It was a beautiful day in Miami, Florida. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and a red and black bus was tearing down the street at breakneck speed.
Pedestrians could only stare in awe as the vehicle screeched around turns. A police car followed closely behind.
Inside the bus, a group of people was huddled near the front. One man steered frantically while the others yelled at him.
"JACOB! Slow DOWN!" one of them cried. "We got the po-po on our tail now, thanks to you!"
"I'm sorry, Soli!" Jacob said. "I'm panicking here!"
"Well pull over!" he yelled back.
"I'm too scared," Jacob whispered, tears forming in his eyes.
Before Solomon could yell at his younger brother again, a man with blonde hair stepped in. He always knew how to deal more effectively with people. "Jacob, the longer you run away from your fears, the worse things are going to get," he said gently.
Jacob nodded. Derek was right. He flicked on his turn signal and slammed on the brakes. The police car glided smoothly to a stop behind them.
The man in the passenger seat finally removed his tattooed hands from his eyes. "Are we dead?" he asked.
"No, Nathan, we're not," Solomon said, glaring at Jacob, "but we will be as soon as that officer gets up here!"
"What did I do?" Jacob asked innocently.
Solomon just turned and stormed off. Derek shook his head and placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "The officer just wanted to give us a warning about speeding here, no reason to freak out. Honestly, now I have no idea what will happen, since we technically tried to outrun a cop—"
As Jacob began to silently cry, Derek changed his tone. "—But it's okay! We're here, the weather's great, and everyone's safe."
The officer banged on Jacob's window. He slowly rolled it down and looked up at the cop with big, sad eyes.
"ID and registration, please."
Just then, Jacob's twin brother Josh came up. "What's going on? I heard a lot of—" He stopped short when he saw the officer at the window. "Jacob…what did you do?"
"I didn't mean to!" Jacob wailed, as he gave in to loud sobs. The cop's face softened a little. The silence, broken by the sound of Jake crying, was awkward.
"Well, I guess I'll just send you on your way, then," the officer said. "Have a nice day."
Jacob stopped crying and all four men just stared out the window in shock. The officer tipped his hat and walked off.
Solomon came back up front. "I just saw the copper leave. What's the damage?"
"Nothing," Derek said. "He—he let us go."
"What? No way!" Sol exclaimed. "Alright, we gotta get back to business. Our hotel reservation is for 4, so let's skedaddle. And, uh, I'll be driving the rest of the way."
…
Finally! The boys made it to the beautiful coast of Miami. They unloaded their gear in the suite they had rented and headed to the ocean.
Jacob was obviously feeling a bit better when he made a joke about Miami being "beachy keen."
"I love it here!" Sol said, also in a better mood. "The sun…the sand…the girls…"
"Dude, you're married," Josh pointed out.
"Don't mean I can't appreciate other females," he said, winking.
Josh rolled his eyes and walked off. He liked being alone, so he headed down the beach by himself.
Jacob had his pants rolled up and was splashing in the water. Derek was building a sand castle with Nate, and Solomon had found a lady companion to talk to. Josh chuckled and stuck his hands in his pockets. Seagulls flew off when he neared them. The waves lapped at his feet. The sun was about to set. It was beautiful.
BAM! Before he could think, he had knocked someone over. His face flushed red as he tried to help them up. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
"Yeah…I think I'm—" The girl's voice trailed off as she looked up into his face. "Ohhh…you…you're…ohhh…"
"I'm what? An idiot? Yeah. I'm sorry."
The girl stood up, never taking her eyes off of him. "No, I mean…you…you're that guy!"
"Uh, yeah, I guess I am…" Josh said, obviously confused.
"Sorry! I mean you're Josh! From Family Force 5!" the girl said breathlessly.
"Oh! Yeah, that's me. I take it you're a fan?"
"A huge one! You're amazing. My name's Olivia, nice to meet you," she said as she smiled and extended her hand.
"You too," he said, shaking her hand with his larger one. "So, what brings you to Miami?"
"Spring break, of course!" Olivia said, smiling even wider. "Me and my friend Lauren drove down here to relax. Who knew I'd bump into you?"
"Not me," Josh said, laughing. "Well, have a good one. Sorry again for just about running you over."
"It's fine! Really! I'm glad you did, actually, otherwise I might not have met you here!"
"Haha okay. See ya."
Josh walked off as Olivia watched him leave. She had been really cool about the whole incident. Most girls he accidentally hit would get super angry at him. But not her. She was cool. Really cool. She was—wait! What was he doing? He just left her in the dust! What, is he crazy?
He came to his senses and jogged back over to her. "I am such a log," he said. "Would you like to come meet the rest of the band?"
Olivia had to keep from screaming. "I'd love to! Oh wait…is it okay if we put a rain check on that? How about you guys come over to our hotel patio tonight for a barbeque? I'm sure Lauren would love to see you guys too."
"I'm sure that'd be fine, I'll check with the others," Josh agreed.
"Great! Cool! See you then, I guess," Olivia said happily.
"Cool," Josh smiled.
As Josh Olds walked away from her for the second time that day, Olivia sighed. "Ohhh, wait till I tell Lauren," she said to herself as she headed towards her hotel.
