*Kelly*
AJ and I realized that everyone had left and we were all alone.
“So…” I began.
“Wanna go clubbin’?” he interrupted with a sly grin.
“No way! I think I’ve had enough clubbing for one weekend!” I laughed slightly.
“Alright, well what do you want to do then?”
“Actually, I’m pretty hungry,” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Mickey D’s?!” he hollered jumping up.
“My thoughts exactly! Let’s go!” I grabbed his hand and we flew out of the hotel.
We arrived there and AJ ordered his usual double quarter pounder with cheese and I got Chicken McNuggets.
“Where do you want to sit?” he asked, holding a red tray of food.
“Let’s go outside and eat. It’s such a beautiful day!” I decided gleefully.
There were a few elderly people eating inside, so AJ and I were the only ones outside. We were eating our meal when I got an idea.
“Bone?” I called.
“Yeah?” he asked, taking another bite of his quarter pounder.
“Do you wanna play?” I asked him.
“Oooh…getting naughty now are we?!” he grinned wickedly.
I laughed, “No, of course not! I meant, do you wanna go play…on the playground?” I motioned toward the playplace.
“Kelly, we’re not exactly allowed to…” he trailed off.
“Yeah? Since when have you ever cared what you are and aren’t allowed to do?”
He thought for a moment, “You know me too good! Come on…I’ll give ya a ride!” I jumped on AJ’s back for a piggy back ride to the play place. We crawled through the tunnels and slid down the slide together. We went into the ball pit and threw balls at each other. I hit AJ with a ball and he pretended to fall down and he disappeared under the balls.
“AJ?” I laughed. “Where are ya, babe?” I walked over to where he had been, but he wasn’t there. All of a sudden two hands grabbed me around my ankles and pulled me down. I screamed and fell into AJ’s awaiting arms. We giggled and climbed through the tunnels a few more times before we decided to leave.
“Hey, are you wearing your bathing suit?” he asked out of the blue, as he drove out of the parking lot.
“No, why?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, I wanted to take you to the beach and I sorta wanted to see ya in it too!” he grinned, placing his hand on my knee.
He drove to the hotel and I changed into my bikini that had light blue clouds on it that I had ordered from Victoria’s Secret. I walked back out to find AJ waiting for me in the car.
“Are ya wearing the bathing suit I got ya?” he asked full of hope.
“No way baby! I left that thing at home, remember?”
“Oh…yeah,” he said pretending to be disappointed.
He wrapped his free arm around my shoulder to pull me closer after slipping in Will Smith’s CD and playing “Miami.”
We arrived at the beach and set out a blanket for us to relax on.
“I am sooo white! I need a tan desperately!” I said, making an attempt to rub tanning oil on myself.
“Yeah, you do!” he teased.
“Oh hush! You could help me with this ya know…” I said exaggerating my struggle.
“I was going to anyway. Hand me the bottle,” he said, kneeling down behind me.
He gently brushed my hair away from my neck and began massaging my back and shoulders with the lotion. After he had been doing that a while, we traded places. He lied down on his stomach for me to apply it on his back.
“You know…you probably already have a personal maseuse who does this for you like daily!” I joked.
“Actually, you’re right. I do…you!” he teased, rolling over on his side to look at me.
“What?” I asked almost nervously.
“Nothing…you’re just so beautiful. You look like an angel wearing that bikini! I must say…your taste is a lot better than mine!” he laughed.
“Uh-huh…I know,” I smiled. I layed down beside him on the blankeet and listened to the soft lull of the ocean.
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*Gail*
“Do you wanna steer?” Nick asked me.
I got up from sitting on the deck and walked over to him.
“Sure! I’d love to but uh…” I started.
“I’ll teach you,” he smiled, putting his finger over my lips.
“Alright, just hold on up here,” he motioned, placing his hand over mine on the whell. I looked over my shoulder up at him and stared into his bright blue eyes. He leaned down and kissed me passionately. The breeze gently whipped through our hair and finally Nick set the boat so that it would drift along. We sat down embraced on the deck of the boat. Nick was sitting behind me with his arms around me. I was sitting in front of him, my back against his chest. We didn’t say a word…I just felt his heart beat in time with mine and heard him softly breathing. Nick and I stayed like that until the sun set. The sky turned a fiery red-orange and then darkened to a royal blue with the stars illuminating the sky.
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*Claudi*
After Brian and I had been cruising around on the water for a while, I decided to bring the jet ski to a stop.
“Awww…why’d we stop?” Brian whined.
“Because I’m tired and hungry. That’s why,” I said, getting off of the jet ski.
“You’re such a whiner, ya know that?” he said coyly.
“Yes, well this whiner is hungry. Can we please go get something to eat?” I begged.
“Yeah…I suppose we can. What do you want?” he asked, walking along the beach.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just starving!” I exclaimed, putting my hand on my tummy.
“Actually, there’s some kind of market downtown that I wanted to check out. We could grab a hot dog or something at one of the stands and then shop. How does that sound?” Brian suggested.
“That sounds great! Let’s go for it!” I said, making my way up to Brian’s jeep.
We quickly put our clothes on over our bathing suits and drove to the market. Brian and I bought a hot dog (well, Brian bought two for himself) and we sat on a picnic table and ate them.
“Well, ya ready to go shopping?” I asked, finishing up my hot dog.
“Yep, sure am. Come on,” he said getting up, taking my hand. We walked through the market and bought lots of stuff for our family.
“Hey, I’ll be right back. You stay here, ok?” Brian told me.
“Yeah, sure. I”ll stay here and look through these t-shirts…” I agreed.
After about 15 minutes Brian came back with two cones of chocolate ice cream.
“Oooh…yummy! Thanks!” I told him, reaching for a cone.
“What are you doing? These are both for me!” he laughed, licking both of them.
“Wha?? Come on now, Bri, gimme one!” I laughed, finally snagging one away from him.
“Alright come on…let’s finish looking around,” I said, grabbing Brian’s hand.
“Wait, Claudi,” Brian said stopping.
“What is it?” I asked a bit worried.
“Here, I got this for you…” he said, producing a black velvet jewelry box.
“Baby, you didn’t have to get me anything,” I told him, opening the box. I gasped as I saw my repaired charm bracelet that I had broken on the plane. I threw my arms around Brian’s neck and hugged him so tightly, covering him in kisses.
He laughed, “Alright, Claudi! I love you, too!”
“Thank you sooo much, honey! I love you! You are a sweetie! Help me put it on please,” I struggled with the bracelet.
Brian clasped it around my wrist and I gave him a big kiss in appreciation. He took my hand and led me through the rest of the market.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Vic*
Kevin and I finished riding Angel Dust and put her back in the stable. Kevin drove us back to the hotel so we could get ready for our big night of dancing!
I had gotten all of my makeup and hair done and was getting my dress on when Kevin knocked on the door.
“You ready?” he asked me.
“Yeah, but I only have sneakers to go with my dress. I don’t think those mesh very well…” I hinted for him to give me the shoes he had purchased.
“Oh alright, here,” he said, handing me a wrapped box.
I unwrapped it and I saw the most beautiful shoes!! They looked like they came right out of a fairy tale! They were lavender slippers that were sequined to match my dress. The heels of them were made of something that looked like glass. I loved them!
“Aww! Kevin they’re absolutely beautiful!” I exclaimed slipping them on and then reaching up to hug him.
“I’m glad you like them!” he said beaming proudly.
Kevin and I left the hotel and drove to a ballroom. We walked in and there were lots of couples already on the floor, waltzing.
“You ready?” Kevin asked.
I took a deep breath and followed him onto the floor. He held my hand in his and placed his other arm firmly around my waist. We danced so closely for a long time. Then a familiar tune came from the orchestra….the tango! Kevin and I were in the center of the ballroom doing the tango. Obviously, since he was a professional dancer, he was really talented, but the crowd stopped dancing and all eyes in the dance hall were on me and Kevin.
“Kevin, everyone’s staring…” I said nervously.
“Oh, I didn’t even notice!” he said nonchalantly.
“No, of course not…you’re used to 20,000 people watching you every night! I’m not,” I proclaimed, gripping his hand tighter.
“Vic, relax. It’s just you and me…nobody else is here, ok?” he reassured, kissing me softly on the forehead.
I nodded and continued to dance with him. I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast where at the end they’re dancing and they’re both in their own little world, just like me and Kevin….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Theresa*
I sat in the hotel room all day, moping and watching television. I ordered room service, for breakfast, lunch, and now dinner. There was a knock on the door.
I opened it, deep down hoping it would be Howie, but all I found was a waiter instead.
“Here you are Mrs. Dorough,” he said pushing in the cart.
I was stunned to hear that…I couldn’t speak for fear of exploding into tears.
“Mrs. Dorough, are you alright?” the waiter questioned, concerned.
I just nodded and he left. Mrs. Dorough?? I’ll never be Mrs. Dorough…never! I took the food out onto the balcony and looked up into the starry night. The sky was beautiful against the ocean. I tried my best to hold back the tears and concentrate on my dinner and getting on with my life. I turned the radio on beside me and I heard Howie’s sweet voice crooning the lines to “I’ll Never Break Your Heart.” Disgusted, I reached down and flipped off the radio. I had sort of forgotten that he was actually a Backstreet Boy. I laughed at myself as I thought about how I used to dance and sing in front of the mirror along with their CD, and hang up posters of them, and how I used to wish I could just meet Howie. Now, well now, things were so different. Not only had I met Howie, I had fallen in love with him, and gotten myself engaged to him! I scolded myself for ever letting myself feel so much for him!
I finished my dinner and picked up the telephone to call Howie.
“Hello?” his voice answered.
“Howie?” I questioned. He sounded funny, maybe he had been crying.
“Theresa! I didn’t expect to hear from you,” he said, genuinely.
“Listen, I just wanted to tell you that I’m not going back with the rest of you. I’m taking the first plane back to the states. I need to move on with my life,” I told him blankly.
“Why are you doing that?” he questioned.
“You’re the reason I came. You don’t want me around, so I’m leaving. The flight leaves at 6 in the morning. Tell everyone else that I’ll miss them and why I left,” I finished.
“Are you really leaving?” he asked, astonished.
“Yes, I am. Bye, Howie,” I said, and hung up the phone. I went back out onto the balcony to just look over the Bahamas for the last time. I knew I would probably never be visiting back here again.
There was a knock at the door and I went to answer it. I found Howie standing outside down on one knee.
I looked at his wide-eyed, and couldn’t help but smile.
“Theresa, I’m so sorry for all the pain and hurt I’ve caused you. I didn’t realize how much I loved you until you told me that you were leaving. I knew that I might never see you again and I couldn’t just let you walk out of my life like that! Not when I want to spend the rest of it with you. So, will you please forgive me and be my wife?” Howie asked, holding out the ring, still on bended knee.
I silently nodded through my flooding tears and he stood up to embrace me. I hid my face in the crook of his neck and sobbed. He leaned back and kissed me and apologized repeatedly.
“I’m so, so, so sorry baby. I love you with all of my heart. I love you so much!” he said, placing the diamond engagement ring back onto my finger.
“I love you, too!” I managed to say, kissing him deeply.
