choices ✨ || 5sos • lrh [COMPLETED]

1.4 ice cream talks

Her mind was racing now, thoughts dancing between melodies and noises in the air. She clenched the wooden platform.
It was so so so incredibly embarrassing and pathetic, thinking rationally about it.
Taking another sharp breath, she blinked any other tears away and glanced up. The moon was decreasing over the dark sea. The lights of some ships in the distance.
She'd calmed herself enough to eventually go now. Guiltiness showing up for letting them wait so long.
So she got up, making her way to the direction of the skate park. Music continuing playing softly, when she felt someone grabbing her wrist, causing her to stop abruptly in her tracks.

"T-Tally?"

Hearing this name after such a long time again made her flinch back. Her eyes widened. She wasn't used to it anymore, not having heard it in weeks. Almost months. And hearing it now in this place only increased the confusion.
And this voice. This awfully familiar sounding accent. The loud pounding of her heart was stuck in her ears. Louder than the song coming from the headphones.
Tally's breath got caught in her throat as she looked over her shoulder. And there, under the dim light coming from streetlights a bit further down, she saw him standing.
The reason of her misery.

»»» 

-half an hour ago-
   

"Okay, here it is," Vicky announced, almost hitting the back car while trying to fit her rather small Jeep in the narrow parking space. Turning off the engine, the music they'd been listening to stopped.
"Wow that place looks kinda.. creepy. But I like it." Ashton leaned over from the backseats, flashing her one of his famous dimpled smiles. She smiled.
"It's just this side street. The other parts of the city are way less creepy. Trust me," said she, unbuckling her seatbelt.
"Can we really, though?" Michael smirked. His pierced brow arching at her. "Are you even Tal's cousin or are you just some psycho, trying to kidnap us?"
The brunette laughed out, shaking her head.

"I could be both," she responded with a smug smirk herself when seeing his brows raise. "But I swear I am not! I told Thalia to meet us down the promenade. But I'd never manage to find a parking lot there, so we got to walk a bit."
Michael instantly groaned at this. "Jesus, don't be so lazy, dude." Ashton laughed under his breath, rolling his eyes at him as all of them got out of the car.
"Speaking of Tal," Calum spoke up then, gazing around in the foreign area.
Tally had been right back in LA, it really looked a lot alike, but still different in its own way. It was like Venice Beach and Brooklyn mixed up, kinda. "Is it actually true that she got a date? Like a real date? With a guy?"
"Uhm, yeah."
"Wow." Nodding to himself, he crossed his long arms over the naivy blue shirt he was wearing.
"To be honest, I still can't believe it," Michael mumbled then watching a stray cat cross the street as well. "What kind of guy is it?"
Vicky shrugged, not exactly sure herself. "She met him at a shop he works in. And apparently he's cute and studies physics."
Michael's mouth formed an 'o', before pressing his red lips together again. He didn't know whether to be happy for her or not.
"It's just," Calum interfered then, tapping a finger on his chin. "You know, I talked with her once about dating and stuff. She told me, and that with such certainty, that dating just wouldn't be her thing. That's why I'm so surprised she actually did it."
Michael lifted his head, giving him a questioning look. "W-wait, when did you two talked about this?"
The brown boy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe back in the States?"
"Huh."
"Anyway," Ashton said then, his gaze wandering to the only one who hadn't said anything since getting out of the airport. The blond was walking behind them in complete silence. Blue eyes -even darker due to the lack of sleep and light- shifting around at all the shiny lights and shops. Pretending he hadn't heard them talking about her date and how awesome this guys seemed to be. And pretending it wasn't tearing his heart apart, the thought of her with someone else.
Quite hypocritical of him to feel jealous about that after London, he knew.