Kylie

         I open the door to my hotel room and walk in, sense I’m the last one to arrive I have to share a room with my sister, not that I mind bunking with her. Her bags are thrown all over the floor, clothes spread out on the bed I assume she claims. I settle for the bed that is in the middle of the room, deciding that I don’t want to deal with her attitude on this vacation; I drag my duffle bag over and attempt to put it on the bed but fail miserably. I look around, taking in my surrounding. The walls are the ugliest shade of blue that I have ever seen, there’s a window next to Dena’s bed and the curtains are dreadful with a floral pattern that makes me want to throw up, the beds are decent, but old and they squeak, the thin blankets feel gross between my fingers and I’m suddenly very grateful that I brought my own blanket and pillows, the floors are clean, but you can tell they are about ready to retire. There is a closed door on the wall next to my bed and I get curious, once inside I realize it’s the bathroom, and it’s surprisingly clean. I look into the mirror and study the girl looking back at me. She long, naturally blonde hair is pulled up into a high pony at the top of her head, her light brown eyes hold a secret that no one else knows, her tan skin almost glistens in the light. I take a step back and examine my outfit. My skinny arms are dangling by my dies, my shoulders are slightly pink from being in the sun all day yesterday, my green tank top hangs loosely over my almost flat stomach, my short legs are mostly covered by my denim cutoffs, which fall to just above my knees. As I’m standing here critiquing myself; the door to the room swings open furiously and in walks Dena.

          “Hey sister! It’s about time you showed up! We were all starting to think you had changed your mind and stayed home.” She says, coming over and giving me a huge hug and almost choking me in the process. Her cell phone buzzes and she immediately lets go of me to attend to it.

         If you didn’t already know we were sisters, you would never believe that we are. Dena’s extremely long, dark brown hair is flowing over her shoulders, her blue eyes are as beautiful as the ocean, and her white skin is almost ghostly. She is so much taller, her long legs are practically bare, except for the four inches of fabric she calls shorts, her tank top hugs her body tightly in all the right places, showing off her flat stomach, it hangs low almost showing her bra.

         “Hey.” I try to sound enthusiastic to please her. I have always envied my older sister. She is so beautiful, thin, fit, athletic, smart, and funny, she is all the things most girls dream to be. Our parents are so proud of her, my theory is that it’s because she is the first born and they planned to have her whereas I on the other hand was an accident and unplanned. My mom always told me that I was their little surprise; they weren’t planning on having any more kids until Dena was older, but they love me all the same. So all throughout my life I have been in second place; it started when I was 7 and Dena and I had entered a beauty pageant that our school was having. I wore a frilly, puffy blue dress, my talent was singing and the judges thought I was really good, until Dena come one stage in her long, ruffled pink ball gown, her talent was dancing. Of course they liked her better and I came home with the yellow ribbon. After that it just kind of became a competition between the two of us. She gets straight A’s; I get B’s and C’s. She is the captain of the soccer team, I don’t even play sports. She was prom queen last year; I went stag to the dance. She has never been in trouble a day in her life; I got sent to the principal’s office once for punching a girl in the face, but in my defense she totally deserved it. People always say to me, “Your nothing like Dena,” or “You should be more like Dena.”  It makes me so mad.

         “Aren’t you excited?” Dena squeals as she bounces on her bed, sending all of her clothes to the floor.

         “I guess.” I mumble, she freezes and glares at me.

         “You guess!? Kylie! It’s summer vacation, in the Bahamas! No parents, our boyfriends are here, our friends are here!! How can you not be excited?” she has her hands on her hips and her eyes widen whenever she raises her voice.

         “You look just like mom. Speaking of which, she and dad will be here in 3 days.” I remind her, holding up three fingers.

         “So? That’s three days to do whatever we want!” She yells at me and flops on her bed.

         “Yeah. I guess.” I force a smile to satisfy her.

         “That a girl!” She screams as she pulls me to her bed and we both fall backwards onto it.

         “So, what’s everyone doing?” I ask. Dena sits up and pulls out her phone.

         “Um….Cleo is unpacking all her stuff in room 304, Jay is trying to find the right outfit to wear, probably to impress Cleo, in room 316, Ethan is in his room doing who knows what in room 302, and Marcus is unpacking in room 301.” She smiles when she says Marcus’s name. They have been going out for almost 2 years. She started out being his tutor in math, then he asked her out on a date, the another, then another, next it was their first kiss, which she talked about for weeks, the finally he was her boyfriend. Now their inseparable, it’s kind of gross. She says this summer she’s going to tell him that she loves him. I can’t wait to see what he says.

         Ethan is my boyfriend. We have been together for about a year and 4 months. I still think about the first time he asked me out. I was at my locker getting my books for English class and he walks up and kisses me, right there in the middle of the hall way with everyone around us, then he asked me to dinner and a movie. Of course I said yes. Jay is my best friend. We have known each other sense we were like 5. We do everything together, I tell him everything and he tells me everything. He was single, up until Dena and Cleo hung out at out house the same time Jay and I were hanging out. The second he saw her, he fell and boy did he fall hard. They have been hand and hand ever sense.

         “Ok. I’m gonna go see Ethan.” I inform Dena as I’m walking into the hall. I start walking down the hallway searching for the door that says 302. When I find it, I knock. I don’t here anything and I’m just about to knock again.

         “I’ll be there in a sec!” he yells out. I smile at the sound of his voice and suddenly the anticipation to see him is overwhelming.

         “Maybe I’ll just walk away then.” I tease him. Knowing he will race to open the door when he knows it’s me. Sure enough I hear him run to the door and then he tares it open. A big smile on him face, he pulls me into his chest and wraps me in one of his warms hugs.

         “Hey.” He whispers into my ear, “You mad it.” I nuzzle father into his chest and just hold on to him. He pulls away and kisses my forehead.

         “You think I would pass up time with you?” I smile and look into his eyes, “Come here.” I pull him to me and close my eyes. When our lips meet its like a wonderful dream you never want to wake up from.

         “Ew!” Dena squeals when she walks into the hall. I pull away from Ethan and push him into his room, sticking my tongue out at Dena as I go in after him and close the door behind us. He places his hand in mine and pulls me over to his bed and be both sit down. He pulls me close to him and wraps his arms around me. I intertwine my fingers in his and kiss his hand.

         “How was your flight?” he asks. I didn’t fly with them; I had to work yesterday so I took a later flight.

         “It was good; I wish you had been with me though.” I say as I squeeze his hand.

         “Me too.” He whispers into my ear. I love the way is warm breath gives me goose bumps.

         “I want to spend as much time together as possible.” I tell him.

         “Yeah, me too. Hopefully some of it alone.” He mumbles. I turn to look at him.

         “What do you mean?” I ask, “We’re alone now.”

         “Well, I have to tell you something.” He smiles at me.

         “Tell me now.” I put my hand on his check and kiss him.

         “No, not now.” He says firmly. He pulls my face to his and kisses me. He kisses me like he never has before. This kiss fells like heaven. It makes me want him more than anything. More  than ever before. I have to pull away before we do something we would regret. He looks at me, question in his eyes.

         “Not now.” I whisper, knowing he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

         He sits back against the head board and runs his fingers through his hair. I put my hand on his knee and lean against him.

         “I’m sorry,” I tell him, “I’m just not ready.” He knows why, he just isn’t ready for that kind of commitment. He puts his arms around me and places his chin on the top of my head.

         “It’s ok,” he reassures me, “It’s ok.” We just sit there, embraces in each others arms.

         I think about my relationship with Ethan, We are good together, we get along great, we have a lot in common, but he’s a guy, he has needs and what is I can’t provide him with what he needs. Dena told me that she and Marcus already went all the way. She said that he didn’t pressure her at all, they made the decision together. Ethan wasn’t really pressuring me, I know what he wants, but I told him I needed to be sure that he wouldn’t just leave once he got it. He said that was fair and told me to take my time. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.

         I felt his heart beating; it was like the perfect rhythm. I look up at him and find his eyes looking right back at me. I smile at him and sit up.

         “Come on.” I hold out my hand and motion for him to come with me. He laces his fingers through mine and I pull him to his feet. We go into the hall and find Dena, Marcus, Jay and Cleo standing there talking.

         Dena is lacing up her sneakers when as we walk up to them. She looks up at us with an evil grin that means she has an idea. “Finally!” she yells at us as she stands up. She feels her hair, making sure that not one strand is out of place, she pulls out her compact mirror and checks her make up, which is perfect, as always. It’s sad; even I compare myself to her.

         “We all decided to go explore outside.” She explains happily, “Get your bag and let’s go!” Ethan and I exchange glances and do as she says. I grab my bag off of my bed and then we all head downstairs.

         “So on the way up the driveway to the hotel I saw a small forest and I think it would be fun to go explore through them.” Dena smiles at her idea. Everyone ponders for a moment and then they start talking.

         “Isn’t that a little dangerous? I mean we don’t know what kind of animals could be out there.” Jay says, even though we all know he wants nothing more than to go into those woods and find out.

         “That’s why we are going to tell the lady at the front desk where we will be.”

Dena has everything planned, a solution for everything.

         “Well, I don’t see why we can’t go have a little fun.” Marcus adds, wrapping his arms around Dena’s shoulders.

         “Yeah, but we should all bring out phones and a flashlight,” Ethan suggests, “Just in case.” We all agree that we meet back in the front of the hotel at midnight and if anyone changes their mind, they would call or text to let the rest of us know. No body really said anything about where they were going. Ethan and I were assigned the task of telling the receptionist at the front desk that we would all be out and if we weren’t back by midnight she should call for help.

         The elevator door opens on the main floor. The lobby is almost completely empty. There are only like 2 people there and they look like they work here. As we exit the elevator we all exchange ‘See ya later,” and “Have fun.” Ethan and I are the only ones that don’t head right outside. We make our way to the font desk and patiently wait for her phone call to end.

         “Excuse me….” I try to be polite and not disturb her, but she won’t even look at me, “Excuse me!” I say it a little louder this time. She looks at me and rolls her eyes, chewing her gum in the most annoying way.

         “What!” She yells the phone still at her ear.

         “Um….my friends and I are going to go look around outside and……”

         “Am I supposed to care?” She cuts me off, a really angry look on her face. She stands up from her chair, putting the phone on the desk without hanging up and puts her hands on her hips. I look at her and notice that she can’t be more than 20 years old. Her name tag is positioned right on the chest, I think on purpose, and it reads, “Hi! My name is Jackie!”

         “Well we thought we would tell you so if we aren’t back by midnight you could call for help.” I try to be as nice as possible even though she doesn’t deserve it.

         “Whatever…..we can’t be held responsible for any lost, stolen or injured items or customers. Sorry!” she smiles smugly and then goes back to her phone call. Ethan and I look at each other and he shrugs his shoulders, putting his arms around my waist. WE walk through the revolving doors and out into the warm air.

         It smells like the ocean, which is only about half a mile behind the hotel. The sky is the most beautiful shade of blue I have ever seen. The sun is setting and it looks so peaceful. The horizon is a blazing red-orange fire.

         “So, what do you want to do?” Ethan asks, his hand now placed on the small of my back.

         “Let’s just walk around,” I reply as I start to walk away, “It’ll be fun.” I start to run down the hill; Ethan pretends he isn’t fast enough to catch me. As I get to the bottom I can see the ocean. It is so beautiful. The endless blue water, the big waves becoming smaller as they approach the shore. I am thrown from my trance when Ethan rams into me, knocking me to the ground.

         “Gotchya!!!” He laughs as we roll in the grass.

         “Ow! That hurt!” I scold him. His expression goes from happy to worry in the blink of an eye.

         “Are you ok?” He gets on his knees and holds out his hand to help me up.

         “Just kidding!” I laugh, slapping his hand and rolling onto my stomach. He plops on top of me and holds me down.

         “One….two….three! Victory is mine!!” He stands up and starts doing a victory dance. We both start laughing so hard our faces turn red.

         “We should probably go ‘explore’ the woods now, so everyone doesn’t get worried.” I get up and hold Ethan’s hand. We both start towards the endless maze of trees.

         When we get to the opening we just stand there. You could hardly see ten feet in front you, it was so dark. I looked at Ethan, the flashlight in his hand, and he turns it on. With out fingers locked together, the beam of light from the flashlight shinning a path before us, we venture into the unknown.