"We can take the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center and from there hop another one to EPCOT," Luke offered. "We can get there in a half hour, less if the connections are in our favor. Or we could try snagging a taxi. I can-"
"It's ok," Payson interrupted. "She texted to say that they talked and things are good."
"Good? That's her only detail?" Kelly's face reflected her disgruntled opinion.
Payson held her phone out towards the brunette. Kelly scanned the screen, but her glare only deepened.
"You know your girlfriends aren't required to give transcripts of their conversations with their guys?" Luke dared to ask.
Kelly shifted her glare from the unhelpful phone screen to Luke, a raised eyebrow adding to the ire. "Then why has Payson been forwarding all of your discussions?"
"She has not!" Luke sputtered as Nicky coughed back a laugh. Payson knew her own face probably looked a bit bipolar as she tried to maintain neutral, not wanting to appear to support either of them but wanting to giggle at the exchange.
Kelly held her imperious gaze for another few seconds before shrugging, her wicked smirk appearing. "The look on your face was priceless, Luke. Of course, Payson hasn't been sending me anything about you. I ignore most of her texts anyway."
"Thought so," Payson muttered.
"Although," Kelly continued, her eyes flicking to the blonde before returning to Luke, "if she mentioned a man in them, I probably would pay more attention."
"Nice try, Kelly," Payson replied. "I'm not going to feed your gossip addiction.
Kelly sighed dramatically but then perked up as Payson's phone buzzed. "What's Kmetko have to say?"
Payson snorted as she checked her phone. "It's a picture of Becca's dog and his latest chew toy demolition."
Kelly glowered. "I would have expected that behavior from Lauren."
"Lauren eats dog toys?" Luke sounded completely confused.
"Of course not!" Kelly snapped. "The lack of gratitude for our help in her love life from Emily. If we had helped Lauren which I wouldn't—I personally think Jake might want to move to a different country from her—I wouldn't have been surprised at all if she ignored our contribution. Emily though?"
"Maybe she's a little busy with Damon right now?" Luke suggested despite Nicky giving him the shut-your-mouth gesture from just out of Kelly's line of vision.
The woman leveled another glare at Luke. "I don't expect a full play-by-play on what's going on."
"Yet," Payson thought to herself, knowing that a complete explanation would be demanded later, an explanation that she would be sure to encourage if Kelly did not prove persuasive enough to Emily.
"However," Kelly said. "A sentence or two would be far more acceptable that just good."
"Hey, I thought we were going over to Frontierland?" Kaylie broke into the conversation. The four of them had lagged behind the others, their pace slowing to a crawl.
"Sorry," Payson apologized. "We got distracted by a text from Em."
"Everything ok?" Kaylie's dark eyes telegraphed genuine worry.
"If you consider Emily holding back pertinent information about how things with Damon are going ok, then yes everything is ok," Kelly grumbled.
"You know that Emily doesn't have to tell us anything until she's ready-" Kaylie had started but at Nicky's frantic gesturing behind, she paused, threw out a winning smile, and changed tactics to "for bed back at the hotel tonight and we can totally grill with nowhere for her to go to escape since she'll be in her pajamas."
"Huh," Kelly said, eyeing Kaylie closely. "I thought you were supposed to be the nice one."
"I thought that was me!" Payson protested.
"You were the polite robot. Kaylie was the all-American next-door sweetheart," Kelly replied. "I like the plan, Cruz."
And with that Kelly turned to Luke and with a little wave of her hand, said, "Lead on."
Luke looked a little surprised at the sudden shift in conversation but simply slipped his hand over Payson's and started walking towards the exit from Fantasyland into Liberty Square to take them to Frontierland.
However, the group had not made it very far before Kelly was calling for them to stop.
"Short line!" she cried triumphantly and pointed to her right.
"You really want to go on that ride?" Austin asked, a bewildered expression on his face.
"Yes!"
"Ok, now you're the one not fitting in the right role," Austin continued. "You do know what ride this is right?"
Kelly just glared.
"You just don't seem like the type to be interested in a bunch of singing dolls," Austin said slowly while at the same time taking a subtle step away from Kelly.
She huffed and turned to Luke, "I thought It's a Small World was a Disney classic. Like this is the one ride that everyone knows about! Shouldn't that make it a priority?"
"Not necessarily," Luke managed. Surprised at the reticence in his voice, Payson glanced over. Luke's face showed a wary mix of dislike and trepidation.
"You have something against It's a Small World," she realized.
Luke grimaced. "We got stuck on it for twenty minutes one time."
"What's so bad about that?" Kelly asked. "It's indoors so it's not like you were baking in the sun and I know it's not a roller coaster so you weren't hanging upside down and having all the blood rush to head and risk passing out."
"Passing out might have been more merciful," Luke grumbled. "You do realize that the song "It's a Small World" plays the entire time you are on the ride?"
"It's a cute tune."
"Until it gets so stuck in your head that it doesn't leave for three days!"
Payson placed her other hand on Luke's arm. "Kelly's right about the line being really short. Our FastPasses aren't even active yet. We wouldn't take that long if you want to just wait out here for us."
Luke shook his head, "I can handle it."
"Sure you can find the courage?" Austin teased his cousin as Kelly led the group towards the entrance ramp, a little out-of-character skip in her step.
"Definitely," Luke replied and Payson picked up on a hint of challenge in his voice. "Maybe it will inspire you."
Austin did not reply, and Payson wondered if anyone else in the group had noticed the exchange between the cousins. Kaylie and Jordan were talking about something, and Jake was in a conversation with Nicky and Kelly. The tiny brunette caught Payson's eye just long enough to give a self-satisfied smirk, and Payson felt another set of pieces begin to fall into place.
"I think getting stuck on It's a Small World wouldn't have been as traumatic if we had gotten stopped somewhere different on the ride. We were in sight of the unloading area," Luke muttered.
"Starting to worry me if you're going to make it through or if I'm going to watch you dive into the canal and try to swim for it at the halfway point," Payson replied, trying to keep a serious face even as her eyes danced.
"I won't need to stage an escape," Luke said. "I'll just squeeze your hand extra hard when I get afraid."
Payson looked at him and saw a mischievous glint replacing his earlier melancholy look. "You and Kelly."
"Kelly's holding your hand too?"
"No," she laughed. "You both have ulterior motives to go on this ride."
"Hmm," Luke replied, and then unexpectedly bent close for a brief brush of his lips against hers. "Not the same one."
"No, no, not the same, not the same one at all," Payson stumbled over her reply, caught very off-guard.
"So I think I've made my reason clear," Luke continued, his voice low. "What's hers?"
"She knew that this ride can be polarizing and wanted to torture us all a little."
"I thought she liked us."
"She does," Payson said. "It's just how Kelly works."
"I know she didn't actually tell you this, so how did you figure it out?"
Payson smiled slightly. "She smirked. It was her tell back in our gym days when she was playing mind games with her competitors."
"Always observant," Luke said.
"Good thing to be in the medical field right?"
"Exactly."
By then they had reached the loading platform. Kelly, Nicky and Jake were motioned to the front row of their boat, and the other four filed into the second row. As they waited for the boat to start its journey, Kelly twisted around to snap a candid of the four of them with her phone.
"You couldn't have warned us?" Kaylie asked.
Kelly gave her the dazzling smile that she had used when playing the perfect little gymnast for the publicity rounds. "Candids make the best shots though."
Kaylie rolled her eyes at Kelly and then squeaked, ducking her head into Austin's shoulder as Kelly nearly got a picture of the unattractive expression. Payson overheard the other woman chuckle as she turned back around.
"She's dangerous," Kaylie moaned, their boat floating past restaurant windows on its way to a tunnel.
"Good thing she's our friend," Payson said and Kaylie grinned back.
Despite Luke and Austin's hesitations about the ride, there were many smiles over the next fourteen minutes as they experienced the "happiest cruise that ever sailed around the world."
So many people represented. Europe had Buckingham Palace guards, Scandinavian dancers, French can-can dancers with their frilly skirts, and a Spanish Don Quixote setting off on his legendary adventure. Ducks paraded by Dutch windmills while Alpine goats watched yodelers. Italian gondolier posts ushered them towards another tunnel.
Asia. An Israeli wedding under a blue canopy. A Grecian shepherd playing his panpipes. Kites, fans, and lotus flowers. Pandas and water buffalo. Japanese dolls in kimonos stood at the entrance of another tunnel.
Now they drifted through the beauty of Africa. A hippopotamus on the right vied with the Pyramids of Egypt and a winking Cleopatra on the left. Huge waterlilies and leafy greenery provided the scenery as colorful hyenas and giraffes frolicked. Payson noticed several monkeys hanging high on vines, and then they were on to the next part of the world.
The Americas. Joyful penguins from the cold southern tips of Chile. Bright pottery and festive dancers from Central America. A whirling warm sun above Mexico. Faux rain showers in the tropical Brazilian rainforest.
From here the Seven Seaways led them into the Pacific region of the world. Hula dancers greeted them on the left although Luke's attention was more drawn to the animals beyond them.
"Does those platypuses look a little aggressive to you?" he asked Payson, his fingers gripping her hand tighter.
She had to agree that the way they were swinging their egg-holding paws made her think they were eyeing how hard of a lob would be needed to smack the riders with the oval eggs. "Yeah, they kind of do. Aren't they called platypi when they're plural though?"
"Random fun fact," Luke said, "is that the scientific term is platypuses although the Greek term would be platypodes."
Payson stared at him, her attention completely distracted from the sun with its Aboriginally-influenced design. "How do you know that?"
"Fifth grade science project. I was really excited to get to research the platypus."
"Right."
They flowed past a surfer and a koala and then entered the final room of It's a Small World, the colors muting into a white and pastel palette as the dolls from across the planet intermingled to sing the well-known refrain of harmony. The appearance of amusement park rides only added to the festive atmosphere that followed them into the exit tunnel. Colorful signs saying good-bye in multiple languages filled the space; Payson recognized Spanish, Italian, and Hawaiian and made a guess at a few others before they re-entered the loading and unloading area.
"Look at that," she murmured to Luke as their boat bumped to a final stop.
"At what?"
"No more traumatic experiences here. We didn't get stuck!"