Digimon Adventure 02 – Summer in Alaska

Day Eight

Skyy was thoroughly confused when she first woke up. Expecting to be greeted by the darkness of her cabin again, instead her eyes stung as sunlight filled her vision. Skyy squinted and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. She felt someone breathing close to her and she shifted her head. She noticed a crop of maroon red hair against pale skin.

Suddenly everything clicked in her brain.

Oh.

She was in the boys' cabin.

And the boys had a window.

Huh.

Skyy smiled into her pillow at Izzy's sleeping face. She looked around and saw Tai and Mimi curled up together on Tai's bed, and Matt and Sora cuddled up on Matt's bed. Skyy smiled again. She rested her head on the pillow and closed her eyes lightly. They were docked at Ketchikan today, they arrived really early in the morning but the ship was supposed to leave really early, around 12:00.

Skyy opened her eyes and glanced at her purple wristwatch.

11:57.

"Shit!" Skyy cursed loudly and she bolted from her pillow. Tai shifted and groaned a little bit. Causing Mimi to wake up. Sora and Matt shifted too, well Sora shifted because Matt shifted, she was still obviously asleep.

"What's got you so noisy in the morning?" Matt muttered. Tai groaned in agreement.

"We missed today's port…the ship leaves in three minutes," Skyy said looking outside for the first time and seeing some buildings and trees. Matt raised an eyebrow and looked out the window.

"Oh, oops, we must've slept in…" he said. Skyy nodded sleepily.

"Oh well, it probably looked like all the other ports, it doesn't matter," Tai mumbled. Skyy glanced at him.

"How nice of you to say, reminding you it was Mimi who took us on this cruise, it's wasteful to skip ports," Skyy said glaring at Tai's back slightly. He shivered and shifted his shoulders, obviously feeling her glare. Matt shifted and sat up on his bed; Sora mumbled lightly and turned over, squishing her head deeper into Matt's pillow.

"Hmm, who wants to come upstairs with me to see the ship leave?" Matt said.

"I will," Skyy said, pulling the covers she had stolen from over her legs.

"I'll come too," Izzy's voice said and Skyy jumped.

"Jeez! I didn't even know you were awake! You scared me," Skyy said. Izzy smiled, he was resting his chin on his pillow beside Skyy's.

"It's cause I'm a sneaky ninja like that," he joked. Skyy grinned. As Skyy got up she was about to ask Tai and Mimi if they wanted to come but they had both drifted back to sleep and Skyy figured they wouldn't want to be disturbed.

As Matt, Skyy and Izzy made their way up to the pool deck they saw all the last- minute people quickly coming back on board the ship. As the three made it up to the pool deck they leaned over the railing just as the horn on the ship sounded and the engines started roaring to life. Skyy clicked pictures of the town with her camera that she had quickly grabbed as they were leaving the cabin. Because they were still pretty sleepy, all three friends were quiet and didn't say much as they watched the Alaskan town get smaller and smaller. But Skyy was happy because Izzy had managed to casually slip his arm around her waist as they all leaned on the railing.

Soon they got bored though and headed back down to the boys' cabin to retrieve the sleeping beauties. When they returned Tai had actually gotten up and was in the shower, but Mimi and Sora were still sleeping. Skyy grinned as she dragged them both out of the beds.

"Hey, how about since we have the whole day free now, why don't we go for a swim? We haven't gone swimming on the ship yet," Matt suggested. Skyy turned around just as she was about to go out the door with her two half asleep friends. Her face lit up.

"Oh yeah! I bought a new bathing suit so I guess I might as well show it off," Skyy laughed. Izzy blushed from over where he was sitting at the vanity table, but no one saw it. Matt grinned.

"Well I'm looking forward to it then," he joked, "we'll meet you at the pool." Skyy nodded and left the room.

Instead of going to bed like Skyy thought they would, Sora and Mimi actually started to get ready for swimming. When Skyy commented on it Mimi laughed.

"Well don't think you're the only one who has a new bikini to show off!" Mimi said pulling out a bright pink lacy bikini. Skyy's eyes widened.

"Oh that's really pretty," Skyy mumbled. Sora squealed and ran out from the bathroom where she was putting on sunscreen and fixing her hair.

"Oh! I have a new one too! See, see," she said and she took it out from her drawers. It was a dark blue bikini that brought out Sora's hair. It had curly designs on it that was shade darker than the dark blue, and you couldn't really see them unless you were looking up close. But it was still really pretty too. Skyy frowned.

"Ohh, yours are prettier than mine," she pouted. Sora laughed.

"Why? Let's see yours," she said. Skyy took hers out. It was just a plain purple bikini. Sora and Mimi looked at it, and then glanced at each other.

"Well, it's very you I think! Super cute!" Mimi said. Sora nodded in agreement. Skyy frowned. They were lying. She shrugged and turned to put the bathing suit on. Sora and Mimi quickly resumed what they were doing. The girls got ready as quickly as they could before grabbing their towels and sunglasses and heading up to the indoor pool.

The boys were already in the pool when the girls got there. They were in the middle of what looked like a splashing contest and Skyy was a little surprised to find Izzy in the pool as well, instead of on the sidelines on his laptop. Though she did notice the yellow and white laptop tucked away on a pool chair by some other towels and bags. The pool was pleasantly empty with one or two people lounging on the pool chairs. It seemed people wanted to sleep on the outside pool chairs by the outdoor pool instead. This worked in the friends' favor though because then they got the entire pool to themselves. When the girls walked in and dropped their towels off by the boys' they walked over by the edge of the pool. Matt grinned and swam away from the splashing contest.

"Hey so you girls finally showed up!" Matt grinned. Sora laughed and lightly slid into the pool next to him. Izzy looked up from splashing Tai and froze for a second. His eyes were on Skyy and a light blush grew darker over his cheeks. Skyy glanced at him and noticed his stare and she quickly looked away- embarrassed. She started to like her new bathing suit a little more though. Tai quickly dunked Izzy's head underwater to snap him out of it and Izzy immediately started struggling as Tai laughed. Skyy chuckled to herself and she slipped in with Mimi. The water was cold, but only for a few seconds before Skyy's body got used to it and it became warm.

The girls joined the splashing contest and their laughter filled the whole room. The teens played a couple of different games in the water, like Marco Polo. When Tai was it, he caught Skyy and when he recognized her he wrapped his arms around her and brought her out of the pool as she laughed and tried to wriggle away. He went over to the side of the pool and threw her in with all his might, which landed her pretty far, near the middle of the pool. This became a pattern for any guy who became it and caught a girl, or even a guy in some cases. Like one time Tai caught Izzy and managed to get the flailing teen out of the pool just the chuck him back in. Izzy's face had been bright red with embarrassment as everyone laughed at his misfortune. Izzy managed to get back at him though when he purposefully caught Tai and him and Matt both ganged up to get Tai out and chuck him as far as they could back into the pool. He seemed happy when Skyy laughed and gave him a high five. They did other things too like a cannon ball contest, holding breath contest, and games like Colors and Tag.

Soon Sora and Mimi backed out and retired to lounging by the side of the pool with their feet in the water. Skyy kept it up until Tai almost choked her by splashing too much water in her face. He kept apologizing until she got out of the pool. Skyy could tell Tai felt like a dick so she made sure he was reassured that she didn't care after.

They all ended up sitting on the edge of the pool with their feet in sipping cokes and other non-alcoholic drinks. Skyy couldn't help but stare as Izzy got out of the pool. She never seemed to notice before how nice Izzy's body was. Well sure he wasn't jacked and he didn't have a six-pack, but he had a slight six-pack. Skyy didn't like too much muscle on guys. Izzy was lanky, but not skin and bones, he had some muscles that made him not so lanky…it was hard to explain. But Skyy liked what she saw anyway. He wasn't perfect, like nice and tan, with a perfect body shape like perhaps Tai or Matt, but it was his imperfection that Skyy was most attracted too.

They sat by the pool chatting and lightly splashing each other with their feet for about forty minuets before they got bored and headed down to their rooms to change into real clothes.

They decided to go meet at the teen center because Mimi had seen that they were holding a DDR competition really soon. By this time it was around 4:00 and they had about 3 hours until dinner, plus it was formal night again tonight and Mimi and Sora were bound to drag Skyy away around 6:00 to 6:30 to get her all primped up for dinner. Skyy knew it was pointless because they'd only end up changing right after they ate. Thinking about it Skyy finally remembered the photos they had taken during the last formal night. On their way to the teen center the teens stopped off at the photo center and each picked up one copy each of all the four photos they had taken. The favorite photo out of the four seemed to be the one where they had all made goofy faces at the camera.

They laughed about the pictures on their way to the teen center until they all put their photos away in Izzy's laptop bag because he was the only one with a bag big enough to fit the photos. As they all arrived they were pleased to find a reasonable crowd of teens playing DDR already. Usually the teen center was very scarce during the day and the teenagers only came to party at night after dinner. There was a group of about 15 other people there, plus the teen director lady and DJ. Skyy beamed when she saw Jeremy there standing with Sara, Naomi, and Brandon. They were chatting and watching other people dance. When Jeremy looked up and saw Skyy with her friends he bounced over happily and gave her a hug.

"Yay! Somehow I knew you'd come for DDR!" he said in Japanese happily. Skyy laughed, hugging him back.

"Of course you did," she said sarcastically. Jeremy looked back over to the other three sitting down.

"Look! I brought some of the others with me! Hailey was busy and couldn't come though," he said. Skyy shrugged,

"It's all good!" she said. Jeremy said hello to the others and they all made their way to the chairs. They said hellos to their American friends and fell into casual conversations.

They didn't spend a large amount of time at the teen center, because dinner was fast approaching. But Mimi, Tai, Jeremy, Skyy, Sora, Matt and even Izzy managed to get some DDR action. Izzy was too embarrassed and ended up only dancing once with Skyy after she kept urging him to just try it. She didn't ask him again though after she saw how horribly he danced, laughing so hard the whole time as he fumbled with his feet to hit the right steps. Tai had taken Skyy's camera and snapped pictures of them the whole time, grinning widely. Mimi was dancing it very well and kept getting challenges from the other teens there. She happily creamed them all before becoming the reigning DDR champ. They ordered some more drinks from the bar and sipped happily watching Mimi and others dance. Skyy danced a couple times but wasn't very good and got tired really quickly. The DDR was originally supposed to end around 5:00 but the teens were so into it the director kept it going until they got tired of it. The teen center never really followed the schedule they had very strictly, mostly just doing what the teens wanted or felt like doing.

It wasn't long before Mimi was looking at her watch and her and Sora parted with Skyy to get ready for formal night, Skyy all the while groaning as she followed them like a prisoner. The boys just laughed and waved good bye as the girls left the teen center. The girls decided to meet the boys at the dining hall later on so the boys got to stay behind. Skyy only wished she could avoid her two female friends and stay with her guy friends. But knowing Sora and Mimi there was no escaping…

Tai sat with Izzy and Matt at the dining table as they waited for the girls to show up. Tai kept scratching the back of his neck every five seconds because of his tux he had to wear. Damn thing was seriously starting to annoy him. He wore the same outfit he'd worn the last formal night but added his tux jacket. He was starting to regret it though because the cursed tag in the tux would not stop making his neck itch.

It was coming up to 7:05 and Tai noticed Sora's red hair bobbing through the crowds of passengers. A wide grin spread across his face as the three girls came up to the table. His breath hitched in his throat as Mimi came over to sit beside him. She was wearing a flow-y, summery pink dress that floated around her legs as she walked. Pink flowers of the same hue decorated the top of the dress near her breasts and it was held up by thin pink straps. Her hair was down and curly with some pink flower clips in it. She smiled at Tai as she sat down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He grinned widely and quickly turned to capture her lips in a quick kiss. She laughed lightly at him.

Warmth pooled in Tai's stomach and heart as he looked at her. She blushed lightly and Tai turned to his other friends, with a little mischievous grin still on his face. He noticed Skyy and Sora's new dresses too. Sora wore a black, simple dress this time, and Skyy was wearing a beautiful light blue tutu dress with her hair pulled into a pony-tail at the side of her head with shimmery clips holding her bangs. He smiled at her and she warmly returned his smile as she sat beside Izzy who quickly turned from staring at her and blushed whilst burying his face into his menu. Tai laughed lightly at the two.

Dinner was the same as ever, except it was crab night so everybody ordered crab except for Skyy, who didn't like shell fish. She ordered veal ravioli instead. Though Tai remembered choking on his crab from laughing so hard when Skyy asked what veal was half way through the meal. Izzy had politely told her it was "vitellus, also known as a baby calf raised up to 3 to 2 months old for meat". All the color immediately had drained from her face. She almost gagged and quickly put her knife and fork down, refusing to eat the rest of her dinner. Tai felt a little bad for her considering her sensitivity to animals, but just seeing her face in that moment was hilarious, it was only natural to laugh. Izzy had offered her half of his baked potato so she could still eat something though.

Later for dessert there was a special baked Alaska option. Everyone decided to get some to see what it was. Right after dinner all the waiters and assistant waiters gathered together with a baked Alaska cake each and paraded around the room singing songs. The cakes where shaped like mountains and the top if the cakes each and a flame on them. Everyone clapped in tune with the songs at their tables and Skyy clicked many pictures of their waiter dancing around with the cake and singing happily. Once the parade was over their waiter, Gabrielle, set down the flaming cake onto the table and started cutting slices for them all.

The cake turned out to be a mix of cake, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. It was really good and Tai was wishing he could get seconds. When they all finished their cake they said goodnight to their waiters and left the dinning hall. Once again the Piazza deck was littered with photo booths but the teens already had pictures and didn't want to take more. They avoided the photographers asking to take photos of them and quickly made their way up to their cabins.

Their rooms were on the way to the teen center so they went to get changed quickly. Skyy did snap a couple quick pictures of them all on the outside deck with their outfits on before they all practically raced to get them off. Tai changed into some comfy baggy jeans with a white t-shirt with a light blue and green, plaid, button shirt that he left open over top. He added a white belt and put on his big blue sneakers that he loved. He sprayed on a teensy bit more cologne because some of it had worn off during dinner. He had green apple scented cologne and he was happy when Mimi told him that she loved apples, it made him appreciate his cologne that much more.

The boys – as usual- got ready first and waited for the girls' knock on their door to signal it was time to go. When they did come they all headed up to the teen center happily. Skyy had told them she contacted Jeremy and said that he was meeting them up at the club. Tai always loved to watch Izzy's face when she talked about that Jeremy guy. He always got so obviously jealous and his bottom lip would jut out in a slight angry pout. But of course, Tai's naive best friend never noticed Izzy's displays of jealousy.

When they all got up to club Jeremy held his word and was already up in the club sitting with their other American friends. They all went up and said their hellos again, Jeremy giving all the girls little hugs and the guys high fives. They all plopped down into chairs just as the director lady came out with a microphone and the DJ dummed down the music. The teenagers that had been on the dance floor walked off and back to their groups of friends.

"Okay guys, so we're going to be holding a fun little show of sorts, called the Bachelor game!" she announced. Mimi quickly whispered the translation and Tai raised and eyebrow. Bachelor game? What is that?

"I'm going to pick three young ladies to leave the room, then I'll pick a young gentleman to sit behind the curtain over here," she pointed to a curtain to the side of the dance floor, "and when the ladies come back the gentlemen will have to ask five questions that the girls all must answer. Then, in the end the bachelor will pick the girl he most likes, and then come out from behind the curtain to see who she is! And vise versa!" the crowd erupted into whispers and giggles form girls. Everybody seemed kind of wary about the game. Mimi whispered the translation again and Tai chuckled to himself.

Now this would be funny to watch. As the director got ready to pick three girls some girls put their hands up hesitantly, the others were forced up by their friends. When the director picked two girls she started scanning the crowd for another. Tai got a wicked idea and quickly stood up. His friends all gave him surprised looks. He waltzed over to Skyy and scooped her up into his arms. She yelped and immediately started trying to wriggle away.

"Tai! Frig what are you doing? Put me down moron!" she yelled, but was laughing in between. Tai ignored her and he walked over to the dance floor where the two other girls waited. Their friends watched them whilst laughing. Tai plopped Skyy down in front of the director lady and smiled.

"Here you go!" he said in English, the director lady laughed and nodded.

"Okay! We have our third contestant then!" she said as Tai turned and triumphantly sauntered off back to his seat. Some of his friends gave him high fives and some of the girls hit him lightly. As Tai sat down he grinned at Skyy who was glaring at him with a bright red face. Tai wanted to see what was going to become of Skyy being up there. Hopefully this would be very entertaining.

When the director lady made the girls leave and wait outside the club she came back and started searching the crowd for a boy. One boy quickly put up his hand and the lady grinned as she picked him. Tai raised an eyebrow at who put their hand up.

Brayden grinned widely as he was picked and quickly got out of his seat and walked up to the dance floor. Some of the girls wooted in the crowd. The director lady sat him behind the curtain and called the waiting girls back in. When they came back in Skyy looked incredibly bored, but Tai chuckled when he noticed her scanning the crowd to see which guy was missing.

"Okay! So I'm going to give you girls headsets that will disguise your voices so our bachelor doesn't know which one is which! Now put on your headsets and take a seat here," the lady pointed to three seats on the dance floor. Skyy fumbled with her head set but got in on quickly and sat in the second seat, the one in the middle. Tai quickly grabbed Skyy's camera from her seat – knowing she'd want pictures, and started clicking away. Skyy's face was nervous and incredibly red.

"Okay bachelor! His voice has been disguised too, so please ask your first question now!" the director lady announced. A gruff voice coughed through the speakers, it sounded really low. Skyy giggled lightly at the voice as it started to laugh.

"Wow, I sound weird, anyway, uhh first question. If we were to go on a date, where'd you want me to take you?" the gruff voice asked. Skyy cocked her head as the first girl answered.

"Umm, I'd want you to take me to a seaside restaurant and later have a moonlight walk on the beach!" the first girl squealed. Tai almost burst out laughing at the voice. It was super high pitched and sounded like a chipmunk! It was Skyy's turn now.

"Just hanging out at your place, or mine is fine, video games, movies, doing whatever sounds fun to me," she said shrugging, almost laughing at her chipmunk'd voice. The third girl answered with something similar to the first girl.

"Hmm, okay, good answers, now next question. What is your favorite movie?" the gruff voice asked. The three girls answered in order again.

"The Holiday,"

"Lord of the Rings,"

"Star Trek,"

"Okay, next question is, if I was to look at your play list, what are the first three songs I'd find?"

"Umm, probably Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, and SOS by the Jonas Brothers, and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus!"

"…oh wait lemme check, uhhhhhhh, Misery Business by Paramore, Dance with me by the Sounds, and Fireflies by Owl City,"

"Fireflies by Owl City, Tik Tok by Ke$ha, and for your Entertainment by Adam Lambert,"

"Cool, next is, what are your favorite colors?"

"Pink,"

"Blue,"

"Black,"

"Haha, soo I get one more question? Okay, uhhmm, oh! How about what kinds of things do you like in a guy?" the voice asked. Tai raised an eyebrow. Skyy had turned beat red. Tai grinned as she snapped pictures of her flustered face. How was she gonna answer with Izzy in the crowd? Tai glanced over to Izzy and noticed him blush a little bit and his attention became more alert. The first girl answered with what any materialistic girl would usually answer with. Skyy hesitated when it was her turn though, becoming visibly redder in the face. Mimi sat closer to Tai, waiting to translate Skyy's English for him. Izzy leaned a bit closer to listen as well.

"Well, I guess, I like a guy whose funny, easy to talk too…uhh, has good fashion sense? Haha I don't know! It's kind of an awkward question to answer in front of so many people," Skyy coughed lightly. The crowd laughed.

"Is there anything else besides that?" the gruff voice asked. Skyy fidgeted with her fingers.

"Um, I don't know… I do like guys who can speak different languages? And are… smart," she coughed during the last bit so it was hard to hear.

"Sorry what was that at the end?" the gruff voice asked, though it sounded like the owner of the voice was smiling. Skyy blushed deeper if it was possible, she hung her head a little low so you couldn't see her face properly.

"I like…guys… who are smart," she said. A wide grin broke across Tai's face and he glanced over to Izzy, who had a large blush on his face and a slight smile on his mouth.

"Great! oh yeah girl number three, your answer?" the gruff voice moved on. Skyy kept her head low to hide her red hot face. Tai chuckled and took pictures of her face up close. He noticed Mimi and Sora squealing quietly beside him but ignored it. The last girl answered the question and then the director lady came back onto the dance floor and stood by the curtain.

"Great! Now our bachelor has asked all of his questions, could you please pick the lucky lady young man?"

The voice laughed. "Sure, well they all seemed pretty cool, but I think I'm definitely going to have to go with girl number two," the voice said. The other girls pouted somewhat and Skyy's eyes widened. She had a face that said "are you serious?"

Tai laughed and got up on his feet, cheering loudly. Izzy and a slight frown on his face but their other friends stood up cheering as well.

The director lady moved to open the curtain.

"Okay will the rejected girls please leave the dance floor? Now for you to meet your bachelor!" the lady said in a giddy voice. She opened the curtain as the other girls sat back down in their seats and Skyy froze. Brayden stood there with a crooked smile. When he saw her standing there he sighed in relief. He walked up to her and she stared at him.

"Hey stranger!" he joked. "I'm glad I picked the right girl!" he said shyly. Skyy looked at him in shock. He smiled and his friends shouted something from the crowd that made Skyy turn bright red. Brayden looked over at his friends then back at Skyy. He smiled widely and quickly stooped down and kissed her on the cheek. Skyy jumped and Tai's jaw almost dropped. He saw Izzy quickly get up from his seat but Tai grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down.

"Calm down dude, it was just a kiss on the cheek," he muttered. Izzy looked at him as if he was stupid.

"But! He-!" he started to argue.

"She doesn't like him like that so don't get your boxers in a twist, it's not like she'd let him kiss her for real," Tai said quietly. Izzy frowned but sat back down without resisting.

Skyy was shocked and dazed and Jeremy got up and smacked her over the back causing her to stumble forward. Brayden took her hands to stable her and leaned down by her ear.

"So how about that dance you promised? Are you still up for it?" he asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. She looked up at him and groaned in her head. She did promise him before didn't she?

"Oh, yeah sure," she mumbled. The director lady moved the chairs off the stage and the DJ resumed playing the music as the teens came back up to dance. Some of her friends came up whilst others stayed back to watch. Brayden took her hand and smiled widely.

Skyy looked Brayden over as he led her to the middle of the dance floor. He wore baggy jeans with a white tank top with blue and black tank tops on over top with the straps lightly slipping down his shoulders. His brown hair was messy and brushed over his green eyes. Skyy had to admit the guy was hot; any other girl would love to be in Skyy's situation right now. When they reached the middle of the floor Brayden turned and took her hips and she loosely put her arms around his neck as they started swaying to the beat of the music. He held her hesitantly, not forcing her hips to move with his hands but just following them according to how she swayed them.

She was honestly surprised it had been Brayden behind the curtain. She thought maybe it could've been Jeremy, but other than that she thought it was just some random dude who picked her by chance. It wasn't any of her other friends because neither Tai, Matt nor Izzy could speak English, and Brandon didn't seem like the type to be a bachelor if Naomi wasn't one of the candidates. Plus she couldn't see the crowd very well because of the bright lights. The crowd looked like a black void.

She was mostly wondering what Izzy had thought of her last question though, being a boy he probably didn't connect the smart thing to himself. But she was wondering if maybe he did get a small idea that maybe she did like him, considering he was the smartest person she knew, and he knew that. As a more gritty song came on Skyy turned around and started lightly grinding with Brayden, who had his hands still on her hips with Skyy's hands over top. He pressed his chest more against her back so she felt the heat from his body radiating off onto her back. The side of his face lightly brushed the side of her head. Skyy wasn't really paying attention to the dancing though – her mind more focused on other things. Like where were her other friends?

After about four more songs Tai came up to the two of them and told Skyy that Mimi was a little tired so they all decided to leave. Skyy nodded and turned to say goodbye to Brayden. He smiled widely and did something she really didn't expect. He leaned down and kissed her right on the mouth.

Tai froze and stared at the two. Skyy froze and her muscles locked up. The kiss was light and hesitant. It was tender though and Brayden's fingers lightly held the back of her neck. The kiss was short and lasted about 5 seconds…and it was her first one! Brayden pulled away with a blush on his cheeks and a shy smile.

"S-see you tomorrow Skyy," he said and gave her a light hug. Skyy had to clench her teeth to stop from her mouth dropping open.

"U-uh yeah, see you tomorrow Brayden," she said and turned to leave with Tai. Skyy stared at the floor as she walked through the crowd of teens. Tai watched her from the corner of his eyes.

He stopped her just outside the crowd.

"Yo…uhh, what was that?" he asked. Skyy threw her hands in the air.

"God only knows! I mean did you see a sign saying 'kiss me you fool' on my forehead? I don't think so!" She fumed. Tai cracked a grin.

"That was your first kiss wasn't it?" he sighed. Skyy pouted and dropped her head.

"Yeah…dammit I was saving that! Now his name will forever be ingrained into my mind!" Skyy said. Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because! Every girl will always remember who their first kiss was, even if they try to forget, it is permanently burned into their brains the second it happens! Now the name Brayden will never leave my mind!" Skyy explained. Suddenly Tai looked past her shoulder and stiffened. His eyes widened and he quickly looked back to Skyy with a worried look. Skyy cocked her head.

"What? Is there something behind me?" she asked and turned around, only to freeze on the spot. In one swift second she felt her heart drop into her stomach and her blood run cold.

Izzy looked at her wide eyed with his mouth a little bit open looking as if he was about to speak. Skyy's breath hitched in her throat.

"I-Izzy... d-did...you hear that just now?" she managed to choke out. Izzy closed his mouth and his eyes became a little dark.

"…You mean the part about that guy taking your first kiss? Then yeah, I did," he said with a little edge to his voice. Skyy heard Tai slap his forehead and sigh in annoyance, but he was at the back of her mind right now. Skyy turned so she was fully facing Izzy and tried to reach out to him.

"H-hey! I mean, it wasn't like I wanted him too, I don't like him," Skyy tried to defend herself, though she really didn't need to. But she didn't want Izzy of all people getting the wrong idea. Izzy looked at the ground refusing to look at her in the face.

"If you don't like him then why'd you let him kiss you?" Izzy said quickly. Skyy touched his arm.

"It was by surprise! He did it when I was leaving!" Skyy said. Izzy snatched his arm away.

"Whatever, I don't really care anyways," he said and turned away from her shoving his hands in his pockets. Skyy fumbled to try and put the pieces together as the situation started to spill from her fingers.

"But Izzy! Please, I don't like him!" she said as he walked away.

"Like I said, I don't care what you do, go have fun with your new boyfriend," he snapped and walked over to the exit where their other friends were waiting.

Skyy stared at his back and felt tears threaten to spill over her eyes. Though it was instantly replaced by anger.

"That idiot! I friggen said I didn't like him! Why'd he have to be a complete dick about it? That kiss wasn't my fault!" Skyy fumed crossing her arms. Tai sighed again and turned her around. He saw the tears in her eyes and hugged her lightly.

"Don't worry bud, he was seriously out of line, I'll talk to him," Tai said. Skyy bit her lip.

"…yeah...okay," she said. Tai took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He led her out of the club and over to their friends. They had worried faces when they saw them come over. Mimi walked up to them.

"What happened? Izzy just stomped right by us not saying a word…" Mimi said glancing at Skyy's pouting face. Tai rolled his eyes.

"Nah, he's just being a child, I'll talk to the little boy later," Tai teased. Mimi still frowned. She walked over and took Skyy's other hand though. Matt quickly started up a different conversation when Tai gave him the eye saying they'd talk about it later.

Skyy watched the floor as they made their way to the staterooms. She didn't understand why Izzy had reacted that way in the first place. It was an accidental kiss, why was he so angry about that? Unless he liked her…nooo that wasn't it. Maybe he was already in a bad mood or something? Oh! It had to be because he was afraid of Skyy hooking up with someone and him being the third wheel because their other friends were all couples. He was probably afraid of being left out if Sora and Matt were all lovey dovey, along with Tai and Mimi. Then if Skyy hooked up with Brayden he'd be alone. That had to be it!

Skyy groaned in her head. What a silly thing to worry about! She thought she'd made it clear she didn't like Brayden. Izzy could be kind of dumb sometimes.

As the teens all headed down to the cabin the boys invited the girls into their cabin to watch some TV so they all went inside the boys' cabin instead of going in their own. Skyy was the last one in and was a little afraid of seeing if Izzy was there. He was probably still mad and she didn't want to create a tense situation.

When she walked in her heart sank a little when she noticed Izzy laying on top his bunk bed with his big headphones over his ears. He was completely absorbed in his laptop and didn't even look up when everybody came in. Tai eyed him and glared at his back slightly. Tai went over and whispered something to Izzy which Skyy saw that he did hear, but was refusing to look at Tai. Tai's eyes narrowed and he swatted Izzy over the head hard. Izzy's head almost connected with his keyboard from the force and he whipped around holding the spot on his head where Tai hit him.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" he snapped. Tai glared straight at him and walked away. Izzy glared back and when he noticed Skyy she looked at him hesitantly. A small blush appeared on Izzy's cheeks but he frowned and turned back to his laptop, readjusting his headphones over his ears. Skyy's face fell and she looked at the ground. Somehow she felt ashamed. She slumped over and sat on the floor by Tai's bed. Tai and gotten comfortable with Mimi on his bed and was flipping through the channels on the TV. Matt and Sora where sitting on Matt's bed and they were flipping through the daily log for the next day. Tai finally found a couple American shows they recognized. They watched America's Funniest Home Videos for a while, which lightened the tense air a little with the laughing. After they flipped for a little while more until they found a documentary about this lost queen mummy that these people were trying to find.

They watched it for a good half hour until Mimi and Sora got grossed out and decided to leave for bed. Skyy was fascinated though and kept watching with the three boys. Only when the girls had left did Tai sit up from his lying position on his bed.

"Hey, I'm hungry, who wants to come with me to get cookies from the buffet?" he asked. Skyy immediately stood up from the floor.

"I will, I'm hungry too," she lied. In truth she just didn't want to be in the room with Izzy for a while. He still was completely ignoring her, and every one else for that matter. The air for her became tense and she wanted to get out of the cabin for a while. But she still wanted to watch the mummy program which is why she stayed in the first place.

It was just the two of them so Tai grabbed his room key and headed out with Skyy. They were mostly silent until they reached the deserted buffet and started piling cookies onto two plates.

"Hey, I was wondering," Skyy started, breaking their silence. Tai looked up at her from the cookies.

"Hm?"

"Why Mimi? And why so quickly?" Skyy asked. Tai laughed lightly.

"I guess it was pretty quick huh?" he said grinning. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah, I could've sworn and the start of this vacation you were still crushing on Sora," Skyy said. Tai shrugged.

"I guess, but when I saw Mimi standing there in the airport it kind of sealed the deal," Tai said. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know me and Meems had been talking more online and phoning each other and stuff right?" he said. Skyy smiled.

"I didn't know you two had been phoning each other," she grinned widely. Tai blushed.

"Yeah, we phoned about once a week in some cases, just chatting about whatever when we were bored. But yeah, I guess I never told you, but I once had a teensy crush on her a while ago, like back when we were 15," Tai confessed. Skyy gawked at him.

"What? No waay! You liked Sora back then!" she said. Tai shrugged.

"Yeah, I liked Mimi a little bit but it was no where compared to how much I liked Sora so I never paid to much mind to it." Tai said. "I mean I thought Meems was cute and funny, and sometimes I thought about what it'd be like to date her, but that was it."

Skyy grinned as she listened and plucked random flavored cookies. Tai continued, picking out more cookies as well.

"And besides, the more Sora and Matt were together I started giving up on Sora more and more, because hey, look at how into each other those two are," Tai laughed. "But one day when Mimi was the only person online and I was super bored, I started a conversation with her; we ended up talking for about 4 hours after that." Tai smiled warmly. "After that we talked more online, and eventually started calling each other. We talked about ourselves, and about things we liked and surprisingly, had in common."

"I guess my old crush for her started to resurface then, but it was only little and I didn't really recognize it then. But when the cruise came up I couldn't stop thinking about seeing her again, seeing how she'd grown up and stuff. I just assumed it was because she was a good friend and I missed her. But when I saw her standing there in the airport, I don't know, I felt my heart pounding super hard and I just thought how pretty she looked." Tai smiled at the cookies on his plate. He shrugged.

"And I don't know, the more time we spent together the more I was finally realizing how my feelings for her built up, then I got the idea to confess to her and ask her out, just to see if I really liked her as much as I thought I did."

Skyy glanced over at him. "And do you?"

"Hell yes! She's seriously got me around her finger more that I ever thought!" Tai laughed. Skyy smiled warmly.

"I'm happy for you," she said. Tai smiled genuinely. He hugged her shoulders lightly.

"Thanks Skyy, I guess confessing to her was the best choice I've made in a while because I'm so obsessed with her know I don't see how I ever doubted my feelings before," Tai laughed again.

"You really like her don't you?" Skyy grinned. Tai nodded.

"Yeah, I really like her," he smiled to himself.

"Jeez man! Why didn't you tell any of this to me before?" Skyy said swatting him playfully over the shoulder. Tai shrugged.

"Because I'm a dude, I answer when I'm asked, and you never asked. Plus I'm not a girl, I don't get into the whole who likes who and feelings talk," Tai said scrunching his face. Skyy rolled her eyes.

"Men!" she laughed. Tai chuckled.

"Hey, sorry I couldn't really talk to Iz tonight, I'll see if I can speak to him tomorrow morning or something. I think he needs a bit to cool his head, plus he's obviously not going to talk to anyone tonight," Tai said rolling his eyes. Skyy's frowned a bit and looked down at her plate.

"Yeah...I thought so too..." she said sighing. "Anyway, I'm going to apologize to him tomorrow when I can, so you can talk to him if you want, but you don't have too," Skyy said. Tai waved a hand.

"Nah, I kinda want to. I've never gotten to beat any sense into Izzy, so it'll be fun," Tai's eyes sparkled as he teased. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't be too cruel," she joked. Tai smiled innocently. They stood in silence for about a minute before Tai spoke up again.

"Hey, I think we've got enough grub, we should head back," Tai said looking down at his mountain full of cookies. Skyy looked down at hers and laughed. It seemed she wasn't paying attention to the cookies and just kept piling more and more onto her plate.

"Yeaah, let's hope we can finish these," she laughed. Tai raised and eyebrow as they walked away from the buffet.

"What do you mean? My plate is for the guys, those are all yours to eat," he said. Skyy pouted.

"Hey! No way man! Your helping me eat these!" Skyy said trying to swat him. Tai dodged her hand whilst laughing and sticking his tongue out at her. Skyy rolled her eyes but was laughing under her breath. Tai turned around as they reached the elevators. Skyy watched his back as she followed him into the elevator.

It seems Tai was able to cheer her up without her realizing it again. He was always good at that. That's why Skyy loved hanging out with him. This is also why he was her best friend in the whole world. Tai always seemed to know her inside and out. She would never regret befriending him. Never.

The two friends made their way back to the boys' cabin and when they got there the program was still on. Tai gave Matt a plate and chucked some cookies at Izzy's head before lying down on his own bed. Skyy took her plate with her and sat down on her spot on the floor. Tai then patted the spot next to him and told her to come sit with him. She glanced at Izzy's figure on his bed. He was still ignoring them and was typing something on his laptop. Skyy shrugged and scootched up to Tai, leaning her head on his shoulder. They both dug into the cookies and became absorbed in the show. Though Skyy was a little pleased when Izzy came down to go to the bathroom and gave her and Tai and little jealous looking glance before disappearing into the bathroom. After he finished he had climbed back up to his bed without looking at them. Skyy rolled her eyes at him and decide to focus on the show, taking another cookie to munch on.

The show was really long and she stayed there with them for about another hour and a half eating the cookies absent mindedly. It was getting really late and Skyy remembered the credits of the show, but she also remembered the warmth of Tai's body next to hers.

So it was only natural she fell asleep on him.

She woke up a few hours later, well she assumed it was a few hours later. The TV had been turned off and all the lights were off as well. Tai was still next to her in the same position and she felt his steady breathing. He was asleep. There was no glow from Izzy's laptop so she assumed he had fallen asleep too.

Skyy slowly edged away from Tai and moved the half empty plate of cookies onto the ground. She sat up and walked over to the door trying not to be too noisy. She was pretty sleepy so she stumbled at bit as she walked. She was literally forcing herself to move or else she'd be tempted to go back and fall asleep next to Tai.

She opened the door as quietly as she could and stepped out into the hallway. She closed the door with a light click and turned to open the door to her own stateroom. She opened and closed her door as quietly as she had done to the boys', knowing her female friends were asleep too. Surprisingly, one of the bedside lights was still on, even though her two friends were fast asleep. Skyy smiled lightly to herself. They probably kept it on in case she came back to the room and they were already asleep.

Skyy quickly changed into her PJs and crawled into bed. It was then she felt the crunching underneath her. She sat up and found another note scrunched under her. The note was half open. The creases in the note had been folded the opposite ways that it had originally been folded, which means someone had read it already before her. Skyy lightly glared at her sleeping friends. Jeez. Her nosy friends. Reading her secret notes before she did.

Skyy looked back at the note, looking at her name written on the outside. She laughed lightly when the sender and tried to write her name in bubble letters instead of the usual curly lettering. She opened the note and held it close to the bed side light so she could see the words properly.

As Tomorrow is the last day. I don't want to be too forward in saying: I Love You, I have for a long time. From, X

Skyy felt her face flush red and become warm. Wow. Love? This person loved her? That was serious. But Skyy frowned in confusion. A long time? How was that possible? Brayden had only known her for a supposed week. How could he have loved her for a long time? Skyy laid her head on her pillow whilst still looking at the note. She reached for her sketchbook between the bed and the side table and flipped it open to put away the last note.

Suddenly something fell from the book and rolled onto the floor. Skyy groaned as she got up from her comfy position to go pick it up. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the little red rock Izzy had given her back in Seattle. She picked it up and gazed at it, smiling warmly. She sat back down on her bed and curled her feet under the covers. She rubbed her fingers over the smooth surface of the tiny rock. She put the last note away in her sketchbook and tucked it back into its hiding spot.

Skyy lay down and clutched the rock in her hand. Izzy had given her this rock, so therefore, it was very precious. Skyy closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the pillow, which smelt like a hotel. She envisioned Izzy's flustered face when he had given her the rock. She smiled to herself. He had been so cute and dorky then. So shy, and warm. Skyy's heart began to ache. How could she have made him mad tonight? She really needed to apologize to him. She hated that he was ignoring her. Izzy was the light of her life and his attention was very precious to her. Skyy frowned and clutched the rock tighter in her hand. She kissed the rock lightly and slipped it back into her sketchbook. She flicked off the light and snuggled deeper into her covers.

Thoughts of Izzy filled her mind as her drowsiness from before came flooding back. Sleep enveloped her and she drifted off in the darkness of her cabin. The slight rocking and creaking of the ship being the only sounds one would be able to hear.

End – Day Eight