I said yes.

Well, more like I took his hand, against all my better judgment. Next thing I know I'm being dragged through the Denver airport. I don't know why I took his hand. Under normal circumstances, I would never have. I was not the type of person who gallivants off with a stranger they met on a plane. But for some reason, I decided to say yes.

Maybe it was because I had nothing better to do. Maybe it was because I'd finished my book and I needed a distraction. Maybe it was because when he smiled at me two dimples appeared on each of his cheeks and it made me want to swoon. Maybe it was because he was a big, burly jock but he blushed and got all shy and it was sort of the cutest thing I'd ever seen. Maybe it was because when he'd squeezed my hand a warm pulse had traveled up my arm and for a moment I'd been calm. Maybe it was because when he grazed my thigh a thousand sparks had crackled to life along my skin, and I'd wanted it back when he took it away.

His hands were just so big. They dwarfed mine. He dwarfed me. Usually guys like that scared me. Tall and broad shouldered and muscly. I always felt silly standing next to them, always went for guys who were lankier, smaller. Not as intimidating. But— Jake didn't scare me.

Regardless, I was currently sitting cross legged on the grungy airport floor, and surprisingly enough, not thinking about all the germs that could attack my immune system at any given moment. Across from me was Jake, very busy shoveling mountains of food in his mouth. I had never seen a person inhale so much at once.

And to think, I was worried we'd have too much food. We were surrounded by a myriad of meals. Ramen, pizza slices, fries, orange slices, and a pile of stuff we'd swiped from the vending machine.

Jake swallowed a mouthful of noodles, pointing his chopsticks at me, "So, what are you, Sophia? Beth, Amy, Meg, or Jo?"

I thought about it for a moment, "Well, I wish I was a Jo. But, I'm a Meg."

"Really?"

"You surprised?" I asked, confused. I thought it was obvious. And for a guy who notices everything, I would've assumed he'd think I was a Meg too.

"I would've said you were Jo."

I nearly choked on my French fry, "Are you serious? Jo's are supposed to be adventurous. Spontaneous daredevils. That is definitely not me."

"You're eating dinner with a stranger," he pointed out. "That's adventurous."

"Trust me," I said, "this is not normal behavior." Abby was a Jo. She always had been. "I am very ordinary."

Jake's eyes met mine, "I don't think you're ordinary at all, Sophia Randall."

I'd noticed that he liked to do that. Call me by my full name. He ended most of his sentences with Sophia. It was odd, I wasn't used to being called Sophia. Every time he said my name, my stomach did a somersault. I didn't know why. I chalked it up to all the grease I'd just consumed. That was it, yes, I was just nauseous. These weren't butterflies. Not a chance.

He was awfully attractive.

Also, no guy had ever asked me what March sister I was. Hell, no guy I'd met had ever known what Little Women was, let alone what characters they were most like.

My phone buzzed, and I glanced at it. There were like twenty messages from Reagan, and one missed call from Tommy. Nothing from Abby. As I'd expected, she had been absolutely fine with me spending the night in an unfamiliar place. She had no qualms whatsoever. That was Abby. Nothing bothered her. I wished I could be that way. More free spirited.

I should probably answer Reagan though.

Reagan: what happened with the cute guy on the plane??

Reagan: when do you land?

Reagan: are you ignoring me

Reagan: soph

Reagan: sophhhhhhhh

Reagan: SOPHIAAAAAA

Reagan: bro i'm boreddddd w/o u

Reagan: tommy is no help he keep going on and on about how much he misses u

Reagan: bleh

Reagan: like bro it's been less than 24 hours

Reagan: I MISS YOU SOPH

Reagan: COME BACK

Reagan: soph you've been MIA for like eight hours

Reagan: dude i need an update

Reagan: are you dead

Reagan: do u have any idea how annoying tommy will b if ur dead

Reagan: SOPHIIIIIIAAA

Sophia: hi

I got a a text back almost instantly. I was surprised, it was the middle of the night in Massachusetts

Reagan: "hi"

Reagan: "hi" she says

Reagan: BITCH WHERE WERE YOU

Sophia: why are you up rn?

Reagan: no no i ask the questions here missy

Reagan: WTF HAPPENED TO YOU?!

"Texting your boyfriend?" Jake questioned, seemingly nonchalant.

I rolled my eyes. Typical. I knew what he was really asking. Well, I wasn't going to fall for it. He thought he was being so slick. Although, I had to admit, it gave me a tingly feeling in my fingertips that he cared whether or not I had a boyfriend. I did not want to dwell on what that meant.

"Nope," I shook my head, "just my best friend."

He squinted, lips pursing, "I see."

I batted my eyelashes innocently, cocking my head, "Was that not the answer you were looking for?"

"No— I mean, yes. It was— I—" Jake cleared his throat loudly.

"You could just ask me if I have a boyfriend, you know."

Jake grinned, like he wasn't expecting I'd say that. He seemed to enjoy when I surprised him. And I liked being surprising. It was a nice change of pace.

"Alright," he agreed, leaning back on his elbows, "do you have a boyfriend, Sophia?"

I couldn't resist toying with him a little bit. "And why is it you want to know?"

"Sophia!" Jake groaned, simultaneously exasperated and entertained. And for the some reason, the sound of it made my toes curl. I giggled, more than a little pleased with myself.

"Smile," I told him, snapping a picture of him with my phone to send to Reagan. There was no way she would believe me otherwise.

He flashed me a heart stopping set of pearly whites, dimples at full force. "That for my contact photo?"

"You didn't give me your number."

"Are you asking for it?" Jake leaned closer to me, and I caught a whiff of his cologne. All of a sudden I felt the urge to bury my face in his shirt. I was so distracted by this startling revelation that I didn't realize he was peering at my phone screen.

"Cute guy on the plane?"

Crap. Quickly, I slammed my phone face down on the carpet. But the damage had already been done.

"Now who could that be?" Jake tapped his chin, pretending like he was clueless.

"Beats me" I replied. I was going to kill Reagan.

"Your best friend thinks I'm cute!" he crowed triumphantly. "Now where on earth would she have gotten that idea?"

I scowled at him, "I said nothing of the sort."

He ignored me, as I suspected he would. "Sophia Randall do you think I'm cute?"

Yes. I thought to myself privately. I think you're very very cute. And also hot. Very hot. Which is why I'm confused you're still choosing to talk to me. And I think you're even cuter when you're making fun of me, which is slightly concerning. I didn't say any of that, though.

"Boarding begins now for Flight 564 to Hawaii." That was the connecting flight they'd put us on.

Jake leaped to his feet, clucking his tongue, "Saved by the bell, Sophia."

He extended his hand to help me up. Normally, I wouldn't take it. I didn't want to give him any ideas. And I didn't need any help up. I was perfectly capable of standing up all on my own. I'd been doing it successfully for seventeen years, after all.

But— I found myself wanting to take it.

The plane ride flew by this time around, no pun intended. Jake and I talked the entire flight. The conversation just came naturally, there were no awkward pauses or points where I drifted off. We'd fallen into a comfortable rhythm with one another, despite having just met.

In fact, I was almost sad when we hit the ground. And tired. So very tired.

I yawned loudly, wheeling my suitcase off the plane. I was glad I hadn't checked any bags. It meant I didn't have to wait around at the baggage claim for eons. I hoped Abby was already here. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Jake was close behind me, and I heard him mutter, "Damn it."

I turned around, "What's the matter?"

"It's— it's nothing," he scratched his head, "my hotel fell through."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the company I'm working for was putting me up at a hotel but because of our flight delay, they gave my reservation away. The whole hotel's booked up." He sighed heavily, rubbing his jaw. The bags under his eyes matched mine.

"Wait— you're here for a job? Where are you working?" I realized he hadn't told me yet. I wondered if they could make arrangements for him to stay somewhere else. What if he had to stay at the airport until he could find something else? I know it wasn't my problem, but— I liked fixing things. I was good at it.

"Uh, this touristy place," Jake answered, "I can't quite remember what it's called. Kona— something? Valley—?"

My jaw dropped open. It couldn't be. It couldn't be. That was too big of a coincidence. "Kona Valley Excursions?"

He nodded, "Yeah! That's it!"

"No way."

"What?"

I refused to believe it. I absolutely refused to believe it. "No fucking way."

"What?" he asked again, bewildered.

"Are you kidding?"

"I'm not kidding," Jake gave me a strange look. "What is it?"

"That's why I'm here," I explained, "my sister got the job for me."

A smile slowly spread across Jake's face, "No way."

"Right!"

He chuckled, "You know that means you're stuck with me the whole summer?" Stuck with wasn't quite the terminology I'd use. Why was he so excited? And why was I excited that he was so excited? Maybe the job wouldn't be so bad now. To be honest, I'd been really dreading it. Anything with the word excursion in it had the tendency to send me into a tailspin. Abby thought it would, "get me out of my comfort zone."

Well I liked my comfort zone. It was comfortable. And it didn't involved hiking on 200 ft + cliffs. My comfort zone was safe.

"Looks like it."

"I don't know what I'm going to do about this hotel thing though."

"Why don't you come stay at my sister's place?" Oh my god. Had I really just asked that? Who was I? This was not something Sophia did. Sophia did not invite random, attractive boys she'd just met to come stay over at her house. This was something Abby would do. Had Abby invaded my body? What was happening to me? My sanity? Dumb, dumb, dumb. You are dumb, dumb, dumb, Soph.

Jake looked taken aback. I think I might've freaked him out a little. Way to go, Randall. Nice one. "Are you serious?"

I'd surprised myself, "Yeah, actually, I think I am." I swallowed, there was turning back at this point. I'd made my bed, and now I had to lie in it. To hell with the consequences of my actions. Although somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I'd pay dearly for that statement later. "My sister won't mind, and she's got a pull out couch. Just you know, until you can figure out the hotel situation."

"Are you inviting me to spend the night, Sophia?" He smirked, "Now who's forward?"

I opened my mouth to fire back with an equally snarky comment, praying that my face wasn't beet red.

"Excuse me," a little girl in pigtails tugged on my arm, interrupting. "I— I don't know where my mommy went."

I was at a loss. The poor thing. "Oh sweetie," I looked around aimlessly, "where did you last see her?"

"She went to the bathroom," she sniffled, "and she told me to wait right outside, but then I saw my suitcase on the spinny thing so I went to go get it, But then I couldn't reach it." Her bottom lip trembled, "And now I don't know where she is."

Jake squatted down so he was at her eye level. His voice was the softest I'd ever heard it. "What's your name?"

"Lucy," she blubbered, twisting the hem of her dress.

"Hi, Lucy," Jake smiled, holding out his hand. "I'm Jake."

"Hi Jake."

"How old are you Lucy?"

"Five," she answered, holding up her fingers, "and a half."

"Are you sure? I could've sworn you were sixteen."

Lucy giggled, "No I'm five!"

"Alright Lucy, why don't you tell me which one your bag is and I'll get it for you. Then we'll help you find your mom. How does that sound?"

The little girl wiped her tears, pointing to a sparkly miniature suitcase rotting around on the carousel, "It's that one."

"The yellow one?"

She nodded, "Uh huh. It's my favorite color"

"Yeah, yellow's a good one."

I watched in wide eyed amazement as Jake calmly led Lucy over to her bag, talking to her the whole time. Her mom had been looking for her, so we found her in no time at all. The woman looked like she could kiss Jake when he walked Lucy over. I mean— I was about ready to do the same. Of course he was good with kids. Of course he was. Life was unfair.

"You have a little sister," I said, when we finally walked out of the airport. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

His eyes widened in astonishment, "How did you—?"

I bumped him with my shoulder, smug, "You're not the only one who can make observations, Sherlock." I don't think Jake was used to being the one observed. And I liked that I'd surprised him. I had a feeling it wasn't easy to do that.

Jake broke into a gigantic grin, beaming with glee.

"What?" I questioned, wondering why he had reacted in such a way.

"You gave me a nickname," he sang, practically giddy.

Oh my god. I had. I had given him a nickname. I hadn't even meant to. "I guess I did."

"You know what that means, Sophia Randall?"

I did. I did know what that meant. It meant that I was very stupid. And I was probably going to get progressively stupider.

"That means we're friends."