Beach Bums & the Boys From Down Under

[Michelle's POV]

The plane was getting closer and closer to our destination. Sydney, Australia. Talk about being stoked, I was practically bouncing off the walls in all my excitement. You would have thought I was on a sugar rush or something because I was jumping up and down in my seat while Landon looked at me like I was some crazy person.

“Are you on drugs or something, Michelle?” He asked, cocking his eyebrow up in interest.

“Yea! I’m a freakin’ drug addict, Landon!” I replied, sarcastically. “On our last flight stop I snuck into the girl’s bathroom and hit it up with a couple of mafia people. I would have asked you to join me, but you probably wouldn’t have approved of that kind of behavior.”

“Please,” he smirked, “I’ve done a lot of bad things in my lifetime that you wouldn’t even know about, Michelle. You can’t even question my inappropriate behavior because it would certainly top yours within an instant.”

“Whoa, okay then. I didn’t know my boyfriend was some whore or something. It would have been nice if you would have mentioned some of this stuff before I signed up for this relationship thing.”

“Oh my god!” Kaden interrupted, butting inside of our conversation. “Landon, you have to tell her about that one girl from first grade! You just have to! It’s comedy!”

“What?” Alysha asked, glancing at Kaden questionably.

“Holy crap!” I exclaimed. “You had a girlfriend when you were in first grade!”

“No,” Landon said, glaring at his brother angrily. “I have no idea what, Kaden, is talking about. You know he was dropped on his head when he was a baby. He probably doesn’t even know what he’s saying.”

“That explains so much…” I trailed off while glancing over at Kaden.

“I know exactly what I’m talking about, mate! You’re just too ashamed to say it in front of all of us, or even worse in front of your own girlfriend.”

“I’m getting curious!” Alysha whined. “Can someone please hurry up and tell me what happened?”

“Nope,” Landon replied while popping the ‘p’ in disagreement. “This discussion is officially over and done with. Thanks for bringing it up Kaden. You know you can be such a dick sometimes. It’s a good thing I’m the older one that way I can kick your ass and--”

“Hey,” I ordered while smacking Landon on the arm. “Can we please not have any sibling fights while we are on the plane? I really don’t like sitting in the middle of you guys when you could just break out into some schoolyard brawl at any moment.”

Landon sighed reluctantly as he took my hand and interlaced his fingers inside of it. “Fine…I’ll behave.”

“Wait!” Alysha interrupted, jumping around in her seat impatiently. “I still want to know what happened in first grade!”

“I’ll tell you, babe!” Kaden said while putting his arm around Alysha. “But you’re out of luck, Michelle. I don’t want to say something and start a fight here on the plane. Just weasel it out of, Landon. I’m sure if you showed a bit of cleavage and made-out with him a bit he’d be all yours! Fight fire with fire! You know there’s always a bathroom in here too if you want to remember old time’s sake. You both could go get freaky--”

“Kaden!” I exclaimed as I felt the blood rush up to my cheeks. “Shut up now. Or else I will personally start the fight on this plane and rearrange your whole entire face!”

Kaden’s mouth gaped open as Alysha and Landon busted up in laughter.

“Psshh I will cut you Michelle!” Kaden challenged as he imitated holding a knife and stabbed it through the open air.

I shook my head in annoyance, wondering when this kid was ever going to grow up; but it was a bad move to make because as soon as i turned my head Kaden punched me in the shoulder. It wasn't a hard hit or anything, but that didn't mean that it didn't make me angry as hell. I literally jumped out of my seat as I was about to pounce on top of Kaden. Someone quickly grabbed me by the waist though before I could attack. I struggled to get away from Landon, but he restrained me just as easily. I gave up quickly and sat back down inside of my seat.
Pointing my finger accusingly at Kaden I said, "You’re lucky this time, punk. If my lover boy over here wasn’t holding me down you would have seriously been in for it!” I stuck my tongue out at him, trying to gain back some of my lost dignity. Then I just settled back down into my seat, crossing my arms over my chest. I ignored all the stares that were looking at us right now. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with them. Alysha was laughing hysterically in her seat and Kaden's eyes were wide with both a hint of amusement and terror. After the chaos died down, Kaden went on and told Alysha the story about Landon. I didn’t even want to hear it. Okay, I’ll admit, I was curious about it, but I wanted Landon to tell me himself. I didn’t want to hear it from his stupid and annoying brother.

“Wow,” Landon stated, sounding somewhat impressed. “So you tell me not to fight with my brother, but when he starts getting on your nerves, it gives you the right to go and kill him?”

“I wasn’t going to kill anyone,” I muttered.

“I saw the tiger in your eyes, Michelle. You were definitely going to rip his face off. But don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have complained if you shredded him to pieces and only left me one of his hands. I mean, who knows when I would have needed that extra hand someday.”

I giggled, starting to feel like I was getting back to my normal self. I uncrossed my arms as I put them on the armrests on either side of me. Landon grabbed my hand before it even touched the chair.

“I kind of like it when you’re mad,” Landon grinned deviously. I smiled as he intertwined our fingers.

“Why?” I wondered, really interested in what he was going say. “Is it hot?” I asked teasingly.

“That would definitely be an understatement,” he explained. “I think it was sexy.”

I smacked him over the head as he chuckled mischievously. “Hey, you’re the one who asked.”

“Yea, but I wasn’t expecting you to say something that stupid,” I smiled.

“It's only stupid to you, baby. I only speak the truth.”

"Yea. Well, I think everything you say is all lies!” I challenged.

He smirked. “It’s not my fault if you don’t believe me.”

“Well then, honest Abe, if you always speak the truth, tell me what happened in first grade.”

His lips pursed together as I caught him in his own words. “There's no way I’m gonna tell you that one.”

“Oh, come on,” I complained, “How bad can it be?”

“It’s nothing bad,” Landon clarified. “But it’s just not something that I go and tell everyone about.”

“Can’t you tell me?” I whined, trying to persuade him.

“No, it’s too embarrassing. I’m definitely not saying anything about it.”

“I’ll get it out of you someday,” I stated as a matter of fact.

“If you say so,” Landon responded before looking outside of his window. I guessed that it was my cue to end this subject, so I just leaned my head on top of Landon’s shoulder. I was feeling somewhat tired, which was pretty normal, considering the fact that I had stayed up the whole night before and then had been on a plane flight for so many hours in one day. I closed my eyes just telling myself that I would rest for a while. Of course though, that never works, and instead I ended up drifting off, letting sleep finally consume me into its dark and dreary world.

I stirred, my eyelids slowly opening as I remembered where I was again. All of my muscles were hurting from the uncomfortable seats of the plane and my neck felt a little sore from sleeping on top of Landon’s shoulder the entire time. I inhaled a deep breath, startling Landon from right next to me.

“Hey, my Sleeping Beauty, you’re finally awake,” he whispered as he kissed the top of my head.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to get them to adjust back to normal. “Was I out for a long time?” I wondered.

“Not too long,” he replied. “But we’re almost there.”

As if on signal the light to buckle your seat belt flipped on as it chimed a small melodic sound along with it. I groaned as I slowly sat up correctly in the chair, buckling the belt around my waist. Kaden and Alysha abruptly shot up from the chime. They both had fallen asleep and it took them by surprise when they found out that we were about to land. I couldn’t figure out what I was more excited for. The fact that I was actually going to Australia with my boyfriend and two best-friends. Or the fact that I was actually going to see my parents again after it had been so many months since the last time that I had seen them. My head couldn’t wrap around the fact that I was actually going to see them. I felt nervous, excited, scared. I didn’t know what they were going to say. Were they expecting anything from me?

"Are you alright?" Landon asked obviously seeing the nerves written write onto my face.

"Never better," I replied, slowly exhaling out in order to calm my conscience.

"Don't worry Michelle," Landon soothed, giving my hand a gentle squeeze, "I'm sure everything is going to be alright."

"But what if it's not?" I complained. "What if your family doesn't like me? What are my parents going to say after all this time? What happens if-"

Landon quickly touched his lips to mine in an effort to get me to stop complaining. It worked, as usual, as I kissed Landon back softly in response, all complaints now otherwise gone as if they had blown away out into the atmosphere.

"Michelle....," Landon said as he pulled away, "seriously, don't worry about it. Because when you worry everything just goes worse than before."

"Alright. Alright." I agreed as the plane slowly descended. I looked out towards the window through the dark night sky. Lights flickered effervescently as they grew closer with every waking minute. I sat up straight inside my seat then looked at Landon, who gave me a reassuring smile. The ground’s impact shook the plane as we landed. As we slowly skidded to a stop and the breaks screeched against the blacktop, my stomach was knotting inside me. The moment was finally here. We were in Australia.