The Bad Boy's Bucket List

French Food

"So..." Nolen coughed awkwardly, "I found your note."

I looked at his hands, which were tapping on the table impatiently. "Cool. I just needed some caffeine."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's what you said in the note."

"Food."

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity as I stood up. "Excuse me?"

"Food." I repeated, "I need more food. You coming?"

I didn't wait for his response as I turned and headed to the buffet table. Food always made everything better, I figured, and if I was chowing out on some pastries, maybe I wouldn't think about his lips. His beautiful, soft lips. Ohh...

Nolen caught up to me quickly and I dared to look over at his face. On it, he was wearing a smirk and I knew he had something snarky to say.

"What?"

He frowned. "I didn't say anything."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, but you want to. Go ahead."

He grinned, his teeth showing. How Nolen managed to keep them so white was beyond me. I brushed and brushed, but my mom still always insisted I whiten them so I wouldn't be as "ugly".

"You eat so much. It's awesome." He finally said.

Now it was my turn to frown. "Are you calling me a pig?" I ranted, "Was that a fat insult? Just because I like to eat and keep my energy up? I'm a teenage girl! Sorry if I don't want to starve myself for you or some other hot guy."

Nolen held his hands up. "Woah, chill girl. I meant, I admire the fact you like to eat. It's cute. Also," he smirked, "did you call me hot?"

I blushed. "I- I- I meant, um?"

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled my head in, kissing my cheek playfully. "It's okay, California. I get that reaction from a lot of girls. So, what are you getting to eat? I'm craving some coffee."

I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

~>~>~>>~>~>~>~

Needless to say, the trip passed by pretty quickly. There wasn't another kiss, and I couldn't decide whether or not I was happy about that, but the awkwardness between us faded quickly. Nolen flirted with me and often kissed my forehead or cheeks, but it was all playful, I could tell. He was just a flirt. The trip had only been scheduled for a week, and those days had gone by. Soon, I found myself packing up our bag.

"Nolen, get up." I babbled as I packed. "We have to get to the airport early."

Nolen was still asleep, much to my disliking. Our flight wasn't for another six hours, but I was desperate to be getting to the airport early. I loved roaming around them, and the Rome airport probably had good food. But, Nolen was still sleeping, and if he didn't get up that would really put a damper on my plans.

Sighing, I stood up. I had already changed into a pair of grey Harvard sweatpants I had bought on a trip to Boston once, and along with that I had a white V-neck shirt on. I had made the mistake of not dressing warm enough for the airplane last time, and would not be making that mistake again. My converse clad feet were ready to go, and I had already brushed my teeth, shaved, and applied minimal mascara to my face. I tied my hair into a smooth ponytail as I stood up, and checked my appearance in the mirror before walking over to Nolen.

An evil smile spread across my face as I grabbed a pillow. Oh, I watched too many movies about serial killers.

Taking the pillow, I held it over Nolen's face, stopping him from breathing. He started to move around and struggle after a moment, and I pulled it away. He looked up at me. "What the heck was that, Cali? You tried to kill me!"

I held up my hands in innocence. "No, but I will kill you if you don't get ready so that we can go to the airport!"

He looked at the clock. "We don't have to be there for another six hours."

"Ever heard of traffic?"

"California," Nolen sighed, "I won't be as hot if I don't get my beauty sleep."

"Please," I scoffed, "you're not even attractive."

"You didn't seem to think that when you were all over me the other night."

I gasped. "Just get ready." I finally stuttered, walking back to my suitcase in shame and folding away the last shirt before zipping it tight.

About twenty minutes later, Nolen was dressed and ready to go. Turns out, he had packed already last night, but how was I supposed to know that? I mean, I could have looked at his suitcase and noticed the absence of male shirts laying scattered on the floor, but it was summer. My brain wasn't supposed to work during summer.

We walked out the door, leaving the keys on the bed. In the lobby, instead of formally grabbing breakfast like we had mornings before, we just each selected a croissant and agreed to eat at the airport. I, of course, grabbed three of the buttery things and stuffed them in my purse, but I don't think Nolen, or anybody else for that matter, noticed. What was I supposed to do, starve?

The cab driver seemed friendly but quiet as he drove us to the airport. The driver was a man who looked to be in his mid-forties, and he asked us a few polite questions as we drove. Other than that, it was a quiet ride. Nolen kept shooting me knowing looks along the way, proud that there was no traffic like he had predicted, but I just rolled my eyes and looked out the window every time.

"Thank you!" I grinned as I shoved the money towards driver. He thanked us as well and drove away, and I turned towards Nolen. I was surprised to see that he was holding my bag. As I reached for it, he shook my hand off.

"Why won't you give me my bag?"

Nolen smirked, a habit of his that was really annoying. Even more annoying was the fact that he looked attractive while doing it. "California, I'm a man. You're a lady. It's only right that I carry your bag. Plus," he lowered his voice, "you paid and I feel bad doing nothing. You've been so generous on this trip and I want to thank you."

My heart softened and I reached towards Nolen. He was stiff at first, but relaxed into my arms after a moment and hugged back after placing the bags down.

Although it had only been a moment before we pulled apart, I felt like I had been hugging him forever. I could get lost in his arms, I realized. They were gentle and protective, and the size difference between us made me feel safe.

I shook the weird feelings that circled around my head away, and together the two of us headed inside. I was on a mission for food as soon as we checked our bags and passed through security, and I think Nolen knew better than to step in my way.

I wandered towards the food court, but as soon as I saw McDonalds I was appalled. How could they put a McDonalds in ITALY? Seriously?

I stared at it for a moment before turning away. There had to be food somewhere else, right?

We walked through the terminals, Nolen blabbering about his favorite sports teams in order for the conversation to keep up. I added my opinions in every once in a while, such as the fact that Tom Brady was way better than Cam Newton any day, and Peyton Manning made the right decision to retire, but other than that I was devoted to finding food.

Finally, my prayers were answered as we saw an adorable French café sitting right in the middle of the airport. I mean, it was literally a taste of France in the middle of Rome. Maybe we should be eating Italian in Italy, but their desserts probably weren't that different. Or maybe they were. I didn't know, and I didn't care. Anything beat McDonalds.

"You know," Nolen said, "on my bucket list I wanted to go to France. Let's count this."

My jaw dropped. Why didn't he mention that before we bought our tickets to Italy?

I shook the thought away, and grabbed his hand, pulling Nolen inside. "Welcome to France."

!~!~!~!~!~!!~!!~~!!~~!~!~!~!~!

Heyyyy! This chapter may have been kind of dull, I apologize, but I am SUPER extited to write the next chapter. Because of that, no long note today.

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting. Please share this book with all your friends who would love Nolen as much as I do!

-S.