Waking up to the sunshine lifted my
spirits. Henry and I were supposed to be
hitting the beach today to hang out, so
people can see how 'in love' we are. Yes,
that means we have to act like we're in
love, which means things like physical
contact. Also, the paparazzi would most
likely be there, and we were to ignore
them and pretend we're in love.
Obviously, it had been Steve's idea.
Ew, just ew.
I grabbed fresh clothes to wear and my
bright yellow towel and headed to the
bathroom. Even if we were going to the
beach, I still liked my morning showers.
Heading out of my room, I reached the
bathroom two doors down and quickly
turned on the shower and got in. I was
definitely not using the large, square
marble bathtub sitting in the middle of
the room. It was just so … fancy. The
shower would do.
The shower was nice and warm, just
how I liked it, even if it was a hot day. I
have no idea what I would do without
hot water. As the water trickled down
my face, I closed my eyes and sang the
chorus of 1234 BY Plain White T's.
"There's only one thing … to do … three
words … for youuu …"
"I love youuu …"
"There's only one way … to say … those
three words … that's what I'll do …"
"I love youu …"
Then I froze. Why were the 'I love you'
bits deeper than my own voice …?
Opening my eyes, I turned to find a
smirking Henry checking me out. He was
leaning against the doorway. I screamed
like hell and desperately attempted to
cover my body while doing so.
"AHHH! GET OUT! GET OUT NOW! HOW
DARE YOU!"
"Not my fault," Henry said. "You left the
door unlocked."
"I DON'T CARE! GET OUT! I PROMISE YOU
IF YOU DON'T I'LL KICK YOU DOWN
THERE!"
Henry hesitated, making me scream
again. Finally, he bounded out of the
room, scared I would fulfil my promise.
Once he was gone, I groaned and
fanned the blush from my cheeks. No
one had ever seen me without clothes,
except my parents when I was a baby.
Great, my enemy had seen me naked. Oh,
he was going to torture me.
Once I finished my shower, I headed
downstairs in my black and white polka
dot bikini with a tank top and board
shorts over, the ones which reached
halfway down your thigh.
As I entered the kitchen, Henry's tan
cheeks turned a faint pink. Noticing this,
I raised my eyebrow. Did Henry Parker
just blush?! He was the most confident
guy in the world and he blushed?!
"You're blushing because it's hot, right?"
I said, just to tease him. I knew he
wasn't pink from the temperature.
"Yeah," Henry replied quietly. "Umm, I'm
going to take a shower too. Make me
breakfast, pancake."
I rolled my eyes and opened the fridge
to look for something to eat as Henry
sprinted upstairs. Then, I remembered
something. Last night, I had thought of
ways to get my revenge on Henry and I
had come up with two ideas … so far.
I had poured water into half of a bowl
and placed it in the freezer to freeze.
Now I was supposed to pour milk and
cereal over the water and make it look
like a normal breakfast. Grinning
ecstatically, I grabbed the bowl from the
fridge and poured milk and Crunchy Nut.
I put one bowl for me as well and
started eating mine. When Henry finally
came downstairs for breakfast, I
laughed inside.
Oh, this was going to be good.
"There's your breakfast," I said, nodding
to his bowl.
Henry nodded and sat down next to me.
He stared down at his bowl, and then
took it to the sink.
"What are you doing?" I asked,
panicking. Had he noticed something?
Henry shook his head at me. "I'm allergic
to nuts, you pancake."
He was? Since when?!
"No, no, you should eat it," I tried
desperately.
"And make my awesome face swell?
Nice try, pancake."
I watched, horrified, as Henry poured his
milk and Crunchy Nut down the sink.
Then, he started laughing hard, until he
nearly choked. "Oh god! Was this your
way of getting revenge on me?!"
Henry motioned to the frozen water in
the bowl while I turned away. Dammit,
why?!
"You are too funny, Lainie," Henry said,
still laughing. "C'mon, I want to get
going."
I was about to complain because I
wanted to finish my breakfast but then I
realised to wanted to see my plan B in
action. I giggled and followed him out of
the mansion.
"Tell me pancake, why do you look so
happy?"
"Nothing," I replied innocently. "What's
wrong with being happy?"
Henry just shrugged. As we reached the
garage, I immediately walked over to
silver his McLaren F1. It was a bit of
trouble, but last night while Henry was
sleeping, I had managed to shove
oranges in his exhaust pipe. I couldn't
wait to see the look on his face when he
finds out oranges are in his baby's
exhaust pipe.
"As much as we both love my McLaren,
we're using the Ferrari today."
I turned to him, panicking again. No
way! No way was I letting this prank
slip!
"But don't you want girls swarming
around you and gushing about your
awesome car?" I queried. Please let him
say yes and get in the McLaren! I prayed.
Henry shook his head. "No way am I
parking my McLaren in the car park at
the beach."
"But I want to go in the McLaren!" I
spluttered.
"No, now get in before I make you,"
Henry ordered.
I stomped my foot. Yes, I actually did.
Why wasn't luck on my side today? First,
him being allergic to nuts and now him
wanting to drive his Ferrari!
I grumbled and hopped into the
passenger seat of the stupid red Ferrari.
*
* *
"Oh my god, it's Henry Parker!"
I could hear squeals and whispers of the
girls on the beach everywhere. I could
also see the death glares I was getting
from his biggest girl fans.
"What is he doing with that trashy girl?"
"She's probably just his cousin, don't
worry!"
Whispers surrounded me as I walked
barefoot down the sand of Venice
Beach. It was then that I felt a strong
arm wind around my waist. Who could it
be other than Henry?
"HEY!" I yelled, attempting to remove his
arm.
"You idiot, we're supposed to be acting
here, remember?" Henry whispered in
my ear.
Oh.
I had forgotten about that. So I let Henry
have his disgusting arm around my
waist until we got to the water. Henry
stripped off his shirt and left it on the
hot sand, leaving me there gawking. His
smooth, tan chest glowed under the
sunlight and his taut muscles pretty
much left all the girls on the beach
swooning. My eyes moved further down
and my mouth popped open. I was
right. He had a six-pack.
"Am I handsome or what?" Henry said,
grinning.
I snapped out of my phase and looked
up to find him smirking.
"I guess little pancake does check me
out after all." Henry's grin became wider.
"I do not! I was just … thinking about
something," I lied. I hope my cheeks
weren't pink.
"While your eyes were on my six pack,"
Henry retorted.
I stuck my tongue at him, not knowing
what to do, making him laugh. We raced
into the water together and I won,
which meant he was supposed to give
me a piggyback. Well, I said he owed me
ten bucks, but Henry said to do
something 'cute' for the witnesses on
the beach. Even though I didn't want to,
I managed to sit on his shoulders. When
he stood up, I squealed.
I felt so tall! I accidentally said that out
loud making Henry laugh again. He ran
clumsily through the water making me
shriek, "Stop!" If I fell, I was going to
murder him.
I could see people taking pictures of us
and steam coming out of girls' ears. I
smirked at them and felt like making
them even more jealous. Just for fun. So
I hopped of his shoulders and hugged
him … for a long time.
"Is this part of the act or did you want
to do this?" Henry whispered huskily in
my ear.
I rolled my eyes. "I just want to make
those girls over there even madder."
Henry frowned and looked out towards
the sand where the teenage Barbie dolls
were sunbaking, watching us angrily.
"I can think of way to make them kill
you," Henry said.
"Like what?"
"Like this."
And with that, Henry Parker covered my
mouth with his.