Chapter One: Touchdown

The Floridian air was an unwelcomed mixture of both heat and humidity, forcing the clothing to bind onto the bodies of their owners. Kate could already feel the sweat forming on her forehead. "I did not come all the way across the country for my hair to end up looking like the bride of Frankenstein," Nicole complained. She heaved her suitcase off of the terminal and checked her hair in a nearby reflection. "Is it too late to go back onto the plane?" asked Kate.

"I don't think so," Nicole answered.

"Good. Let's go back," Kate replied, pulling the suitcase behind her. They walked with the crowd towards the airport lobby. Even with the air conditioning, the summer heat was touching them in ways that should be considered illegal. They sulked behind the sweating crowd in front of them. "Do you even know where we're going?" asked Kate.

"Nope," Nicole shortly responded. Kate sighed. This was going to be some trip.

The crowd thinned out as passengers met up with their relatives awaiting their arrival. Nicole and Kate struggled as they tried to politely push their way through the happily-reunited groups. As they passed by a couple passionately kissing, Nicole couldn't help but make a comment. "Honestly, can't they wait until they get to the hotel or something?" Nicole retorted.

"It's too hot for this," Kate agreed. As the crowd parted, she saw a familiar figure in sunglasses and shorts looking right at them. "Doesn't that guy look a lot like Danny?" she asked Nicole, who was busy trying to readjust her grip on her bags. Nicole glanced at the guy in front of them. "That's cause it is," she casually stated and returned to her bags.

The blond approached them and took off his shades, revealing his light blue eyes. "Glad to see you both made it safely," he greeted.

"I told you that you didn't have to come pick us up," Kate replied, unable to hide the smile growing on her face.

"What kind of gentlemen would I be if I left you guys here? Besides, knowing you, you'd probably just get lost," Danny commented.

"So. True," Nicole agreed, meeting up with them.

"Well it's really good to see you," Kate said as she enveloped him in a hug, "I missed you!"

"Same here," he reciprocated. They pulled away and smiled at each other. "Yeah, it's not like you guys Skype every other day," Nicole commented, hugging him next. Kate laughed. What could she expect? Ever since their last meeting, Kate and Danny had become close friends. After all, he did help them both out of a miserable situation. The least they could do was keep in contact.

He grabbed one of each girl's bags and began leading the way before either of them could protest. Nicole sighed, thankful that her load was lightened. Two bags were a lot easier to manage than three. Kate huffed and walked over to Danny. "I could've carried my own bags," Kate informed, matching him stride by stride. He shrugged. "Well that wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me," Danny replied.

"Ha! More like a gentleboy," she teased.

"I'm only a year younger than you!" Danny exclaimed.

"Key word: Younger," Kate pointed out.

"Key word: year," Danny corrected.

Once they were at the hotel, Kate said a quick "thank you" to the driver, popped open the trunk, and grabbed her bags. Danny didn't even have a chance to protest. "You can still hold my bags, Danny," Nicole offered sweetly. Danny chuckled as he took two of Nicole's bags. The girls left to go check-in as Danny took this time to finally check his phone. He was bombarded with copious amounts of messages. The group text had blown up with "did you get her yet?" and "what does she look like?" and "send us a bloody picture already!" He gave them a quick update as to where he was at the moment and closed his phone. There was no point in giving them any details; they were going to see her at the welcome party anyways. Plus, they've been driving him crazy these past couple of days- let them suffer.

"So we're at room number 1024," Kate informed, approaching Danny. He quickly placed the phone into his pocket. "Alright, let's go then," he said as he grabbed Nicole's bags again.

"We can take our own things, Danny," Kate reminded him as she handed Nicole her bag. Nicole pouted and rolled her eyes. "Besides, we're going to see you at the welcome party anyways. you should go get ready," said Kate.

"Wait, what party?" asked Nicole. Kate winced. Nicole was never a fan of parties or large group gatherings. She just preferred to stay away from things like that. Convincing her to go was going to be a challenge. But then again, this wouldn't be the first time Kate had to convince Nicole to go somewhere.

Unbeknownst to the girls, they were already being scoped out from afar. The moment Danny's message, "I'm in the lobby with her now. Meet you guys later," was sent, Danny's friends rushed to the elevator to sneak a glance at the girl that had Danny wrapped around her finger. To be fair, it was all Danny's fault in the first place. He had been hyping her up for a year now; so much so, in fact, that they had even dubbed her "Summer" from the movie 500 Days of Summer. Which meant that Danny was the obsessed "Tom". But hey, if the shoe fits, right?

The elevator doors opened and all four of them piled outside, instantly scanning the surroundings for "Summer". Julian spotted them first. "There's Danny over there!" he informed. They went into stealth-mode formation, shuffling their way towards him without being seen. "I don't see her," whispered Ethan Harris from behind John.

"He's just standing there alone," John replied, "Hold on, are you seriously trying to hide behind me? You're a head taller than I am!"

"Shhh, be a good friend and just accept it," Ethan shushed.

"Quick! Duck!" Harry warned as Danny looked up. They quickly hid behind a column, getting some rather odd looks from the visitors around them.

Harry checked to see if the coast was clear. "Ok, let's go," he signaled with a two-finger point. They crawled their way behind a couch. The crew peered over the sofa one-by-one as the girls arrived beside Danny. "Which one is she?" whispered Julian.

"Well he never really described her before…" answered John from behind him.

"I can't hear a damn thing from back here," complained Harry, beside Julian. But as the boys struggled to deduce which one was Summer, their fellow comrade, Ethan, was in a deep, deep trance. Something had come along that would blow this mission wide open and it's name was Nicole. Dun, dun, DUN!

In fact, the entire lobby had fallen away completely. It was the epitome of tunnel vision- all he could see was this angel before him. Everything about her drew him in. Her hair? Effortless. Her skin? Golden. It was as if Michelangelo painted her himself. He could've sworn there was an aura of heavenly light behind her. He was so enamored by her that he didn't even notice that the others had moved on without him.

"Shit, where the hell is Ethan?" asked John, looking around.

"I'm here!" panted Ethan, scrambling beside them.

"I still don't know which one she is!" complained Julian. Danny hadn't given them any specifics, at least, not on her looks. Nope. All he could talk about was her dumb personality; how smart she was, how she poured a ton of sugar in her tea, how she loved watching Disney movies, blah blah blah. The only lead they had was the fact she sometimes wore glasses. And since neither of these girls were wearing anything, that was a dead end too.

"Isn't it obvious?" sighed Ethan. The guys turned to him, only to find a pair of glazed eyes staring the girls' direction. "What is?" Julian cautiously asked.

"It's the one who looks like a Victoria's Secret Angel," he exhaled. He was instantly met with looks of what can only be described as a mixture of disgust, confusion, and scrutiny. "You drugged him again, didn't you?" John asked, looking in Harry's direction. Harry shook his head. They looked to the two girls talking to Danny. Neither of them fit the term "Victoria's Secret Angel". Their hair was either disheveled or in some sort of bun. Their clothes were anything but revealing. And their faces looked like a far cry from the smiling, freshly made-up models they'd see on the runway. In other words, they looked like they had just gotten off a 5-hour-long airplane ride.

After careful observation from the rest of the guys, they were able to obtain one solid conclusion: Ethan was insane. Harry popped up, tired of merely standing around. It was time for some action around here. "How about we take a closer look?" he announced to the rest of the guys, who stayed behind the couch. They merely looked up at him. They were instantly struck by their fearless leader. Someone had to take charge around here and he seemed to be the only one with the balls to do it. As the four guys made their way towards Danny and the girls, Harry raced forward to make the first contact. "Hey there, buddy. Long time no see!" he greeted as he wrapped his arm around Danny's neck, "How are ya?"

Danny repressed the urge to punch him right then and there. This was not how he planned on Kate meeting them. Granted, he knew it was probably not going to go any better for Harry, but all the other guys would at least have a chance! "You've been gone for hooours," Julian informed. Kate cocked her head, trying to understand exactly who all of these guys were. Both she and Nicole had already met some of Danny's friends, but these guys looked a lot older than the pinner high schoolers from before. "Oh why hello!" greeted Harry, taking his arm off Danny, "And who might you two lovely ladies be?"

The girls exchanged confused looks. Danny sighed. There was no point in trying to hide it anymore. "Kate. Nicole. Harry," introduced Danny, "Harry, Kate and Nicole." Behind him, the rest of the guys sulked slightly. "I thought you said if we introduced ourselves, we'd find out which one's Summer," whispered Julian.

"Minor mishap. We'll find some other way to do it, don't worry," reassured Harry. He turned back to the girls with a plastered-on smile. "Nice to meet you!" he replied. Nicole cocked her eyebrow at him. He was too friendly for comfort. She couldn't help but feel that there was something he was hiding, but on the other hand, she was too jetlagged to care about that right now.

Nicole looked at the other guys around her. They weren't as vocal as Harry, but they gave off that same suspicious vibe. Where did these guys come from anyways? Danny had never mentioned them before, at least not to her. As she looked them over, they took turns to introduce themselves. "I'm John," introduced the floppy haired brunette. There was a slight accent in his speech, but it was too brief for her to catch what it was. But then again, she too busy looking at his eyes to notice anything else. They were magnificent. You couldn't help but be drawn into them. Looking into them made her feel the warmth of a thousand sunsets.

"Harry," John warned. He looked over to Harry who was leaning towards the crowd. "Looking into them is like gazing into a fresh cup of black tea on a crisp autumn morn," Harry waved his hand, developing an Irish accent. John frowned. "Harrison," he called out. Harry jumped into the crowd and placed his arm around one of the girls. "It's like being held by a strong lumberjack beside the fireplace as he gently strokes your hair. And you know that this night was going to be-," he continued. John jumped, eyes widened. "Harry!" John exclaimed. Harry looked up with feigning innocence. John's mouth remained in a thin line. "I'm just trying to paint a picture," replied Harry. Unfortunately for him, John wasn't falling for it. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Alright, alright, alright," Harry surrendered, returning to his seat.

John didn't sit back up until Harry's bum was firmly on the seat. "I'm a storyteller, what do you expect?" Harry explained. John rolled his eyes. "A lumberjack? Honestly," scoffed John.

"How would you know? You can't see them! You don't know what it's like to gaze into those warm, sensual-" Harry pointed out.

"No eye color deserved the wild tangent you just went on," interrupted John.

"It's called being descriptive. And I'll have you know my wild tangents are exactly what made people want to listen to any of this in the first place! People love my excitement!"

"Just like Georgiana loved how 'excited' you got at her birthday party?" reminded John. Harry crossed his hands. "That was not my fault," Harry defended

"What about Vegas?" John arched his eyebrow. Harry fell silent. He slouched backwards in his seat. "Whatever happened to 'what happens in Vegas ,stays in vegas,' huh?" he muttered. That should hold him off for a bit. Finally, the "storyteller" had shut his seemingly unstoppable mouth. John leaned forward to address the crowd. "I'd like to apologize on Harry's behalf. He can go overboard at times," John apologized to the girl Harry had his arm around. Getting "descriptive" was one thing, but physically bothering people was crossing the line. He was not about to have a repeat of the last person whose personal space Harry invaded. It took them weeks to get that restraining order dismissed.

The girl stared into him, nodding aimlessly in response. John smiled, causing her eyes to widen. They remained transfixed on him until he had relaxed back into the chair. When he was far enough away, she leaned over to her friend and whispered, "They really are like a fresh cup of tea." She glanced over at Harry who simply winked. "Anyways, we introduce ourselves. Well, not all of us introduced ourselves, some of us had some trouble getting cohesive words out..." John continued.

John was able to introduce himself rather well. Actually, in Nicole's eyes, he seemed the most normal. He didn't stand out as much as the others, but he seemed more put-together than any of them. She actually wasn't creeped out by him. The last one, on the other hand… The man was standing far too straight. His eyes seemed as if they were glued onto her. There was even a speck of drool pooling at the corner of his slightly opened mouth. "Ethan," John hissed for the third time, elbowing him in the process. "What?" he asked, returning back to reality. Ethan looked around in an attempt to understand the situation.

After a few more seconds of processing, he sharply informed them of his name. "Ethan Harris!" he exclaimed, extending his hand out to Nicole. She eyeballed it, wondering if it'd be safe to touch it. She cautiously shook Ethan's hand, keeping her eyes on the weirdo in front of her. "Alright," she replied, eyeballing him. Ethan quickly withdrew his hand, allowing it to remain straightened at his side. From the far left, Harry smacked his forehead. However, Nicole was still busy assessing Ethan. Never in her life had she ever had that kind of reaction. It was so...odd. All she knew was that she definitely didn't want to be stuck in a room with that guy. Danny cringed. (And he thought that Harry's introduction was the worst one…) He had to find a way to change the subject.

"Well now that you've met everyone, I think it's time for them to go. Here, I'll walk you to your room," proposed Danny.

"We all will!" Harry piped up. Danny shot him a glare, but it was too late. Harry had already grabbed Kate's suitcase and began walking towards the elevators. "You really don't have to do that," Kate informed, jogging up to Harry. He shrugged in response. "It's really no big deal. So, tell me about yourself," he not-so-smoothly segwayed.

"Oh um, ok. We started making YouTube videos a while ago. It was a fun thing to do," she began.

"Yeah, yeah, but more about yourself," corrected Harry.

"Alright, like what?" asked Kate.

"Where do you live?" interrupted Julian.

"Southern California," Kate cautiously answered.

"And you?" John turned to Nicole.

"Same," she replied, eyeing him.

A look of disappointment spread through the guys' faces, but they weren't about to stop there. Giving up was not an option. "So, do you have any siblings?" John asked this time.

"Yeah, I have a little sister," Kate replied. The guys whipped around to Nicole. "How about you?" Harry quickly asked. Nicole looked around her waringly. "Same," she slowly replied. Harry snapped his fingers. So close. By this time, Danny had already begun suspecting something was going on. It was one thing to get to know the girls, but this reeked of suspicious behavior. He watched each of the guys' faces. They were up to something which only meant that impending embarrassment was soon to follow.

The boys were already beginning to run out of questions when they approached the elevators. If they were to finally determine which one was "Summer", they had to make this one count. They only had room for one more question. Who knew when they'd have this chance again?! So Harry dug deep, trying to remember every piece of information Danny ever said. The other guys looked at their leader for some sort of 'Hail Mary' answer. Well, everyone except for Ethan; he was too busy drooling over Nicole, who by the way, was only able to endure it by keeping her back towards him. Harry looked up to see where the elevator was. It had hit the fifth floor and was heading down fast. Time was running out. Finally, in a flash of otherworldly inspiration, the answer came to him. "Sooo," Harry began looking towards Kate, "Just between you and me, are you a boxers or briefs kinda girl?"

"Now to appreciate the the true ingenuity of this question," Harry began. He brushed off his shirt and smiled smugly at his choice of words. "Or the complete idiocy," John reiterated, but was quickly hushed with Harry's glare into his direction (which he easily rolled his eyes at). Harry cleared his throat.

"As you all would've guessed, Danny had a habit of leaving any sort of defining detail out of all of his stories about the supposed 'Kate'. The only thing we had to go on was this teeny, little story about the first time they met. It went on like this: Danny was on his way to his mate, when he saw a girl being harassed by this drunk. So Danny, being the distinguished gentlemen he is, jumped in and rescued the maiden," explained Harry.

"And by 'jumped in and rescued' he means that all Danny did was distract the drunk and ran away with her," corrected John.

Harry instantly hushed him. "I'm telling the story, John!" Harry scolded. John put his hands up in surrender and zipped his mouth, but was still unable to hide the growing smile on his face. Harry straightened out his shirt once more.

"As I was saying," he quickly shot one more glare at John's direction, "Danny rescued her. But she was covered in beer. Now a lady should never roam the streets of London smelling like alcohol. What with all the maniacs nowadays, it's very dangerous. So Danny did the only logical thing and convinced her to back to his place to get changed," Harry continued. Harry covered the side of his mouth with his hand. "That's just trouble with a capital T!" he squeaked in an oddly an American-Southern accent. John shook his head as the audience chuckled in response.

"Anyways, they went back to his place to dry off. After she showered, she went into his room to change into some clothes because he was busy drying hers. And no, he did not take advantage of her because, as I've stated, he's a perrrfect gentlemen!" Harry exclaimed in that same southern accent, "Apparently, she was quite the naive specimen as she came out wearing his white dress shirt and… wait for it… boxers." A collective gasp echoed throughout the establishment. "You're not serious," one girl whispered.

"Cross. My. Heart," he swore, "Ask John." They looked to John who simply nodded. With their mouths still open, they returned their attention to their multi-accented storyteller.

"And I haven't even gotten to the worst part," revealed Harry, leaning forward. Everybody in the audience mirrored his actions. "As they were waiting for the clothes to dry, Kate gets this call from her friend to come back ASAP. And so in her rush," he leaned closer and whispered, "She ran out in his shirt and boxers."

A louder gasp was heard this time. Looks of bewilderment and disbelief exchanged through the crowd as they began talking amongst themselves at the impending embarrassment. Harry pursed his lips and nodded curtly. John hung his head down. This was not how Kate would've liked to have been introduced. "How could you let him ask her this in public?!" exclaimed someone to John. His eyes shot up. "I was just as surprised as you are! How was I supposed to know he was going to say something like that?" he defended himself.

"It was a good question!" retaliated Harry.

"Well what was her reply?" inquired a man from the back.

"Well...after I said that, the guys were pretty much awestruck of my brilliance," Harry began.

"You mean audacity…" muttered John.

"Hush, I'm telling the story now!" Harry cut him off. John leaned back in his chair and motioned Harry to go on. "Alright then…."

Each of the guys' jaws dropped instantly. Nicole's widened eyes peered over in response. Kate furrowed her eyebrows, wondering where in the world this question came from. Thankfully the doors dinged open, providing Danny with the perfect distraction. His eyes popped back into his head as he pulled Harry back and took Kate's bag. "Alright!" he exclaimed, setting the suitcase into the elevator. "How about we just meet up with you two later on at the party?" he proposed. He ushered the girls into the elevator. Kate slowly walked in, racking her head for a reason as to why Harry asked what he did. "Wait, what party?" Nicole asked. Danny slid Nicole's suitcase in, pushed in their floor number, and slid out before the doors closed. "See you later!" he waved.

It was only after the doors clothed that Danny was able to breathe. Potential disaster averted. Behind him, the guys had begun whispering amongst themselves. Danny whipped around, glaring at all of them in the process. His friends instantly shut up. "Seriously?" he asked flatly. They winced, but that didn't lessen the intensity of Danny's glare. "I have one idiot drooling enough to fill the hotel swimming pool and the rest of you are interrogating them like some kind of troubled paparazzi!" he exclaimed.

"We just wanted to get to know them better," mumbled Julian, looking down.

"Well now you've probably traumatized them," Danny said, exasperated. They kept their eyes on the floor. Danny scratched the back of his neck. "Unbelievable," he stated as he walked off. They turned around, watching Danny stride away. After a few more seconds of silence, one of them spoke up. "Do you think he's mad?" asked Harry. They all glared at him, lifted their hands, and smacked him upside the head. He cried out in pain. They scoffed and began walking to their rooms. Harry quickly rubbed the back of his head. "It was just a question!" Harry exclaimed, trying to catch up with them, "Geez, wait for me! Guys! John? Ethan? Julian? Oh, come on!"