How I love writing this story. :) And just to let you know, the entire fic won't be taking place in Niagara Falls. We'll be back in Westchester before we know it. I hope there aren't too many mistakes. Sorry for not updating sooner! REVIEW! I need 3 to put up Chapter 3!
Chapter 2
"Alicia…Alicia…ALICIAAAAAAA!" Nina threw a slice of toast at my face to snap me out of my daze.
"What?" I asked, droopily.
Celia sighed as she got pancakes from the buffet table. The 4 of us were currently staying at the Hilton Hotel. "The girl's in love."
That definitely snapped me out of my stupor. "Excuse me?"
Isobel giggled maniacally at her twin's observation. "You didn't want to leave him last night."
"But we had no choice because Aunt Nadia was just getting here!" Nina laughed along.
It just so happened that my mother was currently in town to run a fashion show. Celia would be participating as one of the youngest designers among the most renown in the entire world.
"Well, you must be excited." I smiled at Celia. Changing the subject turned out to work this time around.
She blushed with excitement. She was the only Callas sister who didn't dare to squeal, even over the smallest bit of good news. I got along with her better because even if she was a girly girl like her other sisters, she didn't hold it against me or tease me to no end about it.
Isobel sipped her orange juice. "I wonder what everyone's doing back home."
"We've only been here for a couple of days and you're already homesick?" Nina raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.
Her sister smirked. "Me? The one who's covering up her anxiety over being so far away happens to be you, hermanita."
Nina mimicked her sister, resulting in the 2 standing up in front of the dining place and bickering in Spanish. I was able to interpret a few phrases because they talked pretty damn fast when they were angry.
Celia laughed. "Don't mind them. We're all pretty excited about coming here. It's quite different from home…" She focused a little too much on the yellow tulips that laid on the table.
Her twin Isobel twisted her luxurious locks around her fingers. She was on the cover of several magazines and was to audition for a few movies in Los Angeles in the fall after she wrapped up her romantic comedy co-starring a famous Spanish soccer star-turned actor in Madrid when they got back. She was also an aspiring filmmaker and would be debuting at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Nina hadn't discovered her true calling for she excelled at almost everything in high school. She had considered coming to study in America but she changed her mind when she got an internship at a publishing company for English Vogue while she took some classes at Oxford. Oxford-graduate Jacques was already apprenticing for his dad's business in real estate but he had loved Nina since they were kids.
I admired my rather eccentric cousins. They all resembled each other so much yet they couldn't be anymore different. They could irritated me in a millisecond and they could cheer me up when I was in a moment of despair.
I just wished they'd let go of the whole Derrick thing.
Derrick and I had talked about…our lives. Where we lived and where we grew up. He told me he was born and raised in Brooklyn. He currently attended Columbia University, almost giving me a heart attack. It was pretty much impossible to get into Columbia, unless you were a wicked genius like Derrick was. He was obsessed about physics and all the natural sciences. He loved soccer. I didn't pen him as the athletic type somehow. He confessed that he was the type who would be caught having his nose in a book, though. A contradiction after another. He wanted to be an engineer, a prosperous one at that. He was going to places he's never been to before and Niagara Falls was officially crossed off his bucket list (he told me he actually kept one).
I told him I lived in Westchester and went to Siren-Tomahawk High. I got decent standardized test scores, even though they would never compare to those Ivy League-aspiring kids (like Derrick). My parents had always been on my case about getting good grades so I was a certified an intellectual badass at school (instead of being referred to as a nerd). I told him that I wanted to be a lawyer but that I was really passionate about journalism, so I was thinking of having that as a minor. I told him about my favorite music. I told him how much I liked to dance…in the privacy of my bedroom with the music blasting in my earphones. I even told him that I wasn't a big fan of running. If I were ever chased by a psychotic serial killer, I'd be screwed.
Apparently, he was obsessed with Death Cab For Cutie and Maroon 5, just like I was. He was surprised that I was a tomboy, since I looked as girly as any girl could possibly get in Celia's dress. It seemed as if he were impressed or a little overjoyed at the fireworks. I couldn't tell.
I learned that he traveled a lot to escape having to go back and forth from his split-up parents. I emphasized with him because Dylan's parents went through a harsh split years ago. She had always confided in me and that made me feel pretty special. When we were about to really tell each other about who we were because we were getting along swimmingly, Nina and the others came to drag me away from him to go meet my mom back at the hotel.
"I guess this is goodbye." I said as casually as I could but believe it or not, I felt this considerable pain in my chest from having to leave. I really liked him, even if we'd just met. I guess we just clicked. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Harrington."
He got up from the table to walk me over to the girls. "You, too."
We stared at each other long enough that Isobel coughed, leading to Nina elbowing her on the ribs which led Celia to slam her palm against her forehead out of annoyance.
"Hey." He coughed as he got his phone out. "Would it be okay if we got each other's numbers. It feels…like there hasn't been enough said." He looked frustrated, like it pained for him to admit it.
"Sure." I smiled. I couldn't help it. He was really cute when he looked like that.
And after that, the girls couldn't quit harassing me about how it went.
"Alicia!" Nina shook me again.
I turned red since everyone around us was gaping.
"So, what's happening today?" I asked, dodging Nina's next comment on my so-called relationship with Derrick. She wouldn't have been wrong. I had thought about him when I let myself but most of the time, I tried to be preoccupied so my thoughts wouldn't drift to the memory of his laugh or the way the fireworks' glow outlined his features.
"You are going to call Derrick!"
I was surprised that it was Celia who blurted it out. I mean, she was the sane one of the Callas sisters.
Well, it turns out that that didn't stop her from messing with me.
It's been 2 days since that night. He hasn't contacted me since. I knew it was hopeless. "Why should I? Shouldn't the guy make the first move, Isobel?"
Isobel would back me up on this. She was so traditional when it came to dating. She waited for the guy to ask her. She never got desperate because she was drop dead stunning, though. What surprised me was she had her morals when it came to dating, ones that were worth respecting. She surprised me when she blurted, "Tienes que llamarlo." (You have to call him.)
They weren't serious. Even Nina had nothing to say. She just looked at me with her determined gaze. She was obviously on their side.
"But…I…No! I can't…" I was weak, simple as that.
Minutes strolled by and the 4 of us went upstairs to our suite. I plopped myself on the bed I was forced to share with Isobel. I lied down because my head started throbbing.
Nina walked to stand directly in front of me, hands on her hips. "Hey Alicia…Is your friend Cameron…available?"
"Huh?" I blushed as I got myself up. "Available?"
"Heh." She smirked as she caught me by surprise. She shoved her hands into my jean pocket to get my phone out.
"Nina, what the-?" I shrieked.
She shoved her hand on my forehead to keep me from attacking her. For a petite girl like her, she had hands of steel.
Celia and Isobel were primping in the bathroom so I was surprised they couldn't hear my protests.
Nina scrolled through my phone and I realized what she was trying to do.
I blushed even brighter. "Nina! NOOOOOO!"
"Qué pasa?" (What's the matter?) Celia and Isobel asked in unison when they both ran out of the bathroom to see what was going on.
"It's ringing!" Nina sang.
"Nina Marie Antonieta Callas!" I shrieked. "Hang up right-"
"Hello." She said smoothly. "Is this…Derrick?"
I bit my lip almost on the verge of having it bleed. I couldn't believe she did that and even more, I couldn't believe he answered.
I looked at the twins in disbelief. "Why are you guys just standing there? Help me!"
Celia shrugged while Isobel winked. Of course, they were in on this.
"I'm Nina…Alicia's cousin?…Yes, yes!" Nina laughed as she sat beside me on the plush mattress. She was so screwed once I got a hold of her. "…Well, she's out for a bit so I thought I would take this chance to see how you…felt about her."
What? I mouthed. I gripped one of the bed's pillows and screamed into it.
"What? Oh that's just the TV." Nina laughed.
"Oh…" Nina placed her hand over her mouth. "I see. Well, that's good!" She looked at me with the weirdest grin on her face. "She's back! Why don't you ask her?"
"Huh? Ask me what?" I demanded.
Nina shoved the phone toward my ear. I had to catch my breath. "Hello?"
"Alicia? Hey, it's Derrick." His voice tickled my stomach. Great, I had it just as bad as the night after we left the tower. I had to catch my breath at the sound of his voice.
"I figured." I prayed to God that my attempt at sounding nonchalant was working.
He laughed. Obviously, not. "How are you? Your cousin sounded eager."
"Fine, just fine…She's engaged so back off if you know what's good for you." I said coolly. "And…you?"
I could tell he was smirking on the line's other end. "I don't think she sees me that way. I think she wants us…you and me…to talk. And I did have something to ask you. I was about to call you, actually."
"What is it?" I held my breath. So he was going to call. Nina just had to make me look like the desperate chick we all knew I wasn't.
"My sister's a tour guide for the Maid Of the Mist tour. Do you wanna go with me?"
"Are you kidding? I've been dying to go!" I had no restraint on sounding as joyful as a little girl.
He laughed. "Great."
Derrick told me to meet him where the lines began for the tour. He promised to get us at the front of the line because he knew an employee, his sister Sammi. Despite my protests because I hated skipping lines, especially people who skipped in lines, Derrick's method of persuasion worked.
"I figured after we took the ride we could go out around the city and then go to the White Water Walk."
My heart almost stopped after he mentioned the White Water Walk. We were going to walk alongside the falls. Together. Alone. It was supposed to be romantic, you know, if you went with the guy you were crazy about.
And I wasn't going to admit that I had it bad for Derrick Harrington. There was no way.
After I barely managed to get my shrieking cousins to calm down, I went into the bathroom to get myself ready to meet him.
Putting on my favorite eye shadow and some light gloss, I figured that would be enough. Then, I brushed my hair and it looked so silky that I knew that I was blessed by God with a good hair day. I slipped on my royal blue relaxed dolman slub top with black matelot trouser shorts. Nina knocked on the door persistently, asking me if she could help with anything. Having said no about 20 times already, I was getting frustrated.
I opened the door to have her throw her sandals at me.
"Hey!" I rubbed my arm where the pair of shoes hit me. They were braided T-strap sandals.
"Trust me, your shoe collection's no match for mine. Plus, it'll look good with your outfit."
An insult and a helping hand. Typical Nina. "Thanks."
I walked over to meet Derrick, leaving my disappointed cousins in my wake. They wanted to drop me off like they were my mothers.
I loved Canada. I inhaled a breath of fresh air and relaxed as my shoes stepped on the pavement. There was a swing to my step and I made sure I knew when and when not to cross the street.
Once I reached the lines for the tour, I noticed Derrick's silhouette. I'd recognize that dirty blond head anywhere.
But as I got closer, I saw that he was with someone and that someone did not look like his sister. Her honey-colored hair swayed in the breeze perfectly as she tossed her head back and laughed at something stupid that Derrick said. I realized that I was seething. Was there any reason to get jealous?
Of course, there was. Because she leaned in on her tip toes and pulled the collar of his shirt down so she could kiss him.
I stopped in my tracks just a few feet away from them. All I had to say was one word and he would hear me.
"Hey."
