"I deleted Gretchen"s contact and photos off my phone."
"Sweet."
They shared a smile, bonding over lost love and heartache. Or maybe revenge. Either way, it felt good.
They both went downstairs and out the front door to get into the airport shuttle that was waiting to take them to the plane for Miami. Their bags were all stacked behind it, ready to be loaded by the driver. That was a sure sign that their dad was anxious to go. He hadn"t even asked Kevin to help him with the bags.
"Tell me again why we have to go now, the night before the cruise?" Sarah demanded of her mother as she approached the shuttle van.
"Because the ship leaves in the morning, and we want to be sure we don"t miss it." She was searching through her purse, anxiously as she answered.
"Yeah," responded Sarah, sarcastically, "we wouldn"t want to miss the boat, would we?" She sn.i.g.g.e.red at her joke. "Get it? Miss the boat?"
Kevin rolled his eyes. He knew she was purposely egging on their mother. If their father heard, she was going to get in trouble. Again.
His mother responded distractedly. "Just keep your little comments to yourself, please, and don"t let your father hear you. He"s very stressed out right now." She pulled her pa.s.sport out of her purse. "Here you are. Why are you in here and not in my other bag?"
"Uh-oh, Mom"s talking to herself again," said Sarah.
"Yeah, Sarah, whatever, give it a rest," said Kevin, tugging on her hair as he walked by to get into the shuttle.
Sarah shot her mother a dirty look and slapped her brother"s shoulder as he walked by, but kept her retort to herself. The sooner this was done, the sooner she could get back and plan her revenge on Barry The b.a.s.t.a.r.d. She got into the shuttle and buckled herself up, settling in and staring out the window.
After everyone was in and all the bags were loaded, their dad gave the driver directions to some address several blocks over.
"I thought we were going to the airport," said Kevin, confused.
"First we have to pick up the Buckleys," said Sarah"s mom.
"Are you kidding me? We have to go to the airport with them too?" asked Sarah.
"THAT"S ENOUGH, SARAH!" her father yelled, loud enough to make their ears ring.
The van suddenly got very quiet. Sarah had never heard her father lose his cool like that in front of other people. The driver just sat there as if he"d heard nothing.
Frank Peterson was seriously stressed out. In a quieter voice, he continued, jabbing his finger at Sarah"s face for emphasis, "You are going to be nice, keep your comments to yourself, and get along with these people, Sarah, or so help me ... " He dropped his hand and turned around to look out the front window. He gestured to the driver to start driving.
Kevin nudged her in the leg to get her attention and then shot her a knowing look.
She stuck her tongue out at him. As if she needed him to tell her to shut up.
They continued on in uncomfortable silence to the Buckley house. Three minutes later they pulled up in front of a small, slightly shabby, two-story house. Within seconds, the Buckleys started spilling out of the front door, accompanied by their baggage. Sarah barely suppressed a groan. Kevin smiled and laughed quietly as they both watched the show unfolding. These people were unbelievable.
Jonathan Buckley led the pack, wearing fluorescent green swimming trunks that went down to his knees, a white undershirt, goofy sungla.s.ses and an orange baseball hat. Behind him was his sister, what"s-her-name, with her frizzy hair sticking out in all directions and her ninety-nine cent flip-flops flapping around all over the place. The last person out the door was obviously their mother, since she was the spitting image of her daughter, only taller.
Great, thought Sarah, I"m going on a cruise with the crew from Sesame Street. All we"re missing is Big Bird. She watched as Jonathan"s mother said something to him; he dropped his suitcase on the sidewalk and ran back to the door, tripping in the front entry.
"Daaad!!" he yelled into the house, as he righted himself. "Daaadd!! Shuttle"s here!"
He must have heard an answer because he turned around and ran back to his bag. He picked it up and disappeared behind the van. A minute later the man of the house appeared in the doorway.
Kevin snickered.
Sarah saw what looked like a mad scientist, fiddling with his keys, trying to lock the front door. The guy"s hair was greasy-looking and standing on end. He looked like he had slept in the outfit he was wearing a large yellow shirt that didn"t even come close to matching the blue shorts he wore with it. He dropped the huge key ring twice before he could get the key into the hole and lock the door.
Oh, goody. Now our Sesame Street crew is complete. Welcome to the cruise, Big Bird. Sarah turned away from the spectacle to look out the opposite window. She knew it was going to take all her concentration not to let her frustration show when her father was around.
Mr. Buckley started down the pathway to the van.
"Honey, did you get your bag?" shouted Mrs. Buckley.
"Oh, darn it, no I didn"t."
"Don"t worry, Dad, I"ll get it for you!"
Sarah watched as Jonathan ran up to his dad to take the keys and then skipped to the front door, dropping the key ring twice before managing to unlock the door.
Sarah shook her head in pity. Like father like son.
Jonathan disappeared and then reappeared moments later with an old, worn faux-leather duffle bag.
Sarah couldn"t help but stare at the father-son duo. "Hopeless," she whispered under her breath.
Kevin nudged her with his foot, signaling her to be quiet.
Sarah could see that he agreed with her Buckley a.s.sessment, but he gestured with his chin towards their dad, indicating he didn"t want Sarah to upset their father. Frank was definitely on a hair-trigger it wouldn"t take much. As tempting as it was, Sarah didn"t want to bear the humiliation of her father going off on her in front of these dorks, so she decided to keep her opinions to herself. For now anyway.
All the bags were finally piled up in the back of the van and the two families buckled into their seats the Petersons in the front and the Buckleys in the back. Mr. Peterson gave the driver the instructions to head to the airport, and then an uncomfortable silence fell over the group. No one knew what to say.
As the van started down the street, Mr. Peterson turned around from the front seat with a thousand-watt smile and said, "Hey, Glen! Nice to have you on board here with the family! This is my wife, Angela and my kids, Sarah and Kevin." He tipped his head in each of their directions.
Glen picked up his hand and made a weak wave with it. "h.e.l.lo, Frank, and everyone, heh, heh, nice to meet you all. Um, this is my wife Candace and our two children Jonathan and Candace." He paused for effect, as if waiting for them to catch up to the introductions he"d just made and to realize his wife and daughter shared the same name. Then he continued, "We like candy so much, we decided we needed more than one gumdrop in the family, didn"t we, sweetie?" he nervously looked to his wife for support and then to his daughter the other gumdrop, apparently.
Candi closed her eyes in pain and groaned inwardly. Please, G.o.d, make it stop.
Mrs. Buckley gamely joined in. "Yep, that"s right honey, she"s Candace also. Sometimes I"m Candace Number One and she"s Candace Number Two." She giggled nervously.
"You"re Candace Number Two?" Sarah turned around and asked Candi with disdain. "Your family calls you Number Two? Are you serious?" Her tone said everything Candi had feared. Apparently "Number Two" meant the same thing in the Peterson household as it did everywhere else in America. Candi was now being compared to something people did in the bathroom. On the toilet.
"Um, no, not really. It"s just a joke. You can just call me Candi." She could feel her face becoming flaming red. She was hoping the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
"Candi"s cool. Hey Candi, nice to meet you. You can call me Kevin Number Two if you want." He laughed at his own lame attempt at chivalry. Candi saw him frown at his sister and then look back at her, smiling again.
"Okay ... " she responded, tentatively, not sure if he was making fun of her or if he was really just trying to be nice. His attempts felt more like pity than anything.
Jonathan chimed in, oblivious to his sister"s shame. "You can call me Jonathan or Jon if you want. I don"t care. Maybe Jon is better. It"s faster. It has one syllable instead of the three." He yanked his hat off his head and held it in his hands. He was nervous Candi could tell. Earlier he had told her that Sarah and Kevin were probably really nice; but now in the car, it was clear that he wasn"t so sure about Sarah. He kept glancing at her nervously. Candi wasn"t sure if his attraction to Sarah was fear or the fact that she really was beautiful close-up like this.
Sarah rolled her eyes.
Candi pleaded with Jonathan with her eyes, begging him not to say something too horribly dorky.
"Hey, Jon. I"ve seen you around school," said Kevin. "Play any sports?"
"Uh, no. No sports. I played baseball when I was six, but that"s it. I got hit in the forehead with a fastball one time, so my mom didn"t want me to play anymore. Now I mostly play games on the computer, you know, video games. I"m pretty good, though."
"Computer games, huh? Where you kill stuff and s.h.i.t?"
"Kevin!" his mother squeaked, "Language! Please!"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Ma. Where you kill stuff and c.r.a.p like that?"
"Uh-huh. Mostly aliens though or monsters. I prefer killing those kinds of things to killing people."
"Well that"s a relief," said Sarah.
Candi got the distinct impression Sarah was thinking that Jonathan could be the kind of kid who snaps one day and takes out the whole school with some sort of homemade bomb. That made her mad, since nothing could be further from the truth.
Sarah"s father turned around to fix her with a stare.
"What? What"d I say?" she asked innocently.
Frank didn"t respond and Sarah eventually turned to look out the window, ignoring any more of the conversation in the van.
Mrs. Buckley decided to try to change the subject, "So, is everyone as excited about this cruise as I am?" She smiled shyly at the kids and then at Mrs. Peterson.
"Oh, of course we are, aren"t we, kids?" Angela said with what looked like a fake grin plastered to her face.
"Yep," said Kevin, "I can"t wait to hit those buffets."
"Oh, me too," said Jonathan. "Did you know that this cruise has eight different buffets, and at each buffet they have a minimum of forty-three different items, so that means at any given time on this ship there will be three hundred and forty-four types of food available?"
Kill me now, thought Candi silently.
"Seriously, dude?" asked Kevin.
"Yeah. Um, seriously. It"s not a joke. I wouldn"t joke about that."
"Huh. So, how do you know all this stuff, anyway?" Kevin sounded genuinely interested.
"I did some research online. I read all the company"s brochures. Plus I read some tour guide sites and blogs." Jonathan smiled, obviously proud of the thoroughness of his research.
"Did those guides tell you how many single chicks there usually are on this cruise line?"
"Kevin!" his mother admonished.
"Well, yes, actually there should be approximately four hundred and forty-eight on this cruise, give or take."
Kevin"s face broke into a big grin. "Sweet. Guess we have our work cut out for us then, don"t we, Jon?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess so."
With that, Kevin plugged his mp3-player earbuds in, tuning out the rest of the conversation that had started going on between the parents. Sarah was staring out the window, seemingly oblivious to everyone else. Jonathan contented himself with reciting the periodic table in whispered tones, explaining to Candi when she complained that he was going to be facing a test in chemistry cla.s.s when he returned. Candi started reading a book, trying to block out the sounds of science and boring adult prattle.
The shuttle van arrived at the airport with only thirty minutes to spare. The two families checked their bags at the curb, ran through the airport, pa.s.sed through security and sprinted up to their gate. As soon as they got on board, the door to the airplane closed. The two families weren"t seated together on the flight since the reservations had been made very close to the departure date, so they said goodbye and agreed to meet again at the baggage claim in Miami. They quickly found their seats and sat down, frazzled and out of breath.
Candi spent the first hour reading her book, but it was hard to concentrate. She knew Kevin was on the plane somewhere, and she wished she knew where, so she could sneak a peek at him. The plane was too big, though, so she settled for the memory of him sitting near her in the van earlier.
An hour before landing in Miami, Candi got up to use the bathroom. It was just a few rows back from her seat near the tail of the aircraft. She had to stand in the flight attendant"s galley area to wait for it to become available. She was looking at all the different cabinets and drawers that were back there when someone b.u.mped into her from behind.
"Oh, sorry, excu ... ," she started to say, but stopped when she looked up and realized it was Kevin who had b.u.mped into her.
"h.e.l.lo, Gumdrop," he said, smiling at her with his adorable grin.
Candi stood there staring at his beautiful white teeth, momentarily stunned and unable to speak. How could a person have such a perfectly gorgeous face? And look at those teeth! She"d never been this close to him before, but even up close, she couldn"t find a single flaw. His jaw was showing a bit of a dark shadow coming in, but all that did was make him more gorgeous.
Oh my G.o.d, he just called me Gumdrop. I"m going to kill my father. What am I supposed to say?! She was panicked at the idea of the most beautiful guy in the school talking to her in a s.p.a.ce no bigger than her closet. And it was dark, too.
"Um, what?" That"s it. Stall for time. Be cool.
"I said, "h.e.l.lo Gumdrop." What"s up? How"s the flight so far? Did you like your peanuts?" He smiled again, staring in her eyes.
She had to shake her head a little to clear it so she could respond like a normal person. "Hi, Kevin. Kevin Number Two. Yes, I liked my peanuts. All four of them."
"Ha, that"s funny. b.u.mmer for you, though, "cause I got five peanuts. They must like me more."
She smiled shyly back at him and then looked down at the floor. "I"m sure they do."
The door to the toilet opened and a very large man came out, momentarily squeezing the two of them together. Kevin was much taller, so his face was pushed into her hair the hair that was sticking out in a cloud around her head, as usual.
Sniff. "Hmm, your hair smells good." He got a curious look on his face, as if her hair shouldn"t smell good. Or maybe he was just surprised that he"d actually said it out loud.
"Uh, thanks. I think." She stepped away to enter the bathroom.
"See you later, Gumdrop," Kevin said with a grin, as Candi stood in the tiny bathroom compartment looking out at him.
"Yeah, bye." She shut the door and locked it. Then she dropped her face into her hands. I am the world"s biggest dork of all time. Kevin Peterson calls me Gumdrop, tells me my hair smells nice, and then I open the door and step into a stinky bathroom stall and say goodbye. The most inglorious exit. Ever.
When she came out, Kevin was gone. Candi breathed a sigh of relief. As much as she thought he was the hottest thing since, well, anything, she didn"t think her heart could take any more of these close-quarter encounters with him. She was not prepared to function in that league. She was going to have to work on some cute one-liners and things she could say next time a.s.suming there would be a next time. She knew she"d never get an opportunity like this at school, and she was determined not to blow it if she got another one. She hadn"t really thought about what would happen if she did win the social lottery and actually got Kevin to like her back. Probably because it would be like winning the lottery the chances were just too remote.
The plane landed in Miami forty minutes later. The two families gathered their luggage and took another shuttle van to a hotel near the cruise ship"s port. They checked in at the reception desk and then gathered in the lobby, surrounded by all of their luggage.
"So, who"s up for some dinner?" asked Frank, rubbing his hands together. "Anyone?"