Skylar:
I am having such a difficult time with Brian. I simply cannot function when he's around. In my mind, I keep seeing him lying in bed so innocently, and then I remember the feel of his kiss. It's been three days and I still can't get over it! I don't understand how someone could kiss someone else in their sleep. This can't be happening! Every time I see him, I just freeze. I am scared to death that he'll figure out what happened just by reading my face. Really, I shouldn't feel at all embarrassed, he's the one that kissed me. But still, I'm the one that feels responsible. He doesn't even know what happened. Ugh! How can I ever face him?
Time for today's morning run. Oh, joy! I am seriously going to lose it. I walked into Brian's room first thinking, Let's get this thing out of the way. "Brian!" I whisper-screamed from the door.
"Hmm..." he muttered. As I repeated his name, he slowly came around. "I'm up..."
"Are you sure?" I asked, still standing at the door.
"Yeah, I'm wide awake." he said sitting up. He got out of bed and even said "Good morning!" with a smile as he walked past me on his way to the bathroom.
This just does not make sense, I thought. He doesn't seem to be heavy sleeper. How could he have been so zonked out yesterday that he could kiss me while sleeping? I'm losing my mind, there's no doubt about it, I'm losing my mind. Puzzled, I went to wake Nick up. I didn't even go inside for fear that I'd find Kota again. I just opened the door, turned on the light and said
"Time to wake up!" Hearing Nick getting up, I headed for the stairs to go wake up the rest of the guys, but not before peeking my head into the bathroom. Sure enough, Brian was brushing his teeth, WIDE AWAKE. A confused look spread across my face, which Brian quickly noticed.
"You need something, Skylar?"
"Uh, um... no... no, I'm... nevermind." I said and went to wake up Kevin, Howie and A.J. They weren't a problem, except that A.J. is not at all used to waking up at 7:30 in the morning! But anyways, everything else was normal, we all, except for Kota, got up and came downstairs to have a bit of fruit before we left. Basically, I told everyone to pick a piece or two of fruit so that there is something in their system, but not enough to make them ralph during the run. Kevin was the first to the fruit bowl.
"What do you guys want?" he asked.
"Hey, toss me a banana!" yelled Brian.
"Sunkist orange, right here!" yelled A.J. I looked up in shock at the 'kist' part, thinking 'kissed'. "What?"
"Over here, too!" shouted Howie.
"One Sunkist for me, too." added Nick. As Kevin began tossing fruit around the room, I about died. How am I going to be able to handle this? I jumped at the word SUNKIST! By this time, my face was bright red and it had one of the most confused looks of all time.
"You okay?" asked Brian coincidentally.
"Just losing my sanity." I mumbled under my breath.
"What?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing." I replied. "Well, guys, we leave in fifteen minutes, got it?"
"Okay." they said in unison. Unable to take it anymore, I quietly let myself out the back door and sat down on the patio. "Whew!" I said, feeling relieved to be out of Brian's sight. Just then, who comes out the door? Brian, of course!
"There's nothing like fresh air to wake you up in the morning." he said as he sat down next to me. "Do you mind?" he asked.
"No, not at all." I lied. Of course I mind, I wanted to scream. We sat in absolute quiet for a few minutes while we both ate. I noticed that he'd grabbed an orange, too. Out of nowhere, he just started laughing, for no apparent reason. "What's so funny?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking, that's all."
"About what? Something had you in stitches there for a minute."
"Well, it's just that..." he started. But the rest of the guys came out at that very moment.
"Let's get out of here!" they all said with a sarcastic impersonation of Denise Austin. I looked at Brian and searched his face, did he know more than he was letting on, or am I just paranoid? Oh, well! No time for dwelling on it now. "Alright, guys, let's go!" We headed of for our run, but I was plagued by thoughts of Brian with each step we took. Every time that he'd start talking, I just froze up, unable to speak. Will this ever end? Why is my life such a giant question mark? ~~~~
Dakota:
A few days has passed and the tension between Brian and Sky seems to be high. I don't know what's there deal but right now I don't care. I'm too excited. Today's the day. My first official date with Nick. Sure, it isn't that big of a deal because after all I've lived in the same house with him for almost a month now, but still. First dates are first dates. Nick told me that I should be ready by seven so of course I had to start getting ready at like five. I get really frantic before I go on dates and it takes me forever to get ready. Then there's the added fact that I have no clue where we're going because Nick thinks that surprises are romantic. I hate surprises, but then I have to remember that this is Nick who's surprising me. So it makes it a little better. Now comes the hassle of trying to find something to wear. Wonderful. I have a hard enough time picking what to wear on a daily basis. Now I have to pick something to wear on the first date with someone who I possibly have a really good future with. Gee that won't be hard at all. With a laugh, I engrossed myself in my closet. After a half hour and piles of clothes later, I decided on a short powder blue skirt and a navy spaghetti strap tank top. I sat on my bed and sighed while I put on my platform sandals. Why am I so nervous? Shrugging off that feeling, I pulled my hair into sloppy bun, french twist thingy and put two butterfly clips on to finish my hairstyle off. Finally I'm finished getting ready. It took long enough. Then almost immediately after I finished getting ready, someone knocked on the door. I was positive it was Nick, but was then shocked to see Sky standing there.
"Aww, you look so cute," she smiled.
"Uh...thanks....May I help you with something?" I asked, wondering why she decided to visit me now of all times.
"Well I have a note from your loverboy," Sky handed me the note and then started down the hall. "Have fun, Kota." I looked down at the note quite confused and opened it up. It read: Baby, Meet me at our special place. -Nick
Uh okay.... Special place? Um....the only place I can think of is the spot on the beach where Nick and I spent talking for hours. That's got to be it. I walked down the stairs and was greeted by AJ and Kevin who were sitting on the couch watching tv.
"Damn girl. I don't think we should let you out of the house dressed like that," AJ smiled.
"Thanks, I think," I giggled a little.
"Have fun tonight, Ki," Kevin said. Kevin was the only one who called me that and I loved him for it.
"Yeah and if Nick doesn't behave himself, we'll kick his ass," AJ added and I smiled. AJ and Kevin have become the big brothers that I've never had. They are more protective of me, even more so then Nick. It's kinda funny being the baby of the house, every single person is looking out for me, some more then others. AJ got up from the couch and gave me a hug.
"Have fun, Dakota," he smiled and then gave me a sweet little kiss on the cheek. Kevin did the same and then I headed for the door.
"Bye guys," I smiled and then walked to the beach. ~~~~
The sun was setting as I walked by the shore, looking for Nick. When I looked down to readjust my sandal, I noticed rose petals that made a path. Obviously the path led to something and I knew, most likely it would lead to Nick. That's when I saw him, standing there holding a dozen red roses and looking really hot in his khakis and a white Oxford shirt. He walked over and gave me a sweet kiss on the lips before handing me the roses.
"Thanks," I said with the biggest smile probably possible. I noticed Nick looking me up and down, which made me blush a little, but I got over it.
"You look really hot tonight, Kota," he smiled and took a hold of my hand.
"So do you. You clean up well," I giggled a little as he lead me to a table set up with dinner and candles. The whole deal. "Nick, you didn't need to go to all this trouble."
"Yes I did. You deserve the best because.....well.....you're you. You're perfect so tonight has to be perfect." He held my hand while we sat at the table and a happy feeling flushed over me. This just felt right.
"It's already perfect." We had a great dinner and we basically stared into each others eyes the whole time. I don't think my life can get any better. I'm starting to fall in love with Nick and I've only known him for little under a month. The time didn't matter to me though, it just felt right.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked, standing up.
"But, there's no...."
"Shh...." Nick said, pulling me into his arms. As we danced, he started singing "Heaven In Your Eyes" basically using the waves crashing as background music. This was so romantic. No guy has ever treated me to a more romantic night. My defenses crumbled and I basically melted in Nick's arms. I started kissing his neck while he was singing and eventually he stopped when I moved my lips to his mouth. We wrapped ourselves into a very long, passionate kiss that left us both breathless when we pulled away.
"Nick you are the most romantic guy I know. Tonight has been the best night of my life," I explained, giving him a light kiss on the lips.
"Well you deserve it. I'll do anything for you," Nick admitted, looking me straight in the eyes. We kissed a little more, but Nick finally pulled away. "We should probably be heading back. AJ gave me a word of warning," he laughed a little and held my hand as we walked back to the beach house.
"Yeah, AJ seems to always be looking out for me. He's a great guy."