The next morning, the three of us girls woke up late. As I pulled myself up and out of bed, I looked at the clock to see that it was almost 11 in the morning. I sat up and immediately feel back onto the bed. “Dangit!” I yelled, holding my head.
Chris walked through my door just then and sat next to me. “Congratulations Kelly! Your first official hangover!” He tossed me a bottle of Tylenol. They landed on my stomach and rolled off onto the bed. I sat back up and looked at Chris.
“Die.”
“What?”
“I hate you for doing this to me.”
Chris smiled and walked out. I heard him yell, “Don’t go in there! I think she has PMS or something!” The next through my door was Lance.
“How you feeling?” He asked softly in his southern accent as he brushed the hair out of my face.
“I hate Chris.”
Lance smiled. “Take some Tylenol. You’ll feel better.” He handed me a bottle of water he was holding and I downed three extra strength Tylenol. I set my head on his shoulder as I waited for it to kick in.
“I can’t believe he did this to me,” I mumbled.
We sat in silence, listening to the others talk when twenty minutes later, my head no longer hurt. I still had to force myself to get up and walk to the bathroom so I could take a shower, but I was feeling a bit better than when I started out. After a shower, I felt a little more human. I got dressed and went back into the room, drying my hair with a towel. I fell down onto one of the beds, then groaned in pain.
“Owwww...” I moaned. “My back popped about six times!”
I got a chorus of laughter from that. I sat up and glared at the group surrounding me. I felt my arm being touched and I glanced down to see Justin’s hand resting on my wrist. Without warning, I got unbelievably hot. I knew that if I didn’t get out of there, I’d get violently sick. So, I jumped up from the bed and ran out the door. I sat on a bench by the pool and leaned my head back. I heard footsteps behind me but I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes.
“Kelly?” It was Joey.
I slowly opened my eyes to find him looking at me with concern written on his face. He sat next to me. “Lance went to collect items for... a... dang... a... what did he call it?... a... I got it!... a ‘feel gooder’ kit.”
I smiled. “That’s what my brother Tyler says.” Joey nodded in understanding. I leaned my head against the bench for a second time. Within minutes, I sat up straight, practically jumped across Joey, and stuck my head in the trash can that was there. Let’s just say that I lost everything I had eaten in the last twenty four hours. Joey in reply just reached over and took my hair from my left hand, which was holding it back.
When I no longer felt bad, I pulled my head from the trash can and wearily rubbed my eyes and wiped the sweat from my forehead. Joey looked at me in sympathy and pulled me to him for a hug. I just sat in Joey’s arms until Lance arrived with my ‘feel gooder’ kit.
He sat on the other side of me and opened a shoebox. Inside, there was a bottle of water, a huge bottle of Tylenol, a pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, a coloring book, a brand new box of crayons, new toothbrush, two hot wheels, and a Barbie. I chuckled as he held up each item for me to see.
“Feeling better?” Lance asked.
“Much.”
“See- it’s working already,” Lance said with a small smile.
“No, I think it was her losing everything that helped,” Joey replied.
Lance smiled sympathetically. “You poor thing. Just can’t hold your liquor, can you?”
“Aren’t you funny?” I asked. Lance shrugged.
“Can you make it back to the room?” Lance asked.
“Yeah. I feel much better.”
The three of us stood and I walked between them back to the room. Once there, we made our plans for the day. First up was a trip to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.
Once we arrived at the ‘sinking’ building on International Drive, we went to the door to pay to get in. Chris, being the first in line, requested his ticket while pulling a wad of bills from his pocket.
“It’s $5.00, Chris,” The girl behind the window said.
He looked up in surprise. “How did you know...” He looked into her eyes. “Jenny?” She nodded. “Oh my God, you guys, it’s Jenny!”
“Who’s Jenny?” I asked Lance.
“She helped out a choreographer we were working with once. Her and Chris got to be close, but they lost touch after we finished with them.” I nodded as the others went up to talk to this long lost friend.
“Oh, Jenny... this is Kelly, Alex, and Briley,” He pointed to each of us in turn.
“Hi!” She brightly replied. She finished collecting money from the rest of us and let us through the turnstiles.
“What time do you get off?” Chris asked her.
“I have to close, so pretty late. Why?”
“Oh. I was gonna see if you wanted to get together, but we leave for New York this evening.” She nodded in understanding. “But, when I get back...” Chris let his voice trail off.
“I’d like that,” She said. She wrote a phone number down on the back of his ticket. “Call me.” Chris nodded and walked to catch up with the rest of us.
The first thing that Lance and I approached was a mirror set up with posters around it. It was something about being able to roll your tongue or being able to touch your tongue to your nose. “Gonna try it?” Lance asked.
I hurriedly shook my head. “No! I’ve been here before... I know what happens when you get to the other side of the mirror!” He smiled. “But... Alex hasn’t ever been here...”
“Hey Alex, come here!” Lance called to her. Alex walked up.
“Yup?”
“Hey, will you try?” Lance pointed to the poster.
Alex narrowed her eyes in concentration and attempted to touch her tongue to her nose, but she wasn’t very successful. She shrugged.
“Oh well.”
Lance and I turned, continuing to walk through the museum, stopping to read the displays ever so often. Lance slipped his hand into mine as we walked onto this small bridge that overlooked one of the displays. I leaned over a little farther so that I could read it when the bridge suddenly gave away with a loud noise. I screamed and jumped back, my hand still holding securely onto Lance’s.
“I thought you’d been here before.”
I began to laugh. “I have... I just forgot about that!” We continued walking and before long, ended up behind the mirror that we had stopped at earlier. We spent twenty minutes standing there, laughing hysterically at the people trying the feats until we were joined by the rest of the group. Even after they arrived, we still spent another fifteen minutes there, watching, and laughing. That was when JC informed us that we needed to leave, because they all needed to get ready for the evening departure.
JC dropped Lance and I off at Lance’s house, where the two of us spent the next several hours. It started out as him packing and I talking to him, but the mess in his room began to get to me, so as he packed, I cleaned. And cleaned... and cleaned.
Just as I finished, his mom came up the stairs and stopped in the doorway. “Hey Lance, I... Wow.” Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “What happened here?”
“She did it.” He pointed an accusing finger in my direction.
“This is...” She paused, again in surprise. “Wonderful.” She looked around the room. “When can you move in?”
“I... uh...”
“I can now rest easy that if you two ever get married...” She emphasized married in Lance’s direction. “You will have a very clean home.” I smiled and Lance’s face turned a bright shade of pink. “Anyway, Lance, Barb called-”
“Who’s Barb?” Lance asked, interrupting.
“One of my friends.”
“You have friends?” He asked, joking.
“Very funny mister. Anyway, her car won’t start, and she has a doctor’s appointment, so I’m going to give her a ride. The reason I’m telling you is because I was in the middle of baking some brownies, and I need you two to finish them for me. Will you do that?”
“Yeah, sure,” I answered for him.
“Great.” Lance and I followed her down the stairs to the kitchen as she went out the front door. I finished pouring the batter into a pan before picking up the bowl and hopping up onto the counter to eat the little that was left. I ate several spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture, even feeding some to Lance a couple of times. As I placed the bowl in the sink, I noticed my hand was sticky. I looked down and saw my palm covered in chocolate. I smiled as an idea came to my mind.
“Hey Lance,” I said in a “loud whisper,” motioning for him to come over. When he was standing in front of me, I leaned down so I was able to kiss him and then... I covered the side of his face in chocolate. Right when he wasn’t expecting it.
“Sneaky. Very sneaky. Gotta give you credit for that.” He reached over and stuck his hand into the pan. “Unfortunately for you... you know it’s coming.”
“No!” I squealed, covering my face with my hands.
“Kelly, it’s only fair that I get you back...” Lance said slowly and persuasively.
I shook my head, my hands still covering my face. Lance then decided to get the chocolate off of his hand... by using my black shirt. “Hey!” I exclaimed.
“Got ya back,” He said gleefully, his other hand covered in chocolate, just waiting for me to move my hands. It just so happened that my face was spotted with chocolate then. In fact, I had a handprint on my cheek. I jumped down from the counter, grabbing another half filled bowl, a chocolate fight ensuing.
Ten minutes later, the two of us were completely covered in chocolate, as well as there being splatters and hand prints all over the kitchen. I was in the process of trying to get some of the chocolate in his hair when he grabbed my wrists, spinning me around so my back was to him... basically so I couldn’t get it in his hair.
I turned my face in his direction and as we stared into each others eyes, we were finally able to quit laughing. After a moment of silence, our lips came together in a sweet kiss that the two of us knew would be our last for awhile. Last in the sense of in private and uninterrupt-
“What the heck happened in here?” A voice asked from the doorway.
We looked up to find Stacy staring at us. “Well, we...” Lance began to say.
“What the heck happened to you two?” She asked without waiting for the answer to her first question. She was looking us up and down. I didn’t blame her at all. We must have looked quite strange, covered in chocolate.
“Mom had to leave, so she left us in charge of finishing some brownies she was baking, and...”
“And she says me and you act like a couple of little kids. This is unbelievable!” Stacy surveyed the kitchen. “Go get changed and I’ll help Kelly start to clean this mess up.” Lance ran up the stairs. “So, did you two actually get anything baked?”
Just then, the timer on the stove went off and a nice chocolatey smell filled the kitchen. “Actually, yes we did,” I said as she took the pan out of the oven. “And Stacy?”
“Yeah?”
“I... um... I started this.”
She looked at me and started laughing. “Yeah right.”
“No, really, I did.” I paused. “Sorta got out of hand.” By this time, Stacy was laughing so hard she was hanging onto the counter for support. When Lance came back, she was still laughing. She regained her composure and the three of us proceeded to clean up the chocolate from every square inch of the room.
By the time we had finished the task, it was time for Lance to meet the other four guys at the airport. Forgetting that I was also covered from head to toe in chocolate, I left with him. When we arrived at the airport, Briley gave me a weird look as we waited with the others.
“Umm... Kelly... can I ask...” She began to laugh hysterically before finishing her question. I looked in a window at my reflection and found spots of chocolate on my face as well as a lot of it in my hair and on my clothes.
“Long story...” I said with a giggle of my own. I exchanged a look with Lance, causing the two of us to burst into laughter.
“From that laugh, maybe I don’t wanna know...” She said slowly with a smile.
Some twenty minutes passed before I broke the silence among the group. “Can I get a picture with all eight of us please?” I asked sweetly.
“Sure,” The guys answered in harmony... yet again. I took a deep breath so I wouldn’t have another outburst about that.
Joey stopped a passing flight attendant and asked her to take the picture for us, smiling flirtatiously. She agreed, and we got in our formation for the picture. After the flash went off, a voice announced their flight.
I turned to Lance as the group broke up, the couple’s wanting their good-bye in as much privacy as possible in an airport. “I don’t want you to go,” I whispered to Lance.
“I don’t want to go either. I just wanna stay here with you,” he replied. I sighed and slowly removed my class ring from my finger.
“Here,” I pressed it into his hand. “To remember me.”
“I couldn’t forget you.”
“I don’t care. Take it,” I insisted, closing his fingers around the ring. He looked down and opened his hand, taking the ring and sliding it onto his ring finger. He softly pressed his lips against mine, the kiss slowly becoming more passionate, more aggressive, and beyond a doubt, more memorable.
We broke apart and he turned without another word, began to walk away. A few steps away, he stopped, turned and took the lightweight jacket he was wearing off and tossed it to me. I caught it and looked at him in confusion.
“To remember me,” he said with a smile. Even though it was quite warm, I still pulled the jacket on, lifting one side of the collar to my nose to smell the scent of his cologne that lingered. I sighed as I stood and watched Lance walk away from me. It was then and there that I made the silent promise to him that I would never let go of his love... or let mine fail.
