"Oh my God, I'm moving to Lisbon," Alyssa said once we walked through the doors after getting our luggage.

Lisbon Airport was amazing. The floors were sleek and shiny. The lights twinkled above our heads. And the view was spectacular. From the tall windows that showed the outside of the airport, we could see the dark Lisbon sky. It was nearly two in the morning, but we were wide awake. The eight hour time difference was really screwing us up. It also didn't help that we had gotten coffee on the airplane and we were more awake than ever.

"I bet you're going to say that at each place we visit," Eli said as we dragged our bags through the airport lobby.

"Probably," Alyssa said with a shrug.

"I honestly think it was a bad idea drinking that coffee," I muttered.

"Did we not take into account the time difference?" Chase asked.

"I think we did, but we did it wrong," Derek said.

"We're going to be up all night," I said.

"Party starts now, then," Chase said gleefully.

As soon as he said that, I felt my stomach erupt in butterflies. I reached a hand out and grabbed onto Alyssa's wrist.

"Oh my God, guys! We're in Portugal!" I exclaimed. "We're in Europe!!!" 

Alyssa and I began jumping up and down, squealing.

"Classy," Eli said. We stopped and I punched his shoulder.

"Shut up. Don't try and act like you're not extremely excited about this," I said. He smirked and then winked.

"I am excited," he said. Alyssa and I beamed again and resumed our happy excitement dance.

"All right, if you guys are done, how about we get a taxi or something and find our hotel," Derek suggested. We stopped jumping and nodded, agreeing.

"Which one are we staying at/' Chase asked.

"Sheraton Lisboa," I answered, pulling out the folder that I had made with our reservations. Eli, Brooke, and I had all worked hard during the year looking for places to stay that would fit the budget. We figured if we reserved places beforehand, we would save more money that way. For the Sheraton Lisboa, we had managed to get discount rates for two rooms: $162 for one and the other for $112.

We had gotten two rooms, so Alyssa, Brooke and I were supposed to share one while the boys took the other. Now, it was just going to be me and Alyssa and then the boys would get the second room. The boys complained at first, because they didn't want three people in a room, let alone three guys in a room. But in the end, saving money was more important than comfort.

We managed to flag a taxi cab down at the front of the airport. Lucky for us, the driver spoke English, albeit it was broken and difficult to understand.

"We need to get to Sheraton Lisboa," I said to the man.

"All you?" the man asked. I nodded. "This no big. Too many, too many," the man told us.

"What?" Chase asked.

"Umm, I think he's saying that there are five of us, plus our luggage. We're not all going to fit," Eli said. I frowned. This was true.

"Ok, how about you take two of us and the luggage and the others will find a different cab," I offered.

"Yes, yes," the man said, nodding his head.

"Ok, so I definitely have to go because I have the reservations. I think Derek you should come with me. Eli, you come with Chase and Alyssa since you know the details better than everyone else," I said.

"We would have known the details if you had let us help you," Alyssa said.

"We're not arguing about this again," I said, rolling my eyes. "We'll meet you at the hotel. I guess we can wait in the lobby until they get there," I said to Derek. He nodded and we got into the cab. The driver took the majority of our luggage and put it in the trunk and in the backseat with us. We told him where to go again and then we were off, waving to the others.

"Damn, I can't believe we're actually here, riding in the back of a taxi in Portugal," Derek said. I had my face pressed against the window, staring out at the city of Lisbon. It passed by in streaks of colors, the whole city lit up beautifully. I was already in love with the place and we hadn't even been there for an hour.

"What should we do when we get to the hotel?" I asked him, turning my face away from the window and looking at him.

"I honestly think we should just try and sleep. We're all pretty tired from the flight. We should figure out a game plan tomorrow morning," Derek said.

"I bet if Brooke was here she'd say forget resting and hit the clubs instead," I said with a small smile.

"You're probably right," Derek chuckled, running his hand through his wavy dark hair.

Once we got to the hotel, Derek and I checked in. We had our bags taken up to our rooms and Derek offered to stay down in the lobby and wait for the others while I went up with the bell-boy. The very cute bell-boy.

"You are American?" the boy, whose name was Damiano, asked as the elevator took us up to where our rooms were.

"Yes," I replied, smiling at him. He was cute, with dark hair, tanned skin, and sparkling dark brown eyes. "My friends and I are travelling all over Europe in one summer," I told him.

"Ahh, an adventure. It's ahh, much fun, no?" he said. I giggled at his adorable Portuguese accent and wondered why it was that women were so attracted to broken English.

"I guess we'll find out. But I'm hoping," I answered. He flashed me a smile, displaying a set perfectly strSaveaight and white teeth. Goodness, this boy couldn't get any more handsome.

The elevator opened up on my floor and Damiano wheeled the luggage trolley down the hall to the two rooms that were reserved for the five us.

"Thanks for your help," I said to him, opening the door to my room. "You can just put all of them in here. We have no idea what's in what suitcase so there's no point in splitting them between the rooms," I said to him, talking too fast and too much. I was hopeless at talking to boys, even after all this time. It was usually Brooke who did all the talking. I just stood by and 'looked pretty' as she said.

"My pleasure," he answered, flashing me another brilliant smile. I walked into the room behind him and took in the atmosphere. It was nice and calm, relaxing. The bed boards were made of a dark wood and the entire far wall was made of glass windows. The carpet was plush and the single king size bed looked so comfortable I was tempted to just lay down at that moment and fall asleep.

I blinked, staring at the bed.

The one single bed.

Shit.

"There is ONE bed in each of these rooms!" Chase exclaimed.

"Keep it down!" I hissed. "It's 3 in the morning. You can't be shouting like this," I added.

"I don't think you understand. How are three guys supposed to sleep in one bed for a week?" Chase hissed.

"Well, at least it's a king sized bed," Alyssa said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Chase glared daggers at her.

"Ok, calm down. We'll figure something," Eli said, stepping in. "Let's pull out the couch to see if it has a bed in it," he suggested, going to the couch that was set in front of the tall window wall. We yanked the cushions and thankfully, there was a pull out bed. Derek scrunched his nose.

"That looks incredibly uncomfortable," he remarked.

"We're going to have to make do with it, though," I said.

"Then how about you sleep in it?" Chase said.

"I'm sleeping with Alyssa in our room," I said.

"Quit being a diva, man. We'll take turns on the pull out bed," Eli said.

"See? A compromise," I said, smiling gratefully at Eli.

"It's still going to be weird with two guys in a bed," Chase muttered.

"Oh, shut up. We've all slept together countless times. Don't even use that as an excuse," Alyssa said.

"Exactly. So man up," I said.

"Ugh, whatever. I want to change into some sweats. Where are our clothes?" Chase said.

"That's a good question," I mumbled.

"You were doing all the packing!" Derek exclaimed.

"I know! But they all look the same!" I replied.

"You guys didn't pack anything in your carry-ons?" Eli asked, sitting on the bed and unzipping his small suitcase. From it, he extracted a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Prepared as always," he said, smirking at us.

"That probably would have been a good idea to pack pajamas in the carry-ons," Alyssa said, tapping her chin.

"I'm too exhausted to search through all eight of these," I groaned, sitting on the bed and the laying down.

"I'm pretty sure we packed them all on top, though," Alyssa said.

"Of which one, though?" I asked. She tapped her chin, looking at all of the suitcases.

"Let's start with this one," she said, kicking one of the suitcases down and the unzipping it. It was the suitcase full of shoes.

"Good one," Chase snorted.

"You could help, you know," she snapped.

"Nah," Chase said, waving a hand at her. Insteady he walked over to the mini-fridge that was next to the television set. Derek wandered over after him, while Eli, Alyssa, and I searched through the suitcases.

"I wonder if they charge extra for the wine in here," Derek asked aloud.

"Good thing they have everything written in Portuguese," Chase replied, picking up a card. "What the hell does this say?" he asked. Derek pulled his phone out and began typing the words into his phone.

"Found them!" Alyssa exclaimed, pulling out some sweatpants and t-shirts.

"Yes! Finally!" Chase said, leaving Derek to translate the card.

After about twenty minutes, we were all changed and comfortable. We moved half the bags of luggage into mine and Alyssa's room. Then we pulled out a list of places to see and decided on a game plan for the next day. After arguing about not wanting to go museums all day (Chase) and not wanting to just go to historic landmarks (Alyssa), we finally came up with what we would do for the next five days.

It was now nearly five in the morning and we still weren't asleep, or even tired at that.

"Oh shit! We were supposed to call Brooke!" I exclaimed.

"Crap! Get the laptop!" Alyssa said. Eli pulled his Mac out of his carry-on and we set it open.

"Do they have wi-fi in Portugal?" Chase asked. We all gave him a look. "What?" he asked, blinking his light blue eyes.

"We're in Portugal, not a third world country, you idiot!" Derek said.

"Oh, shut up," Chase grumbled.

Once the computer started, we signed into Skype. Sure enough, Brooke's name was highlighted and shown as on-line.

"She's probably been waiting," I said.

"I think she's going to be mad that we didn't call her as soon as we landed," Eli said.

"So we all agree that Soph talks to her first so that she doesn't bite our heads off?" Chase suggested.

"What?! Why me?!" I exclaimed.

"Because you're her best friend," Derek said.

"So are you guys!" I said.

"Yeah, but you two are like sisters," Alyssa pointed out. I rolled my eyes and clicked on her name, pressing the call with video button. It began ringing. After a few rings, she finally clicked answer. When she popped onto the screen, the others ducked down behind me.

"Wimps," I grumbled.

Brooke glared at me.

"Hi Brooke!" I said cheerily.

"When did you guys land there?" she asked.

"Ummm..." I said.

"Told you!" Chase hissed from behind me. I slapped his leg.

"At two," I said.

"And how long ago was that?" she asked.

"Three hours ago," I answered in a defeated voice. She was going to yell at us.

"And what did you all promise me before you left?" she asked.

I felt like a naughty kindergartener that was being interrogated by her teacher into admitting she did something wrong. Which I did.

"We said we'd call you as soon as we landed," I replied with a huff.

"And so what did you not do as soon as you landed?" she asked.

"Call you," I mumbled, tugging at my long, brunette hair. She raised an eyebrow at me. It was funny; even though she was an ocean and a continent away, she still managed to be incredibly intimidating.

"I'm sorry! We were just so caught up in getting to the hotel!" I said.

"Do you realize how worried I was?! I thought maybe you guys didn't land! Or maybe something happened to the plane! I was freaking out over here!" she cried.

"I'm so, so, so, so, SO sorry! Our brains are completely scrambled right now," I said.

"I'll say," she huffed, glaring at me. We sat staring at each other for a few moments.

"I'm sorry, Brooke," I repeated. She pursed her lips.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," she said. I let out a sigh of relief. Now, the others sat up.

"Hey, Brooke!" Chase said cheerfully.

"I knew you guys were back there," she snapped. His smile dropped.

"Look, we were going to call you, but it was already so late and we needed to get to the hotel. We were lucky we found a taxi cab at the ungodly hour that we got here," he explained.

"Stop lying," I said to him. He rolled his eyes at me. "Look, it won't happen again. We were just tired," I said.

"What time is it there?" she asked.

"Five in the morning," I answered.

"Jesus," she said.

"We can't even sleep," Alyssa said.

"I think we're delirious or something," Derek added.

"I bet you guys had either coffee or energy drinks on the airplane," Brooke said.

"Both," we grumbled.

"No wonder," she said. "So much for your tired excuse," she said, giving me a knowing look. I smiled sheepishly at her. "So how is it?" she asked.

"Absolutely beautiful," Alyssa answered.

"The city looks awesome at night," Eli said.

"Tomorrow we're going to hit the clubs. We'll tell you how that goes," Chase said.

"It's like, everyone here is incredibly attractive and well-dressed. Even the airport security and the staff at the hotel," Alyssa said.

"Well, you are in Europe," Brooke said.

"How are you?" I asked, interrupting my friends' gushing.

"Fine," she said. I raised an eyebrow. "I'm bored!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up and falling back against her pillows. "I'm not allowed to go clubbing, I'm not allowed to go out, I'm not allowed to go to concerts, I'm not allowed to go to beach parties. It sucks! All because the doctor thinks I'd be too tempted to drink. And I have to quit drinking cold turkey unless I want to make my situation worse," she explained.

"You'll get through it," Derek said.

"Do something to occupy yourself," Eli suggested. I nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! Try to knock off some of those things you've always wanted to do," I said.

"Like?" she asked.

"Learning how to play guitar," I said.

"And piano," Chase added.

"All those cool nails you always pin on Pinterest," Alyssa said.

"Getting through that list of books you have, watching all the shows you've wanted to watch but haven't had time," Eli listed.

"Ok, but that stuff isn't going to last me all summer," she said.

"You aren't on house arrest, are you?" Derek asked. She shook her head.

"Ok. I'm pretty sure if you wanted, you could spend half your summer at the mall," Alyssa said.

"The mall's no fun when there's no one to try stuff on with," she pouted.

"Is anyone in town?" I asked. She nodded.

"Lots of people. But they're all the kinds of people that go out at night. And if I hang out with them, I'd be tempted," Brooke said.

"Man-up and hang out with them during the day. Watch a movie at night," Chase said.

"Yeah! We're giving you all great ideas, Brooke," I said. She huffed.

"I know," she mumbled.

"Look, we know you miss us and we miss you loads, too. But this is the situation now. There's no point in moping about it," Eli said.

"I know! I know!" she said, sounding annoyed. We looked at her apprehensively. She sighed, noting this. "Look, I'm just bitter, I think. I'll get over it eventually. You know how I like to be dramatic," she said.

"It'll be fine. Two and a half months will go by in no time," I said.

"I hope so," she said. We sat in silence for a few moments. "I think you guys should go to bed. At least try sleeping. I know you don't feel like it, but you all look like zombies," she said.

"It's the lighting," Chase said. We smacked him on the back of his head and he smirked.

"Get some sleep. Call me tomorrow after you guys do whatever you're doing," she said.

"Ay, ay, captain," Chase said, saluting her. She rolled her eyes and waved at us. We waved back before she hung up. Eli shut his laptop down and closed it, setting it aside.

"So...to bed?" Eli asked.

"To bed," Derek replied, climbing off the bed. Eli and Chase followed him out of the room.

"Night, guys," I said. They all grumbled goodnight back before shutting the door. I sighed, blowing a few loose strands out of my face.

"Let's hit the sack," Alyssa said, reaching under herself and pulling the covers up. I climbed under the soft, downy filled comforter and sighed.

"This bed is awesome," I said. She chuckled and reached over, pressing a button to turn the light off.

"Ugh, we didn't close the curtains," she said, after she lay down. I looked over.

"It's all right. It looks nice," I said.

"It's going to be bright as hell in a few hours," she said.

"Our first European sunrise," I replied, looking at her. She smiled.

"I really wish Brooke was here to see it," she said in a quiet voice. I sighed.

"Me, too," I said, looking out the window at the brightening sky. "Me, too."

____________________________________________________________________

A/N: Portugal! Home of the incredibly annoying (but incredibly attractive and talented) Cristiano Ronaldo!!

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