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Tippy turned around to wave her friends as she boarded the jet. She was going to Europe for 6 weeks to take pictures for her photography class. Jess, Andrea and Jen smiled as they waved back. Tippy turned around and continued walking. She was on a private jet, which made her even more nervous. This was the only flight to Europe for a week, and she couldn't afford to wait that extra week, her grades depended on it. She didn't like to fly, so she didn't really know what to expect this private jet to be like, she'd only been on a plane once. She looked around, noticing there was only one other female on board, the rest were all guys in their 20s or so. The only place open to sit was next to a blond who had his head against the window and his eyes closed. She wasn't sure if he was scared, praying or sleeping, but she sat down. She looked around and noticed a guy with black and blue hair and lots of tattoos. "Different," she thought, "very different." Just as she turned facing forward she noticed the guy next to her was awake and looking out the window.
"You're Tippy, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Fatima told us that you would be on here."
"That must be her up there."
"Yeah, she's our choreographer."
"Cool, y'all can dance?"
"Not very good yet, but yeah." he teased.
"Wicked."
"So have you been to Europe before?"
"Nope, I'm not sure I want to go this time."
"Then why are you going?"
"Photography class."
"Oh. Well, you'll like it. It's really nice and the people there are the greatest."
"What's the scenery like?"
"Its beautiful, you'll get some great pictures. Do you have a tour guide or are you on your own?"
"All by myself, which scares me even more."
"You can stay with us, I'm sure the guys wont mind."
"That's really sweet, but I don't want to be an inconvenience."
"Trust me you wont be as long as you don't get motion sick easily."
"Nah."
They talked for a little while longer until one of the guys in the front walked past them.
"Hey Bri, what's up?"
"Not much. Does Fatima know you brought your girlfriend?"
"Fatima knows she's on here, but she's not my girlfriend. This is Tippy."
"Oh yeah, sorry bout that I forgot. I wouldn't wish you upon him, he's a lost cause."
"He's not really that bad is he?"
"Nah." he smiled. "I'm going to get a drink, would you like something?"
"No thanks."
"Are ya sure?"
"Positive."
"Ok, but I'm going in there."
"100%"
He laughed and continued walking.
"Y'all are so sweet and welcoming. The guys in my classes are all annoying and UGH."
"You're in college or what?"
"Yep, a sophomore."
"Are you majoring in photography?"
"No, actually I'm majoring in dance and minoring in Broadcast Journalism."
"That's cool, want me to introduce you to everyone?"
"Sure."
He led her around the jet and introduced her to everyone.
"Last and definitely least...." he laughed. "This is AJ, but we usually call him Bone."
She shook his hand and looked at him. Unlike the others she couldn't look him in the eyes when she shook his hand, which made her feel intimidated. The blond led her around the rest of the jet and showed her where she could sleep if she got tired. He let her have some time alone knowing she probably felt a little uncomfortable.
"Thanks." she said as he walked away.
"No problem."
She fell asleep and was later woke by AJ.
"Tippy, wake up or we'll send you back to the US."
"No, you cant do that." she said jumping up. "Oh, you're not him."
"Him who?"
"The blond guy."
"Nick?"
"Ida know, the blond I was with earlier."
"That's Nick."
"Ok."
"You talked to him for half the flight and you didn't know his name?"
"That's right."
"Ok, well I'm supposed to lead you to our hotel."
"Ok." she said following.
She looked at him again, but this time it wasn't a quick glance around.
"You're cute."
"Thanks." he laughed, not knowing what to say. He wasn't sure if she was always like this or just half asleep.
"Where are we?"
"London."
"K."
He lead her to the hotel, gave her an elevator key and showed her to her room.
"Thanks." she said as he sat her suitcases down.
"If you have any problems just knock on any door, cuz the whole floor is ours."
"Thanks again."
He walked down the hall to his room. She watched until she heard the door close then turned around and closed her door.
She dug out her cell phone and called her friends back home.
"Jess! OMG! Y'all are sooooo gonna regret not coming. I'm in a hotel, on a floor with a bunch of guys. There is only one other female on this whole floor. It's all the people I was on the jet with."
"Are they all hot?"
"Not all of them, but some of them. There's this one guy with black and blue hair and lots of tattoos. Sounds weird, I know, but he's really cute."
"What color eyes?"
"Ida know, he was wearing sunglasses."
"Ok, any other guys?"
"YEAH!" she laughed, "There's Nick."
"Describe."
"Um....6 foot, blond hair, blue eyes, the usual."
"No weird tattoos?"
"None from what I saw."
"Take a picture and e-mail it to me."
"How? I don't exactly have a travel size scanner."
"Digital camera, loser."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I'll take one as soon as I can."
"Ok, Jen wants to talk to you, hold on."
"K."
"Tippy?"
"Jen?" she laughed.
"Are ya having fun?"
"Yeah. Have Jess tell you all of what I just told her....cuz I cant." she said, opening the door.
"Why not?"
"Ask her right now and you'll figure it out."
"Ok, talk to Andrea while I find out."
"K."
"Hello."
"Hey, what's up?"
"Not much, the usual."
"Spiffy."
"Tippy!" Jen screamed grabbing the phone out of Andrea's hands, "Is there a guy in your room?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I heard a knock and I heard you open the door, but I didn't hear anyone talking."
"Oh really." she said, trying to keep it from being obvious to Nick that she was talking about him to her friends.
"What's his name?"
"Cant say."
"Why not?"
"Cuz."
Nick sensed she was talking about something she'd rather him not know.
"Would you like me to leave?" he asked.
"No, you're fine."
"Are ya sure?"
"Yeah."
Jen put the phone on speaker so Jess and Andrea could hear them talking.
"OMG! TIPPY, HE SOUNDS REALLY HOT!!!!" Jess screamed.
"Well, yeah." she laughed.
"Have ya kissed him yet?"
"No."
"Are ya working on it?"
"Maybe."
They all laughed and cheered.
"Don't forget to e-mail."
"I wont, I'll send ya something everyday."
"Ok, well we have to go."
"Ok, talk to ya later. Bye." she hung up
"Be good." Jess said as she got the dial tone.
"I'm guessing those were the girls at the airport with you."
"Yeah, you saw them?"
"Yeah, but at the time I didn't know who you were. Otherwise I would've come up and talked to ya."
"You should've anyways." she laughed.
"What's so funny?" he smiled.
"Jess. She's a little hyper today. Well, a little more hyper than usual." she said, unpacking some of her stuff. "Are y'all on vacation or something?"
"Yeah, we're here for 5 weeks of vacation and the last week is press conferences and photo shoots. You could take pictures of us for class." he joked.
"I will. Why press conferences?"
"We're just a tiny bit famous over here."
"Spiffy." she said, hanging pictures on the mirror.
"Are those your friends?"
"Well, some of them."
"That's you, right?"
"Yeah, I don't like that picture of me, but its good of everyone else."
"Why? What's wrong with it? I like it."
"Thanks, but that doesn't change my mind." she laughed.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed he was smiling.
"So, what do y'all do? Dance? Act? What?"
He laughed.
"Ok, my turn, what's so funny?"
"I've known you less than 24 hours and you've said "y'all" 5 times already."
"What's wrong with that? And you counted?"
"Yeah, I couldn't help but to count. There's nothing wrong with it, its cute."
Bri walked past the door and saw Nick sitting on the bed and Tippy hanging pictures on the mirror.
"What are y'all doing in here?"
They both laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just talking about how many times she's said "y'all" since we've met. She says it more than you." he laughed.
"Where are you from?" Brian asked.
"Why? Are you gonna laugh?"
"No, just wondering."
"Ok...." she hesitated.
"Come on tell us...."Nick smiled.
"Promise not to laugh or call me any weird stereotypical names?"
"Promise."
"Kentucky."
"That's why she says it so much." Bri said, leaving the room.
"Are you really from Kentucky?"
"Yeah."
"We've been there a million times. Well, not that many, but at least a hundred."
"For?"
"Concerts."
"So are y'all popular in the states?"
"A little."
"Cool." she said sitting down.
"Are you gonna be busy much longer?"
"No, that's all I'm hanging up right now."
"Did you take all these pictures?"
"The ones I'm not in, yeah."
"They're really good. Who is this?" he asked, pointing at a picture of two girls.
"Me and Jen."
"This?"
"Me and Jess in our dorm room."
"Are y'all all really close?"
"Literally." she laughed, "We have a double dorm room and we all four live in there together, but its a lot of fun."
"I bet."
"If you want you can watch a video we made. I brought it to watch when I get home sick."
"Ok, we can watch it later. I came to see if you wanted a tour of the hotel."
"Sure."
He led her around to the restaurants and game rooms. Then to the pool and weight room.
"Is that Kev?" she asked pointing to the weight room.
"Yeah, he's always in there. Then he'll get in the pool for a few, then go take a shower."
"You've memorized his routine?"
"Yeah, I've lived with these guys for 8 years."
"How old are you?"
"21."
"Cool, I'm 19."
"I thought so, but I didn't want to ask."
They walked around the hotel a bit more before they went back to their floor.
"Krystal will be here tomorrow, so you'll have another female to talk to."
"Cool, but who is she?"
"Our opening act."
"Awesome."
"Well, I'm gonna go get some sleep, so I can show you around tomorrow."
"If its gonna be an inconvenience I'm sure I can get around on my own."
"Trust me, you're no inconvenience and besides, I'm not letting you slip away from me." he smiled going to his room.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she wondered as she fell asleep on the bed