[LoyalSamy]

Part 29:

When they walked outside, Claire and the other’s saw a big black van waiting for them. Claire glanced at Criss who, had now, pulled down his sunglasses over his eyes. As the van pulled closer, they all saw that it was all tinted windows- mostly for Criss’s sake. The van was a Chevrolet Tahoe, like black, like ninety percent of the ones you see on the highway. Claire was amazed that all ten of them would fit in there. “Do we have assigned seating?” Claire joked. “No.” Criss giggled. All the girls then shouted where they wanted to sit- Claire heard Xesca yell “shot gun!” “I don’t think so sweetheart.” Claire remarked and smiled. Xecas still proceeded to, while Criss and Alana watched her as Travis held the door for the rest of the girls. “ Hi Xecsa.” Derek said lightly and turned to look at her. “Hey Derek.” She said. This was too funny. Claire got her camera and snapped a pic. “You know your sitting in Criss’s seat?” he asked. “Okay, lets go!” ignoring his comment. “c’mon, get back there.” Derek said, smacking her gently on the arm. Everyone laughed. “I had to.” She told Criss before climbing into the back seat. “That’s okay.” Criss got in and Alana sat behind him. As the van pulled away, Claire asked “Alana, could you take a photo of the three of us?” “Oh sure.” She handed the camera to her. Before Alana could take the picture – Xesca chimed in. “You mean the 5 of us?” As Xesca and Arianna leaned in for the photo to. “Okay, the five of us.”
The scenery was incredible from what they saw from the road. Cabo was mostly made up of rock formations that were separated from each other like spaces between teeth. Very much like Brazil- the mountains that were inland from the beach inhabited people’s houses on different levels. Some were smaller or bigger. Cabo is a peninsula, so no matter where you looked- the ocean was right there.
Criss now turned around. “ So girls, remind me where your all from?” Zoe started .When he got to Claire he asked “Oh, where in NY?” “Larchmont?” pause. “It’s about an hour north of Long Island.” “Oh, ok.” Criss was intrigued about Xesca and Leann’s life in Wisconsin and Kentucky. “Two states I’ve never been to.” “Me either.” Claire said.

It was only a 10 minute ride into Plaza Mijeres. It was so different from where they were staying. Now they would get to see more of the people who lived here, there expressions, how they talked. Claire was interested to see how everyone would take seeing Criss here if they didn’t know already. As they pulled into the center of the Plaza, in the middle was a huge round fountain, with small bushes surrounding it. The water was an amazing aquamarine. Derek drove around the fountain and dropped them off in front of a while gazebo and church behind it. “First things first.” Criss started, as it was obvious that they all wanted to look around. “Eliza and I are responsible for you, so it’s really important that we stick together. I’ll need you to split into two groups of three, so that way in case we do get separated, you’ll have someone with you.” “Everyone got a cell phone?” They all nodded. “So where shall we go first?” Criss asked. “Let’s take a group photo by the fountain.” Zoë suggested. They all liked that idea.
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Part 30:
When they were by the fountain, none of the girls knew where stand for the photo that Alana would take. All of them wanted to stand next to Criss, but obviously that wasnt going to happen. They decided that since everyone was taller than Claire, they could stand, but now Claire didnt know where to be. Everyone was ready for the photo until Claire had an idea to stand on the base of the fountain behind everyone. " smile" Eliza said. Claire couldnt believe how close she was to Criss's face. " Lets tweet this to" Criss told Alana handing her his blackberry. Claire smiled again, and thought to herself eat your heart out haters.

As they started to walk into the center of the plaza, Claire could start to hear the native music. As much as she wanted to talk to Criss, she didn’t want to come across as obsessive, or square. She found herself walking along Alana, when she decided to ask her questions. “So, when did you start working for Criss?” At first she thought it wasn’t the best first question, but Alana didn’t seem to mind. “Two years.” She smiled. “ And how did you get the job?” Claire asked. “ Well it wasn’t working out so well with Criss’s last assistant, and I was at the end of my term with my last client..” It was amazing how Alana always used proper vocabulary and didn’t just blurt out the last person she worked for. She was professional. “So, I was highly recommended to Criss, and when I found out, he was interested I was pretty excited because I was also, she whispered, a loyal.” “And she’s been terrific.” Criss suddenly said without even turning around. It was weird how he was listening the whole time.“ So how long do you think we’ll be here for?” Kate asked. “ Well as long as all of you are having a good time, and its not too hot out.” It was so nice to see Criss concerned about everyone’s well being. As they got closer to the crowd, the girls could see that some people were looking at Criss, possibly starting to recognize him. Claire was a bit nervous that some crazy person would try and hurt Criss. They weren’t in the US anymore. Claire was glad Travis was with them. Watching him do his job made Claire feel better. The area they were now in was just like a marketplace, vendors of people selling things on both sides, and people walking around with food in there hands, and you could hear people speaking Spanish to one another. It was nice that today it wasn’t too crowded. “ Hey Criss, remember that time when we were at LAX for your 40th birthday?” “Ohhh yeah” Criss remembered. “Yeah, I was so nervous; I was tugging at your shirt sleeve.” “ LAX was so crowded that night!” Criss told the girls. “Well that’s what happens when you celebrate in a public place.” Zoe said.
After a few minutes, a few people started to recognize that it was Criss. A couple of people walked past, and yelled out “I love you Criss!” some in Spanish, and some in English. Criss always acknowledged them. The girls and Criss would stop by a venue to comment on what they liked. At one point they came to a venue in which a lady was selling jewelry, but besides the everyday necklaces and rings, she also hand made bracelets that looked just like friendship bracelets: Each with a different color, and a different symbol on the front. The woman selling them didn’t speak English, so Alana talked to her. “ She says she made these because she knew that people are drawn to different symbols regarding what they feel or want to feel.” It was interesting to Claire that the woman had only made 8 different kinds. Just enough for everyone, except for Derek. “ I really like that idea.” Criss commented still looking at them. Criss now had an idea. “ I want each of you to take a bracelet you like.” Everyone seemed a little confused, but listened to Criss. Claire chose the one that was all grey with a yellow lighting bolt on it. To her it signified strength. Alana has chosen one which was a dark purple and had a light pink circle with a X on the end. “ The female sign”. Rhiannon chose an all yellow one with a brown horse. When they each had there bracelets, they looked at Criss thinking maybe he was going to do some kind of trick. Criss recognized this expression. He laughed. “ Oh no.. there to keep. I’m gonna get them for all of you.” At the same time the girls all tried to tell Criss that wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. “Gracias” He told the woman as he was giving her the money. She was now smiling, feeling glad she had made a sale, but not knowing she just sold them to one of the biggest acts in Vegas. As they all walked away, Claire decided to wear hers at that moment. “As long as we all have our bracelets, we will remember this day of this trip.” “Which one did you get?” Claire asked him. He showed it to them, which was already tied on his left wrist. It was all black with a red heart in the middle. “Because I’m filled with love, and have been blessed with it.” He said smiling. As they continued walking, Kate showed Claire hers which was white, with two green palm trees.
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Part 31:

“ Hey do you hear that?” Arianna now asked, as the group was still walking around. Claire was in awe of how Travis didn’t drop his demeanor. Always looking tough, and eyes peeled for anything coming at Criss. “Yeah, I heard that music when we came in.” Claire replied.“ Oh, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” Arianna said. “ It’s nice, I wonder where its coming from?” Alana now asked. “ Lets go find it.” Criss said.
It was a few minutes later when they came to an open area where they saw people gathered around looking at a band in front of them. “Ah ha.” Criss said. “ Do you all want to check it out for a few minutes?” The girls nodded. The band had stopped playing a soft ballad and now began to play a song Claire thought she knew. As they got closer she did know it. “ Oh, this song is so fun!” Some of the girls started to look at her when she started to sing along in Spanish. After a few minutes Claire started to shimmy her shoulders and sway her head as her straight brown moved with her. She looked at them. “ This song is from the Gyspy Kings!” she asked them surprised. Criss and Alana laughed. “ Sounds like a cool song” Xesca replied. Claire ignored them, and kept dancing and singing. Criss was impressed how she knew the words and every beat. When the song was over, the band played another song which of course Claire also knew. She laughed. “ We have this album at home.” She told them. When she looked at the band, she noticed the lead singer looking out at the crowd and smiling. She could see she wasn’t the only one who knew this music. Then Alana’s phone rang. She answered. Criss was standing next her watching her talk to whoever was on the phone. A few of the girls decided to sit. “ Hello?” Alana asked. “ Oh hi.” “ Yes?” There was a pause. “ Oh, okay?” Alana then responding obviously not sure of what they were talking about. “ Alright, thanks.” She hung up. “What was that?” “Oh, JD wanted to tell you that you got a fax from Sara.” She kept her voice quiet incase it was something personal. “ Oh, yeah. Okay.” Criss said, and his voice changed. “ Shall we continue?” Claire and the girls followed Criss. Claire decided to text her mom. Hey mom. I know I haven’t called. All is well here. We’ve been out this afternoon. =) Having a good time! Tell dad and Shadow I said hi. Criss then saw something he wanted to show the girls. Claire hung back to finish her text. Alana waked next to her. “ Hey, I just wanted to tell you I didn’t get a chance to say thank you for keeping the surprise from the girls at dinner.” “ Oh, of course. No problem.” Claire smiled. “ Now, lets go see what Criss is doing with that flower.” Alana said.

~~~ Later that afternoon~~~

The afternoon was nice, but the girls were interested to get back to the hotel, and Xesca wanted to get to bed early. It was nice to see Derek again. “ How is everyone?” He asked as they got back into the car. As Derek started to pull out of the parking lot, Criss decided to turn on the radio. “ Let’s see what they listen to down here.” Alana was going to tell him of how you can find a mix of music from Spanish to anything they listen to in the US, but she let Criss explore. “ As long as they don’t play Forget You.” Arianna said somewhat disgusted. “Or Going Down” Xesca said. “ Too bad we just make a CD of our favorite songs.” Claire said jokingly. “ No, this is fun.” Criss said still flipping through the stations which didn’t seem to bother Derek at all. “ I actually want to hear something we don’t get to hear in US.” Rhiannon was hoping he wouldn’t find anything Justin Bieber. Soon Criss found something he liked. Alana and Claire recognized it as Regional Mexicano music. Is this okay?” Criss asked everyone. “Sure.” They all muttered. Criss turned it up a bit.
It was about four o’clock when they got back to the hotel. Everyone seemed to be really hungry since they had a big breakfast and nothing for lunch. Claire was tired from all the walking, so she didn’t mind too much about taking the elevator. They couldn’t all squeeze into the elevator, so Travis went with Alana and four of the girls. When the doors closed Claire realized that she would be taking the next one with Criss. She smiled slightly. “ I know you don’t enjoy this, so I hung back.” Criss said to Claire in the midst of the quietness as they waited. This time she was going with Arianna, Rhiannon, Zoe and LeAnn. LeAnn standing next to her nudged her, and Claire looked at her and smiled showing her teeth. When the elevator doors opened, Claire took a deep breath. She didn’t understand what she was so nervous about. She just flew all the way to Mexico. That was so much bigger than this. Claire and Criss went in first and then the girls followed standing in front. When the doors closed, Claire grabbed for the railing inside. She looked over to see Criss’s hand reaching for hers. Could this be happening? Claire took Criss’s hand and lightly squeezed it as she started to feel the elevator go up. She closed her eyes and felt herself relax. When the doors stopped, she noticed how Criss hadn’t let go until now. As they got off to head to their rooms, Criss told them “ hey, tell the others we’ll be eating at six.” “okay” they said. A part of Claire wanted to tell the others what happened, but then realized she didn’t want to spoil it. Her little secret. Would he do it again?

5:20 pm

“What are you gonna wear?” Kate asked Claire as they were getting dressed for dinner. “ I think I’m gonna pull out my red skirt.” Claire said as she was ruffling through her clothes to find it. “You think I can wear jeans?” Kate asked as they both turned around at the same time to show each other.“Wow, that’s so pretty!” Kate said dropping her jeans on the bed to look at Claire’s skirt. “Yeah, I got it in a store where I live.” “It’s really nice, and its got that whole Spanish theme going on.” Claire chuckled. “You mean like Flamenco?” “ Yeah, that.” Kate said pretending to know what Claire was talking about. Claire then turned back around to pull out a black tank top to accompany it. She looked back at Kate. “ I guess you can wear jeans?” I just don’t want to look like an idiot and be the only one.” Even if Kate did wear jeans, it was okay. They were a dark blue with no holes. “ Did you happen to bring a skirt?” “Oh no, I don’t look good in skirts.” Kate said defensively. “What else do you have?” Claire asked.
When it was about 5: 40, they heard a knock on the door. Kate this time decided to open. “ Hi Kate.” Alana said. “You girls ready?” “Uh, yeah.” “hey Alana” Claire said putting on her earrings. “Hey Claire- wow, I love your skirt!” “ Oh, thank you. I like yours to!” Alana had on short skirt mid thigh, decorated with flowers, with heels and a tight tank top, very much like Claire’s in red. Her hair was down, and curled mid length, and she was carrying a hand purse. She was so pretty. As Claire shut the door, she said “why isn’t Criss dating you?” Alana laughed. “ Claire! I cant date my boss!” She nudged her. “ Yes, you can! Your so pretty, and you seem a hell of a lot nicer than Hazzzel.” Kate smiled and rolled her eyes in agreement. “ Claire, shhh” with a smile in her eyes. Claire then realized they were the first girls to be picked up. Alana then knocked on the other doors to get the other girls. Kate was glad she wasn’t wearing her jeans.
“ Criss will meet us in the lobby.” Alana told them as they now headed for the elevators. “We’ll go four at a time again?” Everyone nodded. Claire now took the elevator with Kate and Xesca. “ Love your shoes.” Claire told Xesca as they stepped into the elevator. Just keep my mind distracted. Claire told herself. “ Thanks.” “ I’ve wanted to get these for a while, so I had to work and save for them.” “ So how do you like this
trip?” She now asked. “ loving it! Look at all this time we get to spend with Criss, and so far hes nothing like the crap we hear people say about him.” “ I know, what is it with them?” Kate said. “ I think people just want to make him look bad, they are scared of something that’s too good to be true.” Claire said as the elevator doors now opened.
“ Hello ladies” Criss said to all of them. Criss looked amazing once again. Claire was a little freaked when she realized both him and her were wearing red and black combined. “ So where are we going?” Zoe now asking the question on all there minds. “ Well it’s a restaurant called 12 Tribes. Alana told me its beautiful, so of course I wanted to try.” “ Are you ready? Wow, haha,” Criss said, “ I feel like I say that all too often.” “ That’s okay, we enjoy it.” Rhiannon said. All the girls smiled.

At 6:05, they arrived. Criss was such a gentleman and helped each of the girls out of the car. “ Nice colors you chose.” Claire said to Criss speaking about his clothes. “ You to. I really like that skirt.” he said as she noticed him checking it out.” “ Thank you.”
“Ladies first” Criss held out his hand as they got to the front of the restaurant. The maître d' led them to their table. The girls couldn’t help but noticed everyone look at them. To Claire, she felt special and smiled. The table they were given was set in the back of the restaurant, with an amazing view. The restaurant was sitting on land facing the view of the Sea of Cortez surrounded by rock formations. Some boats were just docked in the middle of the sea not moving. It was early, so the sun was just starting to set. “ This is incredible” Zoe was the first to comment as she turned around to look at the view. They were sitting at a long table. Rhiannon, Zoe, Arianna and LeAnn, had to have there back facing the other direction, while Kate, Claire and Xesca were on the other side. Criss sat on the left of Claire at one end of the table, while Alana was sitting on the other to the right of her. Claire was lucky and got the seat right in the middle. The weather was perfect with a bit of a breeze. The waiter soon came around to hand out the menu. “ I’ll give you a few minutes to decide what you all want.” Criss told them, as they all started to open it.Claire found the menu to be very interesting. Instead of each dish having a name, it was labeled with a country where it came from, so the menu wasn’t constrained to just Mexican food. She was soon caught between the Spain, or Romania. After they all ordered, Criss spoke. So tonight, I thought we’d do a little Q&A.” “Q&A?” LeAnn asked. “ Yeah, we’ll go around the table, and each of you can ask anything you want.” After they all ordered, Criss had Rhiannon start. Arianna wanted to know if Criss ever listened to Lady Gaga’s music. Criss laughed. “ Yes, I have. I think I like Paparazzi the most because I can understand and relate to it the best.” LeAnn followed that with What’s is your least favorite part about being famous?” “I think what’s really frustrating is that fame seems to come with this idea that people have whatever they want. Instead of remembering what fame is about, they take it too far.” When it was Xesca’s turn, she asked “What is your biggest weakness?”
“Getting up in the morning?” he laughed. The girls laughed to. “ No, I’m kidding.” “ I would have to say getting paperwork done. When I come back home from Believe I tell myself it will get done in the morning, and sometimes I don’t get to it until mid afternoon.” “Ah, procrastination.” Xesca defined for him. “Exactly” He replied. It was Claire’s turn. She really was desperate to ask him about Red Carpet, but thought this wouldn’t be the right time. “If you could be instantly fluent in one language, which would you choose?” “That’s a good one. I would have to say its either Greek or Spanish. If I knew Greek, I could impress my mom and my family, but Spanish would also be good because we have so many immigrates coming in to the US from this country, and its especially present in places like California and Nevada, and I wouldn’t have to have an interpreter with me.” “Tears or laughter?” Kate asked. “Laughter for sure.” Claire was excited about her dish when the food started coming around. She chose Spain as her dish, which was roasted duck glazed with apple sauce and olive oil. Some of the girls started to pick up there forks, but Claire wanted to show Criss respect. She waited. She also noticed that Alana waited to. They smiled slightly, and Claire put the napkin on her lap. “Ah” Criss clapped his hands together when his plate was put in front of him. “ Gacias.” “ De nada” the waiter said back. As Claire and the rest of them started to eat, not only was she enjoying what she got, but she then had another question for Criss. “ Criss, I actually have another question for you” she now asked as she was cutting her food, and set her fork down. “ Sure, go ahead.” He said. “What the best thing you ever ate?”

~~ later that night~~

Criss didn’t even look at the paper that was given to him when they all got back to the hotel. He just folded it up, as they kept walking back to their rooms. When they got upstairs, Criss’s invited Alana inside. After a few minutes, he handed the paper to her. “ Read this.” She took the paper and sat down in a chair. As she read it, Criss dialed a number. “ Hello?” “ Hi Rex, its Criss.” “ Hi Criss, how are you, hows the vacation going?” Rex Willmoth was a well known journalist in the US. “ From the insider point of view its going great, but from the outside world, I think people are getting the wrong idea.” “ Are you talking about Red Carpet?” Rex asked. “Yes.” “ Yeah, I saw that in a store and started to read it.” “ What do you think?” Criss said as he turned to see Alana who was not pleased. “ I just think it sounds like someone who doesn’t have enough sources to back up what there saying, and sounds just like they made it up, like gossip.” “ Well I’m glad you didn’t report on it.” “ No, no, the last thing I want to do is give it more attention.” “ What I can do if you want, is write a small article about how the trip is going from YOUR side, so at least people can see that the other article is BS.” “ That sounds good, thanks so much Rex.” “ I’ll call you tomorrow at some point.” Criss hung up. “ This is crazy” Alana said to Criss as she lifted up the open magazine. “ It just sounds like someone doesn’t really know you.”

The girls weren’t tired, so they gathered into Rhiannon’s room for a little get together, or “slumber party.” Arianna brought her copy of the magazine. They all got comfortable. “ Alright, now where were we.” “ Before we start, does anyone besides me think that Criss possibly knows about this?” Claire said bringing her knee close to her chest. Some of the girls were a little stunned. “ I didn’t think of that” Rhiannon said. “ I hope not..” Zoe said. “ Alright, just lets read this, and get it over with.” Xesca demanded.By half way through, the girls couldn’t read anymore they were so confused, and definitely angry. Rhiannon closed the magazine. “ I think we should throw it away.” After a few seconds of silence Claire said. “ All its gonna do is hurt us, and while were at it, I’ll throw my copy away to.” “ You have a copy?” LeAnn asked. “ Yes.” Claire said with a sigh. She started to get up. “ I think we should tell Criss.” Zoe said. “ Tell Criss?” Claire asked somewhat defensively. “ Well yeah, were not gonna tell him because we believe it, but..” She stopped not really knowing what to say. “ But because, if we tell him, we can work together to figure out who wrote it.” LeAnn said. “ She’s got a point Claire.” Arianna said. Claire then sat back down on the bed.