Mr. Popular and I

Chapter Thirty-Four - Graceland (Part 1)

River

I managed to convince Marissa to come along to Graceland. I managed to book the hotel rooms for us. I even managed to reserve a restaurant for when we got there later on tonight. The only thing I didn't do is tell Lea about it.

So, as creepy as it sounds, Marissa and I are stood either side of her bed, both of us waiting for the other one to wake her up.

"I can't believe you didn't tell her we're going," Ky says as he leans against the doorframe, a boredom playing on his face. Jake is standing beside him, resting his back against the wall with his hands buried in his hoodie pockets.

"It slipped my mind," I snap back at him, keeping my voice quiet so that it doesn't disturb Lea too much.

She stirs in her sleep, mumbling something about chocolate.

A snort escapes Jake's mouth, and all three pairs of our eyes dart to him to shut him up. When he sees our expressions, his grin fades almost instantly, and he shrugs.

"What?" He asks wide-eyed. "She's sleep-talking, you have to admit that's kind of cute." He finishes.

I may punch him in a minute.

"You're calling my girlfriend cute." I bite, warning him with my glowering eyes to back off.

Holding up his hands in surrender, he replies. "Dude, chill out. I forgot that you're whipped, I'm sorry."

At this, Ky chuckles inaudibly, muffling his laughter by covering his mouth with his fist. I glare at him as well.

"What?" He says, "you used to make fun of me for being a romantic, now look at you." He points towards Lea, making me refocus my attention on her peaceful body, which is sprawled all over the huge bed. 

I glance up at Marissa. "I think it'll be best if you wake her," I suggest.

"And please make it quick, the sooner we get on the road, the better." Jake inputs, and I, as a result, rub my face in irritation.

"Fuck off Jake," I huff.

"Well someone's got their panties in a twist." He mutters, smirking as if he said the world's greatest comeback.

We all look at him for the second time with deadpanned expressions.

"Seriously?" I say, the skin of my forehead creasing with a frown. Shaking my head in hope to get rid of Jake's immature sayings, I turn to Marissa. "Please try and wake her up, tell her we're going out for the day or something. You did pack her bags and put them in the trunk, right?"

"Yeah," nods Marissa.

"Cool," I smile weakly.

I'm not too sure Lea's going to be happy about me not telling her earlier.

"Let's go," I say to the boys, gesturing to the door to make them follow me.

***

We wait around for approximately thirty minutes outside. Jake sits in the driver's seat of his BMW, which is loaded with half of our luggage. The rest we managed to stuff in the boot of my father's Range Rover that he's let me borrow for the drive down to Graceland.

Finally, Marissa makes an appearance by opening the front door and hopping down the stairs towards us. I push my body weight off of the sleek black hood of my dad's car, after leaning patiently against it for the past thirty minutes and approach Marissa.

"Well?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"I told her we're going to the zoo, and she looked at me weirdly, but then she said okay, and then she went to take a shower, and now she's currently getting dressed." Marissa blurts, and I'm impressed that she's able to say all of this in less than ten seconds.