Save Me. (Matthew Espinosa)

Chapter 10 - Crush

Lacey's POV

"Lacey!" My eyes fly open and my body jolts in surprise, yanked from sleep. My vision lands on Matthew hovering over me.

"The plane landed. We gotta go, sleepy head." He grins down at me. I look down, still half asleep, and my drowsy fingers fumble with my seatbelt. When I'm free from it, I stand up and slide in behind Matt in the aisle. I notice that we are the only passengers left on the plane. He looks back and offers me his hand to hold, our luggage in his other. It's sort of an awkward position because it's a one person walkway and I'm behind him, but I appreciate and accept the gesture nonetheless. I briefly wonder what had happened to the McDonalds we had got earlier but brush it off.

As we exit the plane through the makeshift tunnel, we walk beside each other, making the contact less strained. "It's about time!" Jack J. exaggerates, throwing his arms into the air. Matt simply rolls his eyes at him and we continue walking as the rest of the group travels with us.

Taylor's POV

My eyes follow Lacey as we continue walking. She's so adorable and sweet and impossibly beautiful. Even when she wears sweats and no makeup, she still manages to be one of the most gorgeous girls I've ever seen. I'm not sure what's going on with Matt and her but I hope that they don't become anything serious. I've seen how Matthew handles girls before and Lacey doesn't deserve that. She just seems so innocent, yet at the same time I don't think she'll take nonsense from anybody. Did that even make sense?

"Did what make sense?" A delicate voice giggles from beside me. I look over and find that the voice belongs to Lacey. I feel my cheeks heat for I had just said my thought aloud. At least I had only said that one inquiry out loud or I'd never hear the end of it.

"Oh.. I guess I was umm.. I guess I was just thinking out loud.. I guess." My cheeks only grow more hot at my clumsy stutter. My cheeks obviously show an evident amount of redness as the guys hoot and holler stupid things at me. Lacey's laughter rings out like music and I look down at the ground in hopes of saving some sense of my pride.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Lacey's POV

"Oh, I know! Let's go swimming!" Mahogany squeals. My stomach churns at the idea. I really don't want to go swimming, for obvious reasons.

"I was already planning on it," Hayes remarks and I look over and see that he already wears his swimming trunks.

"B-but I don't have a bathing suit." I try to come up with a reasonable excuse for me not to go.

"I don't think Mahogany would mind if you borrowed one of her suits." Matthew shrugs, apparently not sensing my apprehension. I bite my lip in fear.

"Yeah! Let's go up to my room. I have a ton!" Mahogany says excitedly, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to the elevator. She clicks the up button by the side of the shiny, silver doors and it opens. As we step inside, the doors close, the elevator moving upwards. Mahogany looks at me and her lips part as if she's going to say something but she stops herself.

"What?" I curiosly ask.

"Oh, nothing. I was just... Nothing." My eyebrows frown down in confusion.

Once the elevator opens, Mahogany is gone in a heartbeat. I quickly follow after her, led to the end of the hall where she slides her card into the censor connected to her room's door handle, unlocking it. She has her own room, while I share with Matt. I'm not sure what the other room arrangements are but Matthew was firm on not letting me stay anywhere but with him. I walk into the room, Mahogany holding the door open for me. She follows in after me.

"Are you okay?" I question her sudden weirdness from earlier.

"Yeah I'm fine. But.. Can we talk? You know.. privately?"

"Of course."

What can she possibly be so eager to talk to me about? I shuffle further into the room and she shuts the door and stands there for a moment, almost as if she's scared to speak. I raise my eyebrows at her expectantly, cueing her to speak.

"Um, well, I may have a crush on Matt.." My eyes widen in shock. "But I'll totally back off if you're into him!" She rushes to add. Okay. I was not expecting that. What do I say? Do I have feelings for Matt?

I fail to form proper words. "Oh.."

"It's fine. I'll back off! I just had to tell you because he seems.. into you. Y'know?" I shake my head slightly in bewilderment.

"No Mahogany. It's fine. It's not like we're together or anything." I assure. Of course I like Matt, but I doubt we'll ever become anything serious. Besides, who am I to keep Mahogany away from him?

"Oh, okay! But only if you're okay with it," she says unsurely.

"I am. I promise." I grin at her and she beams back at me.

"Okay! Now let's find you a bathing suit!" The redhead jumps up and down excitedly, curls bouncing. I don't understand how one person can hold so much energy. All I can think is, there is no way I can wear a swimming suit.