Shiny Celebrity Skin

"Get the fuck up! You guys, we have to go!" Matt burst through my bedroom door, making both Josh and I jump out of bed in alarm. "You slept in!"

I spun around and looked at my alarm clock. Our plane was leaving in two hours. We should have been through security at the airport by now.

"Shit!" I yelled, rushing around so fast that I didn't even know which way I was going. All I knew was that I was glad we'd packed everything the night before. We were jumping into Matt's truck before I had even woken up completely.

I tore my fingers through my hair, which was horribly tangled from sleep. Josh's appeared to be in similar condition, but he wasn't wasting any time with it just yet. He was looking back into the box of the truck, counting our suitcases and trying to figure out if we'd forgotten anything.

"Thanks, Matt!" I called as I hopped out of the truck. He wasn't even completely stopped yet, but we had no time to waste.

"Have fun guys!" He waved as we shut the door. He had a huge smile on his face, even though his eyes were still puffy and heavy from fatigue.

We grabbed our bags and were inside the building before Matt had even had the chance to drive away. Josh knew the airport fairly well by now, and he expertly guided me to where we needed to be. Soon enough, we were safely through security and waiting in poorly cushioned chairs outside of our appropriate gate. It was so early in the morning that the coffee shops weren't even open yet, which left me feeling grumpy and tired.

"I'm sleeping the whole way there," I told Josh, trying to get comfortable in the hard chair.

"How do you think I get through every early flight?" He had finally fixed his hair and was now trying to make it fall just right in front of his forehead.

"Oh my God!" An excited squeal from nearby pierced my eardrum. I flinched, then looked up to see two teenaged girls standing at the far end of the row of seats we were in. The girl in blonde braids was clutching at the arm of the brunette beside her. "Is that who I think it is?!" Her pitch was several octaves too high to be bearable, especially this early in the day. If she got anymore excited, she would only be audible to dogs.

The other girl scoffed, pulling her arm away. "Get ahold of yourself, Lacey. We just saw their concert like a month ago, right? They're probably still on tour. Besides, this guy looks way too tall."

Josh was pretending that he couldn't hear them. He cast a sidelong glance at me. "I'm too tall to be me, apparently."

"How do you know that they're not confusing you for some other musician with blue hair?" I challenged. After a second, I shrugged. "I agree with them. You're too tall."

"But what if it is him?" The blonde continued. Her voice had returned to a normal volume and tone, so it no longer hurt when she spoke. "Then maybe we should go say hi. We might never get this chance again!"

The brunette sighed. "Leave the poor guy alone. If it really is him, then he's probably sick of people bugging him."

"Is she right?" I asked, looking up at Josh.

He shrugged. "It depends on the day. Right now, it would be kind of annoying. I mean, I'm just trying to have a nice vacation with my girlfriend. But most of the time, I have no problem taking a picture or signing something. I mean, they buy the records and go to the shows, right? Without them I'd be unemployed and living in my parents basement again."

I rolled my eyes. "You've been living on your own for, what, four months?"

He opened his mouth to verbalize some snappy comeback, but was interrupted by the announcement that our flight was boarding. He settled for a scowl in my direction as he picked up his carry-on bag and began to walk away.

"Hey, wait up!" I rushed after him. "You have my boarding pass, jerk!"

He laughed loudly at my verbal abuse. "Yes, dear."

We made our way onto the cramped plane and into our seats. There was a teenaged boy in the window seat next to me, and Josh was in the aisle seat on my other side. The boy was wearing a thick hoodie. I knew that he would regret his wardrobe choice once we reached our destination.

"Ben, honey, did you want to switch seats with me so you can sit with your father?" A middle aged woman with greying hair tried to stretch over Josh and I to speak to her son.

The boy looked terribly embarassed. "No, Mom, I'm fine."

"If you change your mind, I'll switch with you at any time."

"I'm fine," he reiterated, turning to stare out the window toward the tarmac below us. The woman cast one more worried glance toward him, then turned and headed toward the back of the plane.

"Don't worry," I said to the boy, trying to show him that we were nice people. "My mom's worse."

He gave me a half-smile, then faced the window again. I looked up at Josh. I really hadn't meant to make the kid feel awkward. Josh had his lips pressed firmly together, and I knew that he was trying not to laugh at me.

Once the plane was in the air, I found that my earlier exhaustion had returned. I really enjoyed flying, so it was easy for me to drift off into a blissful sleep. The flight itself was about four hours, so I was awake again a couple of hours before we were due to land. Josh, however, was still sound asleep. His head was back against the seat, his mouth was hanging open, and his breathing was loud. I dug around in my bag until I found a magazine that I'd brought along to read. Instead of opening it, I tore off the cover and crumpled it into a ball. I dropped the paper into Josh's open mouth, then began to flip through the magazine as he awoke and spluttered, spitting it out.

He shot me a dark look. "Really? You couldn't have just let me sleep?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I flipped another page, refusing to look at him.

"She's lying, isn't she?" I could tell that he was no longer speaking to me. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the kid sitting next to me gave him a goofy grin. Clearly, he wasn't sure if he should rat me out or not. I was the one sitting next to him, after all, so it would be dangerous for me to be mad at him. "That's all the proof I need," Josh concluded.

"That sounds like a threat," I mused, still staring intently at the make up advertisement in the magazine.

"You have to live with me, and only me, for an entire week. Isn't that in itself a threat?"

I closed the magazine and tucked it back into my bag. "You're right. I woke you up. But I was bored. I have a very short attention span, and a hard time entertaining myself."

"You couldn't just go back to sleep?"

I shook my head. "Now that I've gotten a couple of extra hours of rest, I'm getting really excited for Mexico. I still can't believe that you did this. I mean, normally I'd be getting ready for work right about now, and-" I stopped short as a thought caught me by surprise. "Oh shit, work!"

"Relax," Josh commanded. "I told you that I arranged everything. Your boss' husband is one of my best friends. I have a little bit of sway there. Leilani said that she was hiring a new girl anyways, so it would be really easy to fill your shifts."

"Great," I felt myself sink back into the seat in relief. "Oh, but what about-"

"I called your parents and let them know so that if they tried to call you, Matt wouldn't have to worry about it," he cut me off. "And I called Markie, too. By the way, she's probably going to bombard you with questions when you get home and call her. I tried to avoid telling her too much. She seemed to have her own idea of what we're going to do on our vacation."

"I'm scared to ask what she was thinking." In reality, I was pretty sure that I already knew what Markie had assumed. It was the same thought that had both terrified and excited me the night before when Josh had been about to reveal the surprise. I knew that I would never want another guy in the way that I wanted Josh, but I just wasn't entirely sure that we were ready to make anything official yet.

Josh and I watched the in-flight movie for the remainder of the journey. It was some kids movie that we both found highly entertaining. As soon as the credits began to roll, the movie was cut off and the pilot announced our descent toward the airport. The passengers all buckled their seatbelts and anticipated the landing.

As soon as the doors to the plane opened, I could feel the sticky heat seeping through the cabin. I swept my hair up off of the back of my neck as I followed Josh through the small door and down the staircase. He took me by the hand as we boarded a waiting bus that was taking us to the airport. The bus wasn't nearly large enough to hold everyone, but people pushed their way on regardless. I pressed myself up against Josh. I would rather have him invade my personal space than anyone else.

When we were finally through the airport, we hauled our luggage along a line of people holding signs for various resorts and cab companies. Josh scanned the signs as we went; he appeared to know exactly what he was looking for. Eventually, he allowed a man to lead us to a shuttle that was already half-filled with passengers.

"Did you want to switch spots so you can have the window seat?" Josh offered.

I shook my head. "No, that's okay. I can just lean across you if I see anything interesting."

The drive was short, and soon enough about half of the occupants of the shuttle were piling out.

"This is our stop," Josh told me.

We followed everyone else out, and as Josh grabbed our suitcases I paused to look around. The resort was beautifully landscaped with tropical plants and flowers. I could see an iguana running across the roof of a nearby building. I took my suitcase and walked up the wide stone steps. The entrance to the building was wide open, yet the stone floor and walls kept the room feeling cool compared to the blazing heat outdoors. There was a large bird cage on one side of the room, and it was filled with exotic birds of all sizes and colours.

We checked in and got our wristbands, then headed off down a corridor toward our room. When we turned a corner, the top half of one wall vanished and revealed an extravagant flower garden below us. We climbed a couple of flights of stairs, then found our room number. I was anxious to get inside and change into a pair of shorts.

As I tore into my bag and searched for something to wear, Josh took a moment to inspect the room. He made a few random comments as he went.

"Our mini fridge is filled with nothing but water."

I laughed. "It's an all-inclusive resort. You can get food anywhere."

"The whole bathroom is marble!"

I changed into my bathing suit and pulled a pair of shorts and a tank top over it. "From what I've seen, this whole place is gorgeous. Let's go check out the rest of the resort!"

He walked back out of the bathrrom. "Yeah, sure. Let's go."

I frowned. "You're planning on wearing jeans all day?"

"Is that okay?" He grinned.

"Suit yourself. But at some point, I'm going to make you come swimming with me."

"And you think I can't do that in jeans, too?"

I giggled, wrapping the lanyard that held my room key around my wrist a few times. "Great. I look forward to seeing that."

Josh opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. "Well, we've got a bar full of free alcohol, and a whole week in paradise. It's bound to happen sooner or later."