Through Your Eyes

The sound of the air vent from the side of the room blasted through the air, covering up the silence that was in the bedroom. Marissa could hear Connor sleeping peacefully next to her as she lied in bed with the covers tucked around her. The digital clock next to her flashed 12:37am and slowly kept changing.

Sleep didn’t seem to come to Marissa at all. She had been tossing and turning for the past hour. When she had gone to bed, she had been beyond exhausted from the days activities, but now all she wanted to do was to get out of bed and do something active.

It was only the second day on her vacation, but Marissa already knew that the Bahamas was on the top of her list of her most favorite places. The weather was incredible, the beaches were right next door, the food was exotic and most of all she loved the fact that she could just relax.

Today had been an amazing day, in Marissa’s book. After waking up this morning, and receiving the sweetest gift from Nick, Marissa and her family had left for their day trip. They had left around 10 from the hotel and went to a nearby island. Taking a small boat, Marissa had spent the rest of the day on the exotic island. They had visited small villages that were on there as well as trying out the waves on the beaches.

By the time they had reached back to the main island, and to their hotel it had been almost 10:30. Marissa had practically crashed into bed. But now it was two hours later, and she was wide awake for some odd reason. She had tried everything from counting sheep to pretending she was having a massage, but sleep came at no avail.

Turning to her left side, Marissa sighed. It was obvious she wasn’t going to back to sleep anytime soon. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and after contemplating about if for a few seconds, Marissa decided to follow through with it. Very quietly, Marissa pushed her self up with her hands.

Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, Marissa gently stood up. She froze as she heard Connor stir in his sleep and turn to the other side. She counted to twenty before starting to move again. Tiptoeing to the door, Marissa touched the metal handle and twisted it. Her feet touched the soft carpet of the living room as she stepped out of the bedroom.

The door to her parents’ room was closed as Marissa walked towards the entrance of their hotel suite. Slipping on a pair of flip flops, she swiped one of the room keys from the table nearby and after realizing she didn’t have a pocket, stuck in down her shirt and in her bra. She was a girl, might as well take advantage of the perks that came along with being one.

Lights lit up the silent hallway of the sixth level. This was the only level filled with suites, and it looked like nobody was out this late at night. The empty corridor was somewhat comforting to Marissa, knowing that there was a less chance of being caught sneaking out.

All she wanted to do was to take a dip in the pool. Just let her legs in the water so it would clear her mind a bit. It was technically still on hotel grounds, so there wasn’t really any danger for her, Marissa considered.

She ran her fingers through her hair, tousling it a bit so she didn’t look like a complete idiot if someone happened to come across her. It was only then Marissa realized that it was actually a little chilly with only being in a short pair of pajama shorts and a cami. Frowning, she tugged down the shirt hoping it would somehow make her body feel warmer.

Marissa couldn’t remember it being this cold the night before and then saw straight ahead that at the end of the hall a window was propped open. Curious, she increased her speed in her walk up to it, and set her hands on the window sill. The breeze brushed against her faced as she looked at the view.

The twinkling lights of the beach were still lit up and Marissa could make out some people who were still scattered all over the beach. The sound of the waves crashing against the beach seemed like music to her ears. Closing her eyes, she took a whiff of the salty air and sighed.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” That’s all it took for a scream to escape out Marissa’s mouth and for her to jump, not literally, ten feet in the air. Her heart began beating so fast that Marissa was for sure that if she was in a hospital right then, the heart monitor machine would break.

“Oh, my God,” Marissa gasped. Her hand rested on the left side of her chest and she could feel her heart slowly start to decrease to a normal speed. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Nick laughed but didn’t seem to show any remorse for his previous action. “I seem to be doing that a lot to you, don’t I? Yesterday at the pool and now.”

Marissa crossed her arms but still allowed a smile to appear. “You do and I have to say it’s not exactly the nicest feeling in the world to be scared for your life.”

“Well, I’m genuinely sorry for scaring you,” Nick said with a shy smile.

Uncrossing her arms, Marissa set her hands again on the window sill behind her and used it for support as she leaned back. Tilting her head to her side, Marissa used the couple seconds of silence to study Nick. He was in a simple white tee that fit his body in all the right places with a pair green basketball shorts. Marissa couldn’t imagine how, but Nick’s curly hair wasn’t at all messed up and looked like he had just come out of hair and makeup for an interview.

“It’s alright.” Marissa looked around the empty hallway before meeting Nick’s gaze again. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Nick replied smoothly.

Marissa frowned. “No fair, I asked you first.”

Nick shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. I was going to go to the vending machine around the corner, but instead I found you.” Marissa nodded absentmindedly. “Your turn,” he added.

“Same as you. I woke up and couldn’t fall back to sleep even though I was exhausted earlier.”

“And you’re out here because…?” Nick prodded.

Marissa began to play with the bottom of her cami as she figured out a way to respond without it sounding stupid. “Um, I was going to head down to the pool.”

“To the pool?!” Nick exclaimed. “It’s past midnight! It’s probably not even open.”

“But there’s a chance it is,” Marissa stated and with that said she brushed past Nick and began walking towards the elevator. After taking a few steps, Marissa turned around and found Nick standing in the same spot as before. “Come on, I’m sure there are vending machine’s near the pool too!”

Nick grinned and threw his head back for a couple seconds considering whether to follow the crazy girl before finally making his decision. He slightly jogged so he could catch up to Marissa. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.” Marissa tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator to reach their level. She didn’t know where the sudden burst of energy had come from, but Marissa wasn’t complaining.

Once she stepped inside the empty elevator, Marissa quickly tried to fix her appearance as best as she could with the mirrored walls around her. Neither of them spoke on the ride down even though Marissa was bouncing on her toes. The moment the elevator door opened, Marissa hurried out with Nick right behind her.

“Shhh,” Marissa shushed Nick with her finger grazing against her lips to signal him to not speak. Both of them glanced at the receptionist who was dozing off on the job. Marissa stifled a giggle from the sight before turning around motioning Nick to follow her. Cautiously, they both tip toed through the lobby area and towards the exit.

Marissa pushed open the glass doors and ran out as fast as she could. “Come on you scaredy cat!” Marissa whisper yelled as Nick looked back around to see if the receptionist had heard their movements.

“Do you know how much trouble I’m going to be in if we get caught?” Nick hissed.

“We’re not going to get caught so you have nothing to worry about,” Marissa retorted.

Even through the darkness, Marissa could see Nick roll his eyes but kept quiet. The air was warm from the tropical weather and Marissa ran to the white gate of the entrance of the pool. Her hand shoved it back but Marissa took her time walking in. It was so peaceful outside that she felt the need to calm herself down.

Walking over to the edge of the pool, Marissa sat down and dipped her legs into the pool. The cold water bolted through Marissa causing her to pull her legs up quickly before slowly putting it in again. A few seconds later, she could feel the presence of another person next to her and sure enough, when she looked up, Nick had joined her and sat next to her with his own legs in the pool.

“Hey,” Marissa said.

“Hi,” Nick replied. He paused for a moment before continuing. “You know, it just occurred to me that I know nothing about you. All I know is that your name is Marissa Skyes, you’re a fan of the band, and you can definitely throw a football.”

Marissa chuckled. She kicked the water and let it splash around her upper legs. “Well then, get to know me.” Turning her head, Marissa let herself look into Nick’s eyes and he seemed to take the subtle hint.

“Okay. Why are you here in the Bahamas?” Nick asked.

“Vacation,” Marissa simply said. “My parents wanted to get away from the whole business world for a few days and it’s the first family vacation we’ve had in awhile.”

Nick furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, your last name is Skyes, right?” It only then clicked in his head the connection. “Your family owns the Skyes restaurants all over Los Angeles?”

Marissa nodded her head. “Yep. That’s the one.”

Nick looked at her with a curious look. “Why do you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“You say it as if you don’t like being Marissa Skyes. Like you’d want to be somebody else.”

Marissa sighed and ran her fingers through her hair like she always did when she was trying to stall. “I…I don’t know. I guess sometimes it gets to me all the chaos and craziness of being the daughter of one the most successful business men out there.” Looking out into the water, she realized something. “I mean, you understand don’t you? With being a celebrity and everything? It has its ups and downs.”

“Yeah, I can relate to you,” Nick said. It hadn’t occurred to him before, but he realized she was right. He could relate to her in a way where the celebrity life was just as touch as being a somewhat normal teenager.

A couple minutes passed as they both took in the new information. It was nice to have someone to talk to about this, and Marissa found it ironic that she had barely known Nick for 48 hours and here she was spilling out all her inner feelings. Must be the salty sea water, Marissa reasoned.

“So, next question?” Marissa suggested.

Nick thought for a moment, and hesitated a bit before making up his mind to ask the question. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Marissa looked at him surprised but quickly hid the look on her face. “I do have a boyfriend. His name’s Austin and we’ve been together for about seven months now.”

“Wow you guys must be really serious,” Nick remarked.

“I guess you could say we are.”

And for the next half an hour or so, even Marissa couldn’t believe it, she found herself talking and getting to know Nick Jonas. After the boyfriend topic came up, Nick quickly switched to a game of 20 Questions. He found out plenty of information about her he hadn’t known before such as her favorite color was pink, her favorite movie was Legally Blonde, she was deathly afraid of spiders, and she couldn’t live without spearmint gum.

It wasn’t until Marissa let out an involuntary yawn that Nick insisted on heading back up to their rooms. They successfully made it past the receptionist again and back up to the sixth level. The ding of the elevator indicated that it had approached their level and both teenagers stepped onto the carpeted hallway.

Like a gentleman, Nick walked Marissa back to her hotel room, which she found out wasn’t too far from the Jonas’ suite, which was three room down from theirs. Marissa turned around and carefully took out the room key from her bra and slid it through the slot on her door.

“Nice hiding place,” Nick smirked as he watched her open the door.

“Very funny,” Marissa replied sarcastically. She changed her tone for the next comment she made. “I never got to tell you this tonight, but thanks for the book. It was really sweet of you to buy me a new one.”

“Well I kind of ruined the other one so it was the least I could do,” Nick smiled.

Marissa turned around and looked into the darkness of her family’s suite before turning back to Nick and smiling. “Tonight was fun, we should do it again sometime.”

With that said, Marissa quickly wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck and was surprised to feel Nick pull her into a hug. She knew it was entirely wrong to do so, but Marissa couldn’t resist as she turned her head slightly and whispered into his ear. “Thanks again.” And for the second time within 48 hours, Marissa left a dumbfounded Jonas behind her as she entered the suite and shut the door behind her.