entire plane ride, I’ve been bugging her nonstop until she gave in to me. She learned quickly.

I also… er… Well, I have this problem with finishing things. Like some of my projects are halfway to success, and then I get bored. And they just go back to how they used to be.

I try, okay? Just because I get easily bored, doesn’t mean… wait, why am I explain explaining myself to you?

A voice came on over the intercom, telling us to buckle our seatbelts… blah blah blah… landing soon…blah blah… have a nice day… blah blah… fly again with so-and-so airlines… blah blah blah. You know the drill. Well, unless you’ve never been on an airplane before. Then, I guess you’ll just have to imagine.

“Looks like Scotlyn fell asleep,” Shay said, glancing behind us.

I groaned, and heard Mike yell out, “Not it!”

I caught on and called, “Not it,” eyeing Shay as I did so.

She glared at the both of us, and I just shrugged.

“But I don’t want to wake her up,” she complained to me, probably hoping I would do it for her.

Ha, fat chance.

“I can’t believe this. It’s an hour flight and she manages to get to sleep.” She groaned, procrastinating.

None of us liked having to wake up Scotlyn, and I was just glad that I didn’t have to do it. She is a bitch to wake up. Not even kidding. Even Shay isn’t as bad as Scotlyn, and they’re twins, although they don’t really look alike. Or even act alike, actually.

“You do it best,” I pointed out. Her naturally tough exterior really did help when dealing with waking her sister up.

“Yeah, Shay,” Mike commented.

We rolled our eyes at each other as she went to go wake up her sister.

A piercing scream resonated throughout the building. I cringed, knowing exactly who the screamer was without even looking. Even in a crowded airport, she could be heard over everyone. About two seconds later, I got tackled and almost lost my balance. Luckily, my clumsiness decided not to appear that day or else it would’ve been a mess.

“CHRISTINA!” The voice shrilled in my ear. Looks like she should’ve been my project for level of volume when next to somebody’s ear, I thought wryly.

When I eventually managed to gain control of my balance, I peered at my attacker through dark sunglasses, a smile escaping what was supposed to be a reproachful glare as she practically screamed, “You’re here!”

“Finally, right!” I properly hugged Raquel, aka Ray, dropping the reproving expression. “I can’t even believe that I’m in the Bahamas!” I almost squealed, but stopped myself, as I can be insanely annoying when I do that.

“I know, and it looks like you packed well, mi amor,” she told me in her signature Spanish accent.

“Like always, darling,” I replied, equally extravagant, as I showed her my carry-on and a fairly large amount of luggage. “You look awesome. The Bahamas must agree with you.”

And she did look awesome. She wore her long black hair down, and it accentuated the dark tan that she had received from already being on the islands for two weeks. Not counting the fact that she is half Cuban.

I sighed. “Beautiful as always, m’dear.”

“Ladies, ladies. How are my girls doing today?” Shay imitated my brother as she found us in the busy airport. I started laughing while Ray proceeded to attack her much like I had been attacked not two minutes before.

“SHAY!” she screamed.

Scotlyn appeared behind Shay, looking almost afraid to face the Latina girl. She could already tell she didn’t want to be mauled by Ray, and being half awake didn’t help anything.

“Calm down, girl. You’re scaring Scotlyn,” Shay laughed, noticing how Scotlyn was feeling.

Raquel just laughed loudly. "Sorry, Scotty. You know how I get when I'm excited." She finished freaking out on Shay and hugged the just woken up twin, without all of the fanfare she had given us. “I’ve just been waiting for you guys for SO LONG.” She told us all dramatically.

I caught Shay’s eye, and we had to stop ourselves from bursting out laughing. Good ol’ Ray, I thought, always the dramatic.

Scotlyn looked around sleepily. “Aren’t we missing someone?”

Shay looked around quickly, and we both realized it at the same time. Mike.

I groaned aloud. “Looks like we’ll have to send out a search party.” I hate my brother sometimes. He makes life so difficult. I mean, just because we’re in another country, doesn’t mean the girls are going to be nicer. He just doesn’t get it, that after being turned down at least a hundred times that the girls he go for just aren’t interested. I mean, he’s only like 15. What nineteen year-old would date him?

“Why’d we bring him again?” I asked Ray, who was trying to use her connections to find my annoying brother faster.

“Because he’s your brother. And your parents asked my dad to let him come,” she told me, flipping her long, black hair over her shoulder, her cell phone practically glued to her ear.

“What. Are you kidding me? We have to put up with that annoying little… I don’t even know for two months because my parents asked you to invite him? And deal with this kind of crap?” I complained. This was not what I needed on my first day in the Bahamas. This was supposed to be relaxation, not even more worrying. I mean, we were finally out of school, graduating. All I want to do is relax, not look for my idiot brother in a busy airport.

Okay, Chris, just breathe, I told myself, closing my eyes and trying to relax. My brother was honestly the one thing that could get under my skin. Add an hour delay before an hour flight, and preparing for this trip the day after school gets out. All of that equals stress to the max.

“Look, there he is!” Scotlyn pointed in a direction behind me.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the overreacting had been all for nothing.

“And he has somebody with him,” Shay said, looking confused.

“Oh, and he’s caliente,” Ray added.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah right. Like my brother knows someone who’s hot,”

“Thanks, Chris, that really hurt. I’ve missed you too,” a deep voice called out. I froze in place. I could recognize that voice anywhere. I slowly turned around to face my brother and his companion.

“Surprise,” they both told me.

I just about fainted.

“I just can’t believe he’s here,” I shook my head, still a little dazed as I took a sip of my coke. It’s like my anxiety drug, I swear.

“Well, none of us did, besides Mike.” Shay whispered back to me.

We were having a best friend conversation without anyone listening. Or we were trying to, at least. Mike kept interrupting us by attempting to get Shay involved in the conversation.

He used to have this huge crush on her, but now he just likes to mess with her by some lighthearted flirting. All the time. It gets really annoying after awhile.

The entire group, including Mike and his mysterious visitor, had decided to head to a local diner that Ray had suggested after we had left the airport. Now, everyone around us was getting to know one another.

“I’m in shock, though. It’s like I’m in a dream. Maybe if you pinch me...” I advised her. As she moved to actually pinch me, I caught the action out of the corner of my eye.

“Just joking!” I smacked her hand away just before she was able to complete the movement.

The waitress decided that was the moment she wanted to take our orders, so our conversation was paused while everyone ordered their food. Still, even when she left, I remained silent. Just looking across the table, I had to think back to what had happened at the airport just to be sure it wasn’t a dream.

What happened when we were at the airport, right after mysterious visitor appeared:

After I recovered from almost fainting, it registered who the visitor had been. My mind finally reacted, as I had instantly shouted, “WILL!” and ran toward him. He was ready, somehow catching me in his arms. I hugged him tightly, feeling his strong arms around me. When Will released me, I got kind of glassy-eyed I guess, because suddenly everyone was asking me if I was okay.

Even Scotlyn had woken up enough, to the point where even she was concerned.

“I’m fine,” I told them all. “I’ve just been completely blind-sided. You guys, this is Will. And Will, well this is everyone.” I pointed to each individually as I ticked off their names. “Shay, Scotlyn, and last but not least, Ray.”

He smiled, showing white teeth, and nodded with each name that I spoke. “It’s nice to meet all of you,” he said when I had finished my introductions.

Was it me or did his eyes linger on Raquel longer than the two sisters?

Well, she had been practically staring at him.

That must be it.

“Nice to finally meet the infamous Will Thomas,” Shay said, pointedly looking at me, and silently asking questions that I didn’t even know the answer to.

“Oh my God, is this the Will?” Ray asked, clearly intrigued, making the connections in her head.

Shay had already realized what was happening, and kept her eyes on me, waiting to see what my reaction would be. My reaction was kind of slow going to actually realized that Will was here. I mean, sure, I recognized him, but the fact that he was here in the Bahamas, when I hadn’t seen him in over a year… it’s mind-blowing.

“Well, I guess I am.” Will looked at me and my clearly stricken expression, as he answered. Everybody seemed to be waiting for my agreement on the matter.

The entire time, I had been watching him, watching his actions as he was scrutinized by some of my closest friends.

“Well yeah. This is him. Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask you what the hell are you doing in the Bahamas of all places? You live in Cincinnati, for crying out loud. I pretty much think that there’s quite a difference between Ohio and the Caribbean.” I was rambling, I knew, but I almost couldn’t stop. That is, until I saw him grin. That shut me up pretty quickly. It had just been so long since I had last seen him.

“Your little brother had a little trick up his sleeve,” Will smiled.

I froze. Hadn’t I just called my brother an idiot not five minutes ago? Oops. Exnay on the idiot part.

I turned to face my brother and saw him with an impish grin on his face. That little… I resisted the urge to smack him, which followed with the urge to hug him. Than God for my brother, I thought.

Sometimes.

Reality was slowly striking me (I guess it was a slow day), but I seemed to notice that some of our group was missing. Ray and Scotlyn had apparently decided that my amazement over Will had gotten boring sometime during this exchange and had left for some coffee. That left Shay and Mike with Will and I.

Hmmm… I glanced at Shay, knowing that our best friend code was up to par for what I wanted her to do. I wanted to talk to Will alone, without all of their prying eyes and whatnot.

I just blinked, like literally blinked, and suddenly, “Hey Mike, let’s go get Franklin. We need to do something with this luggage.” Mike eagerly followed, going to find one of Ray’s well-known bulters and leaving Will and I to be alone.

Well, not counting the thousands of people pushing past us.

Not even kidding, though. It was that easy.

I hugged Will again, without a word. He understood, though. He always did.

“So, I’m guessing you’re surprised,” Will murmured.

I nodded, my face against his chest. “I just totally didn’t expect this. I was just coming here for a vacation, and I get to see you again.”

I pulled away from the comforting hug and my nerves seemed to magically disappear in those moments.

“Yeah, well, I wanted to surprise you. You look good, though, same as always,” he told me reassuringly, winking, as he casually put his hands in the pockets of his faded, beach-goer jeans.

I blushed, though I managed to repress most of it. Looking down, I saw that I was wearing my most comfortable jean shorts that lengthened my 5’3 frame, and just a regular tank top. (Hey, it was hot in Florida and I knew it was going to be just as hot in the Bahamas. Leave me alone. I’m not a slut). My dirty blonde hair was still up in a ponytail from the flight and my make-up was fading, I’m sure.

“Nothing spectacular, although I appreciate the compliment,” I smiled at him. “You, however, have changed, boy.”

And he had. Amazingly. When, a year ago, he had been my height, pale, and skinny, he was now almost a foot taller than me, tan, and… buff. What the hell. His brown hair was shaggy, but framed his face well.

To put it lightly, he was hot.

My Will had gotten hot.

Since when?

“You’re… well, you’re hot,” I told him plainly, not one to dance around what I mean. “When the hell did this happen?”

“A lot happens in a year, Chris.” He looked at me, his calm grey eyes expressing just how much he has changed.

“Obviously.” I had to look almost straight up to look him in the eye, but I managed, used to my short height. “But it’s not always a bad thing,” I grinned.

“No, not always a bad thing,” he said, eyeing me, returning the grin.

I laughed. “I’ve missed you.”

Back at the diner:

By the time that I had remembered everything that had happened, the food had arrived. Will didn't seem too out of place with the friends that I had talked about to him and my friends were seeing if my stories about him added up. It was actually pretty funny, thinking about the good old days when Will and I were inseparable.

It was Will remarking, ""Got enough food there?" that got my attention and snapped me out of my recollecton of my younger teenage years.

I looked down at the plate in front of me, not even recalling that I had ordered the hamburger that was now in front of me. Not that I minded. It looked delicious, with a gigantic burger and what appeared to be hundreds of fries. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but it almost looked that big.

So much for eating Caribbean food while I'm here.

"Nope," I shook my head, "I think I need more, actually." My tone was playful as I took a bite of a fry.

I heard Shay mutter, "Fatty," as Will laughed.

Despite her accusations, I was not fat. Sure, I ate a lot, but my metabolism must be pretty fast because I'm always told that I'm so skinny, blah blah blah. Trust me, I've tried to gain weight before. It just won't happen. Good thing, too, or I would be as big as a house, with as much as I eat.

"Yeah thanks. You're no longer my best friend." I glared at her as I picked up the huge burger and took a bite. I looked at Will. "Hey, wanna be my new best friend?"

He smiled, eating his own lunch. "Sure, why not."

"Well that was enthusiastic. You chose my replacement well," Shay mocked me.

I just stuck my tongue out at her.

"Hey, I'll be your new best friend, Shay," Mike offered.

"Yeah, no thanks," I heard Shay whisper. Out loud, she said, "Sure!"

I stifled laughter, almost choking on my burger.

"What about me?" Ray cut in, not one to be left out of the loop.

"Hmm. Well, since everyone here has a best friend, you'll just have to be your own best friend," I taunted her, reovering from my near-death experience.

Ray stuck out her bottom lip, which began to tremble as if she was about to cry.

Will gave in. "Okay, okay, you can be our best friend." He put an arm around her, causing her expression to immediately lighten up into a smile.

It was Ray's turn to stick her tongue out at me. "Ha."

I laughed. I loved these guys.

"Okay, so when are we going to finally see the magnificent, the beautiful, and the amazing Cortes summer house?" I asked with a dramatic flourish. Dude, if this was a movie, that suspenseful dun dun dunnn music would totally be playing.

This got everyone laughing.

Ray glanced around to see that everyone, including moi, had cleaned their plate. "Let's go!"

Leaving money for the bill, she began to stand. The entire group began to follow suit. As we filed out to leave, I was last and Will was holding the door. As I passed through the door, I stopped to thank him. "Thank you kind sir." I had a grand air about me, and he couldn't help but laugh at our old inside joke.

"I cant believe you remembered that," he said, his grey and my green eyes locking.

"Like I said, I've missed you," I told him simply, walking out the door.

A/N – This is actually loosely based off of actual events that happened to me…it’s kind of a mess, really. But it ended up... I wouldn't say it ended well, but it didn't end as horribly as it could have been. Still, I’m having a lot of fun with this. Hopefully you guys like it. Leave me reviews – they tend to motivate me. Let me know how you like it and whatnot. I know it might be a little confusing right now, but I hope for that to clear up soon for you. It’s all part of my evil plan. Cue evil laughter.

Lots of love, MBE