Save the Day

“Nick… Nick, wake up.” I said softly, shaking his shoulder.

“What time is it?” He mumbled, his eyes still closed.

I sighed, knowing he was not going to like the answer. “Ten o’clock.”

He shrugged my hand off his shoulder. “Why are you getting me up so early? It’s our day off.”

“Please Nick, I have a surprise for you.” I whispered into his ear.

He opened one eye, “What kind of surprise?” He asked suggestively, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I laughed and easily pulled myself out of his tired grip. “One you’ll get if you wake up. Now come on.” I said, pulling the blankets off him, revealing him to the cool air conditioned air of the room.

“Alright, alright I’m up.” He said, slinking out of the bed. “Now, what’s my surprise?” He asked childlike.

“We’re going out.” I said smirking.

“Yeah Morgan, I know. We’re dating, that’s not a surprise.”

I rolled my eyes, “Shut up, that’s not what I meant.” I turned towards my bag and pulled out two things. “I meant you and me are going out to a theme park. Think of it as a much delayed birthday present.” I said, tossing him one of the objects.

“Alone,” He said hesitantly, turning the blonde wig between his hands.

“Yes alone – no screaming teenagers, no security, no millions of questions. Just me and you. We haven’t done that since… ever. I think we need to just get away from everything to help let what happened between Joe and I blow over and here is the perfect opportunity.” I said, adjusting my red hair wig on my head.

“But isn’t it dangerous if someone recognizes us?”

“That’s what the wigs are for, so they don’t. And if they do they’ll just think you look like Nick Jonas.” I told him.

“I don’t think this is a good idea Morgan.” Nick said and walked up to me. “It’s an amazing idea in theory, but think of all the things that could go wrong: we could get caught; not just by fans but by my parents and John. Do you know how much trouble we could get into?” He placed a hand on my arm and gently slid it up and down. “Don’t get me wrong, I would love to go out on a date with you, but I think that things are too complicated right now.”

I shrugged his arm off and grabbed my bag off my bed. “Fine, I’ll go by myself then.”

“No, don’t do that Morgan!” Nick said hurriedly. “We can go, just with Big Rob or something.”

“You don’t get it Nick!” I practically screamed at him. “I want to be able to go out and do something without a million people following me. I want to be able to go out with you and just once not pretend that we’re just friends. I’m tired of traveling the country and only seeing the tour bus and venue. So I’m going to go with or without you, even if it’s supposed to be your birthday present.” I ran my hand, carefully, through my ‘hair’. “I have Demi’s phone if you need me.”

Before Nick could say anything, I walked out of the room. I took a few deep breaths before I walked down to the café to meet Demi for breakfast. When I got there she was sitting at a table with Alyson and Anna. “Hey guys,” I said after I got some food and walked to their table.

“Hey Morgan, nice hair.” Alyson said, giggling slightly.

I stuck my tongue out at her and placed my tray down at an empty table next to theirs. Even though it was fairly late for breakfast, there were a few people eating and I didn’t want to blow my cover.

“Where’s Nick?” Demi whispered to me.

“Decided he didn’t want to come. He thought it was too ‘dangerous’.” I answered, taking a bite out of my Mickey Mouse shaped waffle.

“Ouch, but you’re still going right? So the plan is still in play?” Anna asked.

“Yes ma’am.” I replied. The plan was simple: pretend I’m hanging out with Alyson, Anna, and Demi at the hotel. If there were any problem, they’d call me on Demi’s phone and I’ll be on the first bus back to the resort. Uncle John knows that my phone is broken, though he doesn’t know why, and that I have Demi’s, so he’ll call me to ‘check up’ if he feels like it. I wasn’t really worried about parental checkups seeing as they’ll be wrapped up in their day off too. As long as I was back by nine o’clock check in, I should be okay.

They each nodded once and left so I could finish eating. I wolfed down the last few bites of my waffle, chugged my water, and headed out to the bus stop. Disney provides bussing service to all of the theme parks both to and from the hotels. Each bus only went to one theme park or resort, depending on which way you’re going. (Thank God for a concierge, I wouldn’t have known anything without her).

I stood at the stop for the park I wanted to go to and waited patiently. There were quite a few people waiting too, until the Magic Kingdom bus came. And then the Animal Kingdom bus came and I was left virtually alone. “So where are we going?” A voice said from behind me.

I spun around in shock and saw Nick… well, a blonde Nick. A smile instantly spread across my face, “You came!” I exclaimed happily, wrapping him in a hug.

I felt Nick’s body shake as he chuckled, “Well I couldn’t let my girlfriend celebrate my birthday without me.”

“Good thinking.” I said smiling, letting go of him once I saw our bus pull up.”

“Epcot… we’re going to Epcot?” He asked after reading the sign on the bus.

“Yes we are. I’ve always wanted to go and this is my only opportunity.” I answered, getting on the bus and found two seats.

“But all there is are little samples of different countries. There’s not much to it.” Nick said, sitting next to me. There were a few people on the bus from previous stops, but it wasn’t crowded.

“Well, here’s my logic: tomorrow we’re going to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood so it doesn’t make sense to go there, we went Downtown yesterday, and I don’t really want to go to Animal Kingdom because I can see animals at any give zoo anywhere. Whereas, in Epcot, I can ‘visit’ countries that I may not ever see. At least this way, I can say that I know a little something about it.”

“So we’re going to Epcot because you want to ‘see’ the world? I thought this was my birthday present.” He said, laughing slightly.

I shoved him playfully, “Yes it is, but it’s my gift to you. You’ll see.”

“You know, I’m not too fond of surprises.”

I smirked, “We’ll too bad.”

He sighed, but stayed quiet and slung his arm around my shoulders as the bus continued its journey to Epcot. “This is weird.” He whispered to me after a short while.

I looked over at him quizzically, “What are you talking about?”

“Actually being able to go out without millions of people looking at me, asking questions; it’s actually kind of nice.” He said.

“Welcome to the life of a normal person.” I told him, laughing. “But there’s only like ten people on this bus. The real test comes one we go into the park.”

“Way to kill the mood.”

I smiled, “Just trying to be realistic. Neither of us know what’s going to happen once we go inside.”

“What should we do if someone recognizes us?” He asked, fear clear on his face.

“Um…” I said, realizing I never really thought of what we should do if we were discovered. I was more concentrated on the parental aspect of it. “Leave quickly by quietly.”

Nick looked at me with an amused expression on his face. “You didn’t think about that did you?”

“Shush you, we’re here.” I said, noticing that the bus was coming to a stop. My excitement building as I saw the iconic dome come into view.

When the bus finally came a stop, I pulled Nick up and out of the bus, practically running to the entrance gates. One of the benefits of working at Hollywood Studios, free access to all parks, I pulled out my park pass that Uncle John gave to me yesterday and Nick showed his to the park security, and the let us in with no problem. I let out a small shriek, “OhmyGod, we’re here.”

Nick smiled and laughed at me. “I can’t wait to see what your reaction will be tomorrow at Magic Kingdom.”

“What can I say; I’m a kid at heart.” I said shrugging. “Now let’s tear this place apart!” I said, grabbing Nick’s hand and pulled him farther into the park to give him the best birthday he’s ever had.

We ‘traveled’ the globe. We ‘went’ to the future. We ‘went’ to space and under the sea. We pretended we were Vikings in Norway. We watched a modern day reenactment of Romeo and Juliet in Italy. We traveled back to colonial American and made fun of how they used to dress. We tried on fezzes in Morocco and attempted to be ninjas in Japan. We ‘French’ kissed under the ‘Eiffel Tower’. We ate dinner in a pub in the United Kingdom and ended the day watching a fireworks show over the manmade lake that connected everything together.

As we headed back to our hotel, we sat leaning against each other, enjoying the last few minutes of privacy that we had.

“Did you enjoy your birthday present?” I asked.

Nick smiled down at me, “Most definitely, especially since we got away with it. It almost seems too good to be true.”

“We’re not completely clear yet. Let’s get to the room first. But for now, I have something for you.” I said, shoving my hand inside my bag.

“Morgan, you didn’t –”

“Shut up,” I cut him off and pulled out a small metal model of the Eiffel Tower. “Something to remember this night by,” I told him, a smile laced through my words.

He took the metal object and turned it in his hands. “Thank you.” He said to me, kissing me on the lips gently. “But I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”