I See Sparks Fly Whenever You Smile

Brook

I would probably never admit this out loud to my mother or my boyfriend, but agreeing to go on this trip to Hawaii was probably the best decision I had ever made. 

The second I slipped in my bathing suit, ordered a piña colada and sat on the beach, I felt ever worry and every stress I was currently dealing with leave my body. I didn't even let it bother me that there was a whole new group of Alex's friends (crew members and their girlfriends who lived out of town) that I needed to meet. I truly felt like I was in paradise and wasn't even sure I was ever going to leave. 

The first few days that we were in Hawaii, the guys mostly had promotional stuff to do, interviews, morning TV show appearances, in-store signings. It wouldn't be until the end of the week that they actually played their show - which I was so excited for, because I had never seen them before.

"Mom, of course I'm having a good time," I said into the phone to my mom, having called her to check in."You saw the pictures I sent you. The resort is like a fantasy."

"So, really was your saying is that I was right and you needed this trip."

I laughed, opening the closet and trying to decide what I wanted to wear to dinner tonight. The guys had been doing interviews all say and tonight was the first night we were able to make s dinner reservation for everyone. 

"On the record, I would say no such thing. Off the record, yes. You were right." I confessed. 

I could tell my mom was smiling. "Well, you have no one but Alex to thank."

"That's not true," I said, holding a dress against myself as I looked at myself in the mirror. "You bought the plane ticket."

"Technically. But it was with Alex's money."

My eyes widened and I felt a jolt of anger flash through my body. "In sorry. What?"

"Shit," my mom hissed. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that, Brook."

"So, let me get this straight. He gave you the money to buy the ticket so I would think it was from?"

"I tried to give it back to him and really pay for it myself, but he insisted. He's very stubborn, Brooky."

"So you both lied to me."

"Don't get upset, dear. He was just trying to do something nice for you."

"Since when is lying nice?" I snapped. 

"Honey, I'm sorry. Please don't let this spoil the rest of the trip."

I sighed. "I'll try."

"And don't say anything to Alex about it. I don't want you guys fighting while you're there."

"I have to say something, Mom. I have to let him know that he can't do things like this. It's not okay."

"Okay. Okay. But why don't you wait until you get home? Again, there's no need to spoil the trip."

"Okay," I sighed. 

"Promise me, Brook," my mon said sternly and I felt like I was in middle school again. 

"Yeah, Mom, I promise. Just as long as you promise no more conspiring against me with my boyfriend."

My mom laughed. "I highly doubt getting you to Hawaii is grounds to be categorized as conspiring against you."

I sighed again "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. I promise too," she grumbled, much like I had. 

"Good. Now I have to go. Alex will be back soon and we need to get ready for dinner."

"Bye Sweetheart. Have a good time."

"Bye, Mom. Love you," I said before disconnecting the call and tossing it on the giant bed in the middle of the room. 

I took a big, deep breath and steppes outside on the balcony and glanced over the view of the blue sky and the palm trees and the crystal clear blue ocean that seemed to go on forever.  Looking at the sight for a few minutes calmed me down enough that when I heard the hotel room door open, signaling Alex was back, I didn't immediately want to throw him off the balcony. 

"Brook?" I heard him call my name. 

"Hey," I replied, stepping back into the main bedroom area from the balcony. 

" Hi," he smiled immediately when he saw me and gave me a kiss. He really did make it so hard to even be secretly mad at him. "How was the beach with the girls?"

I smiled. "Pretty amazing."

He smiled, poking my nose lightly. " Your nose is all pink."

I laughed. "Yeah. That was the only inch of skin I didn't lather in sun block."

He smiled."I don't mind. I think it's cute."

I laughed again. " You think everything I do is cute."

He shrugged. "That," he kissed me quickly. "Is because everything you do is cute."

"Smooth," I rolled my eyes. "We have to get ready for dinner soon," I said, going back to the closet to figure out that to wear. 

"I'll go shower in a minute, but first, I have something for you," he said, digging in his pocket. 

Something inside of me snapped when he held up the small, silver palm tree charm."I walked passed the shop before and saw it in the window. I know you said you wanted it, so I picked it up for you."

"Why would you do that?" I asked, my fist clenching and unclenching at my side. 

He shrugged, kicking off his sneakers. "I knew you said you wanted it the other day.  And I saw it just now and thought about you and how I missed you all day and-"

"Alex, stop," I cut him off. "I'm paying you back for it."

"Don't bother," he waved me off, clearly not seeing my aggravation. "It was like fifteen bucks. No big deal."

My fists clenched tighter at my side. I'm surprised there wasn't steam spewing from my ears. "Exactly, Alex. It was only fifteen dollars. It wasn't a big deal. I could have gotten it myself."

Alex turned to me, his face twisting up confused when he realized how angry I really was. "Whoa. Relax, Brook," he said walking towards me. 

"No. I will not relax, Alex," I yelled, smacking him in the chest. 

He took a step back from me and his face changed from confused to annoyed. "What is this about? Really? Because you wouldn't really lose your shit over a stupid charm."

I felt something snap in me all over again. "This is about you lying to me!" Sorry, Mom, promise is broken.

Alex raised his eyebrow. "What did I lie about?"

"You had my mom use your money to buy my plane ticket here. She tried to pay you back and you refused. And you both let me believe my mom bought the ticket for me."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Do we really need to argue about this? I mean, come on, Brook. You're here. It's done. Just enjoy yourself."

"How can I enjoy myself when the only reason I'm here is because two of the most important people in my life lied to get me here?" I yelled. 

"Brook," Alex sighed frustrated, running his hand through his hair. "What do you want me to do?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I want you to apologize and admit that you were wrong."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry that I lied to you. And I'm sorry that you think I betrayed you, but I'm not sorry  that I did it. You needed to come here. You needed a break. You'd run yourself into the God damn ground if you didn't have me and Jenn and your mom reminding you to take a break. Why are you like that?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I said, staring daggers at him. I was determined not to crack. He wasn't going to win this fight. 

He sighed again. "So, what now? Are you going to be a bitch for the rest of the week that we're here? Or are you going to change your flight and go home early?"

I shrugged. "Is that what you want?"

"Hell no," he shook his head. "I want you to stay. I want you to accept it when I get you a gift or do something nice-"

"Why? Why do you always have to get me a gift or do something nice?" I challenged him. 

"Because I'm your boyfriend... I can't help it if I'm in a store somewhere and see something that makes me think of you."

I nodded slowly as it all started to make sense.  "I think I get it now. You think that if you buy me shiny, pretty things, it makes up for the time you're not around."

He shook his head. "That's not true. That's not-"

"Then why did you buy that charm, Alex? You heard me say myself that I was going to come back for it."

"I already told you. I saw it. I remembered you wanted. So I bought it. Are we going to fight about this for the rest of our fucking lives?"

"You just don't get it, do you?"

"No. I totally get it. You're so damn damaged from your breakup with Josh, that you're afraid to ever rely on someone again. You've got your "I'm so independent" flag raised so damn high, you refuse to accept when someone just wants to be nice."

"Go to Hell, Alex," I spat, shaking my head and pushing passed Alex to leave the room.

"So what? You're just going to leave?"

"I need to take a walk or something. I need to clear my head before I say something I regret," I said, my voice lowering considerably from the passed few minutes. 

"Brook, don't leave."

I shook my head, shoving my feet in my flip flops, ignoring him.

"Great. Make me feel like the bad guy," he groaned. "I'm sorry that you're my girlfriend and I love you and I like doing nice things for you."

I snapped my eyes back to him. "Geez, Alex. I love you, too. But that doesn't mean you have to keep buying things for me. It's almost like you think you have to buy my-"

Alex

"Brook!" I yelled to interrupt her most recent rant. She was clearly missing the part where we both just said I love you. 

"What?" she snapped. 

"Can you shut the fuck up for just one second, please?" I said, a playful smile on my face as I walked closer to her. 

"Are you kidding me right now?" she asked, snapping her hand back when I reached for it. 

"Do me a favor and think back about two minutes ago at what we just said..."

She stared at me for a second, her face twisted up confused. "We both said a lot of-" she paused mid-sentence and an embarrassed smile spread across her features as she must have figured it out. "Did you mean it?" she asked me, a hopeful look replacing the previous anger in her eyes. 

I smiled, reaching for her hand successfully this time. "Of course I meant it. Did you mean it?"

She thought for a second before a big smile  spread across her face. "Yeah. I mean it too."

I smiled even bigger, taking about two steps closer to her and wrapping my arms tight around her small body. Her arms snaked around my neck and when I lifted her off the ground a bit, she took the opportunity to wrap her legs around my waist before crushing her lips against mine. 

It was all I could do to not topple over when she tightened her arms around my neck just a bit and slipped her tongue passed my lips. 

"I love you, Brook," I mumbled into the kiss as I started to move over to the bed. 

"I love you, too," she said as I carefully laid her down on the bed, quickly crawling on top of her. 

I pressed my lips back to hers and she accepted them happily, her tongue slipping into my mouth almost instantly. 

"What are you doing?" I asked her, stupid, as she started to undo the button on my jeans and slide down the zipper. 

"Really?" was all she said before tugging my t-shirt over my head. 

"We're supposed to be getting ready for dinner," I reminded her and it seemed in one quick movement, Brook has switched our position and was now on top of me. 

She leaned down and pressed her lips firm to mine, tossing her spaghetti strap tank top somewhere in the room. "We'll be late."