Every Girl Does It (15 page)

****

We walk arm in arm
toward the restaurant.
K
eep
ing
my breathing even
, that
’
s my focus, but I fail.
First off
,
I’m convinced that if we
’
re caught we
’
re going straight to prison no passing go no collecting two hundred dollars. Second
, I
’
m walking too
close to Brad Pitt
’
s actual twin
.
Any
girl would feel nervous right now
,
except for he is kind of c
ocky and rude sometimes.
Remember
, I tell myself,
it’s still Preston
.

People stop eating as we enter the restaurant. I lock
eyes with Kristin before
looking down. Oh no
.
I know she
notices
me, she c
an tell. My face feels on fire
as I look up
again
. But
this time Kristin
’
s face is hiding excitement and pure celebrity awe. If my best friend can’t tell it
'
s me
, we
’
re s
afe.

Preston asks the waiter if we
can
please sit outside
. We’re
led by a few tables of peo
ple who either
pull out their camera phones or choke on their food. I hold in a chuckle as we sit at the table outside. The waiter is visibly shaking as he pours us each a glass of the “best red wine in Maui
”
, as he so humbly put it and hands us our menus.

“This is weird
,
” I say through my smile to Preston.

“Right?” He replies taking a sip of his wine
.
“
Wow
,
he wasn’t kidding about
this being the best red wine in Maui
.”

“W
e should do this the rest of the week.” H
is eyes darken. He puts down his wine and the gauntlet, watching me the entire time as I nearly choke with laughter.

“We’ll get caught!” I say
.

“You mean to tell me this hasn’t been the most exciting night of your life?”

R
oll
ing
my eyes
I reply,
“
Okay,
fine it’s been fun, but I’m too small for prison
.
They’ll
eat me alive in there
.”

“I would
,”
Preston answers as he motions for the waiter.

“What is that supposed to mean
?
” I seethe.

“You’ll see,” he says rather gruffly before ordering for us. We decided before we left to let him do the talking since my voice would be a dead giveaway.

Dinner
is
quite pleasa
nt and uneventful
.
T
hat is until, “Hi!
Um
,
like I saw you guys out at the pool
. Do
you
,
like
,
remember me from before?
”

“Oh
,
how could we forget?” Preston answers annoyed
.
“You’re the one who doesn’t know geography.”

I choke on my water.

“Oh
,
well,” she says
twisting her hair around her finger
.
“
I
t’s like
,
why would I even care when I have GSP?”

“You mean GPS?” Preston asks.

“Yeah
,
whatever
.
S
o look
...
” The girl is now rather close to us and let
'
s her voic
e go down into a whisper
.
“
I know you guys are
,
like
,
famous and all and whatever
,
but we
’
re having this
,
like
,
party at our room
,
and it would be super awesome if you could stop by.” She drops a piece of paper on the table with her room number and saunters off.

“I fear for America
,
” I say as he picks up the piece of paper.

“To our future
.”
Preston laughs as he lifts his w
ine glass
to mine
in a toast.
Grinning
, I think back on the odd day we
’
ve just experienced.

“Um
,
sorry to bother you,” the waiter says as he approaches our table
.
“
But
these were sent over for you
,
compliments of them.” He points to Kristin and Brad as he takes two glasses of champagne off his tray.

“There
’
s also a card.”

I look at Preston and
stifle
a smile as he reads the card aloud, “From your biggest fans.”

I b
urst
into laughter
,
but quickly
feel bad as I see the hurt express
ion on Kristin’s face
. So
I pick
up my champagne glass
and
make a toast to her
.
S
he returns the toast with a giant smile.

“They’
re going
kill us when they find out, “I say through clenched teeth.

“Who says we
’
re going to tell?
” Preston smiles as he pays the bill
. He has
cash on him so
we didn’t have to worry about d
ebit cards with the wrong names. That would be a
fun headline:
Brad Pitt
–
Identity T
hief.

All of a sudden I hear clanking around the restaurant and turn to see everyone hitting their drinks with pieces of silverware and looking towards us.

“They want us to kiss
,
” Preston says
,
laughing.

“What do you mean?
Why
?” I
’
m now in a full state of panic.

“I don’t know, but that’s what the clanking means. Are you going to let down you
r fans or accept the challenge
,
M
iss Angelina?”

“Watch this
,"
I
say
w
ith bravery I never knew
I possessed
.
I
throw
down my napkin
,
march over where Preston
is
sitting
,
and pull him
by his shirt toward my face. I don’t hesitate before crushing my lips across his
,
using all the experience I have to make this the best kiss he’s ever received
. I was ready for my own reaction
.
I mean
,
the boy
can
kiss, but what I
’m
ready for
is
his
response to my little public display
.

Instead of letting me go and releasing the kiss early, Preston pulls me into his lap and kisses me harder than I
’
ve ever been kissed in my entire life. And every part of me wants to hate it
,
but instead I find I feel warm and tingly all over. It has to be the champagne
;
although
,
now that I think about it
,
I only had a sip.

He releases me
,
his green eyes smolder
, and he whispers into my ear,
“Told you so
.
”

“What?” I
’
m
breathless.

“
I told you so
. That
you
’
d kiss me before the end of the vacation.”

“That doesn’t count
,
” I say
,
trying to keep the smile on my face.

“Does to,” he argues
.

“Does not!” I say louder
,
and then
realize everyone is still staring.
Leaning forward,
I kiss him again on the cheek and then saunter back over to my side of the table.
“It was for the people
.
Not for you.”

“Weird
.
B
ecause that kiss felt like it was for you
.
” He cl
a
s
ps
my hand within his and leads me down the stairs onto the beach.

“Nope
. I’m a good actress,
r
emember
?
G
olden
G
lobe nominated.
"

“Are you sure about that?”

No, I'm not
quite sure
.
D
id she win? I shake my head and sit down in the sand
. I
need
these painful shoes off now.

Preston sighs and helps me with the strap
,
which
is caught on my dress. He pulls off both shoes
and then
hands them to me. I snatch them from his
clutches
and
watch
as
the waves
loudly crash onto the shore.

“
It’s
beautiful,
” I say
,
looking at the majestic ocean.

“I agree,” Preston answers as I turn to meet his face, only he isn’t staring at the ocean.

“Smooth,” I say
,
lifting an eyebrow
.
“
E
xactly how many movies ha
ve I seen the male lead do that?
Oh
,
let me think
.
All of them
.” I
’
m now pointing at him with my finger.

“Says the girl who
se
being wooed,” Preston replies as he scoots closer to me.

“That,” I say
,
continuing my judgmental point
.
“
Wasn’t
wooing
.
T
hat was stealing
.
B
e original.” I cross my arms. Wait
,
it
sounds
like I just ask him to pursue me.

“Your wish is my command
.”
Preston
jumps
to his feet
and trots toward the wet
ter
sand.

“What are you doing?
” I yell
. Apparently, I'm going to have to
chase after him
if I want to know
.

“I’m going to build you a castle
,
”
h
e answers as if it’s a
normal response.

“No
,
you’re not,” I say panicking.

“
Yes
, I think I am
.
I just need to fin
d a good place. Though
,
I can’t s
tart on it now what with me not
having a bucket
and all, but don’t you worry
.
B
y the end of the trip you
’
ll have y
our castle.” He looks
pleased with this idea
.
A
tear
spi
lls down my
cheek
. I turn to walk away
, but
he catches me.