Annie snorted as she looked at herself in the mirror. Living up to her namesake, her curly red hair stood wildly as her blue eyes raked across her trashy clothes. Almost like she was about to break out into song about her 'hard-knock-life' and how she was gonna like it here. With Kara, her best friend, getting married to Ross, she should be enjoying herself, not patronizing herself.

In actuality, Annie was about ready to board the next flight back home. As much as she loved her friend and happy for her to get married and honored to be her maid of honor, Annie did NOT sign up to be Ross' best man's next girlfriend. Tay was kind and everything but man he got on her nerves.

But Annie was a kind person. Almost to a fault. So, it was hard for her to stand up for herself and say 'no' when it came to pairing off or stating that she really was not interested in Tay when he, Ross, and Kara were adamant in making the four of them inseparable couples.

Annie groaned as she ran her hands through her hair then let them rub down her face, falling limply to her sides. She had come out to Fiji a week before the wedding so she could spend some much-needed girl time with Kara. But the moment she showed up and it was Tay who picked her up from the airport, she knew that plan was out the window.

Kara had Ross invite Tay to come sooner as well, that way Annie wouldn't feel like the third wheel while Kara and Ross did things. Annie wouldn't have minded really, she had brought work to keep her busy but now she had to be nice and entertain Tay. She just couldn't bring herself to turn away someone so soft-spoken, nice, and clearly nervous to be left alone with her.

A knock sounded at her room door and Annie let out a startled squeak. She heard another knock as he hurried to tame her hair as she put on normal human clothes. With just two more days until the wedding, Annie was counting down the hours until she wasn't the focus of Tay's romantic pursuits.

"Coming. Just a second."

Another knock sounded and she rolled her eyes. She will give it to him, the guy was persistent. Glancing once more in the mirror and scowling at her reflection, Annie flung her door open. It wasn't until she let the fresh air of the open hotel hallways in did Annie realize how stale her room smelled like Chinese take out.

Tay stood there, his blue tank top hanging off his small frame that glistened slightly from a thin layer of sweat. His dark eyes widened upon seeing her, his dark curly hair moving gently in the slight wind. A nervous smile pulled at his face as he held a bag with snorkeling gear.

"Hi."

"Hello, Tay." Annie plastered on a smile she could feel didn't reach her eyes.

The guy shuffled his feet, glancing behind her at her messy room. "Are you ready?"

Annie shrugged a shoulder. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Tay smiled wide and nodded. "Great!" He extended his arm and Annie reluctantly took it.

Tay quickly started to pelt her with quiet questions and odd statements of personal information that left Annie wishing she had just stayed in bed. She tried not to think about the sweat on his arm or the way his body reeked of a morning run. Clearly, he thought going snorkeling meant no need to clean up beforehand. Not that she could be too judgmental, she kind of just rolled out of bed and threw on a day-old shirt and stained pants. Underneath, her swimsuit was still a bit damp from the late-night swim her and Kara had gone on to relax and get some much-needed girl time.

Meeting Kara and Ross in the lobby of the resort hotel was like walking in on the part of a chick-flick where you couldn't help but get warm cheeks like you weren't supposed to be there. Tay didn't seem to care. He called out and Ross looked over, breaking out into a wide smile that Kara soon matched. Without letting Annie's arm out from around his, Tay bro-hugged Ross as Kara came to kiss Annie's cheek.

Kara stood back and held Annie by her shoulders, grinning wildly. Annie stood just a few inches shorter than her smiley counterpart. Kara had long beautiful brown hair and gorgeous hazel green eyes framed by perfectly long, dark lashes. Her smile would light up the darkest room and was definitely contagious. But Annie knew Ross's favorite thing about his fiance was her laugh and her angelic voice. However, it wasn't exactly angelic right now, yelling and all high pitched.

"Oh my gosh, you two are the cutest! Can you believe we are finally going to go see that reef Ross keeps talking about? I have a feeling it's probably not as good as he says it is but he hasn't let me down so far." Kara rattled off a million miles an hour, her eyes wide with excitement.

Annie smiled, not being able to keep down her own excitement as it beamed off of her friend. Ross's fingers were intertwined with Kara's, making Annie wonder if they ever left each other's side, let alone stopped touching each other for more than a minute. It was a miracle they hadn't slipped up or gotten married sooner.

Tay called Annie's name and started to pull her to the small truck that was taking them to the harbor where their boat was waiting for them. Annie tried to join in on the conversation but she wasn't feeling it. She just wanted to be back in her room reading or even sleeping. But she didn't want to be a party pooper. However, she for sure wasn't going to let Tay's rancid body stay plastered to her side any longer.