Sunday
Picture 2
Destiny Cullen’s Choice: both
Title:
“This is it. This is our first step into adventure, Cat.” I laughed, carrying our last suitcases to the trunk of the car.
“One small step for man…one giant leap for us girls.” Catherine made an over-dramatic step off the porch.
We were getting ready to go on our summer vacation together as official on-our-owns-without-parents. We refused to say “adults” in any way to describe us. Both of us just got out of a bad relationship with a couple of douche-bags so what better time to go on an adventure right?
“Don’t forget your cell phone!” I yelled, closing the trunk and heading for the driver’s seat.
“Oh shit I forgot!” She ran back in the house as I laughed.
This was going to be one crazy trip. I didn’t know how we were going to survive, but it would be fun.
“Okay let’s go!” She locked the door and ran for the car, squealing. “I can’t believe we’re doing this!”
I laughed, turning the radio on. “I can’t believe we didn’t do this sooner!”
We set out to the airport, hoping there wasn’t any traffic to slow us down. We didn’t want to miss our flight to England. No chance in hell of that happening. We actually lucked up and Cat knew a guy willing to take us in for the summer. His name was Dean and he owned a small house in the countryside.
“Dean sounds cute.” Cat said once we were on the plane headed to London.
I laughed. “Dean has only sent you letters as pen pals for a couple months. You haven’t even heard his voice.”
She rolled her eyes. “Nooo, not like sounds as in I’ve heard his voice cute, but sounds like in my head and what he’s written to me, he sounds cute.”
I nodded to her scientific defining of “sounds” and the different uses of the word. “So tell me again about him? I mean, what he’s told you.”
“You make him sound like he’s an old pervert making up lies to an innocent naïve 18 year old girl in America,” she accused.
“Reality check, babe. He probably is an old pervert making up lies to an innocent naïve 18 year old girl in America.”
She crossed her arms. “No. England doesn’t have pervs.”
“England sooo does! They’re just higher end pervs. Kinda like how America has low end perverts.”
Cat rolled her eyes. “Well, from what he’s told me, he lives with his brother in their house in the country just outside of London. He writes novels, but he’s yet to publish a single one. I’ve been trying to convince him to let me read one but he’s refused.”
“So, what if he turns out to be a creep? Do we find a hotel in London and hope he doesn’t kill us?” I laughed.
Cat hit me. “You got a problem with Dean?”
“Yeah I got a problem with a faceless person you don’t even know.”
“Let’s make a bet right here right now. If he turns out to be a creep, I’ll pay in full our next vacation.”
I smiled. “Deal.” I stuck my hand out.
“But if he turns out to be a decent guy like I say he is, then…” she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Then you have to kiss his brother no matter what!”
My mouth fell open in disgust. “What if he’s super old—“
“No. Matter. What.” She said slowly. “But you seem confident he’s a dirty old man so what do you have to worry about?”
I narrowed my eyes and stuck my hand out. “Deal.” We shook hands and crossed our arms, each looking the opposite direction, determined to be right.
“Thank you for flying with us. Welcome to England. God save the Queen.” The person said over the loudspeaker.
I giggled. “Do our airplanes say ‘God bless America’ when people fly there?”
Cat was bouncing. “I guess we’ll find out on the way home.”
We each grabbed our carry-ons and headed for the tunnel to get off the plane. So many people were in the terminal waiting to greet people. Dean had told Cat that there would be a car waiting for them in the parking lot for them to drive. He even sent her a map to the house, a pretty simple straight line once you were out of London. We found our bags and headed for the outside.
“Take a deep breath, June. What does that smell like to you?” Cat inhaled.
“Mmm British hotties,” I looked around at a couple of cute guys walking around.
“I love the smell of British hotties in the…” she checked her watch, “damn, early morning.”
I set my watch to the appropriate time and headed for the parking lot. We weren’t sure which car was ours until she saw a large sign in one of the windows. “FOR CATHERINE LANE AND JUNE STEEPLES.”
“I guess that’s us,” I laughed. “Check out the car! It’s so beautiful!”
We ran up to it and got in. “I’m driving,” Cat said, taking the key that Dean had sent with the map.
She went to grab the wheel, but it wasn’t there. I looked in front of me and saw it was on the right side of the vehicle. I busted up laughing. “Yeah you can drive. This’ll be fun.” We traded seats and got on the road.
“It’s a good thing I’m ambidextrous or we’d be screwed,” she said with focus as she weaved through the cars.
“We’re in London!” I screamed excitedly. “I can’t believe it!” I felt like the news just hit me for the first time.
We both laughed as we turned the radio on. Some of the music was the same stuff we heard back in America. “I love that Bruno Mars is well-known here.” We sang along as we drove out of London.
“Okay where to?” I asked Cat as I pulled out the map.
“Don’t bother to look at the map. I’ve memorized that thing so much I could drive this road blindfolded.” She closed her eyes and drove to prove a point.
“You don’t have to do that!” I panicked, grabbing the wheel.
“Oh relax, if we crash where will we go? In the grass?” Cat laughed, looking at the fields in front of us. There were rolling hills of green, it was so beautiful.
We drove down a long straight road seemingly leading to nowhere. I sighed getting slightly bored and tired from the jet lag. Finally we broke over a large hill and there in the distance was a huge castle. I use the term “huge castle” lightly, what I really mean is Cinderella would be jealous!
“Is Dean’s house behind that castle?” I asked, breathlessly.
Cat drove slowly as she looked out the windshield with her mouth open is shock. “Um…he failed to mention what his house looked like, but he said that his house was the only one you could see for miles…and I don’t see another house…”
“Maybe we should just stop and ask for directions. We probably took a wrong turn somewhere…on this straight road.”
We pulled up to the castle and walked up to the large front doors. Huge knockers were hanging on them so Cat and I each took one and banged it against the door. We heard it echo forever through the castle.
“There’s no way they didn’t hear that…” I mumbled after a long time of no response.
Finally we heard running inside and Cat and I smiled eagerly at each other. The door opened and a young man about our age stood there out of breath. He was so handsome and well-dressed with a charming smile and black hair that stood up.
“Catherine?” He asked in a sexy British accent, smiling wider.
Her mouth was wider than her eyes as she stared at him. I nudged her with my elbow and she swallowed. “Um, Dean?”
He nodded, laughing. “You are even more beautiful than I imagined.” He kissed her hand softly and smiled.
She blushed like crazy and I muffled my laughter. “Hi I’m—“
“June, correct?”
I couldn’t help the smile. “Correct.” I shook his hand.
He opened the door wider. “Please…come in.”
We both followed him in, flabbergasted at the size of the place. It was huge beyond belief.
“So um, where’s your brother?” Cat asked, giving me an evil grin of triumph.
I winced, suddenly realizing she won the bet we made on the plane. “It’s okay, he’s probably busy, Cat. We’ll meet him soon enough.” I gave her a pleading look behind Dean’s back, but she looked away unwavering.
Dean turned around with a smile. “Don’t be silly! He’s been waiting for your arrival. He was a little…skeptical on inviting two strangers to come visit, but I knew you weren’t one of those creepy rude Americans.” He blushed looking at Cat. “We even made a slight bet on it.”
“So wait…you guys made a bet, too?” I laughed.
He looked confused. “What do you mean “too”?”
Cat chuckled, but shook her head. “It’s nothing. But I want it made clear I was right and you were wrong.” She stuck her tongue out at me.
He laughed. “No, wait, what was the bet?”
Suddenly we heard a man running down the stairs. “Are they here?”
I looked up and saw a sexy man the same age as us. His hair was black like Dean’s, but it fell slightly in his face hiding his face. His accent was smooth like velvet and his dark eyes were filled with humor.
His eyes locked with mine and I blushed, looking back at Dean. His brother came down the stairs, slower and with more dignity. “Hello,” he smiled.
“Colin, I’d like you to meet June and Catherine.” Dean introduced us.
“Please, just call me Cat,” she shook his hand.
He looked at me with a smile, shaking my hand. “Are these the two Americans that will be staying with us?”
I smirked, “I sure hope so.”
Dean coughed and nudged Colin. “I do believe you owe me something for winning the bet.”
Colin looked slightly panicked that he mentioned it in front of us.
“Yes, June, I think you owe me something as well.”
I bit my lip and couldn’t stop the blushing. Colin rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed. “Now that I think about it, we never did shake on it so technically what kind of bet is it?”
Cat laughed. “Oooh, too bad for you, June, we shook on it.”
I glared at her. “Don’t be cruel, Cat.”
“The cruelest,” she winked.
I looked back at Colin. “Um, we kind of made a bet that…if you guys turned out not to be creepy old guys…I’d have to kiss Dean’s brother…” I was mumbling hoping no one really heard me.
Dean busted up laughing. “Funny, that’s the same bet we made, isn’t that right, Colin?” He elbowed him playfully.
Colin punched him in the arm and glared, but his eyes showed his true feelings as he looked back at me. “This is rather awkward for me, but a bet’s a bet right?” He tried to reason with me.
I laughed briefly. “And British people have a thing for honoring their bets right?”
He chuckled. “That’s right, we do and I’d never go back on my word.”
I smiled, already knowing this was going to be one great summer. All those Disney fairy tales can suck it, because I’d just found my real life Prince Charming. Dean held his arm out for Cat and she took it shyly as he led her through the castle to show her around, leaving Colin and I alone to settle a bet.
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