"My family of five, including myself. I have two unruly twin brothers that are ten years old. They are amazing brats. I can't wait to get out of our house and go to college, but I have yet another year of high school to finish." she replied, nodding her head.
"You're a senior?" I questioned.
"Yep, finally. Being away from my brothers has been a dream since they leaned how to walk and get into my things." she informed.
"I'll be a senior too. Lay one on me." I said, holding out my hand for a high five, and she accepted it. We laughed.
"It can't be that bad with your brothers." I said, thinking about my own family.
"You can't possibly have it worse than me, can you?" she asked, looking into my eyes for any signs of white lying.
I looked at her thoughtfully. "Nah, too easy." I said, shaking my hand at her and then crossed my arms.
"Try me." she challenged, mocking my body language.
"Well, I have a pathetic, lovesick fifteen year old brother; a twelve year old brother, which by the way, my family still doesn't know what he is; a sometimes bratty ten year old brother sister; a bouncy peppy seven year old sister; a hyper four year old brother; a chubby newborn sister that will be one in January; two parents, and myself playing the oldest sibling and probably the most sane person in the family of the sitcom I like to call "Hanson."
She started giggling from my description of my family.
"And if you think you have it bad with your brothers," I continued, "try living with my family for an hour."
"An hour? That bad, eh?" she commented after she stopped laughing.
"It's a hair raising experience; hellish at some times. At least you haven't had to change diapers for the past decade." I added.
"Damn, that's long." she commented.
"Yeah, well, we're also traveling with family friends. They have two daughters. Celeste is twelve, and Molly is fifteen and seriously dating Taylor." I explained.
"Who's Taylor?" she asked, scooting closer to me, placing her hand on my leg.
Oh, score! I got pre-occupied with her hand, and she waited for my answer. My eyes fixed into a stare on her hand that was on my leg.
"Isaac, who's Taylor?" she reiterated, and waved her hand in fron of my eyes to wake me up from my trance.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I broke my trance. "Excuse me, Taylor is my brother." I answered.
"I'd like to guess it's your "pathetic, lovesick fifteen year old" brother. Might I ask who the rest are?" she asked, giggling at her commentation.
I chuckled. "Yep, that's Taylor. The twelve year old thing is Zac. Jessica's ten, Avery's seven, Mackenzie's four, and Zoe is the baby girl." I said.
She smiled, nodding her head slowly. There was tension of silence as I fished around for a question in my mind.
"Are you going to Disneyworld after this?" I asked hopefully, my thoughts burdening.
"Yes, for six days at the Contemporary Resort by the Magic Kingdom. What about you?" she questioned.
"Me too! But, we're staying at the Caribbean Resort. Is that by the Contemporary?" I asked, hoping once again.
"Actually, no. You're over by EPCOT center. That's about a twelve minute bus ride over to the Magic Kingdom, but who's keeping track?" she asked.
There were loud voices being heard, and out of the corner I saw Taylor and Molly walking towards the pool in their swimsuits, laughing hysterically at some pointless joke. They walked by us, and peeped a "Hey Ike."
"Hi Molly, Tay. This is Erica." I greeted, introducing them to her.
"Hello," Molly greeted, shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you." she replied, and then shook Taylor's hand.
"Nice meeting you." Taylor said, and starting walking to the other side of the pool, coaxing Molly with him, his arm around her waist.
Erica and I got to talking about what we wanted to do during the two week trip, when I kept looking Taylor and Molly out of the corner of my eye. They would playfully push each other, and then kiss to make-up, like they actually had a real fight. They hugged each other, and Molly pinched his rear, so he picked her up and threw her into the pool. She surfaced, and asked for his help out fo the water. He fell into her trap, and reached down to her, and she yanked him into th the water along with her. Sucker.
"God, I can't stand this." I said, referring to the scene of Molly and Taylor and started to gather up my stuff. "You wanna go somewhere else?" I asked Erica, getting up.
"Sure, why not? It's getting hot out here anyway." she replied, slipping into her shorts and throwing on her tank-top. I grabbed her hand, and we went in search for cold refreshments.
Well, I'm stuck on this ship by myself for today. How much more bored could I be? Maybe I'll go bug Molly and Tay, see what they're up to. I really want a ice-cream, but my money's in my room. I don't want to go back and get it. Maybe there's a movie playing. No, it's too nice outside. I wonder if there's any cute guys on this boat. Ooh! Look at him, he's worthy of a double-take. God, I feel like such a little girl. I wonder when I'll get my period. Probably soon, because I do have boobs. God, Taylor is so hot. I wonder what Zac is doing. Zac?!? Where did that come from, I hate Zac! He's such a little dork and so immature. He does have nice hair, though. No!! I can't like him!
"Excuse me." a voice said behind me, and I whipped around from the ship's railing on the edge.
I put on a toothy smile, batting my eyes like a total fake-up. "Yes?" I asked sweetly.
"Are you alright?" he asked. The guy that stood before me was tall, around six feet, compared to my 5'5" frame, as it appeared to me. His eyes were gorgeous pools of emerald green. His brown hair with bleached tips was spiked. He was worthy of taking a second, long, glance at. Very worthy.
"I'm fine, why do you ask?" I replied, my breath caught in my throat. After liking Taylor for so long, well, since I broke my leg this spring, and he carried me into the emergency room, I never thought I would lay my eyes on another man. That is, until this one on the ship that caught my eye, he proved me wrong.
"Well, you seemed to be talking to yourself; I didn't if you were mentally ill or..." he replied, gesturing his hands for another suggestion.
I was talking out loud?!? In front of this babe?!? You dumbass Celeste!
"Um, hello?" he asked, waving his hand in front of my face.
Oh no! He caught me staring at him! Think quick Celeste.
"Oh! Well, I have a lot on my mind, and I sometimes have the tendency for the thoughts to slip out of my mouth into words, making me look like a complete idiot." I half-explained, half-fibbed, giggling.
"Really? Well, I noticed that you were alone. Are you with anyone?" he asked, flashing a smile showing his teeth.
Oh, those pearly whites make him look even cuter. "By what means do you mean? Like, going out with someone or traveling with someone?"
"Why not both?"
"Well, I'm single at the moment," Please let him be single, "and, I'm traveling with Colleen, David, Molly, Diana, Walker, Isaac, Taylor, Zac, Jessica, Avery, Mackenzie, and Zoe." I counted off the names with my fingers and looking up into my brain to see if I missed any.
"Wow! That's a large group." he commented, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Well, I'm traveling with my family, and some of my parents close firends' family." I explained.
He just looked at me, nodding his head. "You want to go for a walk around? I haven't had much of a chance yet to see the ship." he invited.
Yes! You go girl! "Sure." I accepted.
"I never asked for your name." he said as we left the railing.
"Oh gosh, we don't know each other's names yet! I'm Celeste." I introduced myself.
"Reynaldo. Rey is fine, though." he replied, and we shook each other's hands.
"How old are you?" he popped the question I so much wanted to avoid.
Should I lie? Yeah, because then he probably wouldn't go for me. He has to be at least seventeen! No, honesty is the best policy. Oh, dammit Celeste. Live a little, don't be such a goody-goody. "I'm fifteen. What about you?" I lied, feeling a slight tinge of guilt.
"I'm sixteen. You don't look fifteen." he said, squinting his eyes at me.
Oh no, he knows I lied. Great Celeste.
"You look like your my age."
Oh Celeste, he saved your ass. "Oh, well, I'll be sixteen in February." I lied some more.
"I was sixteen in April. My dad gave me a Mustang Coupe. Man, it purrs like a kitten and runs like a cheetah." he said.
Oh wow, he looks so cute when he talks about something he likes.
"Come on, I know a great look-out point on the fifth deck." he said, and grabbed my hand.
Oh yeah, he's definetly a keeper.
"Taylor, do you have any money with you?" I asked as we walked from the pool, a couple of hours before we had to meet for dinner.
"Well, I got two quarters, why?" he replied, squeezing my hand as he held it.
"Oh, because yesterday I saw a cute little ice cream parlor and I was kinda craving for something cold and sweet." I explained.
"Well, I myself may not have something cold, but I do have something sweet that you can snack on and definetly satisfy you." he lowered his voice to hoarse tone, and brought his mouth to mine for a deep kiss, pinning me to the wall of the ice cream shop we came to.
"Mmm, that is sweet, but I wouldn't mind a substitution." I replied, draping my arms around his neck.
"Oh, so, you're saying you'd prefer food sugar over my sugar." he assumed, looking down and pulling a guilt trip.
"Hey now, don't pull this guilt trip crap on me because I'm still not going to buy it. But, if you meant it, well, sometimes the truth hurts." I said cockily, tipping his head up and leaning in for a kiss.
He turned his head to the side and pulled away, and I wound up kissing his cheek instead.
"No, you hurt my feelings." he said, turning his nose up and around.
"Fine, be that way and no more loving from me." I kissed his cheek once more abd turned around and walked into the ice cream parlor that I told Taylor about, and scanned my eyes across the menu.
Taylor knew I was joking with him, but there was always a little paranoia that mingled in his head, and he never took chances that threatened him.
"Hey, I'm sorry." he said when he came into the store, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind me and kissing my neck. I knew he wouldn't resist me. I held his shoulders around my arms and swayed when he kissed my neck.
"Mmm, I don't know Taylor, that's not enough." I said to tease him, a smile forming at the corners of my mouth.
"I'll buy you an ice cream." He bribed.
"How, you don't have the money with you." I argued, turning my head to look at him.
"Watch the master at work. Go sit at a booth and wait. What do you want?"
"I'll have a chocolate float." I replied, and sat down at a little booth.
I watched Taylor as he ordered my chocolate soda and paid no cash when he walked towards the booth I was sitting in.
"What did you do, Taylor? Plead insanity?" I guessed.
"No. Actually, my dad said that if we had no cash on our hands, we could charge the thing to our room as long as it was inexpensive." he explained, taking a sip of my soda.
"Hmmm, charging to the room. What an interesting concept. It's like, using a credit card!" I exclaimed, my eyes lighting up.
He gasped. "That's right!" he mimicked my tone of voice. I brought my hand up to his cheek and pushed his head to the side, like slapping him only in a way that didn't hurt.
We talked for awhile and shared and finished the chocolate soda. I was in a deep discussion about things that relaxed me, and I could tell that Taylor was bored. He kept looking out the window.
"Look, there's Celeste." he said just as I was finishing my detailed description of body massaging. We walked outside, and I saw that she was wakling someone much taller and appeared to look much older than Celeste, even older than Taylor and I.
"Celeste!" I called out, and grabbed Taylor's hand, walking over to the couple.
"Hi Molly, Taylor. Guys, this is Reynaldo Rothschild, or Rey. Rey, this is Molly and Taylor. Molly's my sister." she introduced us, a big grin upon her face.
"Nice to meet you Reynaldo," I greeted, shaking his hand.
"Rey." he corrected.
"Nice to meet you, REY." Taylor said, shaking his hand. Then he turned towards me. "Get it right the first time."
I ignored Taylor's insult. "Celeste, can I talk to you for a second, privately?" I gave her a Celeste-you're-gonna-be-in-big-trouble-if-you're-involved-with-this-guy-and-mom-and-dad-find-out.
"Kay. Be right back Rey." she said, blowing him a kiss.
I pulled Celeste off to the side. "Celeste, please tell me you're not involved with this guy." I pleaded, and glanced back at him. God, he looks like he's seventeen!
"If I did, I would be lying. You wouldn't want that now, would you?" she replied snottily, crossing her arms.
"When did you meet him?"
"About a few hours ago, why?"
"How old is he?" I dreaded the question.
"Sixteen. Did you know his dad gave him a Mustang for his birthday? He said it purrs like a kitten and runs like a cheetah. Molly, what's a Mustang? Isn't it a horse or something? Why would a horse purr like a kitten and run like a cheetah if it's a horse?" she asked, dazed and confused.
I shook my head from side to side, and gave her a disapproving look.
"What? Don't look at me like that." she said disgustedly.
"Celeste Anne Blackburn," I warned, "he's sixteen, and you're only twelve! That's four years, God dammit." I scolded.
"Technically, we're only ten months apart." she pointed out with her finger, nodding her head like a know-it-all.
I lowered my eyes and head. "What do you mean, ten months apart." I asked slowly.
"Well, I told him I was fifteen years old." she confessed, backing away slowly like a hurt puppy.
"Oh my God, Celeste!" I yelled in a whisper, frustrated.
"He said I looked like I was sixteen." she tried to cover up for herself.
"Oh, and what does that matter?" I questioned, putting my arms on my hips.
"It means I have a better chance with him. If he knew that I was twelve, well, I'd be completely bored and very much lonely on this trip." she crossed her point.
"Well, why don't we let mom and dad decide this calamity." I suggestedly threatened.
"Oh, please no Molly! They would never understand. Look, this guy is incredibly gorgeous, and he's so sweet too. I don't even like Taylor anymore, and I won't bug you guys either." she begged.
This worked to my advantage. I looked at Celeste, and sighed. "If mom and dad confront or catch you, I'm not there to save your ass before it's grass." I concluded.
"Thanks Molly!" she exclaimed, hugging me.
"Why do I even bother." I asked myself, returning her embrace.
"Just remember, I don't like Taylor." she reminded.
"One word of advice, kid: Act like a fifteen year old."
"Duh." she replied, and we walked back over to Rey and Taylor.
"Hey, what were you both talking about?" Taylor asked, putting his arm around my waist.
"How about you forget about what we discussed and we'll go back to one of our rooms." I suggested into his ear, gently nibbling on it.
"My room?"
"Right now."
"Are you horny?"
"Very."
"Bye Celeste, Rey. Nice meeting you. Come on, Molly." Taylor said quickly, yanking my hand towards the direction of his room.
"What he said." I called out to them, running with Taylor.