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As soon as the strangers approached us, I woke up. I realized it was just a dream. I deeply sighed and looked at the time. It was 9 am. It hit me: we were going to be late if we didn't get up right now. I woke Liv up; she was grumpy, so I went to take a shower first. I came out; Liv was drinking coffee. After me, she went to take a shower while I rechecked if we had everything or not. She came out of the shower; she said she would head home since her back was at her place and she needed to recheck everything. I got a call from Lexi after Liv left.
"Hey, hope you packed my stuff," she said.
"Woah, no asking your sister how she is or wishing good morning either. What a douche. Anyway, I did pack whatever you mentioned. Now you can come over if you please to add check everything."
"Okay, then I will come over," she said and hung up. After a while, she came and checked everything. She wanted to say that I had forgotten something, but then she didn't. We were going to be late if we didn't leave right now. We took everything. I locked everything in the house, including the fridge. I was paranoid about the stalker. Since Olivia and Lia's house is also just down the block from ours, we four decided to go together, except Olivia's mom was driving us. We stopped at the gas station opposite Jollibee, so we had our breakfast at Jollibee. By 'we,' I mean me and Liv. They had no idea that Liv stayed with me. Liv told them that she stayed at her classmate's place for a project and she left before they woke up, and they believed her. I mean, Lexi never paid attention in class for projects and stuff, so she was like maybe they gave a project, and I told them that I woke up late and had no time for breakfast. After buying takeouts, we left. (We didn't have enough time to sit and eat, so we ate in the car.) We reached the airport in an hour. We still had one hour for the flight, so we sat in the lounge.
"Hey, where are James and Jeremy?" I asked.
"Oh, they are running late. Besides, Jeremy stayed with James yesterday because he was confident he wouldn't wake up on time and get up late, so he stayed with James. I still don't get that James lives closest to the airport, yet he is running so late," said Amelia without looking up from her phone.
"Oh, I see. Does anyone want coffee? I'm going to buy for me," I said, and everyone raised their hands.
"Okay, I need someone to come with me. Also, text me your orders," I said.
"Oh, I will come with you," said Liv, and we both went to the coffee shop at the airport. I checked messages, and Lexi, Amelia, and Lia had texted their orders.
"Hi, I would like to have an iced caramel macchiato, one iced matcha latte, one americano, and one frappe. Liv, what do you want?" I asked.
"Oh, I will have one Salted Caramel Cream Cold Brew," she said.
"So you will have one iced caramel macchiato, one iced matcha latte, one americano, one frappe, and one salted caramel cream cold brew, is that right?" asked the cashier.
"Yep, and please make it to go."
"Alright, ma'am, here is the coupon," the cashier said and gave us the coupon. We stepped aside so other people could order. We didn't have much to talk about, so we stood by the side quietly waiting for our drinks. I was dying to talk to her but didn't have anything to talk about. I saw a slim yet muscular guy walking towards us. For a moment, I thought he wanted to order, but he came to us instead.
"Hi, umm... you are Alex, right? Alex Carter, the influencer?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, I am Alex," I said and gave him a soft smile. He was handsome, but if I was not madly in love with someone else, I would be crushing on him.
"Mind if I ask for a picture?" he asked. Sometimes I forget that I am a very famous influencer and that there are people who know me.
"Um, yeah, sure," I replied, and he came for a quick selfie and left.
"Oh, someone's famous," teased Liv.
"Oh, come on, I am not that famous," I said, and Liv showed me an Instagram page.
"You said you are not famous, but you are with 490k followers. You think you are not famous?" she asked.
"I know, it's just I don't like to exaggerate," I said.
"I get it. I was just kidding."
"Your order is done," said the other lady, and she handed out our drinks.
"Wait, are you Alex Carter? I am a huge fan. Can I get a picture?" she asked. I smiled at her and said,
"Yeah, sure," and we clicked another selfie. After getting so many photos clicked, I finally got to go to my friends with their drinks.
"Here you go, Amelia, Lia, and Lexi," I said as I handed each one their drinks.
"What took you so long? Was there a line?" asked Amelia. Before I could reply, Liv spoke.
"Nope, not a line. Just Miss Alex here is super famous, so there was a bunch of people asking for photographs." She wore a proud smile while telling that to my friends. I just giggled.
"Sometimes I forget that you are a famous influencer, lol," said Lia, and we just laughed. I saw Jeremy and James coming through the gate. I waved at them, and they walked towards us.
"Oh, JJ's, I thought you guys would miss the flight," said Amelia sarcastically.
"Oh, come on, it's on him because last night he—ahem—he made me play games with him until 4 in the morning," said Jeremy.
"Till 4?? What the hell is wrong with you guys?" said Lia.
"N-nothing," said James. I could see both of them turning red, but I didn't know why.
"Attention everyone, flight for Malibu departs in ten minutes," we heard the announcement for our flight, and we left.
The flight was about 4 hours. Since we lived in Las Vegas, my seat was beside Lia and a very sweet old lady, she even offeredme her homemade apple pie. Jeremy and Liv had the seat empty beside them since the person canceled last moment. Amelia and James had a seat beside a very sleepy passenger who slept for the entire ride. Lexi had the worst seat of all; she was seated beside a Karen and a lady with an annoying infant. The child kept crying the entire time, and Karen kept yelling at everyone and everything. After our flight ended, Lexi was very eager to go to the hotel since that child and Karen messed up her head. Since James's father works here in Malibu and is the hotel manager, we got a nice discount and a VIP lounge. They had a car come to pick us up; it was a Mercedes limousine with a great compartment for storage. Most of our luggage fit in the car trunk; only a bag was left which we took with us since the car was spacious enough for all of us. From the airport, it was a 1-hour drive to the hotel. The hotel is highly rated and is a luxury hotel. We were all grateful to James's father for getting us the VIP lounge.
"Hey, Dad!" James went to hug his father when he saw him. His father hugged him back.
"Hey, son, we have a problem."
"We had a delayed booking, and now we have only 4 rooms, so you and your friends have to adjust."
"But, Dad—"
"I'm sorry, son. The computer had some errors. I can give you a normal suite too if you want?" his dad asked.
"No, Dad, that's fine. We will share," said James.
"Yeah, we will share. By the way, thanks so much, Mr. Crawford," said Lia. We all thanked him and went to decide who would sleep in which room. We made cheats and picked one. We had James and Jeremy share a room, Lia and Amelia, me and Liv, and Lexi had a room all by herself. We let her have it since she had the worst flight. Besides, there was nothing wrong with sleeping with friends, in my opinion. I love to have company.
Under the shimmering lights of the hotel's grand lobby, a mysterious envelope caught my eye as it slid discreetly under our room door. Its elegant appearance gave no clues to its sender, just a single word embossed in intricate script: "Tonight."
I glanced at Liv, exchanging curious glances filled with intrigue and a hint of apprehension. What could this mean? My mind raced with possibilities as the night deepened over Malibu, casting shadows that seemed to whisper secrets waiting to unfold.