To their own dismay, Sammy and Nate spent the succeeding hour scrambling to pack everything they would need for the next five weeks, and it's safe to say that I had never seen such long legs move so fast.
We were out of the apartment by one o'clock and boarding the plane by two. Despite my multiple pleads to take the window seat, the boys wouldn't allow it, claiming that they each "wanted to be close to their best girl friend!" though I knew it was just another ploy to add on to my misery.
"Five hours and ten minutes until you're united with your soulmate, Mar." Sammy sang out with that wide smile of his. "You excited?" I gave a scoff as I switched my contacts out for my reading glasses, getting ready for the long flight we were about to endure. Scratch that, the long flight I was about to endure, considering that I would have to deal with the two imbeciles on either side of me while they both were likely to use me as their personal pillow.
"I don't know what kind of stuff you smoked at the apartment, but I haven't even met the guy, let alone know him well enough to consider him my soulmate." I retorted, pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose to clearly display the roll of my eyes.
"You don't have to know somebody to be soulmates, dork." He insisted, oblivious to the extreme circumstances he was referring to. "Seriously, I think y'all will be good together. Jack likes girls like you." Interested in his choice of words, I rose my eyebrows, momentarily ripping my focus away from the book in my lap to narrow my eyes at Sam.
"Are you trying to play cupid, Wilk?" I probed. It was no secret between us three that I wasn't particularly proactive in the department of the male specimen. I had yet to experience a romantic relationship with another person, and regardless of my own personal declaration of independence, the boys were continuously scoping "candidates" out for me. In fact, if it weren't for Sammy and Nate, I don't even think I would have had my first kiss back in freshman year of high school.
"I'm just saying, Mar." He shrugged, and with that, he slipped on his headphones and blasted his music, leaving me to ponder on his implications.
Jack likes girls like you. What does that even mean? Thinking back to our high school days, I vaguely remembered Jack and his high-spirited demeanor. He was always surrounded by a group of friends, and whether or not they were real companions was no concern to me, but it was a familiarity that I never experienced myself. He was the popular Vine kid whereas the only comforts I had were books. Jack and I were practically inverses, which left me to question how Sam could ever come up with the idea of us being destined for each other.
I pouted within my thoughts, a sigh passing my lips once I realized that I would get nowhere with the subject. I hated that I over-analyzed things that would be insignificant to everyone else. It left me dwelling far too long on conversations that others could forget within an hour.
Slinking down in my seat, I opened my book back up and reverted my focus back onto the words printed on the worn pages. Throughout the next few hours, it was a battle between reading and resting, but in the end, it was exhaustion that won me over due to this being my second six-hour flight in one day. Alas, it was yet another struggle to stay asleep, as I had occasionally been awoken by Nate's snoring or Sam's head falling onto my shoulder or turbulence from the plane. It was rather frustrating, I admit, but once I heard the announcement that we'd be landing in a short hour, I decided to give up on sleep.
"Guys, guys, look!" I shook the boys, bouncing slightly in my seat as I pointed out the window, eager to reveal the islands up ahead.
"We ain't even there yet, Marley, chill out." Nate mumbled with grogginess coating his voice. I rolled my eyes, practically climbing onto his lap just to get closer to the view. They would never understand my love for the little details the same way that I would never understand their ignorance.
It was a pretty short hour to live through, and the boys were awake in time to get ready for landing. They sat sleepily beside me, trying to make sense of their current placement, whereas I could not be more excited to see the Hawaiian scenery up close. Maybe it had been my exhaustion taking over, or maybe my enthusiasm was genuine, but if one thing's for sure, it's that I could not wait to get off this plane and be able to relax after flying all day.
Soon enough, we were walking through the terminals, chatting about how different this place seemed to be. I'm not sure what I was anticipating in terms of climate, but it sure wasn't anything like New Jersey. And as if the hot, sticky air of Hawaii wasn't a worthy enough revelation for the three of us, we were surprised with the welcome of a woman holding up a sign with all our names scribbled onto it. I gave Sammy and Nate a questioning glance, but they looked just as clueless.
"Aloha!" The woman greeted, flashing a beautiful bright smile. She presented both Sammy and Nate with kukui nut leis whereas I received a vibrant purple flower lei. "Welcome to Hawai'i! My name is Leilani, and this greeting was brought to you by courtesy of Jack." I don't know what I was expecting, though I'm sure it wasn't that.
"Wow, thank you, gorgeous." Sammy flirted, and I landed an immediate punch to his shoulder for being so quick to make moves on strangers. He looked at me and threw his head back in laughter, meanwhile Nate was occupied with admiring his lei.
"Man, this shit's crazy! Yo, but how come Marley got flowers?" He asked Leilani. I couldn't quite figure out if he was joking or not, but she took it lightly and read off the clipboard in her hands.
"I'm sorry, Jack ordered that specifically for her." She explained with a small laugh. I didn't even have to look at Sammy to know that he was grinning like a fool towards me. When I turned to glare at him, I found my prediction to be right, and once again I punched his shoulder.
"So what! It isn't unusual to order a typically feminine lei for a girl." I argued, my eyebrows scrunching together and creating wrinkles across my forehead. They would never understand the amount of stress they caused me every time the three of us were together. Sam just laughed, hanging his arm around my shoulders as Leilani led us to the baggage claim.
Once we retrieved our luggage, we followed her outside of the airport, and the humid air once again hit us like a brick wall. We thanked her for her guidance and were promptly escorted into a taxi that would take us to the hotel, which might I add, was unbelievably gorgeous from what I saw on the pamphlets. Jack really went all out for this; The Modern Honolulu Hotel was a four-star hotel right on the beach with a harbor on its shorefront.
While Sammy and Nate engaged in a riveting conversation about how attractive the Hawaiian females were, my observations were kept on the tropical scenery passing by, with the vivid colors of the sunset accentuating their beauty. I had already fallen in love with the island's nature, and now this dreaded vacation didn't seem so unpleasant after all.
I was fairly content with the outcome of the trip until Nate decided to bring up yet another forgotten detail as we were waiting in the elevator: the four of us would be sharing one hotel suite. Now, for any other girl my age, it would be a dream come true to be able to bunk with three fairly good-looking guys for over a month, though from my perspective, it was an utter nightmare. Maybe I would have been fine if I was able to communicate properly with boys and was like every other girl, but I can't and I'm not.
I watched anxiously as Nate swiped the key card into the door, igniting the bright green light and sounding a tiny beep before he swung the door open. Right off the bat, the size of the suite took me by surprise as I became conscious of the fact that the space was undoubtedly larger than my apartment back in New Jersey. Without so much as a meager glance at the interior, my attention was immediately drawn towards the breathtaking view of the sunset from the terrace. My surroundings melted to the back of my mind as my feet carried me over to the sliding door. I placed a dainty hand against the cool glass, an almost inaudible gasp passing my lips as I took in the view with awe.
"Gorgeous, right?" A husky, unfamiliar voice spoke up beside me, startling me from my spacious daydream. My body seemed to forget all of its functions as I tensed up, feeling hopelessly frozen in place once I realized who it was. Right away I decided that I hated this feeling, and I hated him for introducing it to me.
Reminding myself that it would be rude to ignore his conversation starter, I parted my lips to agree with him, only to have my words take a complete detour and come out as an odd, sort of squeal. My cheeks were set ablaze, and I hoped to recover with an awkward smile, but the moment had already been ruled out as Jack Gilinsky's first impression of me. Great going.
"Don't worry, I was speechless too." His melodious chuckle filled my ears, and from the corner of my eye, I managed to catch a glimpse of that infamous smile of his before he ambled away to greet the boys.