Chapter Fifteen- Beauty And The Bad Boy
"Ally!" Nate cried out crushing me in his arms. "I thought you were kicked off the trip?"
"I was...let go I can't breath!" I heaved. He chuckled and let me down. The rest of the gang gave me hugs and if my ribs weren't in pain, I would have hugged them back.
They all bombarded me with questions of how I got here. Of course they didn't need to ask further when they spotted Laine and Mason behind me all smiles. Well Laine was beaming from ear to ear when he caught sight of Brie. Mason on the other hand looked tired, but managed a small smile when he glanced at me.
I tried with all my might not to melt. As crazy as it may sound, I was actually enjoying him more and more. Sure Mason was still annoying. For example the way I woke up this morning was by him splashing cold water on me.
I spent a good fifteen minutes chasing him.
"Enough questions, we have a whole week of Disney world!" I cried out happily. I jumped up and down and wasn't the least bit embarrassed. Even though there was a huge possibility that I looked like a mental five year old.
The girls quickly whisked me away with plans of meeting the guys later that evening. They pushed me into a small boutique as they all went shopping. Typical- we find ourselves in the greatest amusement park in the world and all they want to do is shop.
What a bunch of girl- Ooh I wonder if they have that dress in my size?
"Spill Craine, you spent the last twenty four hours on the road with Mason Reynolds. The hugest man whore JFK has ever seen since your dad." Gaby gushed.
"My dad was not a man whore!" I retorted cringing at the very thought.
"Please." She drawled, "Have you seen your dad? He's so hot, it's no wonder he dated all our moms."
"What?" This was news to me. "My daddy did not date all of your moms!"
"Yes he did." Brie stated, "Off topic though. You and Mason, how was it?"
"Nothing happened." I lied.
"How could nothing happen? That boy is one fine piece of work." Collins sighed dreamily.
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I raised an eyebrow glaring at all the girls, "Don't you all have boyfriends?"
"It doesn't hurt to look." Gaby pointed out.
"Why do you think happened? Laine was with us the whole time and Mason and I are just friends. That's it."
"No one can be 'just friends' with Mason Reynolds. He's a bad boy with your family secrets, and he's stuck to you like a herpe. That boy is anything but your friend." Brie stated flipping through sundresses.
"He wanted to define what we had." I admitted. The girls collectively gasped and dropped everything to rush over to me.
"DETAILS!" they all screeched.
"We kissed and then he told me he was confused-" I began but Collins cut me off.
"Like gay confused?"
"No." I chuckled imagining Mason's face if he heard this, "He said that he didn't know what to label me. Whether I'm a friend or something more." I absentmindedly twirled my hair as I thought about his piercing grey eyes last night.
"So what did you say?" Gaby urged me to go on. I looked around and the girls all had their eyes wide with anticipation.
"Well..." I trailed off before Gaby punched me to get on with it, "I told him not to label me, because it was useless." I muttered.
"You what!" Collins screamed before I could tell her to quiet down.
"Calm down." I mumbled feeling the casting glares of my friends, "I'm going away after high school you guys know that. I can't be in a relationship with a guy if I'm leaving, that's just not fair. And we're talking about man whore Mason, he shouldn't care about losing one. He's not the committal type." I argued.
"But Al you don't see what we see." Brie smiled warmly.
"And what exactly do you see?" I challenged. Mason and I were friends at best, I don't see him getting serious about a relationship.
"I see a guy who's crazy for you. I know that secret he's keeping is killing him. I know that he wouldn't want to hurt you. You're changing that boy."
"He really likes you Ally, you're his exception. Don't be an idiot and let him slip away." Gaby added scolding me.
"Mason is head over heels for you. Don't let whatever's holding you back stop you from seeing the truth." Collins chirped.
"You guys didn't me all this crap when I told you about Grayson." I pointed out. When I had told them I turned down Grayson the most they did was pout and go on about 'another one bites the dust' crap.
With Mason however, they seemed genuinely upset. I would have thought they would be relieved. Bad boy Mason won't string along good girl Allyson. The same guy who holds my parents biggest secret. The guy who put my aquarium in risk of shutting down and who up until last month was the pain in my backside.
"That's because Grayson wasn't such a big loss. He is back with Moseley and you just avoided a love triangle." Brie shrugged.
"All we're saying is that you should give Mason a chance. He's proven himself worthy this past month." Collins said.
"And what makes you say that?" I huffed; I see this argument going in their favor and not mine.
"Ally you talked about him non stop. You were all giddy about going to detention. Even Laine said you two were inseparable." Brie said her smile widening.
"Fine I'll think about this whole 'label' thing again." I relented.
If Mason was serious about us, then I was willing to give it a chance. I can't deny what the girls were saying. Mason's attitude has changed a lot since I've met him. He's not the same jerk I met a few months ago.
He was kinder, and more thoughtful. Still a pain, but a bearable one. And I have to say he's attended school more often, and I haven't seen him with a girl since homecoming. He was changing for the better, what's the harm of giving us a chance?
***
"I can't believe he kissed you." Nate grumbled like a five year old.
"You're the one who came up with the freebies." Collins argued.
"I didn't think you'd ever actually meet a cartoon character!" He shot back.
In case you're confused, Collins just made out with Prince Eric from the Little mermaid. It was freaking gold! We were walking through the park with the guys when we spotted Ariel and Prince Eric.
Collins literally ripped herself out of Nate's arms to go to them. Nate was super confused up until he realized it was the prince. He groaned and muttered something along the lines of, 'I should have never made that freebies rule'.
After some talking, Collins and Prince Eric were lip locking. Ariel didn't look that bit disappointed as she kept batting her 99-cent eyelashes at Mason. I wanted to rip her fake red dyed locks and drag her back into the ocean.
But Mason seeing how pissed I was, did the most amazing thing. He grabbed my hand and held it, before kissing my red cheeks. "Don't worry you're the only princess for me." He whispered in my ear.
Cue the gasp. The bad boy was turning into some kind of charmer.
Anyway, now Collins and Nate were fighting because of the kiss. Collins says she had all the right due to the freebie Nate instilled. But Nate says it's cheating because he never thought they'd ever meet Megan Fox and Prince Eric.
"Let's go see the fireworks." Mason whispered in my ear. The Florida sun was slowly sinking and every night they had the fireworks show. I was jumping up and down with excitement. I loved fireworks.
We didn't even bother telling the others. They were too immersed in the Collin and Nate showdown. I grabbed Mason's arm and ran off both of us laughing like maniacs.
We were walking by Cinderella's castle when I caught a glimpse of my Aunt. Okay so now I should probably tell you I kind of told a white lie. I told my parents I was going to spend the holiday week with my grandparents a half our outside of Clear Bay.
Grandma and Gramps are totally cool with my plan though. They said they'd cover for me because they like to stick it to the man. Did I forget to mention my dad's parents are hippies? Pretty cool actually.
But that's beside the point right now. I lied to them and now I'm across the freaking country. My aunt is less than ten feet away and if she finds me, she'll rip my throat out.
I pushed Mason into a building I hadn't really noticed until now. I saw a couple Disney Characters file into there. Without a second thought I ran into their with Mason in tow.
"What the hell Ally?" Mason yelled before I slapped my hand over his mouth to quiet him down.
"Aunt Chrissy's out there!" I hissed. Mason was fully aware of what I told my parents, and he knew if she saw us we'd both be dead.
"Hold on let me think, I'll get us out of this." He said his eyes darting around a locker room we were in. What, does he think a plan is suddenly going to walk through those doors?
As if the gods were playing with me, the door swung open. A small pudgy guy who looked like he could play one of the seven dwarfs came stomping in. A clipboard and headsets on he looked pissed then pointed at Mason and I.
"Get your costumes on and get our there!" Grumpy growled.
"What-"
"Of course man." Mason cut me off, "Uh what costumes exactly?"
"The beauty and Beast set?" He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Right." Mason breathed as the guy stormed off.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" I screeched when Mason pulled out the big puffy yellow dress and the matching prince tux.
"We're playing every little girls fantasy." He grinned mischievously.
I groaned and pulled the dress on as he pulled the tux on. I grabbed the wig that we were supposed to have on and walked out with Mason in tow.
"Relax and act chirpy, princess." He commanded as I nodded.
We walked only five minutes before my aunt Chrissy came into view. She was about to turn to us, when Brie came running up to distract her. Her and Gaby were waving their hands around excitingly and directing her away from us.
Brie turned quickly around and spotted Mason and I, then gave us a subtle wink. I rolled my eyes and mouthed, 'thank you' before she ran off. It was great having a best friend like her.
"What's the plan now?" I muttered under my breath.
"We play the role of Beauty and the Beast. All we have to do is walk around together, hold hands, dance if they ask us too and sign autographs....oh and they have to pay us for pictures." He added happily.
"I'm beginning to think you wanted to play dress up for the cash." I rolled my eyes.
"Why else would I want to dress up, I prefer dressing down." He winked at me. I was conflicted, whether I should sigh in admiration, or gag in disgust.
As I was about to slap his shoulder a little girl came running with us, dragging her exhausted parents behind her. "Mommy look it's Bell!" she cried out happily.
Without warning she attacked me with a hug that nearly toppled me over, "Big smiled princess this is your moment." Mason muttered under his breath.
"Hi, and what's your name?" I asked my tone sickly sweet.
"Annalisa Jones." She gasped, "I love your dress it's really pretty."
"Thank you Annalisa, I love you're t-shirt it's so lovely." I giggled.
"Could I take a photo of you two?" Her father asked, Mason coughed loudly and put his hands out.
"That's tweny bucks dude." He said; I glared at Mason.
"Of course." The man mumbled fishing out a twenty and handed it to a happy Mason.
They took our pictures and hung around for a little while longer. That's when the little girl said that we should kiss like we did in the movie. Mason was literally jumping on the balls of his feet.
"You heard her princess, pucker up!" He smirked, the girls parents looked excited too. Me? Not so much.
"Uh...are you sure Annalisa? Wouldn't you rather see us dance?" I asked practically pleading this five-year-old girl.
"Nope." She said popping the 'p' in any other scenario I would have thought that was cute. But now I see it was painstakingly annoying.
I sighed and turned to Mason, who had an evil like smirk. I pressed my lips against his and it was completely innocent. It lasted five seconds before he pulled away and smiled at the family.
"We have to get going. Make sure to catch the fireworks show." Mason informed them before whisking me away.
"Thanks." I muttered, "That was completely awkward."
"Don't mention it, " He said pulling me closer so that I was comfortably walking in his arms, "I knew I couldn't kiss you innocently without wanting to go deeper. And I doubt the Brady Bunch would like to see me grope Bell." He whispered in my ear sending shivers down my spine.
"Mommy look it's Beauty and Beast!" Another little girl squealed.
"More like Beauty and the Bad Boy." I muttered under my breath as Mason chuckled.
***
"This is beautiful." I whispered as the fireworks show started. I was still in the Bell costume but we managed to watch the show.
"Glad you enjoyed it princess." Mason whispered back pecking me on the cheek. I didn't even bother hiding the blush that crept up.
"Would you two stop yapping and watch the show with the rest of us." Nate snapped. He was still upset over the whole Collins thing.
Apparently after we left, things went from bad to worse. Now they're both ignoring on another. Mason glared at Nate but soon went back to me.
"Nate stop acting like a jerk!" Collins said finally acknowledging him. "You're just mad because Mason's being romantic which is something you'll never be capable of."
"I would be more romantic if you wouldn't go around kissing guys!" He shot back.
"And this just became instantly unbearable." I mumbled referring to bickering couple who were ruining the fireworks.
"Both of you cut it out. The rest of us are trying to enjoy this." Brie stepped in pulling Collins to the side, as Laine did the same with Nate.
Gaby and Brett didn't seem to care much about anything. They were currently in an epic lip lock that I wish Mason and I were in. Yeah I'm not denying the fact that Mason in a prince outfit is hot.
"Would you care to dance?" Mason asked extending his hand as a song played over the park speakers.
"I would love to." I giggled as he did a bow before taking me in his arms and whisking me around.
He held a perfect stance as we waltzed in the crowd. Everyone stepped back and watched in awe. I didn't know why, we were just two kids dancing. But then it dawned on me that it was because we were two Disney characters.
"Whoo Beast get you some!" Brett yelled before he was gut punched by a giggling Gaby.
"I have idiot friends." I rolled my eyes but the smile on my face wouldn't go away. Ah who am I kidding, I have the best friends.
"You looked beautiful today Ally." Mason muttered his steel grey eyes shifting to a warmer shade.
"About labels....I really like to see what we-"
"Those two! They're the one's who stole our costumes!" A woman screeched to a pair of security guards.
Mason and I both looked at them advancing towards us. Without a second though we both ran. We both laughed like maniacs as we ran across the park in a grand escape.
I realized I didn't tell Mason that I wanted to give us a try. I guess that'll have to wait until later...but right now we have bigger problems.
"You go beauty and the bad boy!" I heard Brie yell out as the rest of my friends chuckled running in our direction.
Then we were off running from Disney security guards. Just Beauty and the Bad Boy- hand in hand. I could get used to this.