Laila

            It didn't come as a surprise to me that I woke up with a smile plastered on my face the next morning. In fact, I even welcomed it. That just meant that everything that had happened last night actually did happen and they weren't just figments of my imagination.

   I spent maybe about a half hour just staring up at the ceiling, replaying the images of last night over and over in my mind. It was safe to say they weren't going to be forgotten any time soon.

   I was jolted out of my reverie by my cell phone ringing obnoxiously loud. Letting out a groan, I rolled over and fumbled around on the night stand before I managed to grab my cell phone and flipped it open with a sigh.

   "Hello?"

 "Where the hell have you been?" 

  Lissa immediately started squawking at me over the line, demanding to know everything that had happened at the party last night. I barely even understood half of what she was saying she was talking that fast.

  "Hang on there, Lissa," I said quickly, trying to slow her down. "I'll tell you everything you need to know when you stop talking a mile a minute."

   Lissa took a deep, shuddering breaths for what felt like ten minutes before she finally spoke again.

  "Okay. Tell me what happened."

I couldn't keep the ridiculous smile off my face while I regailed Lissa with an entire play-by-play of everything that had happened last night. I threw in as much extra details as I could, just for her benefit, and it turned out to be pretty amusing. I seriously doubted I'd heard her gasp and shriek as much before.

  "He kissed you!" Lissa squealed, nearly making me go deaf.

 "Uhm, yeah..." I trailed off, embarrassed.

   When she put it like that, wasn't the entire institution of kissing sort of... well, cheesy?

 "How was it? Was it nice? Was it everything you hoped it would be? Are his lips soft? Is he a good kisser?" 

  I almost flipped off the bed out of embarrassment. Slapping a hand to my forehead, I slid down the bed, yanking the covers up to my chin. 

  "....You really wannna know?" I asked Lissa slowly, trying to lay it on thick.

  "God, Laila, of course I wanna know!" Lissa all but screamed. 

   "My God, Lissa, he's the best kisser. His lips are amazing, and - "

"'Morning, sweetheart." 

    Justin peered in to the room, leaning against the doorjamb with a crooked grin in place.

  I screamed and tossed the phone off the bed and onto the floor.

   Justin stared blankly down at the floor where my cell phone was and glanced back up at me with a curious look on his face.

  "Surprised to see me, too?" he suggested with a smirk.

 I made a disgusted scoff, kicking the covers back and rolling out of bed so I could grapple around on the floor, trying to grab my cell phone.

   "Hey, Liss?" I said breathlessly. "I gotta go."

"What? Why? Oh, wait - " she said quickly, realization setting in. "Is Justin there?" 

  "That's right," I sang with a rather annoyed tone.

Then Lissa started making kissy noises over the line, so I hung up. 

   "Can I help you?" I asked Justin, trying not to feel completely mortified.

  "Did you check the time?" he said in light tones.

 That caught me there for a second.

   "No..." I said slowly.

  "It's two in the afternoon."

  "Oh, crap."

 Justin burst out laughing. "It's not a big deal, Laila. C'mon. Let's go."

  "Where are we going?" I squeaked frantically as he started tugging me from the room.

This was feeling suspiciously like a replay of last night.

   "I made you lunch," he answered, tossing a grin over his shoulder.

"Why would you do that?" I blurted, completely flustered.

   "Well, I made everybody lunch," he corrected himself, shrugging.

"Why would you do that?" I repeated more frantically.

  "I feel great."

It was useless to try and get anything else out of him after that, because he was that imperviously happy.

  I really wondered why.

    I took a seat cuatiously at the bar in the kitchen while Justin shoved a ridiculously looking amazing looking dish of pasta down in front of me.

  "You made this?" I said, eyebrows raised.

"Yes," Justin replied with a huge smirk. "And don't worry - I promise you that I didn't poison it or anything."

  I gave him a shifty look. "Really."

"Scouts honor," he promised, tipping me a two fingered salute.

  I grabbed a fork and speared some noodles before I hesitantly took a bite.

 I almost fell of the chair.

   "My God, this is delicious," I exclaimed, a hand flying to my mouth.

"Thought you might like it," he said with a smirk. 

   I rolled my eyes and kept eating my delicious meal, completely hungry.

"I take it you enjoy it, then?" Justin pressed eagerly a moment later.

  I hummed in thought, keeping my eyes downcast as I kept eating.

"I thought as much."

  "That's wishful thinking, isn't it?" I replied, clearing my throat.

Justin pulled an offended face, looking playfully scorned.

  "I'm shocked. I guess I'll have to tell Pierre that his recepie of his is horrible."

I gaped incredulously. "I never said that!"

  He snickered, running a hand through his hair. "I know. I just wanted to see your reaction."

"If you must know," I sighed disgustedly. "I think this is a darn amazing dish."

  Justin gave a tilted smirk. "I know," he repeated. "And because I made it, that makes all the difference."

  "Yes, exact - hey!" 

"You rise to the occasion too much. You know that, don't you? "

 I sighed again, dropping my head into my hands. "I know," I groaned helplessly.

  Moments later I felt Justin's much larger hands tugging at my own, moving them away from my face.

  "Hey," he said, putting a finger under my chin. "I didn't say that was a bad thing. I think it's cute."

  I flushed bright red. "Really?" 

He answered by kissing me, catching me totally off guard.

  Okay, so I could really get used to this. His mouth was moving tantalizingly slow with mine, making me go a little insane.

  "Oh, ew. Seriously, again?"

Justin and I jumped apart as Emma bardged her way down into the kitchen, dragging her feet as she went. She was making gagging noises, her face screwed up in a horrific grimace.

  "That's nice, Emma," Justin said, rolling his eyes.

"But that's so gross," Emma whined, tugging on strands of her hair. "I don't understand why you would ever put your mouth on - "

  "Okay, okay," Justin cut off his little sister, rolling his eyes. "We get the point."

"I think you broke Laila, Justin," Emma said, pointing a finger at me.

  I let out a squeak of shock, leaning against the counter to try and hide my face.

"No, she's fine. She always blushes like that."

  I shot a glare up at Justin, now more than humiliated. He just smiled sweetly back.

"Yeah, that's only because you're around, big brother," Emma told Justin with a glare.

  "Was there something you wanted to talk about, Emma?" I asked abruptly, trying to calm my nerves.

  Emma's mood changed rapidly, so she was now rocking back and forth on her heels, a huge smile breaking out across her face.

  "Let's play soccer."

That was pretty much the last thing I was expecting her to say, but I guess it wasn't totally unwelcome.

  "Okay," I answered thoughtfully. "Soccer doesn't sound too bad."

Emma let out a whoop of excitement and rushed forward to throw her arms around me in an impossibly tight hug.

  "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she started babbling. "Let's go!"

Before I could even object, Emma was tugging me off my chair and up the stairs, still going on about how much fun our new soccer match was going to be, much better than the first one.

    "Emma, wait - " Justin started to say, flustered, before Emma flapped a hand in his direction and said, "Oh, don't worry. You can come along and look after your lover-girl,t oo."

  "Emma!" Justin and I both snapped in unison.

"What?" she said innocently. "It's true, isn't it?" 

  "We're just friends, Emma," I told her, reinforcing what Justin had said about our relationship status last night.

  As much as it hurt to admit, Justin did have a point. After all, we did live a state away. But we could still make the most of it, right?

   Even if I did hope against hope that he would ask me out.

I bit back a sigh.

  "What, friends with benefits?" Emma supplied, waggling her eyebrows at the two of us in a suggestive manner.

   "Emma, where the hell did you hear about something like friends with benefits?" Justin demanded, looking completely baffled.

  "Well, that's what your friend Marshall said you and Laila are," Emma answered with an indifferent shrug.

  I thought I was going to drop dead from humiliation.

"Never say that again, Emma," Justin ordered sternly. "And remind me to kick Marshall's ass later."

  "Oh, believe me," I said firmly. "I'll help you with that one."

 "Look, let's just go play soccer," Emma said.

  At this point, I wasn't so sure if soccer was going to cause a whole other plethora of problems between Justin and I. Not to mention horrific embarrassment.

    I sprinted down the lengthy grassy back yard as fast as I could, trying to avoid running into Justin so I could pass off the soccer ball to Emma. I was honestly doing my best to keep up ahead, but it was a little hard to keep a steady breath when I couldn't help but keep laughing hysterically.

   This was just too downright funny.

"C'mon, girl!" Emma shrieked, vigorously waving her arms. "You can run faster than that!"

  "I'm trying!" I called out through a burst of giggles.

 I spoke too soon.

  Justin appeared out of nowhere and deftly aimed a kick at the soccer ball, sending it spiraling back down the yard in the opposite direction. He took off running almost instantly after that, while I just stood there in shock, my mouth hanging open.

   Since when could the Richards run that fast?

 "Hey!" I finally shouted feebly after him. "That's not fair!"

Justin stopped in his tracks and turned back, a slow smile spreading out across his face.

  "I'm just playing the game, aren't I?" he asked innocently.

"Yeah, but you have giant ostritch legs," I blurted unintentionally. "Emma and I don't."

  "Then what do you want to do, if you don't want to play soccer?" he inquired, striding over as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  "Let's go swimming!" Emma shouted randomly.

  Justin pondered that for a moment.

  "Okay," he said after a moment with a shrug.

 Then he promptly scooped me up into his arms, walked over to the pool's edge, before jumping in.

 The shock of the water was so cold I let out a shriek and shoved myself away from Justin, trying to force myself up to the surface. I leaned against the edge of the pool, gasping for air, a permanent scowl etched on my face.

  Justin, on the otherhand, was floating along easily in the water, laughing with a calm air.

"That was so not funny," I snapped, glowering over at Justin.

   He just burst out laughing in response.

"Wait for me!" Emma shrieked before she kicked off her sandals and tossed herself into the pool after us.

  I was met with a splash of water to the face that left me spluttering all over again.

"This is the life," Emma sighed once she bobbed her way to the surface.

  I stared down at my shirt, frowning, realizing that I was soaking wet.

"You made me get my KISS shirt wet," I told Justin indignantly.

   Justin pushed back a strand of his sopping hair from his face and grinned crookedly.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Couldn't resist," he winked.

I gulped, quickly looking at anything but Justin at the moment. I'd like to not turn the color of a tomato, thanks.

  "Justin! Emma! Didn't I tell you not  to jump into the pool with your clothes on?" 

"Maybe!" Emma and Justin shouted back in unison to their mother, who was now standing in the back doorway, stepping out onto the porch.

   My own mother wasn't far behind.

"What were you guys doing anyway?" Kim asked, taking a seat at the porch table.

  "I thought I saw them playing soccer," Mom said with a small smile. "But then Justin tossed Laila into the pool."

  "I raised such a well mannered son," Kim sighed, her fingers massaging her forehead.

I fought back a snort of laughter. That was wishful thinking.

  "Where's Dad?" Justin asked, swimming his way over to the edge of the pool.

"Work," Kim answered. "He's clearing things up with his builders so he can take the next two weeks off."

  "Why?" Emma, Justin, and I all asked in perfect unison.

Kim gave her children a flat look while my mom hid back another smile with a delicate hand.

  "Did you forget that your cousin Ashleigh is getting married next Wednesday?" 

 Justin and Emma exchanged sheepish looks.

  "Right," Emma said quickly, biting her lip.

"Do you remember Ashleigh, Laila?" Mom asked, thankfully changing the subject.

     I thought about that for a moment. Most memories I had from when the Richards family lived a few houses down from us had been repressed over the years. Mostly because I thought I would have a mental break down if I ever revisited them.

   But a fair few times during the holidays, one of Kim's brothers - I think his name was James - and his family had visited with the Richards. Since Mom and Kim pretty much did everything together 24/7 while the Richards were in Seattle, we'd been over to their house plenty enough times.

   Unless I was much mistaken, Ashleigh had been a willowly, petite young girl who had pretty auburn colored hair and a bright smile. I remembered her mainly because she'd been the one to always tell Justin to leave me alone and stop patronizing me. 

   So, yeah, I did remember Ashleigh Pierce.

  "Yeah," I told Mom, nodding. "I remember Ashleigh. She's nice."

Justin snorted out a laugh but quickly tried to hide it by clapping a hand over his mouth from a shrewd look from his mother.

  "Well, Ashleigh was nice enough to extend two extra invitations for us to her wedding," Mom continued, sitting down beside Kim.

 I blinked, letting the new information sink in.

 "So we're going to a wedding?" I asked slowly for confirmation.

Mom and Kim exchanged excited giggles and nodded.

  "Where is this wedding?" I asked Mom and Kim anxiously, the thought suddenly occuring to me.

"It's in Silverton," Kim said.

  My jaw dropped.

"Silverton, as the Silverton in Colorado?" I gasped, my eyes widening.

  "Wait, we're going to Colorado?" Justin interjected, sounding just as shocked as I felt.

"I already told you that, Justin, and yes, we are going to Colorado, Laila," Kim said, slightly aggravated.

  "Oh, my God," I spluttered, sinking down underneath the water.

  Justin tugged me back up to the surface of the water with a questioning look on his face.

"Laila?" Kim, Justin, and Mom all said in unison. "Are you all right?" 

 "Are we driving or flying?" I asked miserably, feeling like I was about to start crying.

Kim laughed, a hand at her heart. "Of course we're flying, sweetie. That's a two day drive at the least."

  "Oh, God!" I repeated, gnawing on my lip.

"You don't like flying, Laila?" Emma asked, bobbing over to me in the water.

  "I've never been flying!" I wailed, my hands on my face. "This is the first time I've ever even been out of the state of Washington!"

  "Oh, and not to mention, we're going shopping tomorrow, too!" Kim cut in with a sing-song voice.

 I sunk underneath the water again with a silent sob.

   Shopping? Flying?

Dear Jesus. God give me strength.

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  So believe me when I say - if you've been getting bored - that I promise things will definitely be picking up in action in the next chapter!! :D so don't stop reading, please! Rates and comments and readings are all what help me going!

  What do you guys think? 

And in all honesty, yeah, Justin's a jerk, but he can be a nice jerk... sort of. hahaha. D: