One

Chapter 20

Due to Dec's close friendship with their daughter, Ali's parents were used to the Geordie making sudden appearances. Dec has pulled this stunt too often before that it was expected to see him if they are ever with Ali. So when he walked into the kitchen with Ali, Anthony and Angela casually greeted Dec and offered him breakfast. Dec declined, having eaten during his drive down to the seaside town, but took a seat next to Ali at the table.

"So what brings you here, Declan?" Angela politely asked.

"As I was telling Ali a while ago, I'm down here to surprise her, but not only that, I came to give you three these." Dec reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved four plane tickets and placed it on the table. When none of them moved to look at it, Dec said, "Go on, take a look at it."

Ali reached for one and read the destination. "New York City?" 

"Yeah, I reckon I can make up for causing you to miss your trip a few weeks ago. You stayed with me to take care of me when I got ill instead of spending time with your parents." Dec explained. 

"Why are there four tickets?" Anthony pointed at the extra ticket.

"That's mine." Dec picked it up and placed it back in his pocket. "I hope you don't mind, but I'll be tagging along because I'll be acting as all of yous assistant. I really wanna make up for ruining your trip to New York the first time around."

"Of course we don't mind you coming along," Angela smiled. "And you don't have to be our assistant on the trip; we want you to enjoy it with us."

"Dec, when did you do this?" Ali questioned, referring to the ticket.

"I spent all of yesterday getting everything ready for the trip. I did everything: finding plane tickets, arranging for someone to pick us up in New York, and booking lodging."

"Wow, thank you, Dec." Ali kissed him on the cheek; she'd rather have kissed him on the lips, but her parents were watching and they don't know that she and Dec are dating. A "friendly" kiss on the cheek wouldn't go amiss to her parents. She reexamined the plane ticket and saw the departure time. "The plane leaves at one today?"

"Yep, that's why I'm here early. We need to leave for London soon. So you two need to get packing," Dec said to Angela and Anthony. 

"I still need to pack, Dec!" Ali said, panicking a bit about not having enough time.

"I have you covered, Al." Dec squeezed Ali's knee under the table. "Lisa helped me pack some clothes for you and I even have your passport already." He took out the document from his pocket. "See? I thought of everything. I even made sure that we're back the night before Takeaway rehearsals on Friday. Now, all we need to do is leave here by nine and get to the airport in time for our flight." 

Angela and Anthony got packing and were back downstairs in no time. Dec and Ali piled into his car, while her parents took hers, so that later on she won't have to come back to pick it up. The small convoy left Brighton at around nine and made the one hour journey to Heathrow. 

Once they were at the airport, they parked their cars at the long stay car park before taking the shuttle to their terminal. The group then made their way through the bustling airport and got their luggage checked-in and went through security screenings. Luckily for Dec, he got through without getting noticed much by people. They settled themselves in the first class lounge while they waited to board.

There, Dec enthusiastically outlined what he had planned for them in New York. He talked about the places they could visit and things they could do, but he's been awfully mum about where they're staying. When Ali asked about it, Dec only said, "It's a surprise."

Soon, it was boarding time and they were directed to their first class seats. Dec and Ali took their seats, which were located a few rows behind Angela and Anthony.

"You couldn't get seats that were together, Declan?" Angela asked standing by their row.

"No, for some reason, I couldn't, Mrs. A." Dec shrugged his shoulders. This explanation was enough for Angela, so she went to her seat.

"I lied," Dec whispered to Ali.

"What?"

"I lied. I purposely got our seats to be a bit far from theirs." Dec lounged on his aisle seat. "I love your parents, don't get me wrong, but I wanna have some alone time with you." He took Ali's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"About that." Ali peeked over the seats and saw that her parents were talking to each other and enjoying their drinks. "They don't know that I'm dating, you or Stephen."

"Riiight...I'm guessing we have to be careful around your parents." Dec said, a little bit crestfallen. He was looking forward to romancing Ali in a Stephen-free zone. "Guess there goes some of my plans."

"No, we can still do your plans, we just have to send my parents to do something else." Ali immediately said, not being able to handle the sad little look on Dec's face. "We don't have to ditch those plans; we'll still have you and me time."

"Okay, that sounds great," Dec said, smile slowly growing. He leaned forward to kiss her, but Ali suddenly grabbed the sides of his head and started blowing into his eye.

"There, that should get rid of the dust that got into your eye," Ali says in an unusually loud voice. She let go of his head and peered behind them. "Sorry about that, my dad was walking by when you were about to kiss me."

"Alright," Dec chuckled as he rest his head against his seat. "Our four days in New York is gonna be like this, isn't it?" There was a hint of sadness in his smile when he said that.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Dec." Ali looked genuinely sorry. "I've really ruined your plans."

Dec surveyed his surroundings for Ali's parents before holding her hand. "Hey, it's fine. As long as I'm with you, I know these four days will still be great. You got it?" He said, as he stroked her hand with his thumb. Dec then brought her hand up to his lips and settled for a kiss on the hand.