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Thanks for coming back to read yet another chapter of my story! I enjoy the reviews so much, so don't forget to keep them coming! Even just one word brightens my day so much!

I think these next few chapters are going to be my favorite to write because I LOVE Disney World so much. I actually went there on my honeymoon and I can't wait to go back. Is once a year too much…? Have any of you been to Disney World? What was your favorite part?

If I had to pick a favorite ride in every park, they would be: Space Mountain, Soarin', Tower of Terror (which they actually took out and I am SO sad about that), and Expedition Everest (probably my most favorite; the last time that I was there, I rode it seven times).

I hope that you enjoy this next chapter!

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Chapter Seven

(Good Charlotte by The Anthem)

After I'd graduated from high school, my parents had given me the option of taking a trip of my choice or them giving me ten thousand dollars that they'd saved up. I'd chosen the ten thousand dollars (I'd known that I would be going to Columbia and living in New York City could get ridiculously expensive), but after being at Disney World for less than an hour, I started to wish that I had chosen to take a trip to Disney World instead.

Monday morning, we all got up early and had breakfast together before getting into the cars and heading to Magic Kingdom. Even Adrian's blatant flirting at breakfast could do nothing to dampen my spirits. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning, full of excitement and anticipation. Jill felt much the same way, and we chattered incessantly the entire car ride to the park. After paying for closer parking, we went and boarded the ferry that would take us to Magic Kingdom.

Naturally, Adrian finagled his way close to me at the back of the ship. He leaned up against the railing beside me and I did my best not to look at him, just continuing to stare out over the water. All around us, people chattered, but Adrian had a way of making it seem like we were the only two people in the world. It annoyed the hell out of me.

"You know," he began conversationally, "they say that Disney World is the most magical place on earth."

"Do they?" I murmured. "Well, it's clearly affecting your fashion sense."

He looked down at his outfit, which consisted of a gray Mickey Mouse T-shirt, black athletic shorts that hung loosely to his knees, and some Nike tennis shoes. The only thing that was still the same was his messy chestnut hair. "I'll have you know, this is considered the height of fashion at Disney World. Mickey rocks."

"I never took you for a Mickey Mouse fan."

He gasped in mock hurt. "You wound me. Mickey Mouse is my idol."

I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of his statement. But I quickly began to wish that I hadn't. He was smiling over at me and doing that thing with his eyes… the thing that made me feel like I was burning on the inside. I quickly looked back at the water, trying to break the hold that look had on me.

"I haven't gotten to hear your laugh in a long time," he said quietly, and somehow, I could still hear him over the chattering crowd. "I've missed it."

Something inside of me ached, longing to drop everything and allow myself to feel. But the logical part of my brain stood strong and told me that I absolutely could not forget about the plan. It was hard right now because of the emotions, but it would soon get easier and easier to resist him. Before long, I wouldn't even want him anymore.

Yeah, right…

Once we'd docked at Magic Kingdom, I rushed to Lissa's side and we all walked together to the gates. Once inside, we formulated a plan. For the first part of the day, we would stay together and ride the rides everyone agreed on and after lunch, we were to split into pairs and stay with that person at all times. Of course, Lissa was going to be with Christian and Rose was going to be with Dimitri. Eddie and Mason quickly teamed up. And before Adrian could call out to me, Jill said that she wanted to be my partner. It made more sense for Adrian to be alone, anyway, as he was older.

Except, Adrian was never technically alone. After lunch, he trailed Jill and me all over the park. Jill didn't even notice because she was so entranced by everything that she saw, but it was like he was there every single time that I turned around. And I found it hard to believe that he was simply interested in every single attraction that we were. I also wanted to know how, as a single rider, he kept up with us after rides.

At the end of the day, we ate dinner and then gathered close to Cinderella's castle to watch the fireworks show that Magic Kingdom apparently had every night. I stood next to Jill and Adrian stood right behind me, never touching me, but close enough that I could feel him breathing. And then, almost as if to heighten the romantic mood, the couples of our group made out during the fireworks show. As if I needed a reminder of what I was missing out on by choosing to remain single and focus on my education.

Thanks, guys.

I was silent on the car ride home, but no one noticed because Jill talked enough for everyone. Even once we trekked into our room at a little past midnight, she couldn't stop talking about how amazing the day was. In fact, I was pretty sure that she kept talking when I went into the bathroom to take a shower.

I fell into bed that night and sleep was a long time coming. Because all that I could think about was what it would have felt like to have been able to make out with Adrian underneath the exploding lights of that firework show.

Epcot was next up on our list of parks, and we talked about our plan over a really early breakfast. It was all I could do to pay attention, as I had only gotten about two and a half hours of sleep the night before due to my fantasies. In the end, Jill had to recap them for me. Since there were so many "countries" to visit at Epcot, we were going to spend the first half of the day together and then split off just before lunch. This time, we would be going off on our own unless we wanted to stay together. Jill didn't seem to mind one way or another, so I said that we could just go off on our own. I planned to try to visit every country. The only rule that we had was that we had to send a message in the group chat when we were headed back to the hotel so that we could keep tabs on each other. If we wanted to leave on our own, we'd have to take the buses that circulated between the resorts.

Unfortunately, I got sick on the very first attraction. It was called Mission: Space, and it was made to simulate an astronaut's experience. Four people sat in a cramped pod made to look like the inside of the spaceship, and each person had a couple of buttons that they had to press at some point in the ride. It also simulated takeout, flying, and landing. And since I hadn't eaten very much at breakfast, it ended up making me really dizzy.

I tried to just shake it off and get over it, but Adrian had to go and point it out to everyone. "Are you okay, Sydney? You look like you're about to pass out."

I opened my mouth to tell him that was how I felt, as well, but I began to stagger off to the left. Evidently, I could no longer walk and talk at the same time.

Mason caught me by my arm and maneuvered me to a bench nearby, where I gratefully sat down and rested my head between my knees, praying that the world would right itself soon. Above me, I heard concerned voices, but I could only make out every few sentences.

"She didn't eat much at breakfast." That was from Lissa.

"Do you think she's actually going to pass out?" This from either Mason or Eddie. Sometimes, they were difficult to tell apart by voice alone.

"…stay with her," someone else said and a wave of nausea wouldn't allow me to discern who it was.

What felt like hours later, a bottle of water and a muffin of some kind appeared in my field of vision. Gratefully, I took them and began to eat. I already felt a little bit better, but the food and water did a tremendous job in getting me the rest of the way.

When I finally looked up completely, I was surprised to see only Adrian standing there, looking identical to how he had the day before, save that his T-shirt was from the Space Mountain gift shop. Concern was etched on his face and before I could ask him what he was doing here, he said, "How do you feel?"

"Better. Where did everyone go?"

"I told them that they could go on with their day," he answered and sat beside me on the bench, looking me over as though he thought I was still in danger of passing out. Maybe I was. "I volunteered to stay behind with you and make sure you're okay."

"I just didn't eat enough at breakfast and that was a lot of jostling."

"That it was," he agreed. Then, he grinned. "I was the commander. Which character were you?"

"Engineer," I grumbled, still slightly nauseous. "Should we catch up with the others?"

"Sure." He pulled out his phone and made a call. After talking for close to a minute, he hung up and stood, holding out his hand to me. "They're in line at Test Track. We can get in behind them and trail them for a bit until we're able to catch up with them."

But we were never able to catch up with them.

Instead, Adrian and I stood in line for Test Track for close to forty-five minutes and then rode it. The others had already moved to another ride, so we got in line for that one as well. They were already on another ride by the time that we finished. So, we all agreed to get a FastPass for Soarin' so that we could rejoin. Not that it would do much good, as we were about to split off for the day anyway.

Adrian and I met the others for Soarin' and, somehow, Adrian had managed to finagle his way onto the seat next to me. I tried not to let it bother me. I had made a mistake admitting my feelings for him and now, it was going to take even longer for him to give up.

After Soarin', it was time for us all to split for the day. Lissa made us go over the rules again and then we began to break off from each other. Jill asked me if I minded her tagging along with me for a while and when I told her I didn't, we headed off in search of a place to eat lunch. We finally decided on a place inside of what looked like a Mayan pyramid. It was dark and cool inside, offsetting the heat of the day. And the place itself was cool in the pop culture sense of the word. It had a cool, old-time Latin theme going on.

Just as we were about to tell the hostess that it would be just the two of us, a voice spoke up from behind us. "Well, well, well. Imagine running into the two of you here." Adrian, grinning, stepped forward and held up three fingers to the hostess. "Three, please."

I was annoyed but couldn't say anything, as Jill didn't mind at all. She was actually quite fond of her older cousin, I had discovered over the last couple of days. And he seemed fond of her, as well.

After we had ordered, Jill began to chat with Adrian, asking him what he thought of Disney World. He had been before with his family, but he said it was even more fun with friends. He looked at me as he said it, as if telling me that I was the reason he was having so much fun.

"I've never gotten to hear much about you," Jill told me. "I mean, I obviously know that you go to Columbia and everything, but where are you from? Missouri, right?"

"Yeah, St Louis. But up until high school, I moved around a lot with my family. My father worked for the State Department and my mother ran a graphic design business online from wherever we were. Before my freshman year, we finally settled down in St Louis."

Jill asked several questions about what my father had done for the State Department, but I really didn't have that many answers. The stuff that my father had done had been pretty classified and he didn't talk about it now. I only knew that we moved almost every single year ever since I was five. And I was glad that we had finally stopped.

"Tell me about your brothers," she requested. "I always wanted a brother. I mean, Lissa is great, but I don't remember Andre…" She trailed off and suddenly seemed sad.

"Andre?" I questioned, looking at Adrian.

He glanced at Jill and, once she had nodded his approval, told me, "Lissa and Jill had an older brother. Andre. He died when Lissa was five."

"I was four," Jill added quietly, twisting her napkin in her hands.

"Oh my God," I said softly. "I'm so sorry. What… what happened?"

It was Adrian who answered. "We were at the Hamptons, on the beach. Andre was obsessed with sharks back then and he wanted to go hunt some. Our parents weren't paying attention and Andre and I kept diving over and over again to try to find some. We didn't know it, but we kept getting farther and farther away from the shore." He paused and swallowed hard. "And then he didn't come up anymore."

It was like a black cloud had suddenly settled over all of us. Adrian was, for once, quiet and contemplative. Jill looked incredibly sad, and I was at a loss for what to say. I was the only one that thanked the server that brought our food.

"I'm so sorry," I finally said. "Jill… I didn't mean to bring up such a painful memory."

She looked up at me and gave me a sad smile. "I don't even remember it, actually. It's hardest for Adrian. He and Andre were really close."

Adrian shrugged, obviously not wanting Jill to feel any worse than she already did. He smiled at her. "Let's enjoy our time at Disney World, shall we? It's not every day that you get to be in the most magical place on earth. So, Sydney, tell us about your brothers."

Eager to do anything that would help brighten Jill's day, I began to talk about Lee, Lance, and Liam. I told her that Lee had decided not to go to college and, instead, had become a cop. Recently, he'd passed his detective exam and was enjoying the change. Lance had just graduated college the year before, majoring in Criminal Justice, and was currently training at the FBI Academy. And Liam was in college in St Louis, planning to pursue a degree in accounting, of all things. I threw in a couple of funny stories just for fun.

By the time that lunch was over, Jill was her usual happy self again and was chattering happily about all of the stuff that she wanted to do with the rest of her day. In fact, she had so many things that she wanted to do that she ended up separating from Adrian and me soon after lunch was over (Adrian paid for everyone's food, much to my aggravation).

Adrian walked out of the restaurant with me and stuck to my side, casually walking with his hands in his pockets.

(Stay by Shaun Reynolds)

"What, exactly, are you doing?" I asked him when it became clear that he was not going to go off to do his own thing.

"Same thing you are."

"Yes, I noticed that. That's why I asked."

"I don't follow."

I huffed and stopped walking so that I could face him. Reluctantly, he did the same, waiting patiently for me to speak. "We talked about this, Adrian."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "We talked about walking around Epcot together? When did this happen and how drunk was I?"

Be calm. You have to stay calm, no matter what he says to get to you. That's what he wants. Don't let him. "We talked about how there can't be anything between us."

"No," he corrected. "You talked about how we can't be together. If you'll recall, I told you that it was ridiculous for you to ignore something that would make you happy in lieu of a plan that you put together in the eighth grade. You, however, refuse to see reason."

It really took all of my willpower to remain calm. "You're the one not seeing reason, Adrian. I don't want to be with you." I was careful to enunciate every word very clearly.

He leaned so close that I could smell the gum he was chewing. "No, you want to. You just won't. Again, because of a stupid plan you developed in eighth grade."

"A plan that had gotten me to where I am today," I reminded him. "Not a lot of people get full ride scholarships to Ivy League schools."

"You got that because you're smart. Smarter than most people. And, yes, you worked hard to get here, but the fact that you had a plan isn't the whole reason that you got into Columbia. And I hate to be the one to break this to you, but life doesn't go exactly the way that we plan."

"I know that," I snapped at him. "And I know that things are going to come up that I don't expect. Some things are just going to be out of my control. But this…" I moved my hand back and forth in the small space between us. "This, I can control. I can't have a relationship right now. Other things need my attention."

"Then I'll wait." He shrugged like it was no big deal. "How long?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I'm saying. I don't want you to wait for me. I need to be with someone… someone different."

"Why is it so hard to admit that you have strong feelings for me?"

I groaned in frustration and continued walking. "Why is it so hard for you to just leave me alone?"

"Because I have feelings for you and I know that you have feelings for me, too. You're just being ridiculous."

Since talking obviously wasn't doing any good, I just decided to remain silent. Even if he wanted to walk with me, that didn't mean that I had to talk to him. Maybe the silent treatment would make my point for me.

But by the end of the day, he still seemed unaffected. He stuck with me everywhere that I went and paid for dinner, even though I insisted that I could pay for my own meal. As with everything else I'd been telling him, he didn't listen.

One by one, the others sent text messages through the group text Lissa had set up, telling everyone that they were heading back to the hotel. Rose and Dimitri were the first to do so, and I had a feeling I knew why they were heading back so early. Eddie was next, followed an hour and a half later by Mason. Then Lissa and Christian, who had caught up with Jill and were taking her back with them so that she didn't have to go alone.

That left only Adrian and I in Epcot, watching the fireworks together.

After the show was over, he held up the car keys. "Want a ride back to the resort?"

I hesitated, thinking that I might rather ride the bus.

"Take the bus if you want," he said and began to walk off. "It'll be over an hour before you get back to the hotel."

After a moment more of thought, I jogged to catch up with him.