A HALF HOUR later, the three of us have showered, changed, deodorized, and are finally ready to go.
“Wait, let me do your makeup again!” Jesse says.
What? “You already did my makeup,” I say.
“I know, but you washed it off.”
Jesse glances at the clock. “Please? Just a little. I want you to try it out in public.”
“Yeah, Mel,” Vicks says. “You definitely should.”
Why are they being so weird? “Okay, sure. If you really want to. Thanks.”
I kinda liked the makeup. I still felt like me…just more defined. Less invisible. My eyes were more blue, my smile shinier.
Maybe Nikki doesn’t have to be the only pretty one.
Jesse does a quickie application, and then we finally leave the room and take the elevator down to the atrium.
And I see him.
Marco.
Sitting on the lobby couch. The same smooth skin, black hair, brown eyes. A new rumpled and untucked black T-shirt, clean jeans. He’s looking around the marble and gold lobby with a slightly baffled expression on his face.
I feel sick.
Happy.
Confused. Embarrassed.
Fluttery. I don’t know what to do with my hands. “What is he doing here?” I ask. I notice Jesse and Vicks are nudging each other and grinning.
“He came to bring back your phone,” Jesse says.
Vicks slaps her arm. “Don’t tell her that, she’ll believe you. He came to see you.”
“But how did he know—”
“Jesse called him.”
Jesse smiles at me. I don’t know what to say. I want to turn around and go back to the room and hide under the covers. Then Marco spots us. Spots me. His face breaks into a huge smile.
He came to see me.
He likes me. Marco likes me. Me.
They called Marco. For me.
I straighten my shoulders. “Um…could you guys maybe give us a minute?” I say.
“Take your time,” Jesse says. “We’ll go get a glass of water. There’s a pirate restaurant somewhere around here….”
“Yeah, no, that’s not going to happen,” Vicks says. “We’ll go to the gift shop. We can browse the gum.”
I can barely hear them anymore because all I can hear is a rush, rush, rush in my head. Marco. Marco.
Marco.
“Hello there, Marco Exceptional,” I say, trying to sound calm and sitting down beside him on the couch. Inside, I’m all twisty again. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
He smiles. “I would have been here earlier but I had to wait till the hurricane was over. You’re not really supposed to drive through those, you know.” He bumps me with his shoulder, on purpose. “But yeah, I’m here.”
“How come?”
He whispers, “That’s classified information.”
“It is, eh?” He’s here. Even though I made a total fool of myself—he’s here. How is that possible? “How did you get here? Is that classified too?”
“No, that’s public,” he says, smiling. “I took Robbie’s car. He felt bad about what he said to Jesse, so I guilted him into loaning it to me.”
“What did he say?”
“You don’t want to know. He can be a really ugly drunk.”
I take a deep breath. “Yeah. Me too.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Melanie Fine.”
“What?”
“You might get drunk, but you could never be ugly.”
I smile. “Well, I’m sorry I had too many wine coolers and slobbered all over you.”
He laughs. “You didn’t slobber.”
“Drooled, then.”
“Well, I’m sorry about not…” His cheeks turn red. “I just…I didn’t want you to freak out this morning. Regret anything.”
“I know,” I say. “You were being a gentleman.” I look up at him. “I heard about what happened with Vicks.”
He twitches. “I figured. Nothing happened, though.”
“I know. She told me.”
He nods. “Good.”
I look at my nails. I don’t know what to say.
“See, hooking up with Vicks would have been something I’d remember the next morning and regret,” Marco says.
“Yeah?”
“Yes.” He leans over and whispers in my ear, his breath warm. “I would have regretted ruining my chances with you.”
I catch my breath. And then I turn my face to his—and kiss him.
His lips are soft, and he tastes sugary, like Certs. The sweetness goes right to my head, and the room is swirling and I’m smiling, we’re both smiling and kissing and then kissing some more.
I nuzzle my head into his neck. “So,” I say.
“So.”
“What happens now?”
“You meet my parents?”
I giggle. “Very funny.”
He laughs and then traces his finger up my arm, giving me the shivers. “I’m always getting ahead of myself.”
“Really?”
“You still have a lot to learn about me, Marriott Mel. So where to?”
I kiss him once more. Then I stand up and pull him to his feet. “Ever been to Epcot?”