Transitions

Catching Feelings

"We're back at the hotel Riley. C'mon. I'll carry you back upstairs so you can sleep." Michael whispered in my ear.

I sat up and stretched, "No thanks, I'm good. I can walk. I might go down and sit in the hot tub for a bit if you'd like to join me."

I opened my door and stepped out of the cab. I embraced the cold frosty air. I felt something wet land on the tip of my nose. Looking up, I saw little white flakes falling from the clouds elegantly. I was so happy to see that it was snowing. This is the one part of December that I will miss dearly. At least a week after we land in Sydney, it will be Christmas, which means I'm going to be dragged from family to family. We walked into the hotel lobby where people of all ages and nationalities were sitting down near the large fireplace and the Christmas tree and enjoying time together. Mackenzie ran ahead because she saw JoJo sitting in the lobby, leaving Michael and I alone.

"You've been acting awfully strange today. Are you okay?" he asked.

"I guess. I just have a lot to think about. I have feelings for someone and the situation that I'm in with this person just makes no sense. They've been around for a while, but as a different form of feelings."

He looked at me, lightly brushing my hair out of my face, "Do you want to talk about it? I might be able to assist."

I nodded, "Yeah, that'd be nice. Let's go down by the hot tub and discuss it there. I'm freezing."

We walked up to the room and I pulled out one of my new swim suits from Hot Topic that they had left on clearance. It was designed like the Nightmare before Christmas. I skipped to the bathroom and put it on. I threw my jersey over my bathing suit since I was still kind of shy about my body. I slowly emerged from the bathroom and sat on the bed. I heard Michael talking to someone in the other room.

"Dude, I don't care about the fact she's 2 years younger than I am. She'll be 18 in a month. We aren't her parents. Mackenzie is our daughter. So Riley took my last name, not a big deal. I really like her. I've had feelings for her since I saw her YouTube videos that she first started at age 15. She's beautiful. She's exactly what I want in a girl. It's perfectly legal."

I felt my face turn red and I ran back into the bathroom, letting the door slam as loud as possible. I held my ear against the door to see if it got their attention. I could hear voices getting closer.

"Riley? Is that you?" he shouted.

I slowly cracked open the door, allowing their voices to fill the room. I allowed the door to open more and slowly crept out.

"Yes. I'm going upstairs. So if you'll excuse me." I said, pushing past Ashton.

I opened the main door and ran out into the concourse, slamming it shut. I made my way down the hall to the elevator when I heard my name being called.

"Riley! Hey, Riley! Stop! Wait for me!" I heard the voice shout.

I turned around to see my not so little blue haired friend running down the hallway after me.

"What do you want Michael?" I asked, with a slight attitude.

He looked almost taken aback by my tone of voice, "I was going to go up to the hot tub with you. We talked about it earlier, remember?"

"Yes."

I pushed the button on the keypad for the elevator letting it know that I was intending to go upstairs. The doors opened and I stepped in with Michael on my tail.

"Riley, what has gotten into you today?"

I felt my face turn red with emotion, "I heard your conversation with Ashton. How can I be exactly what you want in a girl when I'm nowhere near your age?"

The elevator dinged, alarming us that we were on the floor for the pool. I stepped out and dropped my jersey on the first chair that was open. Adjusting my top, I padded through the wet floor and made my way into the steaming hot tub. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Michael make his way over to the bar on the corner of the pool deck and talk to the man that was working. I ignored it and slumped down into the water a little more to let it relax my muscles. A few minutes later he came back with two glasses full of a white slush.

"I brought you a drink. Don't worry; there is no alcohol in here."

He put the cups down on the edge of the hot tub and stepped into the water, sitting down next to me.

"Okay, so I've realized you heard the conversation with Ashton. There was nothing negative about it. I don't understand what's wrong. Is this person you have feelings for, well, me?" he asked.

I blushed and tried to make my way to the other side of the hot tub. He reached out and grabbed my hand, making it so I couldn't go any further. I attempted to pull away from his grip, but managed taking him with me. He tilted my chin up with his index finger. I could look into his deep green eyes and saw fire. It was a passion filled fire.

"Yes." I said, very quietly.

He smiled and looked at me, "Does this mean I can do this?" he asked as he leaned in. His lips ever so slightly brushed on top of mine. I pulled away and looked at Michael, slightly embarrassed. The next thing I heard besides the jets of the hot tub kicking in, was two little girl voices squealing.

"I TOTALLY SHIP IT!" I heard a southern accent yell.

I turned around to see Mackenzie and JoJo sitting on the edge of the pool giggling. I stood up and looked at my sister.

"You little sh*t. Go to bed, you have to compete tomorrow!!! Go downstairs! Now! Or I'll tell Ashton." I yelled at her.

She looked at JoJo and laughed, "Okay okay. I'm going to spend the night with JoJo so you two can uh, have some privacy. Ashton's down at the bar watching the soccer game. The competition starts at 10:30. I left tickets in the room for you guys. Goodnight Riley, goodnight Mikey."

I blew her a kiss as her and JoJo walked over to the elevators and headed back to whatever floor they were on, finally leaving Michael and I alone.

"So, uh, what now?" I asked.

Michael scooted over next to me and wrapped his arms around me as tight as possible. I literally felt my stomach and my heart begin to do somersaults.

"I've had a fan boy crush on you since you first started posting YouTube videos when you were 15. One of my friends sent us a video of you covering Beside You and I was in awe. I thought you were stunning, your voice was perfection. You are still stunning." He said while pushing my damp purple hair out of my face.

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