<b>Chapter Four</b>

 

<i>i don’t know you

and i don’t want to

till the moment your eyes open

and you know</i>

 

 

The girls awoke the next morning alone, but with a sweet note for each of them.  Both notes said pretty much the same thing – thanks for letting the guys stay there, and they’d like to treat the girls to a fancy dinner.  It said to wear a dress and meet them downstairs at Victoria & Albert’s at seven that night.

 

The girls looked at each other.  “Did <i>you</i> bring a dress?” Adriana asked.  Taegan shook her head.  “Me either.”  She glanced at the clock.  We have four hours to find one before we have to get dressed.”

 

Twenty minutes later, they were waiting for a taxi to take them to downtown Orlando.  It took them nearly three hours to find dresses.  In the cab on the way back, Adriana stayed amused by Taegan’s grumbling.  “I can’t believe I just spent a hundred dollars on a stupid dress I’ll never wear again.  And who wears a dress in Disney anyway?  Those dopes had better be wearing jackets.  And ties.”

 

They took their time getting ready, and the two hours they had gave them time to imagine what might happen.

 

“Maybe they fell in love with us and want to tell us over candlelight in a romantic restaurant,” Adriana said dreamily.

 

“Addy?” Taegan said.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Shut up.”  Taegan hit her friend in the face with a pillow.  Adriana tried to look indignant.  And succeeded for about ten seconds before she dissolved into giggles.  Taegan joined her, and pretty soon they were out of breath from laughing so much.  By the time they calmed down and glanced at the clock, it was almost seven.  They got up and fixed their dresses and makeup and then headed to the restaurant.  “I’m glad it’s in this hotel.  I feel ridiculous walking around in a dress,” Taegan muttered as they stood in the elevator.

 

“Me too,” Adriana replied.  When they reached the ground floor, they turned in the direction of the restaurant.  Adriana gasped and grabbed Taegan’s arm when they turned the corner.  Taegan barely noticed the death grip on her arm.

 

Michael and Aaron were standing outside the restaurant, dressed, as Taegan had hoped, in jackets and ties.  “Sweet Lord,” Adriana said under her breath.  The girls’ pace had slowed considerably, and all Taegan would do was nod.  Both girls were stunned by how good the boys looked, and for the first time in a long time, Taegan was essentially speechless.

 

Michael was the first to spot the girls.  He began to walk toward them, and Aaron looked up.  The gazes of both Michael and Aaron swept up and down Taegan and Adriana.  Not rudely, just enough to take in what they were wearing and how they looked.

 

“You look beautiful,” Aaron said, locking his blue eyes with Adriana’s brown ones.  She blushed.

 

“You look great, Taegan,” Michael said with a smile.  Taegan smiled back.  “Thanks; you look nice too.”  She wanted to say something else but she wasn’t sure what to say.  She glanced at Aaron as they walked into the restaurant and felt a pang of envy at the say he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her best friend.  She sighed and found that she had to catch up to the others.

 

They were seated at a square table and a waitress came over to take their drink orders.  Aaron ordered a bottle of wine with a grin.  The girls looked at each other nervously.  They both silently agreed not to have more than a glass.

 

Once the wide was brought over and they’d ordered, they began to talk.  The conversations were easy – both Michael and Aaron were easy to talk to.  They were curious about the girls – how they met, how long they’d known each other, if they went to school, what they were doing in Florida.

 

“Spring break?” Taegan offered.

 

“It’s September,” Aaron reminded her.

 

“I know.”  Taegan and Adriana glanced at each other and grinned.

 

“We were supposed to take a trip to Disney for spring break and it fell through.  So we rescheduled,” Adriana explained.

 

By the time their food was served, the guys had learned all about the girls’ childhood, including and especially when they were in second grade and Adriana, who’d always been the more outgoing and popular of the two, saved Taegan from some vicious girls who insisted on teasing her mercilessly and taking a pair of safely scissors to Taegan’s nearly ass-length hair.

 

“Does anyone want a taste of this?” Aaron asked, indicating his steak.  “It’s fantastic.”

 

“Too rare for me,” Taegan said, making a face.  Michael and Aaron laughed.

 

“I’ll try some,” Adriana said.  Taegan watched closely but discreetly and Aaron speared a piece and fed it to Adriana.  She grabbed the bottle of wine and poured herself another glass.

 

Forty-five minutes went by, during which Taegan endured friendly banter with everyone, but most especially (and most difficultly), the subtle flirting between Aaron and Adriana, which was, to her, anything but subtle.  She’d had two and a half glasses of wine, enough to give her a slight buzz, but not put her in danger of getting sick or being hung over or doing something she might not remember.  She was jealous.  And she was angry that she was jealous.  Adriana always got everything she wanted.  Sometimes Taegan wished she could be more like her best friend.

 

“You ok?” a voice asked.  Taegan jumped.  She supposed all the wine she’d had had also made her jumpy.  She looked at Michael.

 

“Yeah.  I’m fine.”  She smiled widely.  She knew it looked fake, but she couldn’t help it.  She’d be fine the next day.  It was just that she was going through a mood.  She must have PMS.

 

Michael smiled back, but his eyes were cloudy.  Taegan couldn’t bring herself to feel bad.

 

*

 

“I really like him.”

 

Taegan looked up from the magazine she was flipping through and stared at Adriana.  It was two days later.  The girls had been in Disney for four days.  “What?”

 

“Aaron.  I really like him.”

 

Taegan smiled.  “I thought so.”

 

Adriana hopped onto the bed next to Taegan.  Both girls sat cross legged, facing each other.  Adriana grinned.  “He kissed me.”

 

“<i>No</i>.” Taegan said.  She was thrilled for her best friend.  She squealed.  “I want to hear everything.”

 

“Ok.”  Adriana shifted to get more comfortable before she launched into her story.  “Well, you know how I was out late last night?”  Taegan nodded.  “Aaron called after you and I went to lunch.  You had already gone off...I want to say to Disney Quest?”

 

Taegan blushed.  She’d been dying to go there since they’d arrived, even though it catered more to little kids.  “Yeah.”

 

Adriana grinned.  “So anyway, he called me and we decided to meet at Epcot.  We wandered around and went on some of the rides and just talked and hung out until dinner.  They have this really neat Beatles type band in Epcot – the British Invasion, I think they call it.”

 

“And we both know how much you adore the Beatles.”

 

Adriana grinned.  “I do.  And now Aaron knows too.  But he likes them, so we watched that for a while.  Then we decided to go to dinner, so we went to the Nine Dragons restaurant in China.  It’s amazing.  We should go there one night.”  Taegan nodded in agreement.  “Right.  Ok.  So then we wandered around a bit more and then sat down on a bench right by the lagoon for the fireworks.  That really neat fireworks display they have at night?  You know the one.  We were sitting there, and you know how I don’t like the noise of fireworks – shut up – and he noticed I kept wincing every time one went off, and he asked me what was wrong, so I told him about my problem with loud noise.  And he covered my ears for the rest of the display.”

 

“Awwww.”

 

Adriana blushed.  “Yeah.  Aw.  Anyway, we decided to wait for a little bit after the fireworks were over, for the crowds to dissipate a little bit.  And we were still sitting on the bench, and Aaron goes, ‘Addy,’ and I looked at him, assuming he just wanted to tell me something, and he goes, ‘Hi,’ and I said hi back and then he kissed me.”  Taegan and Adriana were both grinning like fools.  “Oh, Taegan, I just like him so much.  I know I was all, ‘I hate Aaron Peirsol,’ for the longest time, but I so <i>don’t</i>.”

 

“I knew you didn’t.  I’m so happy for you, Addy.  You deserve it so much.”

 

“What about you?” Adriana asked.  “Anything going on with Michael?”

 

“No.  I like him a lot.”  She paused.  “I think I may even love him.  He’s a really great guy, but I get the feeling he only likes me as a best friend type or a sister.  You know?  We’ve hung out, but sometimes I feel like he’s only there because he feels bad for me with you two hanging all over each other.”

 

“We didn’t–”

 

“Yes you did.  Before even you guys realized it, Michael and I had a couple of conversations about you two.  You’re very adorable, by the way.  Anyway, so no.  There’s nothing.”

 

“Maybe he wants to get to know you before he makes a move.  Michael seems like the sweet type who’d do that.”

 

Taegan gave her a look.  “He’s a nineteen year old guy.  A very attractive nineteen year old guy.  And yes, he is very nice, but I’m fairly certain he’s not just ‘getting to know me.’  Let me tell you I’d already be having sex with him if he’d just loosen up a bit,” Taegan said bitterly.

 

Adriana laughed.  “You so would not.”

 

“You’ve seen him in a Speedo.”

 

“This is true.  Ok, fine, I give you that.  But I’ve seen Aaron in a Speedo–”

 

“And out of it,” Taegan said under her breath.  She was rewarded with a pillow to the face.

 

“That was not my fault.”

 

“No.  I’ll admit that that was my fault, but you were the one who kept bringing it up five times a day after that.”

 

Adriana turned red.  “Any feelings I may have for Aaron or his...parts...I blame entirely on you.”

 

“The word ‘blame’ I think will change one of these days, to ‘thank,’” Taegan said.

 

“You think so?”  Adriana picked up a pillow and hit Taegan again.  Taegan squealed and hit Adriana back.

 

There was a knock at the door.  Adriana got up and opened it, giggling and out of breath from the girls’ pillow fight.

 

“Having fun?” Aaron asked.

 

“Lots,” she replied.  He leaned down and kissed her.

 

“Awww,” Taegan said, making them pull apart and blush.  But she was grinning.

 

“Anyway, I was just thinking.”

 

“How’s your head?” Taegan asked with a smirk.

 

“Fine, why?” Aaron asked, puzzled.

 

Taegan shook her head and lay on her bed.  “Never mind.”

 

Adriana gave Taegan a dirty look, but Aaron just looked confused.  “Right.  So I was thinking that you promised you’d show me that picture and then we got sidetracked.  Can I see it?”

 

Adriana and Taegan looked at each other.  “Sure,” Adriana said.  She got out her laptop and turned it on.  Sheepishly, she went to her favorites list and pulled up the link to the picture.

 

“You added it to your favorites?” Aaron asked.

 

“Aren’t you glad you kissed her?” Taegan asked cheerfully.

 

Adriana laughed.  “I added it to my favorites because...  There’s no good reason, really, so we’ll just say it was because I found it incredibly hot.”  Aaron raised an eyebrow.  “Never mind.  Anyway, are you ready?”

 

He nodded and she clicked on the link.  Taegan watched curiously as he looked at the picture and his eyes widened.

 

“That’s me.  Oh Lord,” he said.  Taegan grabbed a pillow and put it over her face to keep from laughing out loud at his expression.  He was completely shocked by the picture.  “Close it please?” he asked.

 

Adriana closed the window and held her hands up.  “You wanted to see it.  <i>I</i> quite like it, but I can see how you wouldn’t,” she said.

 

“You like it, do you?” he asked, cracking a small smile.

 

She nodded.  “It reveals some of your character.”  She was able to keep a straight face for about half a minute before she burst into giggles.

 

 “You think you’re so funny,” he said.  But he was laughing too.  He leaned over Adriana like he was gong to attack her and instead kissed her.

 

She stopped laughing at that point and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

 

“Ugh!  Get a room!” Taegan squealed, flipping over.  She buried her face in a pillow and put another one over her head. 

 

“We’re in one,” Aaron said, laughing at the sight that was Taegan.

 

“NOT MINE!” she yelled from under the pillows.

 

Aaron and Adriana laughed.  “I have to go anyway.  I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

 

Adriana nodded and kissed him again before he left.

 

“Is he gone?” came Taegan’s voice, quiet and muffled from the pillows.

 

Adriana laughed.  “Yes, he’s gone.  I love it when he kisses me,” she said.  She sighed and sat down on the bed near Taegan’s feet.

 

“I know.  You big sap.”

 

“I can’t help it.

 

“You wouldn’t help it even if you could,” Taegan said with a smile.