Marching Band: The Journey [EDITING]

16 - Italy and Surprises

I spent all day Thursday with Tony, and I'll let your imagination fill in the rest. *wink wink* After dropping Em and her family off at the airport, I had gone to my house where I found a waiting Tony. My mom went out for the day, bidding her own friends farewell for their trips. On her way out, she winked at me. Yes, my mother winked at me, leaving me alone in a house with my boyfriend. When my time with Tony came to an end, I dropped him off at the airport, making sure to give him a long-ass kiss so he wouldn't forget me. As he disappeared, I couldn't help but smirk at my plan.

Everyone would be so surprised.

My mother and I had been planning it ever since I had found out Tony was going to Italy with his family. We'd been saving for a trip, just me and her, to Paris. But she was being extra nice and let me use the money to rent a villa on the countryside. My grandmother on her side was for once nice to me since we'd moved here and paid for the rest. Flights, personal chef, maid service, tour guides, driving service, everything. With the extra money I had, I used for flights there and back while she paid for the extra tickets. Yes, this trip wasn't just for me.

It was agreed that my grandmother and mom would stay at my grandmother's house since it was more comfortable for her. When my grandfather on my dad's side found out about my surprise trip, he offered me a sum of extra money for shopping and outings. I gratefully accepted, keeping some of it in cash but putting the rest on my card. Like I was going to be caught with a total of five thousand dollars in cash on me. Yes, you heard correctly. Five thousand dollars.

Back to the important thing, who else was coming with me on my surprise trip for my boyfriend that his parents knew about? Yes, they knew. That's besides the point. It was arranged that I would get most of our friends to come with me. It took a while to convince Rebekah, Em's mom, more like Em's dad, but it was decided that she would accompany me. To say she was ecstatic would be an understatement. She was jumping for joy! My second travel partner was none other than my other best friend, Phillip. We'd been planning to go to Italy for a while, wanting to explore the world before college. His parents were quite easy to convince after I told them we were going to be looking around the country and everything was already paid for along with caretakers so we wouldn't go wild. They were way too relieved to hear of our 'caretakers'.

By default, Carson was invited who was more happy than Em to get away from family. He insisted to pay for his ticket, but I only let him pay for half. Reese and Ethan jumped aboard on the idea of a trip, but since they were loaded, I made them pay for themselves. My family was already stretching thin for this trip, those two could pay for their own shit.

Em flew back on Saturday. I had thought ahead and left her time to rest during the day after arriving in the morning so that we could fly at night. Everyone met up at the airport with their suitcases and wide smiles. It was just as wild a thought to do this, but I was already hooked. Plus, everything was already paid for, so why skip out?

"I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm going to another country! Oh shit. What about Haley? I'm going to be single when we return. I just know it!" Phillip was ranting, his hands in his hair. I yanked them to his sides and straightened his hair back out. He was always messing it up and my OCD went crazy when he did.

"Relax, ohmigod. I swear, if you don't shut it when we get on the plane, I'm going to toss you out of it." I inform him, settling back into the uncomfortable airport chairs. Stupid plastic that wasn't shaped for an ass like mine.

Em was smart and had brought a blanket that was conveniently packed on the top of all her stuff to sit on, so she was smiling smugly at me. Reese and Ethan had made themselves comfortable on the floor, doing who the hell knows what. Their shirts were ridden up ever so slightly, causing a few girls to stop and do a double take. Even if their boyfriends were pulling them along! Carson had settled on the floor in between Em's legs. Neither of them were complaining or doing anything too PDA, so I kept my mouth shut.