I've planned quite a bit for this chapter and the next and it's taken some time to get it organized enough to post it, but here it is! Thank you all for reading and all that jazz, means a lot to me!
The next morning, Kevin, the Eds, Nathan, Rave, Nazz, the Kankers, Rolf, Sarah, Jimmy, Jonny and his weird Russian cousin all met at Nathan's house to load up in a few taxi vans and go to the airport. In Nathan's taxi, Rolf sat in the passenger seat, Nathan and Rave in the double seats behind them and Kevin, Edd and Ed in the backseat by the luggage.
Nathan was recording everything on his phone, talking excitedly.
"First out of state vacation with tha bae!" He filmed Rave scowling and flicking him off. "How do you know I was talking about you? Me and Kev could be boyfriends~" Kevin choked in the backseat, Edd looking cautiously between them, clenching his fists in his lap and shook his head no to Edd's questioning glance. But Nathan didn't get the reply he wanted from Rave.
"I would wish you two a long a happy life together but I really don't fucking care about you." Rave glared and looked out his window, praying that his voice hadn't faltered. Nathan thought about how hard it had been to get Rave to actually agree to come. Nathan had casually called him later after he left with Edd and Rave hung up on him when he actually listened to his proposition. Any and all texts Nat sent to him got deleted and Rave shortly blocked his number after seven missed calls every five minutes. Nathan finally knew what he had to do. He got a couple redbox movies, Rave's favorite pizza and a bottle of sweet red wine from his parent's cellar and drove to Rave's house. Rave answered the door, pulling a sweater over his head that fell to his knees. He looked absolutely adorable as he stood there glaring at Nathan. After they ate and drank a little, Nathan not drinking too much so he could drive home, Rave finally agree. It was one in the morning, and Rave finally agree. Nathan felt so fucking happy he couldn't sleep.
Nathan pouted but continued with recording their journey, he and Ed actually talked the majority of the time, Kevin and Edd looking kind of awkwardly between themselves and blushing when their eyes met. They got to the airport and met up with the rest of their group hearing complaints about taxi seats and how long that took. Nathan recorded everything until they walked towards their flight.
Nathan, being the smart ass he is, planned everyone's seating on the plane as well. He sat Jimmy and Sarah the farthest away from everyone. Nazz and Marie smack in the middle, her sisters looming close, Eddy, Ed and Rolf sitting in the seats behind Jonny and Plank, then Nathan bought first class seats for Kevin and Edd as well as Rave and himself. But they both were sitting far apart so that they didn't have to worry about talking and the other's butting in.
"O-ooh, why do we get first class and all our friends get the average seats?" Edd asked Kevin. Kevin just shook his head and shrugged. He was wondering what kind of game Nathan was playing but he appreciated the alone time with the dork.
Rave seemed quite the opposite of appreciative. Though he, begrudgingly, thanked Nathan for paying for him to come, he did not like being in close quarters with him, much less far away from everyone they know.
"So I have everything already planned out- like at the vacation rental."
"You rented a place?" Rave asked him incredulously.
"Yeah, did you expect me to buy one?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Hotel..." Rave looked at him like he had five arms and six eyes.
"No, that's not the best. Honestly, I found the biggest house they had it's still not big enough."
"Not big enough? What do you mean?" Rave was starting to get pissed off, how dare he complain about this! He has all this money for these nice things and yet he's complaining about it?
"It only has seven bedrooms, one of the living rooms has a pull out couch, but that's not enough beds for everyone to have their own. I don't want to shove people in the same beds, unless it us you know?" Nat's smile twinkled and Rave thought he was going to be sick.
"So, what are the sleeping arrangements then?" He gulped.
"Well, do you want upstairs or downstairs?"
"Upstairs." Rave blinked.
"Then, you and I will share the bedroom at the end of the hallway upstairs, it looks right out onto the beach! Nazz and Marie get the bedroom next to ours, then Eddy and Lee in the twin bedroom, and then Kevin and Edd in the biggest bedroom in the house- it has two king beds set up like twin beds with a bedside table in between them and the biggest bathroom. That's all upstairs. Directly under the stairs is a king bedroom, either Jonny or Plank can use that and whoever is left over out of the two can sleep on the pull out beds in the living room with May. Rolf and Ed are together and Sarah and Jimmy are together."
Rave nodded, noticing how thought out this was. Nathan really tried to put people in comfortable situations based on their attraction to the other in the group. "I still don't understand why you thought it would be a good idea for us to stay in the same room, on the same bed. I don't want to. I'll be more comfortable sleeping on a couch than next to you."
"Chill. Nothing will happen. We can switch nights on the couch if you want? I don't want you to feel like you have to sleep by me. I've been known to be a blanket hog." That made a tiny smile appear on Rave's face and Nat would take what he could get.
Edd was looking out the window of the plane, book in lap, deep in thought about this vacation. He didn't regret coming but he didn't feel like this would be a good idea. He had so much cleaning to do while his parents were gone. He was surprised they answered his phone call when he called to ask for permission. Even though they knew Edd could manage by himself, making the choices that were best for him, they were still pleased he called to ask. He could hear the excitement in his mother's voice as she told him to take lots of pictures and e-mail them to her. He was surprised they were supportive of him going, especially with no adult around to keep them from getting too wild.
He felt someone nudge him and looked up to see Kevin pointing across the plane to Rave and Nat. Rave had fallen asleep and his head fell on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan was all but squealing, taking multiple pictures on his phone. Edd chuckled then looked at Kevin.
"Are you excited?" Kevin smiled.
"Yes, quite a bit. I can't wait to read about the change of ecosystem!"
"You're really going to read and study on the trip?" Kevin chuckled.
"It's what I enjoy!" Edd declared.
"Well, then we'll have to check around for interesting museums and stuff that we could all go to." Kevin suggested, hoping that he didn't cross a line in trying to include himself in what Edd planned.
"Of course, it would be rather lovely to see everyone bond over a learning experience on vacation."
Just then a very loud and angry "GOLDBERG" was heard and echoed throughout the plane, eliciting both boys to chuckle for a few minutes. Edd went back to reading and Kevin watched him from the corner of his eyes. He was too cute when he was zoning out. He was too cute in general. Kevin found himself straight on staring as he was deep in thought about how cute the little dork was before he heard the soft snore escape Double D's lips. He had fallen asleep in the middle of reading his damn book and Kevin felt his heart literally break over how cute it was.
He pushed the dork back a little so he wasn't hunched over and yawned himself. They still had about three hours until they landed in Fort Myers and had to take the hour drive to Marco Island. Kevin decided to sleep a little and feel the hell of jet lag later, but hey, they were going straight to this rental house right? Kevin could just fall asleep again there.
Four hours, three rental cars, and one pissed of Nathan later, they arrived to the giant rental house. It had three street addresses, two tennis courts, and four car garages, a pool and a dock with a sail boat roped around the posts. Nathan, still angry for the rental property office made him wait a whole half hour before they could get into the house because the cleaning company was still there, which put some relief in Double D's mind. Each bedroom door had the names of the people living in it. Edd was relieved that he was in a room next to Eddy's but panic stricken when he saw who his room buddy was. He ran into the room and sighed in relief at the two beds. A blush creeping on his face as he sat down his three organized bags.
He heard down the hall Nathan yelling. "Are you fucking kidding me, James? Seriously? What the fuck man!" Edd peaked his head out, seeing Nathan with his hands stretched out above his head, his face shocked, Rave stood, body facing him, arms crossed and looking anywhere but him. Noticing everyone looking at them he pulled Nathan into the bedroom and slammed the door.
"Why didn't you tell me!" Nathan hissed, Edd getting closer to the door to make sure they were okay.
"Look, I feel uncomfortable talking about it okay!" Rave hissed back.
"I understand, but this is big! How could you be allergic to the beach?!" Edd could hear someone smack their hands on something and he flinched.
"I'm not allergic, I just don't enjoy it!" Rave shouted.
There was a shocking silence after Nathan gasped. "I just wanted to see your cute butt in your little bathing suit, dancing on the sand and chillin' in the ocean."
Rave scoffed. "Seriously? You're fucking disgusting. Can you seriously see me? At the beach?"
Nathan thought about it for a minute. "I guess you're right. But will you at least go swimming in the heated pool at night?"
Edd could practically hear Rave's eyes roll. "No, you fucking tard. I didn't even bring a bathing suit."
"Sweet, so you're swimming in your boxers!"
"Are you not fucking listening to me? I'm. Not. Swimming. Or. Going. To. The. Beach. You fucking idiot."
Edd just shook his head and walked back to the room, he found Kevin face down on the bed farthest away from the window, which happened to be the bed Edd wanted but he just shrugged and finished opening his bags on the floor next to the bed.
Kevin groaned, listening to Edd organize his clothes on his half of the room and hang clothes on his half of the closet. Kevin rolled over and watched as Edd moved swiftly and quietly around the room, listening to the music that someone had turned on downstairs. Edd was concentrated on looking for any faults in the room so he could know if he needed to personally wash the sheets before sitting on the bed. He had his tongue sticking out between his gap and his bottom lip. Kevin watched his mouth very closely, taking note of his perfectly sized and plump pink lips before he got caught. Edd cleared his throat and closed his mouth properly, Kevin blushed a bright red and looked to the ceiling.
Edd, finding the bed adequately cleaned, looked back at Kevin. "I hope you checked your bed to make sure it was clean. You never know what people leave behind on these." Kevin just shrugged, not really caring. "It's quite disgusting, really. If you think about it. Everything in this house has been used." As Edd ranted on about how everything in the house, especially the massive kitchen, has been used, Kevin thought about people having sex all over the house. Then he thought about sex with Edd all over the house and then he ran out of the room in the middle of what Edd was saying and into their shared bathroom to put cold water on his face. Edd followed, confused.
"Did I say something wrong, Kevin?" Kevin looked at him through the mirror and shook his head.
"No, my thoughts just got away from me."
Edd nodded and left him alone in the bathroom. He watched the thin boy walk down the steps carefully, not touching the hand rail because who knew when that was cleaned last. He watched him cross the large living room the stairs emptied into and pace in front of the sliding glass doors that exited onto the dock. He was standing there, clenching his hands together, that Nazz snuck up on him.
"oh! Dear Nazz! You gave me quite the fright!" Nazz giggled.
"What're you doing dude? Everyone's going swimming! You should go get Kev off his lazy ass and join us!" This was the second time that Nazz addressed Edd as being with Kevin and even though they were sharing a room, Edd felt it was for a different reason.
"Ahh, yes. I will extend the invitation to Kevin." Nazz and Edd exchanged smiles and he went upstairs.
Kevin was lying on his back, shirt pulled up to his chest. One hand scratching his stomach while the other he used to scroll with his thumb on his phone. Edd was completely taken aback by the sight of Kevin so relaxed he almost forgot what he was doing. He grabbed his swimming trunks and paused in front of Kevin who broke away from his phone to glance at him, see what he had in his hand, and raise an eyebrow.
"Nazz wanted me to invite you to swim with everyone." Edd smiled politely.
"You're going swimming?" Kevin asked, no emotion in his voice.
Edd made a confused face. "I was thinking I should, yes. Why?"
"I'll be down in a little bit." Kevin said, turning back to his phone.
Okay... That was very weird.
Edd changed and went downstairs to find that Rave was actually in the pool... Well, his legs were. He was sitting, shirt on and in large swimming trunks that were more than likely Nathan's, at the deeper end away from everyone else. Nathan clutched the edge of the pool right next to him, smiling up to Rave as they quietly talked. Edd walked into the pool and stood by Eddy, watching Ed and Rolf discuss how to Marco Polo (they found the name VERY fitting). Nazz and the Kankers relaxed on the sun beds, soaking up all the sunlight they could. It was about fifteen minutes later that Kevin came out, green swim trunks and his red hat. He sported a pair of black-out sunglasses. Edd forced himself to look away from the boy's amazing physique, blushing slightly. Kevin was about to speak when a very loud splash and scream caught everyone's attention.
Nathan had reached up and pulled Rave into the water, Rave punching him as his head broke on top of the water. Everyone just laughed as they fought, Rave getting out and sitting far away from Nathan, watching the water by the dock.
Later, after everyone got out of the pool was when Nathan realized that they had no food. Go figure that he was the only one who hadn't thought about it. Plank, Nathan and Kevin left, simply just putting shirts on and a pair of sandals. They looked exactly like tourists but at the same time they looked just like the islanders. They got to the local grocery store and each got a cart. Nathan gave Kevin the duty of snacks, Nat took the frozen and dairy selections and gave Plank the responsibility of planning meals.
The joined back together after three hours, each cart filled to the top.
"DUDE. WHY DID YOU ONLY GET RUSSIAN VEGAN FOOD?" Nathan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
He heard a cute little giggle and swirled around to find a very attractive dirty blonde laughing at them. She stood about five feet eight inches, long dirty blonde hair and tanned skin. She wore a tank top with shorts and black boots. She looked like your typical indie-hispter asshole, but Nathan gave her a tight smile before turning to find both of his friends drooling over the girl. Nathan turned around again, not seeing very much that he liked about her, except she had a very cute butt.
"You must be tourists, right?" She laughed again, taking a few items off the shelf.
"And if we are?" Nat crossed his arms.
"Then welcome to Marco." She smiled. "I'm Giselle." She stretched a hand out to shake Nathan's but he just stared at it until she dropped it by her side. "How long are you on the island for?" She smiled again.
"Three weeks." Nathan said, disinterested. Kevin glared at him from behind him, this girl was beautiful and Nathan was completely trashing their chance.
"Cool! If you ever want to have a party, let me know. I'm kind of really known around here and I could hook it up." She smiled again, reaching in her purse to pull out a piece of paper and a pen.
"How about tonight?" Nathan asked, watching her face.
"Tonight? Definitely. Just give me a sec." She pulled her phone out and started calling people, speaking so fast that even Plank couldn't understand her. Every now and then she would look over at him and smile, she really like how he looked. The other two weren't quite her type, plus they seemed like they bat for the other team and she could tell just by how they interacted with each other. But the taller blond male stood aside from them and kept glaring around the place.
"Okay, I'll text you the address. At 9. Yep. Bye." She ended her call. "It's all set." she smiled and Plank watched her curving lips. "Can I catch your names and address before I leave?"
"I'm Nathan. This is Kevin and Plank." He pointed them out, her eyes shinning at Plank, and gave her the address.
"Plank... That's an interesting name.."
"He's Russian." Nathan whispered loudly, getting a smack on the back of his head.
Giselle laughed freely. "Awesome. You guys can meet my boyfriend later. I've seemed to have lost him between the parking lot and the store entrance." Giselle smiled seeing how confused Plank looked at mention of a boyfriend. "See you at nine, boys." She waved and left.
Nathan turned, glaring at Plank. "Let's find some real food before we all die."
Kevin laughed and trailed behind them as Nathan explained what real food was.