-Nat's POV-
Exam week is finally over and I've hardly seen Alec now that I have my own car to get too and from school and haven't stopped studying for the past two weeks. My bags are all packed and ready to go for my trip to California tomorrow with Alec, Mason and Ali.
I head home from my final exam and go straight to the kitchen, starving after the 3 hour calculus test. Dad's already in the kitchen preparing dinner, "Ready for the trip tomorrow?" He asks chopping up some vegetables. "I'm more than ready!" I say excitedly. "I'm glad honey" he says smiling, "Now listen, I've transferred some money into your account for the trip" he says continuing to chop up veggies. "Dad you didn't have to do that!" I say, "Especially after buying my car for me" I smile. "It's not much, but it's enough for emergencies" he says.
"What's with Alec doing all this for you anyway? First the party and now a trip away" He says sounding interested. "He's just being a good friend Dad" I say. "Well I know I wouldn't go to all this trouble for just a 'good friend'" he says and I continue to search the cupboard for a snack. "He has a crush on you" he turns to face me.
"I wish.." I think in my head.
"Dad, we're just good friends! Plus he covered all the costs for Ali and Mason as well so it's kind of a trip for us all." I say pulling out some chips. "Whatever you say sweetie, he does seem like a good kid" he smiles and I head up to my room to relax after a hectic week. "Make sure you're packed and ready for an early morning tomorrow" he calls out as I make my way upstairs.
I check over the things I've packed for the trip and leave out the things I'll be using tonight and in the morning like my toothbrush. I jump in the shower and wash my hair, blow drying it when I get out. I head into my wardrobe and grab out a big t-shirt and some comfy trackies and head back downstairs for dinner. We have stir-fry and Dad tells me about his week at work and I explain to him about my exams, as I haven't seen much of him either due to constant study. I help wash up and then head back to my room, quickly checking Facebook on my MacBook Air, I close it and pack it in the my bag for tomorrow for movies and music etc. I climb back into bed and relish the sleep that instantly comes to me from such an exhausting week.
****
My alarm goes off at 6:00am, "California!" and I instantly feel excited. I stop my alarm and I am about to put my phone down when it vibrates with a text from Alec.
Alec: Good morning beautiful, hope you're ready for a big day
His text puts such a smile on my face that I don't even realise I only have half an hour to get ready before I have to head to the airport. I shower in record time and throw my hair up in a messy bun, putting some light makeup on and a comfy outfit, suitable for a 2 hour plane ride. By the time I'm ready it's 6:30am and Alec is waiting out the front for me in his range rover. We agreed to meet Ali and Mason at the airport and the boys would pay to leave their cars there.
Our plane doesn't board until 9:30am, but it will take us an hour to get to the airport and we want some time to have breakfast there too. I head downstairs with my new suitcase from moving here and a side bag with my laptop, phone, chargers and makeup bag in it. Dad's waiting at the door for me to take my bags out to Alec's car and I give him a hug goodbye and let him know I'll text him when I arrive in California.
"Hey" I say smiling as I get in the passenger side of Alec's car. "You excited?" He says asking with a huge grin on his face. "More than ever!" I say, not hiding my excitement. We pull out of my driveway and head in the direction of the airport in the next city over. Alec has some music playing but it's not loud enough to stop a good conversation flow, "Hey Alec I just wanted to say thank you so much for doing this for me. I've never had a better birthday" I say not being able to hide the smile on my face. "You're more than welcome, I'm just glad I was able and am able to make it as special as possible for you" he says focusing on the road.
It takes less time than I expected to reach the airport and the entire ride there was comfortable even when it was silent between us. We take our luggage from the boot of the range rover and head towards the entrance of the airport where Mason and Ali are standing with their luggage and Ali a very excited look on her face. "Hi!" We greet them and my excitement builds. It's 7:30am by now so we head in and check our bags in and collect our boarding passes before going to find a nice breakfast café.
We pass a few food places but decide on one closer to our gate that has an all day breakfast service. Alec and I both order pancakes and waffles with chocolate sauce and ice cream with a juice and Mason and Ali order the same as each other as well. We take our breakfast to a nice lounging area and eat while catching up on the week gone by.
The loud speaker goes off announcing that our flight is ready to board so we all grab our carry on bags and head through the gate. As we step onto the plane, we head for our seats in the centre of the plane with Ali and Mason sitting behind Alec and I.
The plane ride passes by quicker than I expected and Alec holds my hand because I'm not all that good with flying, making the trip much better. Before I know it I'm back in California after what feels like years. "So, where to now?" I say to Alec feeling eager to get out of the airport. "To our place of stay" he grins to me. Ali and Mason walk ahead and we go to collect our luggage before making our way to the taxi bay out the front. We grab the first maxi taxi we see as we have 4 suitcases and carry on luggage and we all get in the car.
"Where to?" The taxi driver turns around. "316, Palm Rivers Way" Alec says to the driver in response. It's only around a 20 minute drive from what I can remember but I've never actually been to this side of California, it's a really expensive area so Alec must have booked a hotel here or something nice. About 10 minutes into the drive we're on the beach front and I remember just how much I have missed the beaches and sunshine of California, nothing compares. I quickly pull out my phone to let Dad know I have arrived safe in California like I promised.
Me: Hey Dad, arrived safe and having a great time already. Love ya x
The cab driver pulls into the driveway of what looks to be like a mansion from Hollywood. "Are we at the right place?" I look at Alec. "We sure are" he grins, "C'mon grab your bags". We all take our bags from the cab and Alec hands him a $50. We all follow Alec to the door and he pulls out a key, unlocking the huge, wooden, double doors. As we step inside, it's even more amazing than on the outside. The floor is marble tiles and the whole house is made out of windows giving off a view to the back and front yards, the back being the most incredible pool and condo I've ever seen and the front being the entire ocean.
"Mason you know where your room is, you and Ali can take your bags up. I'll show Nat to ours and then we can start our day" he says and Mason nod's in agreement taking his and Ali's luggage up a set of marble case stairs taking him to to the second level. "Come with me" Alec smiles and I follow him also up the same set of marble stairs, but Alec goes up another set as well, taking us to the third and final floor. "This is incredible" I say spinning around as I take in everything around me.
"It's my parents investment property" he says, opening a set of French double doors, allowing access to the most incredible ocean front bedroom I have ever seen in my entire life. "Th-this is where we're staying?!" I say in shock. "Only the best for you" he smiles widely placing our bags down at the end of the bed. "Alec, oh my god.. I'm lost for words" I say taking in the ocean front. "C'mon, I'll show you around" he says.
It takes a solid 20 minutes to complete the house tour and Mason and Ali are ready to continue on the day. "Who's up for lunch?" Mason says and we all know he's hungry. Ali and I head upstairs and quickly change and then we all go out the front, facing the beach. Alec is the last one to come out after locking the house up, he opens the garage revealing a Mercedes Benz 4WD. "Get in" he grins, "It's the holiday car" and Ali and I race to jump in the very expensive car.
Alec drives us to a really nice looking restaurant about 15 minutes down the road. "Wow this is nice hey Nat" Ali says smiling, she loves going to nice restaurants. "Yeah!" I agree instantly. As we walk inside I realise the restaurant is fancier than I first thought and a waiter comes to greet us. "Hi, we've been expecting you. Follow me" she smiles. "How does she know who we are and why is she taking us to a table?" I whisper to Ali. "No idea" Ali says cluelessly.
As we walk around the corner to where they hold the larger tables, I notice a girl with extremely long, straight, red hair sitting with her back to us. She's facing a girl with medium length blonde hair with slight brown to it and a girl with also very long, dark, brown hair. It is then that I suddenly realise who these girls are and Ali and I instantly turn to face each other as the blonde girl notices us and stands up, the others following and standing up as well.
"Lena!" I say running to the blonde girl, "Emily!" Ali says holding her arms out to the brunette who is next to Lena, "Oh my god Hollie!" I say letting go of Lena and quickly hugging Hollie. We all exchange extremely long hugs when Mason and Alec walk over, "Okay so THIS is the final part of your surprise" he says grinning bigger than ever. "Alec this is amazing, I can't believe you did all this for me" I say hugging him.
We all sit down around the table and I introduce the girls to Alec and Ali introduces them to Mason. We catch up on so many things that we have missed in each other's lives even though it's been less than a year since both Ali and I left. We order our meals in between catching up with our long distance best friends and surprisingly Alec and Mason are quite involved in the conversations, as though they've known us all forever.
We catch up for a well needed 2 hours before the boys say they're going to grab a few things from town before we head back to the house for the night. Ali and I stay with Lena, Hollie and Emily while the boys grab whatever they need and Alec tells us he'll come back soon to pick us up. We fill the girls in on the situation between Ali and Mason and how they're now basically together but then the subject suddenly changes to Alec and I.
"So, what's the go with you and Alec hey? Are you two dating?" Emily asks sounding extremely intrigued. "She wishes" Ali jokes before I have the chance to answer. I don't say anything else after that and we sit in silence for a few seconds, "Well she ain't denying it" Hollie says laughing and we all join in on the laughter.
Lena fills us in on how she is just meeting a few new guys here and there and starting the makeup course she's always wanted to do. Emily has always been the really chilled out one and she's still in school keeping on track with her life and taking things as they come. Hollie has always been the all rounder friend in our group and she tells us everything she's been up to while still going to school.
The boys come back 30 minutes later and it's time to say goodbye to our best friends which is always extremely hard to do, especially after having not seen them for so long. We all say our goodbyes and the girls say bye to the boys and we all make a promise to keep in touch a lot more than we have been, especially with all the new exciting things going on in our lives now. Alec drives us back to the house and Mason and Ali head upstairs to there room to sit on their balcony overlooking the ocean.
I take the time to head up to our room on the third floor and let Alec now I'm going to take a shower and change into something a lot more comfortable. Once I'm changed, Alec is already in his training shorts and he's on the bed waiting for me to come out. I pull my MacBook Air out from my bag and put "Now You See Me" on for us to watch and don't hesitate in cuddling up to Alec.
And it was at this very moment, of being cuddled up to Alec in one of the most incredible houses I have ever laid eyes on, that me, Natalie Argent, the nerdy and most socially awkward girl of the school has fallen for the school bad boy. I fall asleep smiling.
