Ch.10

My first year of school in LA finally ended with me getting to know the Dunphys better. Though once summer started, Gloria was booking a trip to Hawaii for Jay, Manny, Jay's family, and herself. She invited my Mom and our family to come too, as the two are now as close as sisters constantly talking. With Gloria or my Mom at the other one's house for a few hours each day just to hang out with one another. My Mom was very close to giving birth, but she still had another month so much to my Dad's worry, we still decided to go to Hawaii.

The morning came with my family packing up and heading to the airport. Alex and I already knew we'd be going to Hawaii together, so Alex and I made plans on what to do down there. As we were waiting for our flight to begin boarding, we all heard the ruckus of all of Jay's extended family appearing.

"Gloria?! What the hell is going on?!" Jay says to Gloria quietly enough for the others to not hear as they are making their way over now. As Alex and I share an awkward look as she realizes I am going to Hawaii with them now too apparently.

"I thought we'd invite everyone else. Cause we invited the Hunters, I figured we'd invite the others too," Gloria says as Jay looks ready to kill her.

"I invited everyone since they are good friends and your family, while the kids could play with each other," Gloria says explaining her reasons for inviting everyone on the vacation.

"Gloria… Do you think, I am made of money?... Hey, everyone glad you could make it!" Jay says to Gloria getting upset but then turns to his family happily greeting them as Gloria is trying not to show her annoyance at Jay's annoyed mood.

"Hey Gabe! Are you excited?" Alex says to me greeting me as everyone else is talking as we are waiting for the plane to begin boarding.

"Yeah, never been to Hawaii. Though I've heard nothing but good things about it," I say to her as she nods her head while showing me all the things she wants to do or see.

Once they all arrive, it turns out that it was a very hard time for them to get to the airport, as each had different issues. Though it doesn't matter as the plane began its boarding, with everyone getting on. As my parents helped pay for first-class tickets for everyone since my parents have much more money than they let on. As both make more than a million a year alone, together they are very rich. Plus my Uncle still gives my Mom dividends every quarter since she has some stock in the family business.

As we arrived, the bus dropped us all off at the hotel we'd be staying at for the next two weeks. Originally we all were only staying for one week, but my parents paid for everyone to stay two weeks, however, Jay and Gloria would be staying fifteen days to have some alone time. I had a suite to myself, though it was conjoined with my parents' suite, but I still had the place to myself.

Once everyone was done settling in, we all decided to go to the beach right outside the hotel. We got to the beach mid-day thanks to the flight, plus everyone was slightly jet-lagged. So most people decided to relax once we reached the beach.

I could see Haley suntanning while not so subtly looking at the other teenage boys or young men walking the beach. Luke was trying to build a sandcastle with Phil trying to help him. Manny was drinking some lemonade while reading under his umbrella. With my Mom, Gloria, and Claire all suntanning with Haley. Cam and Mitchell were taking hundreds of photos of Lily doing nothing while on the beach. My Dad and Jay are snoring while under the umbrella with Manny. As Alex, and I were swimming in the ocean.

"I'm surprised you didn't stay on the beach looking at all the boys walking around like Haley," I say to Alex who just rolls her eyes at me, as I tease her.

"I can say the same thing to you!" Alex says snapping back at me.

"What? I don't like boys, you think I'm gay?" I say to Alex giving her a surprised look and making her blush shaking her head embarrassed, as I tease her more.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Alex says annoyed with me.

"I don't know what you mean, plus I'll have you know I already like someone…" I say to Alex accidentally telling her I have a crush on someone.

Both our brains seem to short circuit as I accidentally gave that information out. My teenage hormones have been messing with my brain lately. While my childish emotions and feelings rule me now mostly, my adult experiences and memories always contradict them. I feel conflicted as recently I started to view Alex with a romantic interest, even though originally I never had those intentions.

My past life seems to tell me not to trust anyone like that again, while my new life is telling me to go for it. As the emotions are conflicting inside me, Alex finally breaks my inner turmoil by asking me a question.

"Who…Who do you like?..." Alex says while looking at me with a curious and nervous face as her face becomes very red.

"Uh… I… Uh… Never mind," I say to Alex as I begin to panic, not wanting to ruin our friendship by confessing my feelings that apparently have begun surfacing.

After heading my statement, Alex seems let down and sad. With that, I can tell like me she has the same feeling for me. With panic rising inside me and looking over to see no one paying attention. My irrational teenage brain, took control of my instincts as I quickly moved in and gave Alex a small quick kiss. This shocked her to the core, as my face probably became beat red from embarrassment. We both just stared at one another for a few seconds in total shock.

'I fucked up,' I think to myself as I began panicking on the inside.

"Alex… I… I'm sorry I shouldn–" I begin to say to her.

"You kissed me! Why did you kiss me?!" Alex says her face becomes very red too now.

"I… Uhm… Well… It's because I like you obviously. I just didn't want to admit it, but you looked so sad when I didn't tell you who I liked. Then… I thought maybe you liked me like that too," I say to Alex practically speaking a thousand words a second.

"You like me?..." Alex says taking only that part out of what I said.

"Yes…" I say to her confused while her face somehow becomes even more red.

"I like you too… Wait!! Did anyone see us kiss!" Alex says admitting she likes me too as I have a shocked face too hearing her. Though she turns around to see that no one was paying attention to us.

"What do we do now?" I say to her once she realizes no one saw us. Then she lets out a relieved sigh.

"What do you mean?" Alex says confused as I try to think what I mean.

"Like… I don't know, but are we still friends or… what?" I say to Alex as my teenage brain is short-circuiting.

"Yeah, we are still friends! Though uhm… maybe we just don't talk about the kiss for now," Alex says as I nod my head. Though we awkwardly return to the beach where we each begin reading books not looking at one another.

After spending a day at the beach, with everyone going in the ocean a few hours after relaxing we all headed back to the hotel. Then we all met again to eat at the fancy restaurant near the hotel. Once dinner was over and we all headed back to the hotel exhausted we all fell asleep very quickly.

Over the next few days, we all had a good time doing our own things. Though together we all went on a hiking trip through the reserved nearby. We also swam with the dolphins together and did a bit of scuba diving. During this time Alex and I didn't say anything about the kiss we shared, while still being slightly awkward around one another.

"Gabe, can we talk?" Alex says to me one morning after we all have breakfast and everyone discusses what we should do today.

"Sure," I say as we walk a bit away from everyone. Alex makes sure no one is eavesdropping on our conversation before beginning.

"So… uh, I Haley saw us kiss. But she didn't say anything. She did tell me that if I like you and you like me… then maybe we could be boyfriend and girlfriend?" Alex says to me as her face becomes red from embarrassment. I look over to see Haley smirking at us.

"I'd like that… though do we tell anyone else?" I say to Alex as my hormones immediately agreed to Alex's question.

"NO! I mean not right now," Alex says almost loud enough for the others to look over at us, while I nod my head.

The last few days of our vacation were not as awkward as the beginning. With Alex and I subtly holding hands once in a while. The last day we were all there together was Jay's birthday, which was celebrated at the same fancy restaurant we went to on our first day here. However, Jay was missing for dinner, causing Phil and my Dad to go searching for him.

My Dad and Phil came back with Jay who apparently threw his back out while lying in a hammock. Haley arrived back too, slightly hungover which she was not hiding all that well. The dinner was fun overall and the whole experience was not something I thought I would ever have. The more I experience and do with my family and friends has brought more and more happiness to me as time goes on. My past life kept making me not take anything for granted.

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AN: I want to be clear, I won't be doing lemons in the future or anything like that. Plus I know Gabe has his past life's memories, but his new life has taken control of his emotions for the most part. His hormones and emotions make him slightly irrational at times when it comes to romance. The beginning of their relationship will be very corny and 'kid' like, only progressing as they age due to more mature feelings and thoughts coming to the surface.