A/N: Hi guys! This is my first ever FanFiction so I hope you guys like it. Please leave some reviews telling me how you liked the story and what I can improve on.
If this cruise ends up being anything like this car ride, I might have to throw myself overboard. That was the thought I kept repeating in my head as the car ride to the Port of Miami dragged on. Between my father's obnoxious country music blasting and my brother, Braison, and my sister, Noah, fighting over who would get the top bunk, I was beyond irritated. Silently counting down the minutes until we check into the cruise ship, where I can put some distance between my family and I.
I'm usually not this grouchy around my family, but it was simply too early for all this commotion. Granted it was only 9 AM but that's early for any teenager who makes the most out of their weekends by staying up until the crack of dawn. Anyways, my parents planned a family vacation so that we could all "bond" and spend time together. Joy. Don't get me wrong, I love my family but considering that Trace and Brandi decided not to come along, this meant that Braison and Noah would most likely be stuck under my supervision. That's not quite the vacation I had in mind. After the past few months, all I want is to lay out by the pool and soak in the sun, in utter relaxation.
Some backstory? Senior year has barely kicked off and it's already shaping up to be the worst year of my life. In a brief summary, I caught my boyfriend of almost 2 years cheating on me with this skank that goes to our school and just so happens to live down the street from him. Lucky me. One day over summer I decided to go to his house and surprise him before he left for work and I ended up driving right up to the heart wrenching scene. There he was on the front porch of his house in full lip lock with Skanky Pants. I guess he heard my car ease to a stop because he opened his eyes mid-kiss and made eye contact with me. I just gave him the most sarcastic smile I could muster and drove away and that was the end of that. So anyways, I'm not in the greatest of moods lately. I apologize for that.
"Daddy, does this ship have that chocolate night?", Noah screams over the music, pulling me out of my trance.
"The Chocolate Buffet? Yeah, it's on Thursday night I believe.", my dad responds while lowering the music. He turns towards me and briefly looks over his shoulder to say, "Hey Miles, you're awfully quiet back there. Aren't you excited?"
Seeing my dad in such a good mood makes me ease up a bit and I answer, "of course I'm excited, Dad. Just a bit tired." I shot him a genuine smile so he could tell that I meant it. I wasn't thrilled about this whole family vacation but I also didn't want to seem ungrateful to my parents so I'm trying to see the silver lining. Maybe this trip will completely change my life. Who knows, right?
After about 10 more minutes of driving and my mom screaming the lyrics to "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line at the top of her lungs (ironic right?), I finally spot the familiar building where we've checked in several times before. The sourness drifts away a bit and I can feel the excitement slowly coming over my body. As the car comes to a stop in the parking garage, I'm the first one to fling my door open and jump out. "Let's get this party started", is all I can think.
A dozen suitcases, a quick raid of some vending machines and an hour later, we are finally in the waiting area counting down the minutes until boarding time. It seems like everyone's excited considering the fact that no one has bothered to sit, but have instead started forming a line. We join the line and I feel like I can finally take a breath and drink my Gatorade that I got from the vending machine earlier.
"Hey mom, can you hand me my drink from your bag?" I asked. My mom gives me the Gatorade and I proceed to try to open the bottle. For some reason the plastic holding down the cap of the bottle just wasn't breaking and I'm struggling to open the bottle. About a minute has elapsed and I have yet to have any luck with the stupid bottle. I guess my struggle became apparent to someone in the room because all of a sudden I feel an unfamiliar hand around mine.
Looking up, my gaze fell upon a pair of chocolate brown eyes and a genuine smile beaming at me. "Let me help you with that", the stranger said. He had short messy brown hair that was styled upwards, in a bit of a faux-hawk look. And even though I describe his hair as messy, it wasn't the kind of messy you'd find on an unkempt person. It was more of a sexy messy look that was definitely working for him. The unnamed boy (we will call him McHandsome from now on), was wearing a black Miami Heat jersey, some fitted blue jeans and a nice pair of high-top Nike's to match his jersey. As if he wasn't hot enough, the fact that he was wearing a jersey from my favorite basketball team definitely made him infinitely more attractive. His family was right in front of mine in line and apparently he saw my epic battle with the Gatorade.
I handed the bottle over to him without a second thought, still a bit stunned from the initial contact. Effortlessly and instantly, he snapped the plastic off the top and handed the open Gatorade back to me. It took me a second to reach out and grab my drink just because I was so speechless. I don't know if it was because of his mesmerizing eyes, his chivalrous act or his toned biceps that were clearly visible in his jersey. Perhaps a combination of all three. Either way, I was not reacting like a normal human being would.
"Uhh... Uhh.. Thank you...", I was finally able to mutter as I quickly took the bottle from his hand and proceeded to chug the liquid desperately.
"No problem", were the words that came out of the attractive stranger before me. And just like that McHandsome shot me a smile and turned back around to rejoin his family's conversation.
I'm pretty sure that my face formed the derpiest half smile ever in response to his perfect pearly whites. And just like that, I began to kick myself for my social awkwardness and my total lack of control in the situation. "Greaaaatttt. He probably thinks I'm weird as hell now. Between not being able to spit out a few words and the constipated expression that has just come across my face, I have completely scared away one of the hottest guys I've ever seen", I scolded myself. My luck with guys has truly been impeccable these past few months.
As I stand there replaying that embarrassing moment in my head, I hardly noticed the fact that the doors to board the ship were finally open and the line was slowly inching into the Norwegian Dawn. So much for being optimistic about this vacation, I've already made a fool out of myself. Ugh, why me God?