I Think I Love You

That night, we slept in the same bed. We laid together, talking in the dark until we got tired and fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of running water. I figured Ez was getting a shower, so I grabbed my now fully charged phone and dialed daddy's number. He answered on the third ring with, "Hello?"

"Hey, daddy."

"Hey, honey."

"Guess where I am right now."

"California, hopefully. Unless you ran away." I laughed.

"No, daddy. I'm in New York. I get to see the ball drop in Times Square!"

"Really? Nikki, that's awesome."

"I know!" The water in the bathroom stopped running.

"So what do you have planned for today?"

"I don't know yet. I'm hoping we can go somewhere and get something to eat because I'm starving." Daddy laughed and the bathroom door opened. "I'm going to go, okay?"

"Okay, honey. I love you."

"I love you too, daddy." I hung up and asked, "Did you use all of the hot water?"

"No. There's still some left, don't worry," Ez said, smiling at me. I went over to my suitcase to grab some clothes to put on after my shower, and my shampoo, conditioner and body wash. I walked past him to the steamy bathroom and shut the door. I hopped in the shower, washing my hair and body. When I got out and dried off, I dressed. I opened the bathroom door and went to sit on the bed next to Ez, who was putting his shoes on. "I was thinking we could go to Jamba Juice for breakfast."

"That sounds awesome. Are we going to take Quellie?"

"I thought maybe we could go alone." I smiled and twirled my damp curls.

"Okay." He laughed.

"Alright, lets go." I stood and followed him over to Abby's room. He knocked and Quellie answered the door. "Hey, we're going to hit Jamba Juice. We'll be back later." She smiled at us.

"Take your time." I rolled my eyes.

Jamba Juice was only a few blocks away, so we walked. As we waited at a crosswalk, I slipped my hand into Ez's, interlacing our fingers. He smiled down at me and kissed the tip of my nose, making me giggle. It started snowing lightly, getting heavier the closer we got to Jamba Juice. When we finally arrived there, the snow had begun to cover the ground. We ordered a strawberry and blueberry fruit and yogurt parfait to split, then I got a lemon meringue tea. The tea was so good, but the yogurt was that much better.

After we left Jamba Juice, I begged Ez to take me to Sanrio. I wanted to get a stuffed animal, but it was so hard to choose just one. I gave Ez the puppy dog face and he said, "Fine. Get what you want." I grinned and hugged him tightly. I didn't want to burn up his credit card on Hello Kitty stuffed animals, so I narrowed my selection donw to three. One was Hello Kitty dressed as a blue and white panda, one was a Tokidoki Hello Kitty, and the third one was Hello Kitty holding a teddy bear. I decided on the first two. We left Sanrio and went back to the hotel. I had noticed when we first arrived that the hotel had a pool.

"Hey, Ez. Will you go down to the pool with me?"

"Absolutely."

"Thanks." I grabbed the only bikini I packed and went into the bathroom to change into it. I pulled my hair into a bun and slipped on my flip-flops. Ez was waiting on the bed in his black swim trunks with two towels. He smiled when he saw me. "I think it would be nice if we invited Quellie to come with us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay. Lets go get her." I grabbed my phone and we went across the hall. We knocked on their door and Abby answered.

"Hey, mom. Tell Quellie to get her bathing suit on, we're going down to the pool."

"Why don't you two come in?" Ez and I shared a glance and I shrugged.

"Okay." We walked into their room and sat down on one of the beds. Quellie was in the bathroom changing and I was uncomfortable with the way Stefan and Abby glared at us.

"So how did you guys sleep?" Abby asked.

"Good," Ez said.

"I'm ready!" Quellie came out of the bathroom wearing a bikini exactly like mine, except it was blue.

"Cool. We'll be back later," Ez told his parents.

"Alrighty." We left the room and when the door was shut, I hopped on Ez's back. He secured my legs and I laughed.

When we got down to the pool, I kicked off my flip-flops and lounged on one of the chairs. Quellie claimed the chair beside me and Ez jumped in the pool. "Come on in, Nikki! The water's really warm," Ez yelled out from the deep end. I said,

"Not a chance, buddy." He slowly got out of the water and came over to me. He stood over me, grinning like an idiot. "What are you doing?" I laughed.

"You're going to get in that pool." I sighed and stood up.

"Okay. But you'll have to catch me first!" I bolted past him and ran circles around the pool. He eventually caught up to me and picked me up. He spun me around, laughing, then jumped in the pool with me. When I came back up, Ez was watching me with a smile on his face. I pulled out my hair tie and put it on my wrist, then shook out my hair. I swam over to Ez and wrapped my arms around his neck. He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my head so he got my cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"You threw me in the pool, so you're grounded until further notice." He rolled his eyes and leaned in again. I pressed my index finger to his lips. "I'm serious."

"Damn." I laughed and kissed his cheek. He wasn't really grounded, but I wanted to save my kisses for a special occasion.