Arranged Marriage

Chapter 4

I woke up to the bed shaking. "Hello?" I opened my eyes and noted Hayes jumping on the bed. "Wake up, princess!" I rolled over and groaned. "Let me sleep." Hayes shook the bed again. "No can do princess, we leave for the airport in half an hour." I shot up out of bed. "Half an hour?!" After getting dressed in an oversized sweater and leggings with Nike sneakers, I put my hair up in a bun and quickly did my makeup. I grabbed some clothes and squished them in an huge suitcase. Then I filled a backpack with all my necessities, like my phone, headphones, earbuds, and laptop. Then I hurried and got in the car with Hayes.

When we got to the airport and went through security, we walked to the gate. There, a bunch of boys all stood up and yelled. "Hayes, bro!" I shrank back a little bit, remembering last time I was with them. After Hayes bro hugged everyone, they all sat down again. There was nowhere to sit so I just sat on the floor. When our flight was called, we all filed into the plane's interior. I was surprised and kind of nervous because I wasn't sitting next to Hayes. I was sitting between Nate and the one kid named Daniel.

As the plane took off, I put my earbuds in and started listening to some music. "Hey, Olivia, right?" I looked to my left at Daniel. "Yea." I stared ahead at the back of the seat in front of me. "What song are you listening to?" I tilted my phone screen to show him that I was listening to What about Angels by Birdy. "Oh my gosh, I love that song!" I offered him one of my earbuds. We listened to the song together, and when it finished, I turned the music off.

"Daniel, how old are you?" Daniel smiled. "I'm 16. Kenny's one of my old family friends so that's why I'm in this group. How about you?" I replied. "I'm 16 too." Daniel squinted in confusion. "But Hayes is 18. And aren't you getting married?" I shrugged. "I guess. I mean I'm not really sure." I started to put my earbuds back in, but Daniel stopped me.  "Hey, I think we'd make a pretty good team. The two youngest in the group, you know?" I nodded. "That sounds good." He held out his hand for a high five and I obliged. Then I put my earbuds back in and started my music back up again.

When the plane landed, I woke up with a start. "Hey, Lil O, wake up." Daniel offered his hand to help me up. I stretched and yawned. "Hey, who put my bag up here?" I jumped up, struggling to get my suitcase out of the overhead bin. "Here, I got it." Daniel easily got the bag down and wheeled it to the front of the plane. "Here you go." I gave him a hug. "Thanks, D-dog." He shook his head playfully. "You're such a child." I giggled.

Hayes came over and tapped me on the shoulder. "Come on, we're getting in the car now." He scowled at Daniel. "D-Dog, here, can I have your number?" We switched phones and exchanged numbers. Then Hayes grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the car. When we got in the car, there wasn't enough seats for everyone, so Hayes pulled me onto his lap. "Um, Hayes? This is really unsafe." Hayes rolled his eyes, and then shoved me off his lap. "Fine, I'll go rent another car then." He stalked out of the car, and disappeared in the distance. I rubbed my shoulder where I had bumped it into the door, and then took the seat next to Daniel.

"Why?" I groaned. "What did I do?" Daniel half-smiled. "I'd say he was jealous." I rolled my eyes. "Well he needs to understand that I can have other guy friends besides him, because I'm not his." Daniel laughed. "Preach, girl!" As soon as we pulled into the hotel in Miami, I got out of the car, lugging my suitcase and my backpack. Everybody else got out of the cars and Hayes walked past me completely ignoring me. Ugh not again.

I caught up to Daniel and tapped him on the shoulder. "D-dog? I gotta question." He turned and nodded. "So Hayes is supposed to marry me for his career, and you keep talking about being in a group, but what do you guys actually do?" He chuckled. "We're models." I nodded. "That makes sense, but, on a completely unrelated note, can I have your autograph?" Daniel pretended to turn away. "Nope, I'm too cool for you." I laughed and punched him lightly. "That's not what you thought when we were on the plane." He laughed too.

Then he noticed I was struggling with my luggage. "Hey I got this." I gave him puppy dog eyes. "Please, let me do this. I need to be independent." Then I burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding, here you go, D-dog." He grabbed my suitcase and we got in the elevator. When the doors opened, Daniel had his arm around my shoulder and I was looking up at him laughing. Hayes was waiting with his arms crossed, and a glare on his face. "Oh, hey." My voice trailed off as Hayes grabbed my arm, and wrenched me away from Daniel. "Stay away from my girl!" Hayes screamed at Daniel, pulling him out of the elevator and punching him. I gasped. "Stop!" Hayes ignored me, and continued fighting. I grabbed Hayes' hand as he reared back to take another swing, but he backhanded me, sending me spinning into the hotel hallway wall.

I stood up, staggering a little bit, but continued trying to stop the fight. "Please stop!" I begged, now pulling Daniel off of Hayes. I was shaken off, and the fight persisted. Finally I had enough. I pushed into the middle of the fight. "Just stop already!" Suddenly a fist connected with the side of my head, and I went crashing to the ground. Faces wavered above me and a voice called, "Stay with us, Olivia!" I struggled to get up, finally succeeding, weaving down the hallway like a drunk. "Olivia, where are you going?" Hayes called frantically. I turned around slowly. "Away from you." I slurred and promptly face planted against the plush hotel carpet.