Falling Up//punk a.i.

22. Final

Me, Mackenzie, Calum, and Luke were driving aimlessly down a busy road, having no intentions of stopping home any time soon. Right now, we all just needed some time with each other, and no one else to make our day any more sad.

Luke drove mile after mile, and by now, we were way out of town. The sun was starting to set, making the sky look pink, purple, orange, and blue. Ashton would've loved this. He may be a bad boy, but he's really a softie. Well, he was.

I looked at my phone, and it read 4:15. I guess we weren't driving for that long, but right now, God seemed to be giving us a little more time with Ashton alive. I silently thanked him for that, and I put my head on Mackenzie's shoulder. She smiled weakly at me, and stroked my hair. Green day was playing softly on the radio, from when Ash battled Mikey to the death on putting the CD in. I smiled at the memory.

Suddenly, we saw a beach in the distance. I peered down at it, and so did everyone else. It was a private beach or something, and nobody was there. The waves did gentle rolls, and the sand was nearly white. I poked Lu Lu curiously.

"Lu Lu, can we go there?" I asked, pointing to the beach up ahead. He looked, and hesitantly nodded.

"Sure. Guys, you wanna go?" He asked. Everyone mumbled 'okay,' or 'sure,' and we parked on the side of the road. When I stepped out of the car, the smell of salt invaded my nose, and a cool gently breeze flowed through my hair. It was nice, to say the least.

I followed Luke, Michael, Calum, and Mackenzie to the shore, where not even birds perched there. It was oddly empty, and I kinda enjoyed having the last few moments of happiness to just us. As a family, really.

"I think I'm gonna go in the water." Calum said, stripping off his shirt, leaving his shorts on. "I don't know if this is a bad time, but Im gonna remember my best mate in a beautiful peace he would've loved." Calum smiled.

"Actually, that sounds like a really good idea." Michael chimed in. He also shed his clothes, and joined Calum in the clearly blue water. Mackenzie and Luke came to my side, also watching our idiot friends chill in the water.

We walked over to the drier side of the beach, and sat down, watching the sunset. It was beautiful, and I'm glad we came here. It was a small beach, but it's probably the cleanest one I've ever seen. Our car was parked in the sand, by an almost desolate road. Here, I felt like we were he only people in the world. It was just a nice escape from reality. I gazed up at the sky, and watched the pink orange colors shift near the setting sun.

Luke put his arm around me, and smiled. Mackenzie sat there with me, holding my hand in a comforting way. I felt at home.

"You know, this is the only place I'd like to be right now." Luke said. I agreed.

"Yeah, it's a nice place to live my final happy moments." I sighed. Luke looked at me strangely.

"I don't think this is your final happy moment, Lola." He said. Mackenzie nodded.

"Yeah, don't you think Ash will be happier when you're happy?" She asked. I shrugged. Honestly, I don't ink I had a reason to be happy anymore. I had a feeling that they could sense what I was thinking.

"Lola, you're young. You still have a whole life in front of you. Just because a chunk of your soul isn't going to be here much longer, that doesn't mean you can't still be a happy person. You have us, and we aren't going anywhere." Luke said. By then, Calum and Michael joined us, and listened to Luke's speech. They nodded and smiled.

"Yeah we are always gonna be here, whether you like it or not." Michael teased, shaking the water out of his faded green hair. Calum nudged my arm.