*Ariel Collins*
Months passed by like a blur and before I knew it graduation had come. My school days were quiet, my work days the same while Ryan and I had gotten closer but not enough to actually date. It was a touchy subject for me and Ryan learned to accept it. We held hands and kissed, slept together but not actually having sex bur I didn't know what I wanted. Ian avoided being in a room alone with me, not even in the teacher's room. I don't know what he was expecting; that I'd start spewing our relationship's details in front of the teachers because he got engaged? Yes, he was engaged, he was wearing a stupid ring on his finger.
I also came to realize that he had a lot of complexes when it came to his appearance and character. I'll be honest though, it pleased me to the very core of my soul, seeing him cringe everytime he caught me glare or sneer at him.
Other than that my life was pretty much plain. School went incredibly good that I was confident enough to believe that I'd be able to go study abroad to England. Work was going good as well, I was earning enough money to keep living with Ollie and Ollie was happy enough to ask William move in with us. For some reason these two had such a huge chemistry that I thought sooner or later he was going to pop the question or something along these lines. My mother's pregnancy was going well, Paul asked for my permission once to marry her, which I more than gladly gave it, concidering she was now happy and healthy.
Curling into a fetal position on my bed, Heaven followed my motions, while pressing himself against me, warming me up. But unfortunately today it was so hot, that it was the last thing I wanted. So I pushed myself off the comfortable sheets and raced to the bathroom before any of my two roomates could get into it. For some odd reason when they washed they took up so much time and worst is they also took all the warm water. I stripped off my pajamas and jumped in, relishing the feel of warm water on my skin. I tried to scrub and scrub to remove all the dried sweat from my turning and rolling all night long.
It didn't take long for Ollie and William to start banging the door, making complaints something along the lines, 'I want to pee!', 'Get out we need to shower!'. But since I had the chance I was going to torment them as long as possible.
"Sorry guys, I am in the middle of my shower!" I snarkily yelled and slowed my pace on shampooing my hair, shaving my legs and scrubbing my body. But I knew I had to get out soon. And as I need, I wrapped a towel around my body and one around my head, unlocking the door, making the couple stumble inside. Before they could start cursing and shouting, I darted towards my room and locked the door behind me to change into something nice since tonight was the graduation ceremony.
Hopping over my half ready suitcase, I opened my wardrobe in search for some summer clothes, though most of them were packed. Over these past months Ollie, William, Ryan and I decided to go on vacation over to Australia after graduation was over. It would be a nice change since we wouldn't have to spend so much money since Ryan's parents lived there who offered to let us stay in for an entire month. Something I didn't really agree into but whatever, I didn't want them to think that I didn't like them or something. Ryan had told me that they really wanted to meet me so I had to be careful in not doing anything rash and stupid.
After I found something decend, which was a pair of white shorts that reached the middle of my thighs and a tank top, I unlocked the door, dragging Heaven's small little bag to the living room, along with my suitcase that joined the two ones Ollie and William had packed. Gently I picked Heaven up, nudging him into his travel kennel, since he would be spending my time away with my mother. She didn't particularly like him, since they had new furniture and a baby in the way but when I begged her that I couldn't take him with me because I was going to a foreign house, Paul jumped in and saved the day.
"Are you guys ready? Should I put the suitcases in the car?" I yelled loud enough for them to hear as I pushed my damp hair in a messy bun.
"Yeah, we are, you can wait if you want! We're coming in a while!" William replied, as I picked up the suitcases one by one and dragged them towards the car.
"Boo!" Someone hissed in my ear making me scream, turn around and slap the person who did it. But after I focused on the person I saw Ryan rubbing his cheek. "Ow." He muttered but shot me a dazzling smile nonetheless. A gentle slap on his arm and one of my smirks was all it took to make him forget about his 'injury' and kiss my cheek.
"Are you guys done?"
"Yeah, I am putting the suitcases in the trunk, then I need to put Heaven's travel kennel to the front so when the graduation ceremony is over I can give him to my mom, along with his bag full of necessities." I grumbled but stopped since heaving suitcases wasn't one of my forte. Ryan's hand brushed against my own as he picked the suitcase with easy and placed it gently on the trunk. I stepped aside, rolling a cigarette as he neatly placed each and every one of the heavy luggages inside the car. After he was done I rest my butt at the remaining space between our stuff and took a long drag from my cig. Ryan stepped between my dangling legs and took the chance to play with my hair. Looking up at him, I noticed he seemed really excited about that trip. His eyes were sparkling with joy and his hands were almost trembling.
"Say, um, what are your parents like? What do they like and stuff?" Shuffling awkwardly, I threw my cigarette down and wrapped my arms around Ryan's lean waist and rest my chin on his chest, looking up at him. He looked up thoughtfully and when his gaze landed back on me, I knew what he going to say next, wasn't going to be good.
"They don't like tattoos, they really hate them. They don't like people with pets and god how much they hate pale people." Taking in my horrified expression, Ryan stayed silent for some minutes before he burst out laughing. A scowl found its way towards my lips, making me punch him in the gut. He stumbled a few feet behind, giving me the space I needed to stand up and escape. But before I took a second step, his arms circled around my waist, crashing my back against his chest. "I really like it when you get feisty." He mumbled in my ear, earning a shiver in response. Turning me around he pressed his lips against mine almost hesitantly, but when my arms went around his neck to bring him closer, he smiled and moved his lips in sync with mine. The kiss was sweet and tender but didn't last long, due to constant complaining of William and Ollie.
"Come on love birds, we have to go!" Ollie clapped her hands and sat on the passenger's seat with William on the driver's as Ryan and I slid to the back seats. Slowly William drove out while I settled into Ryan's arms.
"Are we leaving right after the ceremony?" Ollie asked for probably what would be the millionth time today.
"Yes, Ollie. We are leaving right after the ceremony." William tightly replied.
The rest of the drive was silent as Ryan and I sat hand in hand, watching quietly out of the window. His thumb would run over my knuckles, pressing them ever so slightly making them throb in relaxation. As soon as we reached our destination, we all scrambled off the car and entered the front gate of our school, that was full of students, parents and friends. While Ollie and I took our seats in alphabetical order, Ryan and William met with my mother, Paul and Ollie's parents to sit at the guests' seats.
Once Ollie's name got called, I cheered loudly and clapped as Ian gave her, her diploma with a hand shake and a congratulations. Ollie's mom was tempted to take a picture but her husband nagged at her quite a lot so she gave up on it. When it was my turn, I stood up, smoothing my tank top and wiping the sweat on my shorts and headed towards Ian that stared back at me, void of any emotion.
God damn it, show something. Even a twitch of the eye would be appreciated.
As I stopped in front of him, his eyes bore into mine, silently telling me what his mouth couldn't.
I need to talk to you so desperately.
But I wasn't having it. I simply grabbed my diploma and as he shook my hand, I noticed something. Something that was supposed to be cold and be circled around Ian's finger. His ring was missing. I momentarily glanced at both his hands to realize that it was nowhere to be seen. And as our eyes met again before I left, a ghost of a smile tugged his beautiful lips.
Snap out of it Ariel. I hurried down the three steps and approached my mother and Paul with Ollie who hugged both of us tightly. Soon Ollie's parents joined as and so did Ryan and William, engulfing us warmly. Ryan was the last one and gave me the best congratulations ever. His arms wrapped around my waist and he slightly picked me up, twirling me around.
"So mom, I need to give you Heaven and his stuff. It means a lot that you can keep him. I wish I could take him with us but he would probably destroy the whole house. If he becomes a nuisance you could give him to a pet hotel or something." I mumbled as I made my way over to our car, to retrieve Heaven. I slowly pulled him out of the back seat and cooed, ignoring his hisses and attempts to scratch me.
"I love you baby boy.. Please be careful and don't make grandma's life hard okay?" My mom choked on her saliva at the word grandma and Paul patted her back slowly, chuckling loudly. I turned around and passed Heaven to Paul, who put the cat in the back seat of his own car and hugged my mother tenderly.
"Be careful alright? And when you get there, give me a call!" She sternly said and pointed at Ollie as well, "You are responsible too missy!" Ollie blushed deeply and nodded, scrambling inside the car to avoid my mother's nagging. "And you boys take care of my girls, okay?" William and Ryan gave her a two finger salute and went in the car as I hugged mom once more and pulled away when Paul came to surprise me with a hug of his own.
"Be safe, little girl." He smiled and ruffled my hair. I got in the car as well and clapped my hands excitedly.
"Let's go! Our summer just begun!" I cheered and the other three stared at me with faces void of emotion making me blush and stick my tongue out. "Party poopers!" I exclaimed and huffed, crossing my arms over my chest making them chuckle.
The ride to the airport was way too short for my liking, I still wanted some time to comprehend that we had actually just graduated, Ian was never going to be in my sights again and the boy beside me was undeniably, madly in love with me. And I was going to spend my whole summer with him and my best friend and her boyfriend.
Time sure passed by really quickly.
And before I knew it the car had came to a stop. Everyone was out of the car, taking out the bags while I sat there like an idiot. Rubbing my face, I followed my friends towards the check-in, to check our tickets and have our bags taken into the airplane. As we sat there for a over forty minutes, my leg was bobbing up and down anxiously while William and Ollie were excitedly talking about where we could go and how we should spend our beautiful week in Australia. Ryan was holding my hand, rubbing my knuckles and therefore relaxing my tense body.
"Are you alright?" He whispered in my ear and with his free hand he pushed some stray bangs behind my ear. Nodding, I leaned in and pecked his lips softly, savouring the nice strawberry taste his tongue had.
"The flight 910 to Australia, Sydney will depart in ten minutes. The passengers need to board on the plane. Thank you." The microphone on the waiting room called and we all stood up, gathering our backpacks and heading towards to the plane.
"Ariel!" A voice called from somewhere far away and when I turn around to find the owner of the voice, I came empty handed.
"Ariel, are you alright? You seem jumpy." William commented and Ollie nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just though I heard someone calling my na--"
"Ariel! Wait god damn it!" I froze in my spot as Ollie's eyes widened, probably seeing who was it calling my name. Turning around slowly, Ian was standing a few feet away from me, his hands on his knees as he took deep gulps of air, trying to gather the oxygen he lost. When he looked up, his piercing blue eyes, staring into the cor of my soul, I couldn't help but take a step back, slamming against Ryan.
"Please listen to me, Ariel. I desperately need to--"
"How did you know where to find me?" I oh so politely interrupted him, although I knew who spilled the beans. My blood started to boil angrily in my veins at his nerve to come and find me after so long.
"Your mother, I asked your mother. Ariel, I broke up with her. I need you, please come back to me, these past months were like hell to me. I don't even know how I agreed being with her in the first place when I knew I was madly in love with you, although we couldn't be together then, but we can be together now. Just please take in concideration my situation, I didn't know how to handle it!" He said all in one breath making me blink rapidly.
That was one hell of a confession, that I thought happened only in movies. But the situation was different here. Besides the fact that this was real life, I had a person next to me that stood by my side without hurting my feelings, patiently waiting for me to notice. But Ian, made me a better person, whether I changed despite my feelings or not. I didn't want to change, to become a good student and get good grades; I wanted to live my life as I wanted it to, but I realized that I needed a change like that. Even if I changed because I fell in love with my teacher, something good came out of it and that was my new improved self. I was proud about myself, my job, my mother and my friends. I deserved that kind of treatment after I worked my ass off to achieve my goals and one of them was to have a better life.
"Ariel, we need to board now." Ryan desperately whispered in my ear, tugging at my wrist gently. I could tell this situation made him uncomfortable and he knew that I would turn around and leave him again. But I didn't know what to do. These two people were completing me in whole different levels, made me happy in a different but same way simulatinously and I was utterly confused right now.
"Ariel, please choose. Is it gonna be me, or is it gonna be Ryan?"
Oh, shit.
~.~
Hey guys! This was the end of Life Upside Down!
I know it was fast and stuff but I didn't feel like writing anymore, so I decided I should finish it early rather than drop it. I am sure I had lots of mistakes whether they were in grammar, vocabulary or explaining [The plane scene, I have no idea how they call in microphones about the plane boarding and stuff]. I want to thank whoever bared my slow updates, whoever liked my story and whoever will read my story. Love you all :)
Ps: Here's the link to my new Ruki [The GazettE] fan fiction! Make sure to check it out if you like them :)
http://www.wattpad.com/24077860-calm-envy-ruki-the-gazette-fanfiction-prologue#.UhyZ6Rsvm-E -Kwneko-chan!