Amber & Honey ~ [DR3]

43. Jet lag / LA

"Jet lag is going to kill me." I whisper into Daniel's neck. His fingers dance under the skin of my vest I wore to sleep in, ticking my skin beneath the sheets of the bed. A quiet low rumble of a humoured chuckle comes through his chest and wraps around me. I love his laugh, it's like a comfort blanket to me now. It makes me feel giddy and excited whenever I cause him to make the noise.

"You'll get used to it." Daniel comforts, his fingers still dancing over my skin as I wrap my leg around him tighter pulling him close. I'm simultaneously exhausted and wide awake and I don't know what to do about it. I want to tell him I don't think I'll ever get used to it, that I'm going to need a lot of his help to get used to it. I don't, I don't say anything I just snuggle closer to his body, practically attempting to crawl into his skin.

Last night was amazing. After arriving in LA at lunchtime (with an extremely confused body clock) Daniel insisted on giving me a tour of the area. We drove all over the place, picking out sights and picking up (multiple orders of) food along the way. Then, in the late afternoon, we went on a hike up Runyon Canyon to see the all important Hollywood sign.

It was beautiful, especially as the sun dipped down below the horizon leaving us to see the shining lights of the city. The whole thing felt like something from a movie - a romance movie at that - as Daniel and I sat hand in hand, admiring the view of twinkling lights and skyscrapers in front of us. That is until Scotty and Blake interrupted us, making mocking kissing noises and shouting at us to get up so we could walk back down to the car for more food. I think it would be fair to say that the little 'baecation', as I'd been sarcastically referring to it, was well and truly over. Being around other people all the time brought the pair of us quickly back to reality. However, right now? reality is pretty good. Some would even say great! I would say great, it couldn't possibly be better.

Blake drove us back to the house here after we hiked back down the trail (I'm still unsure if Daniel owns it or not and too scared to ask), Michael and his girlfriend, Sophia, joined us in the big SUV-style car which cruised casually through the roads of Los Angeles. The three of them laughed when Daniel and I fell asleep in the back of the car on the drive back to the house. I think they failed to realise that, for us, the 8pm drive was around six am for our body clocks. We had been fighting the exhaustion the whole evening and I was trying to follow daniels lead by 'powering through' up until that point, it's something he was far more adept to than me.

I repeat, Jet lag will be the death of me. I need to find a new coping mechanism or something. Daniel or Michael need to teach me their ways because there has to be more than this. I can't possibly suffer this badly everytime we go somewhere different.

I sent the pictures from the hike in our family chat. Mum, Dad, Oliver, Flo and Sav replied. Lando didn't say a thing, only sent a photo of him and Lu from Ibiza trying to change the subject. The sad thing, is I don't really care anymore. I hope he's enjoying his summer, he knows fine well that I am - even without any of his input. I've given up trying to get more from him at this point.

"It's not as bad as Australia." Daniel notes and I just groan quietly at the memory. Nothing could be as bad as the jet lag I experienced Australia. The two days I spent in bed before Daniel arrived at my hotel room door with flowers all those months ago were painful. The memory also makes my heart flutter and stomach swarm with butterflies. His little unsure smile and our awkward encounters were truly...something. I think that dinner with his family was probably the first time I fully relaxed around him. I was able to enjoy Daniel and his company fully that night and I really think it's where things began to shift.

"Next time we go back there you're going to have to sleep train me." I grumble pressing a kiss to Daniel's neck. He hums lightly at the action, hands holding onto me tighter than before, my body held close.