Laila

       I zipped my duffelbag closed and dropped it on the bed beside the new book I got yesterday when we were out shopping - So Much Closer. Since this was going to be my first time flying today, I definitely needed a new book to distract myself. Not only from the airplane, but because Maggie Petrolas of all people would be spending the week and a half with us in Colorado.

    I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

This was going to be hell.

   Even if Justin - surprise, surprise - was going to be with us during the whole endeavor, I doubted I was going to make it through this.

   There was a knock on the guest room door.

I turned around, taking a deep breath, preparing to put a happy smile on my face and act like nothing was going to wrong. Because even if someone was trying to convince me otherwise - things were gonna go wrong. No doubt about it.

   "I'm such a pessimist," I muttered under my breath before opening the door.

Justin stood in the doorway, a half asleep look on his face as he yawned.

  "Ready to go?" he asked, sleep lacing his voice.

"As I'll ever be," I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. "Are we leaving now?"

 Justin nodded, running a hand through his tangled hair.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he sighed. "I know you don't want to go."

  "It's not that!" I exclaimed, surprised. "I'm actually excited to see Ashleigh. I haven't seen her in forever. It's just...."

  "Maggie," Justin finished for me with a grimace.

What was the point in lying? He'd hit it straight on.

  "Yeah," I admitted sheepishly.

Justin laughed, reaching out to tug on a strand of my hair.

  "No one's blaming you, Laila."

I sure hoped he was right.

  "Mom's already getting antsy," Justin said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "You probably should take your stuff down now."

  I grabbed my duffle bag and book and left the room, Justin shutting the door behind me as I went.

"You aren't going to start vomitting when we get on the plane, are you?" Justin said from behind me as we walked down the stairs.

  I rolled my eyes, tossing him a sardonic look over my shoulder.

"Very funny, Richards. And no, I'm not."

  I turned back around with a gulp. I hoped.

Emma was already waiting in the foyer when Justin and I made it down the staircase. Mom and Kim weren't far behind, toting their luggage around in their grasps.

  "Excited, Laila?" Mom squealed, rushing forward to squeeze my shoulders.

I blanched. That was an answer enough for Mom.

  "Oh, sweetie, it'll be okay," she sighed, hugging me tightly.

"I'm fine, Mom," I gagged, squirming out of her grasp.

  "Don't worry," she said with a giggle. "Justin'll be there to keep you safe."

 I rolled my eyes, scoffing. "Very funny."

I'd been expecting it, but that didn't make my mom's teasing any less embarrassing.

  Laurence joined our little party in the foyer with a smart looking travel bag tossed over his shoulder a moment later, a business like look on his face.

  "Are we all ready?" he asked us all in serious tones.

"As I'll ever be," I muttered under my breath.

  Emma snickered, giving me an indulgent smile.

"No worries, Laila," she reassured me. "It'll be a blast, trust me."

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again.

Yeah, because sitting on a two hour flight with a girl I couldn't stand  who probably hated me to within an inch of her life was going to be so much fun.

  I could hardly wait.

     Kim started ushering us all out the front doors after that little remark from Emma. I trudged outside into the gravel driveway where the giant SUV was waiting to take us to the Portland International Airport. It was barely seven thirty in the morning, and our flight didn't leave until close to eleven thirty, but Kim had insisted that we needed to be there insanely early so we could get through security with no hassels.

   I'd heard that I would have to take off my shoes. Just lovely.

After shoving my book into my duffel bag, I dumped the bag in the back of the SUV and climbed into the huge car, squeezing into the back before buckling myself in.

  This was beginning to feel oddly routine like.

Emma clambered in beside me, taking the middle seat, and Justin took the seat next to her.

  I leaned back against the leather seats, letting my eyes flutter closed, and in a matter of seconds, I was fast asleep.

   I woke up with a start nearly a half hour later when Emma started bouncing up and down in her seat, squealing like a piglet.

  "Emma, are you all right?" I asked her seriously.

She grinned like a lunatic in response. I took that as a yes, she was all right.

   "Pay her no mind," Justin yawned, waving an airy hand. "She likes to call attention to herself all the time."

  "No," Emma said forcefully, glaring up at her brother. "I'm just excited to fly!"

 Well, that made one of us.

    Nathaniel, the Richards' friendly and elderly driver, pulled the SUV up to a stop outside the Frontier Airlines gate in the never ending loop outside of the Portland International Airport.

   I managed to crawl my way out of the car after Emma and Justin and meandered around to the back to grab my duffel bag. After we finished unloading the car - with the help of Nathaniel - we said our goodbyes and rushed inside the gates.

   "This is it!" Emma squeaked, grabbing at my forearm, before she skipped ahead to start bouncing around her parents.

  A minute later I caught sight of a family all with perfect blonde hair and realized with sinking dread that those must be the Petrolases.

  I fought back a groan. This was going to be horrible.

I jerked in surprise when I felt Justin's long, thin fingers lacing through mine, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I glanced up at him with a questioning look on my face. He just grinned crookedly in response.

   "Have a little faith, Laila," he said, looking smug. "You may find that you even like flying, and the Petrolas family."

  "I like Nick just fine," I piped up with a scowl. "And Patricia, too. Just not Maggie so much."

I didn't add that the feeling was definitely mutual.

  Justin rolled his blazing green eyes. "C'mon, sweetheart. Let's get this over with."

  "If you're sure," I muttered, taking a deep breath.

He gave me an encouraging nudge forward, laughing. Patricia and Nick and the rest of the Petrolas family caught sight of us a second later, and then Nick and Patricia were rushing towards the two of us.

  "Hi, man," Nick said, clapping Justin's shoulder.

Justin laughed, rolling his eyes. "Hey, Nick."

  "And the beautiful Laila, of course," Nick continued, tossing his arms around me in a tight hug.

"Hey, Nick," I sighed, trying to keep a smile on my face.

  "Hi, Laila," Patricia said, greeting me with a hug like her son.

"Nice to see you again, Patricia," I said formally, stepping back.

   Maggie, of course, looked as gorgeous as ever in skinny jeans and a form fitting blue blouse. She cast Justin a coy look, her honey eyes glinting, and purposely ignored me.

   "Hey, Justin," she said, smiling with unnecessary warmth.

Justin forced a half smile on his face. "Hi, Maggie."

  Before either of them could say anything else, a man with slightly graying blonde hair - dressed just as nicely - stepped forward with an outstretched hand.

  "Hi, Laila, I'm Dimitri," Dimitri Petrolas introduced himself formally. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure, yes," I agreed, a bit nervously.

  "Well, shall we get to checking in?" Kim interjected with a laugh.

 Well, should we ever?

  It took us at least an extra hour to get checked in, considering how long the lines for Frontier Airlines were, but we finally managed before Kim, Patricia and Mom were ushering us towards the security. Dimitri Petrolas and Laurence merely ambled along behind our group, chatting amiably like old friends.

  "They're gonna make you take off your shoes," Emma told me as we walked along, wrinkling her nose. "You know that, right?"

  "So I've been told," I muttered, fighting back another sigh.

"Clearly, you don't get out enough, Laila, dear," Maggie drawled as she waltzed by us.

  I didn't bother with a reply to that. What was the point? She was just going to beat me down sooner or later again with sarcastic and crude remark. 

  "Ignore her, Laila," Nick sighed, standing beside me as we got into the security line. "She's just bitter."

  "Like you, Nick?" Maggie shot back over her shoulder with a smirk.

Nick responded by flipping his sister the bird. I fought back a laugh, holding a hand over my mouth.

 "Not so bad so far, is it?" Justin asked from behind me, his hands coming to rest on my shoulders.

 I leaned back against him, glancing up with a grin.

"Maybe," I replied diplomatically. "Maybe not."

 "I think maybe you'll like flying after all," Justin said confidently. 

I pursed my lips, arching an eyebrow. "I don't know. What makes you so confident?"

  I already knew I wasn't going to like this trip, so who's to say I was going to like flying?

"Because I'll be here."

  Clearly Justin was feeling particularly bold today, considering he just leaned down out of nowhere and promptly kissed me in the middle of a crowded airport. I kissed him back as best I could, trying to keep my knees from buckling while Nick "Awh!"ed under his breath.

  And then of course Maggie had to ruin the moment by saying loudly, "I'll bet she kisses like a fish."

I bit my lip, my eyes cast downward. If that's just a preview of how the new few weeks are going to go, then I'm not so sure I'm going to like this trip at all.

    The plane ride to Animas Air Park took nearly two hours. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise to me - considering the luck that I have, after all - that I ended up sitting right in the middle of Justin and Maggie in the row of three seats.

  I wasn't so sure if our parents were trying to force us all to make amens or to try and get along with each other, or if they were just feeling particularly vindictive. Whatever the reason, though, I wasn't too pleased.

  Maggie kept shooting me disgusting glares with her honey colored eyes narrowed the second I grabbed Justin's hand when the plane started taking off on the runway. And she had let out a stream of high pitched giggles when I had trouble getting the stupid seat belt on, too.

   So, all in all, my first flight wasn't that good. At all.

Justin flicked up the window cover as the plane's wheel started to screech onto the tarmac and nudged me, gesturing towards the window.

  "Have a look."

I craned my neck a little to see out the window and my jaw dropped. Colorado was absolutely beautiful. There were series of mountains that surrounded the small airport that we were at, as well as the surrounding city, that looked as if they still had a little snow left on the peaks. The trees were vibrant and tall and full of life, their leaves green and rustling in the slight breeze outside. I could only wait to get off the plane and breathe in the crisp mountain air for the first time.

  That, I had to admit, I was looking forward to.

I grabbed my duffel bag out of the small little compartment above our seats and filed off the plane after Kim and my mom. Emma, Laurence, and Justin were behind me as we walked past the two perky looking flight attendants standing beside the captain of the plane.

  "Welcome to Durango!" the captain said energetically as we stepped off the plane.

I glanced over at Justin, frowning. "I thought we were supposed to be going to Silverton?"

  "Ouray, actually," he corrected me. "That's where our vacation house is. Silverton is where Ashleigh's wedding is. But neither Ouray or Silverton have an airport, so Durango was as close as we could get."

 "Oh," I said, surprised.

There was a slight breeze rustling our hair as we walked to the small outcrop of buildings that served as Animas Air Park. Kim, Mom, and Patricia were practically sprinting ahead of us while the rest of us were meandering along, glancing around the scenery.

  "Let's go, children!" Kim half-shouted, energetically waving her hands. "There's a car waiting to take us to the vacation house!"

  A car?

I couldn't help but pull a sour face. I didn't like making a big deal out of the little things. And having a "car" taking us to a vacation house was definitely making a big deal out of nothing.

  "Say, Justin?"

Justin glanced over at me with a curious look in his bright green eyes.

  "Yeah?" he said, an eyebrow raised.

"I was just wondering...." I trailed off, biting my lip.

 Justin stopped in his tracks, giving me a flat look.

"Spit it out, sweetheart. We haven't got all day."

  I pursed my lips, giving him a withering look, rolling my eyes, before I asked the question that had been nagging at the corners of my mind for quite some time.

   "Just how insanely rich are your parents?"

He blinked in surprise, a little taken aback.

  Justin started walking again - but not before waiting for me to catch up - a business-like look on his face.

  "My parents are pretty filthy rich," he finally said, a bitter note to his voice. "Let's just leave it at that, all right?"

  My stomach plummeted. Fighting back a sigh was a lot harder this time than it had been before.

Great.

  How the hell did this insanely wealthy, funny, gorgeously amazing guy - who also happened to be a big jerk - want to spend as much time as possible with me?

  Was I seriously living in reality, or was this all just a figment of my imagination?

"Right," I sighed in agreement.

  He tossed a curious look over his shoulder at me but didn't say anything.

Good. He was right. Let's just keep it at that.

      The car that Kim had claimed was taking us to the Richards' vacation house in Ouray was better named as a condensed limo it was that huge. I kept shooting shifty glances over my shoulder as I dumped my duffel bag in the back of the car with everybody else's luggage before clambering in myself.

   My mom didn't make much, that was true, but we weren't exactly dirt poor, either. We got enough to get by comfortably, but that was okay, since we didn't need much. But it was a little insanely awkward for me, being around so many people who were obviously wealthy beyond belief and were used to such high class and posh things.

  Myself, on the otherhand? Not so much.

Justin took a seat opposite me in the car that had the seats situated around in a semi-half circle, just enough to sit all of us, even if it was a little cramped.

   I tried to keep my eyes off of him, but it was just no use. My thoughts were jumbled around in my mind so much that none of it made any sense.

   There was no way in hell that someone as beyond words as Justin Richards wanted to be with someone like me - however remotely labeled.

  I sighed heavily, leaning my hand back against the leather seats, closing my eyes. Maybe if I just fell asleep, this whole wedding trip to Colorado thing will have seemed like one boring dream that I'd probably never forget.

     I woke up abruptly by someone kicking me in the shin with expensive designer shoes. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that it was Maggie who was the one that was unceremoniously waking me up.

 I straightened, glaring over at her with an annoyed look. She just smiled back sweetly, tilting her head to the side, living up to her reputation as a dumb, ditzy blonde.

  "We're here, Laila," Maggie said brightly, although my name came out of her mouth sounding more like a malicious sneer.

  "Back off, Margaret."

I looked over at Nick in surprise, who was sitting next to Justin, as he gave a pointed glare in his sister's direction, speaking low enough so that no one else but us could hear.

  "Oh, come off it, Nicholas," Maggie huffed out a sigh, examining her finger nails. "When the hell did you get so boring?" 

  "You know, I ask myself that every day while I wonder why on Earth God cursed me with a twin sister like you."

  "Is there a problem here, children?"

I fought back a sigh of relief as Dimitri Petrolas leaned forward in his seat, a look on his face that said he was clearly not messing around.

  "Ooooh....." Emma hummed under her breath, her foot twitching.

"Not at all, Mr. Petrolas," Justin responded before any of us could reply.

   Oh, how I so wished that was actually the case.

"I hate to interrupt you all, but we happen to have arrived," Kim interjected, her voice purposefully loud. "Let's have a nice vacation, shall we?"

  "You read my mind," my mom laughed, trying tactfully to change the subject.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the driver of the gigantic car hopped out of the drivers seat and jogged around to let us out of the car with the side door.

  My sneaker clad feet hit gravel as I stepped out of the car, glancing around with a speculative eye. My jaw pretty much dropped when I did. The Richards' vacation house could only be described with one word, and that word was massive. 

   It was entirely dark in color with wide windows decked designer curtains and a high-vaulted roof that arched up in an odd angle with perfectly matching shingles. The closer I walked to the house, I could see that it was set on the base of an outcropping of a gigantic rocky ledge that was set on the base of a mountain that stretched up and up, much farther than I could actually tell.

   I turned in the opposite direction and peered down over the hill's side, down onto what could only be the small beautiful town of Ouray. I could tell that if the town was covered in snow, it would definitely belong in a Hallmark Christmas card.

    I felt someone walking up behind me and jerked a little in surprise until I saw Nick standing beside me.

   "Hi," he said by way of greeting.

  I gave him a curious look. "Hi."

   Nick gave a small grin, his hands tucked casually into his pockets.

"How are you doing?" he said with the air of making conversation.

   I shrugged indifferently. "Can't complain, I guess."

"Hey, you two! Come and get your things!"

  We glanced over and watched Kim and Mom waving energetically at us from the back of the car.

"Just a sec!" Nick called to them, before he turned back to me, an abruptly serious look on his face. "Look, about my sister - "

  "Nick, it's okay," I cut him off, knowing where this conversation was bound to hea.d

"Just ignore her, okay?" Nick said. "She's not worth your time or your annoyance. She's just trying to get back at you for stealing Justin from her."

  I blew out a puff of air, looking back out on the town of Ouray.

"I know."

   "But," Nick continued lightly. "Justin was never hers in the first place."

He left after that rather confusing statement, leaving me standing there off to the side of the vacation house.

  I had no idea what to even make of what he'd told me, but I didn't have any time to ponder it when Justin came walking over towards me with lengthy strides.

  "You okay?" he asked, sounding just the slightest bit anxious.

I fought back an eye roll. I really wished people would stop asking me that.

   "I'm fine," I said, not unkindly. "Let's just go in, okay?"

I made to turn away from Justin, walking back towards the car to grab my duffle bag, but he spun me back around and pressed his lips against mine in a short, sweet, simple kiss.

   He leaned back, his lips twisting up into a grin. 

I sucked in a deep breath, biting my lip, not sure of what to say. I was scared, in all honesty. But I had a feeling that it might be an okay trip, after all. I untangled my fingers from his and walked to the car, grabbing my duffle bag and tossing it over my shoulder.

  Justin was behind me the entire time as I stepped up the smooth wooden porch, hesitantly stepping over the threshold and stepping into the foyer. 

   The place looked like it belonged in one of those home edition magazines, decorated with dark, earth and rich tones with dark leather furniture, a large marble fireplace with a giant flat screen TV above it. Off to the right of the foyer was the kitchen, which was a sparkling display of top-of-the-art chrome appliances. I could only imagine that the fridge was stocked with foods and delicacies beyond belief.

   There was a wraparound deck out through the french doors in the living room that had porch furniture that matched the gigantic and fashionable fire pit in the middle of the deck with perfectly placed wood logs.

  "Wow," I breathed, my eyes wide. "Talk about filthy rich living."

Justin made a horiffic grimace, rolling his eyes. "Sure, sure."

  "What do you think, Laila?" Kim asked as she appeared in the kitchen, leaning forward on one of the marble countertops.

  "It's amazing," I told her honestly. 

Kim laughed, smiling warmly, before she turned to Justin.

  "By the way, Justin, you're rooming with Nick," she said.

Justin shrugged. "I figured as much."

  "And Laila, I know you're not going to be too happy about this, but....you'll have to be rooming with Maggie and Emma." 

   This time I didn't hold back an overexaggerated sigh.

   "Justin, stop laughing."

 "Sorry, it's just... - just the look on your face!"

   "Har har har."

This was just the cherry on top of the most fantastic day possible.

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   I hope you guys liked this chapter!! I'm not so sure about it, but what do you guys think?

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Tell me what you think, please! :D