Laila

      "Please?"

      "No."

     "Pretty please?"

     "No!"

     "Come on, Laila! Live a little! Will you just try it, please?"

  I fought back a shudder as I stared at the large, fat cheeseburger coated in grease wrapped up in paper in Justin's hands. He was giving me an indulgent grin, his eyes glinting mischievously, trying to get me to try the artery clogging piece of food.

   "That looks so disgusting," I grimaced, making a face. "Why on Earth do you want me to try that?"

"Ouray has the best burgers," Justin told me energetically. "Trust me, you're gonna love it."

   "If I don't die from a heart attack first," I grumbled under my breath.

In reality, I so did not want to try the cheeseburger that was topped off with some sort of sauce with the works - lettuce, tomato, onion, and anything else the cook could think of. But my pride was weighing out more than my urge to puke.

 There was no chance that I would let Justin Richards of all people beat me in anything. Even if "anything" transcribed as eating a horrific looking cheeseburger.

  "Fine," I groaned, rolling my eyes, before grabbing the cheeseburger from him and taking a bite.

I nearly died.

  "Holy shit!"

"Laila! Language!" Emma scoffed loudly, going hands on hips.

  I shrugged indifferently before taking another bite of the delicious thing, suddenly ravenously hungry.

  "Told you so," Justin said smugly, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, well," I muttered self consciously.

   I plopped myself down on a red bench outside the homey looking burger joint Justin had got our lunch from and admittedly, I was enjoying the food. Hell, I was probably even going to eat some of the onion rings Emma got for us all to split.

  What can I say? I was on vacation. I had a right to pig out, didn't I?

Justin took a seat beside me on the bench, munching away on his own cheeseburger that had to be double the size of my own. And for some odd reason, Emma was eating beef tacos, but I had no idea where she got them from.

 We ate in a comfortable silence, a soft breeze ruffling our hair as it blew through the tiny little tourist trap that was Ouray.

I had to admit that I was definitely liking the place.

 Cozy little home-owned shops lined the streets on either side of the main road that lead straight through Ouray. Each one of the eccentric looking shops had something different to offer and I was hopeful that maybe after we finished eating we'd be able to go exploring.

  "Are you having fun, sweetheart?" Justin asked as I stood to throw away my cheeseburger wrapper.

  I grinned, feeling my cheeks warm. "You could say that."

"So...." 

  I glanced over at Justin and saw the shifty look he was giving me.

"Yes?" I hinted.

  "You like antique shops?" 

I stared at Justin like he had just said something ridiculously stupid. 

  "You're kidding, right?" I said, eyebrows raised.

"Look, it was just a suggestion and I mean, I thought you might like - "

  "Justin!"

I burst out laughing, my arms wrapped around my middle to keep myself upright. The look on his face was so shocked and embarrassed that I thought he was about to keel over and start praying to be sucked up into the ground. 

  "What?" he demanded sharply, looking freaked out.

"I love antique shops," I reassured him with a giggle. "It's always fun going into antique shops. You never know what you can find in them."

  "Told you," Emma muttered under her breath, giving Justin a sharp jab in the ribs.

"Oh, shut up."

  Justin got to his feet, still looking jaded and insanely embarrassed as he threw his own trash away in a nearby trashcan.

  After Emma took her sweet time finishing off the rest of her onion rings and threw away her trash, we set up off the street, examining the shops with interested eyes.

  A few of the shops were mainly places were tourists could go and purchase as many things with the word "Colorado" printed on them as they wanted. I decided that I really didn't want a Colorado momentum. After all, Ashleigh and Mitch's wedding was certainly memory enough.

  "Wait!" Emma suddenly shrieked, throwing up her hands.

"What?!" Justin and I both exclaimed in alarm.

  "Let's go in here, okay?"

She was pointing furiously at a shop with faded blue painted letters painted on a sign above the door that said it was an "ANTIQUE SHOP" in capitals.

  That was all the encouragement I needed before I was sprinting across the street, tugging Justin along behind me, my fingers tangled through his.

  The second I walked over the treshold of the candle-scented, insence filled shop, it was like stepping back through the centuries. Hundreds of different knicknacks were placed around the shop in strategic places, none of the items really related in any way, but somehow it all worked. 

  There was a large, ruffled oriental fan that was tacked up against one wall, and there were hundreds of different coins and medals that were placed in a dimly lit case that had to be insanely old. Everything about the shop was beyond old, but it was amazing. Exactly the type of thing I liked.

  "This is so cool," I breathed, glancing around in every nook and cranny of the shop.

"I'm glad you like it," the elderly woman with graying ringlets and a kind, weathered face said from behind the front counter.

  I smiled in response.

I had a feeling this was going to be a pretty awesome day. 

    The three of us spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Ouray, popping in and out of each different eccentricly decorated shop that the tiny tourist trap had to offer. Emma took as many pictures as she could and even enjoyed taking embarrassing pictures of me or Justin at any chance she got. 

  I made a mental note to delete them off her camera as soon as I could.

There was even a shop that had the weirdest hats lining the walls, and it was absolutely a hoot trying on the most awful ones that I could find and then making funny faces in the floor length mirror beside the racks. 

   Beside the hat shop was a bakery where Justin treated us all to different flavors of chocolate truffles that were beyond rich and made my sweet tooth spaz out. 

  All in all, I highly approved of the town where the Richards owned a vacation house. Plus, I didn't even mind that I was feeling dizzy with almost every step I took and beyond light-headed.

The slight breeze that had picked up earlier increased in intensity as we walked down the left side of Main Street. The ominous gray clouds had started to darken, which could only mean one thing. 

  "It's going to rain," Justin noted, his head tipped back as he glanced up at the sky. "We should probably start heading back."

  "What?" I exclaimed, making a pouty face. "You don't want to dance in the rain?"

He gave me a curious look, his lips tilted in a small grin. "Ah. That would be a no."

  And that's when Emma took off running down a back street as she burst out laughing, calling out "Hurry up, you two!" over her shoulder. 

  Justin and I exchanged bemused looks.

"I'll race you?"

  "You're on, sweetheart."

I sprinted off after Emma, forcing my legs to move as fast as they could, hoping against hope that Justin wasn't going to beat me. But of course, since Justin had giant ostritch legs, he quickly overtook me in a matter of seconds.

  "Hey!" I called out, bursting with laughter. "Not fair!"

He turned back a bit and caught me in his arms, much to my surprise, and then the next thing I knew, my legs were wrapped around his waist and my arms were around his neck  in what was effectively a "piggy-back ride", for lack of a better word.

  "Justin!" I squeaked, my face buried in his shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?" 

"Well, I couldn't stand to listen to your complaining that I'm beating you in a race again," he answered conversationally.

  I resisted the urge to smack him, since I didn't want him to drop me. 

"Ready?" Justin asked conspiritorially.

  I didn't have to be looking at his face to know that he'd be smirking.

"Sure?" I whimpered.

  Then he started running. I thought he was going to die, that was for sure, but somehow he caught up to Emma and quickly overtook her, sprinting right up the dirt path that lead up to the vacation house.

  "I'm not exactly the lightest thing out there!" I huffed out, clutching on to Justin even tighter. "How can you be running so easily?"

I could feel his laughter reverberting in his chest.

"You've got to weigh a buck-ten soaking wet, Laila," he said with a chuckle. "I think I'm going to be okay."

  I was too freaked out to even answer to that, since it felt like I was about to tumble to the ground at any second. 

  But of course, knowing my luck, that's exactly what happened a second later. 

Justin's sneaker caught on an odd shaped rock and we both went tumbling down to the ground, landing in the weirdest way. Somehow, my leg had caught in between his, his arm wrapped around my waist and his other wrist trapped behind my neck. My fingers were caught in his shirt collar and then tangled in his silky hair. 

  I blinked in surprise. "Uhm..."

"Well," Justin said, almost conversationally. "Isn't this awkward?"

  I flushed bright red, probably turning the color of a lobster.

 "You think?" I snapped sarcastically.

He smirked, his green eyes glinting dangerously. "Funnily enough, I do."

  To make matters worse, he leaned down and kissed me, more than making up for the small, sweet kiss that he'd given me at the Falls. 

  In fact, we were both so caught up in the mind blowing kiss that it came as a surprise when we heard a loud call of laughter.

  "Ha ha!" Emma crooned loudly. "I'm telling mom!"

Somehow, half a second later, we were both up and off the ground, sprinting into the vacation house after Emma.

  "Emma! You little twit!" Justin called after his sister with an annoyed voice. 

I leaned up against the long kitchen bar as Justin kicked the front door shut with a foot, still looking pissed off.

 "And what seems to be the problem this time?" Kim asked as she strolled in from the sitting room, my mother close at her heels.

  "They were making out!" Emma scoffed, looking disgusted, before she took off running, out of sight.

  "You seem to be quite taken with each other, hm?" Mom said, eyebrows raised.

I took a seat at the bar, leaning forward on my elbows, trying to not focus on my pounding headache.

  "Summer fling?" I suggested dryly.

"Summer fling?" Justin repeated hopefully, giving me an innocent look.

  I rolled my eyes.

"Be that as it may," Kim said with a small, satisified smirk. "Just be careful."

  "Careful?" Justin said with a bark of laughter. "Mother, I treat Miss Hayes here like a princess."

"A princess?" I laughed shortly. "A princess, my ass, Richards."

  "Laila Nicole!" Mom reprimanded loudly. "Language!"

"My bad."

  "You two are being careful with each other, right?" Mom pressed, totally forgetting the whole language thing. 

  "Excuse me?" I said, eyebrows raised.

"Right?" our mothers both pressed at the same time.

  "Are you daft?" Justin scoffed loudly. "We're just fine, mother."

"Just...just be...you know?" Mom trailed off, looking just as embarrassed as I felt.

  "Right," Kim agreed with a nod. "Just....you know."

"Dios mio, Mother," I exclaimed, taking a leaf out of Avery's book. "Okay? I'm a virgin."

  And with that, I stumbled my way off the bar stool, through the kitchen, and to the stairs before I could embarrass myself even more. Or die. Which either one happened first. 

   When I swung open the door to the bedroom I shared with Emma (and unfortunately Maggie, too) I was beyond shocked and rendered immobile to see the Petrolas herself lounged across her bed, looking bored out of her mind and as fashionable as ever.

  "What're you doing here?" I blurted out, surprised.

Maggie glanced over at me and her lips twisted into a grin. "Managed to convince my parents to come home early from Montrose."

  I arched an eyebrow. " That's nice?"

"Do you like spending time with your family?" she pressed pointedly, rolling her eyes.

  I thought about that.

"Okay. Good point."

 It felt like I was about to drop off to sleep at any second, I was that exhausted. So I made my way towards the bed on the opposite of the room with full intentions of sleeping the rest of the afternoon away. But before I could even reach the comfortable looking bed?

  I hit the floor in a dead faint.