Mysterious

Chapter 8

Arissa threw her suitcase full of new clothes (picked out by Natalia who had a knack for everything fashionable) in her trunk. Natalia got in the passenger seat. Her older brother, Eddie sat in the back seat as they drove to pick up Natalia's boyfriend, Anna and Ryan.

"Dude, like I still cannot believe what we're doing. This is so crazy! How did this happen?"

"Does she have to tell you the story again? For the 100th time?" Eddie asked his little sister.

"Well, no, but still. It's straight out of a fairytale. I still get chills thinking about all of it. Diego would never do half the crap Bruno has done for you and we've been together for 2 years. And I know Ryan wouldn't do any of it."

It was just three weeks after Arissa's birthday. The group arrived at their hotel room – a joining suit of 3 rooms that looked similar to the room Anna and Arissa had stayed in while in Houston. It was fancy, but nothing too over the top. Arissa asked the person at the front desk for the keys to their rooms. "You just need to sign these three, and here's a note for you, ma'am."

"Open it, dude!" Diego instructed her.

"I will! Let's just put our stuff down. It's heavy." They went to the 5th floor and entered their rooms. She, of course, had the empty room. the fifth wheel this time. She took her neon green nails through the envelope and opened the card. "Put on your swimming suit! I want to see you! And stop thinking about being a fifth wheel. J -Bruno"

The group walked down to the sparkling Las Vegas sun. It was a crowded area. She wasn't sure if she was even going to be able to find him. She grabbed her phone from her small clutch and started to text him. Before she could even start to type she felt something behind her. "Oh, shit." she said loudly.

"Hello to you too, Arissa." he laughed at her coming over to her side.

"Well, of course it would only be you." She introduced her friends to Bruno. Several of his band mates came up to meet Arissa's friends. They all chatted for a few minutes.

"Excuse us for a second..." Bruno said grabbing her hand, leading her away from everything. He grabbed her close to him rushing her toward a quiet area away from everything.

"Everyone is going to see you..us.." she told him.

"No they aren't. I'm 5'5 and that bar is nearly 5 feet. They aren't going to see us..." he point at the bar in front of them blocking the view. She rolled his eyes at his audacity.

"You sure are confident. Can I borrow some of that?" she asked him.

"Of course you can." He grabbed her waist, pulled her towards him and kissed her without asking. She was caught off guard but returned the kiss."Consider it borrowed." he said pulling away gently.

"Thanks. I really needed that." she said "Well, wait...I needed both of those." she laughed looking down slightly embarrassed that she enjoyed the kiss.

"Oh my, god! Arissa! You are too funny." he laughed at her, knowing that he was making her slightly uncomfortable. "I still don't understand you...." he said weaving his fingers in between hers.

"I don't think a lot of people understand me, Bruno. I don't understand myself most of the times..." she blushed at the way he looked at her. "You need to stop looking at me like that, too. It's like so not okay..."

"You need to take a deep breath and bok, Ris. Just be."

"Bok? Did you really just say that?" she was shocked at his cheesiness. He shook his head and started to lead her out toward their group of friends. "Wait..." she was going to take her chance. He was wearing the most stunning v-neck t-shirt and his hair was damp was being in the water. It had a slight curl that she had never seen before that was just too darn cute to say no to. She pulled him back into her and kissed him the way she felt she needed to in Houston. Her nails dug into his back as he returned her kiss. It was deep, passionate, firey and more than anything she had ever felt before. They pulled away slowly looking into each other's eyes. She laughed. "It was the confidence."