— ARIA —
When I awoke the next morning, it took me a minute to catch my bearings as I didn't remember falling asleep last night - I only remembered switching on 'Me Before You' and everything after that was just a blur. This made me think that me and Jack had both tired ourselves out so much walking along the beach, plus watching movies, that we had both completely crashed. There was no surprise that Jack was still asleep, lay flat out and panned beside me. He looked so peaceful and I couldn't bring myself to wake him, knowing full well that it was probably still early so I just climbed out of bed and decided to go and sit in our living area for a little while, while I waited for everyone to wake up.
My motherly instincts kicked in as I got out of bed as I remembered that me and Jack had never checked to make sure the boys has gotten in okay last night - we were too loved up and happy and it completely slipped our minds so I popped my head into each individual bedroom as I passed. Brook and Mikey were still flat out but Andy and Rye's bedroom was empty I immediately hit my panic button until I heard distant voices from the patio and hit my calm button again, knowing that's where they were.
I stayed silent, tiptoeing my way through the caravan as to not to make any sudden noise to startle anyone and spotted Andy and Rye, sat on the small cabin-bench that over-looked the sea of caravans and the beach, chatting to each other in quiet voices. Andy had his head lay on Rye's shoulder and they were clearly having some sort of deep, sentimental conversation whether it be about life, or about each other, so I quietly closed the door behind them so I could sit myself in the living room without disturbing either one of them or eavesdropping on what was being said. (These Randy moments are baso for Lily lmao)
To pass the time, I went on my phone and started scrolling through my social medias and found that my notifications had gone crazy last night from a post that Jack had put on Twitter; probably just after I'd fallen asleep as I don't remember him tweeting anything while I was awake. It was a silhouette photo that Jack had clearly taken without my knowledge as I was stood in front of him, holding his hand as we were walking along the beach.
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!¡ Okay so this is what I imagined the photo to look like? Obviously it's not gonna be the exact same one because this photo is in the day and said photo we're talking about was taken at night but you get my drift. It kinda fits Jack too because theboy is wearing a checkered shirt and they always remind me of Jack ¡!
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@RoadTripTV: walked along the beach last night with my best friend. so incredibly lucky to have her in my life❤️ i love you ari, always @ariamichaelsxo - jack☘
Without even meaning to, I found myself smiling like an idiot at the phone and I was smiling so much that I didn't even notice that Andy and Rye had finished whatever conversation they were having and had joined me. Rye was smirking at me once he saw me smiling and I raised my eyebrows at him, waiting for him to say something about last night like I knew he was going to.
"Sooooooo" he said, dragging out the 'O' cheekily and I knew I was about to be interrogated with mindless questions about the night I'd had. "How did it go? Tell us everything"
"How did what go?" I asked, acting confused although I knew exactly what they were talking about. Rye furrowed his eyebrows at me and I chuckled a little, messing with him.
"Don't play the stupid card with us Mrs" Andy said. "How did last night go?" I noticed the added emphasis in his voice and raised my eyebrows at him - he nodded his head for me to continue.
"It was amazing" I said truthfully. "He made me feel so special"
"Do you like him like that?" Rye asked. "Does he like you? Is Ariack real? Are you dating?"
"Whoa slow down dude, too many questions" I said, waving my hands out to stop him from blurting out anything else. "Question one: yes I do like him but I can't tell whether I like him more than a friend or not yet so don't push me on that one. Question two: I don't think he likes me more than a friend so no, he doesn't like me like that. Question three: Ariack is not real. And finally, question four: we are not dating"
"Not the answers I was hoping for if I'm being honest" Andy muttered, frowning. "But don't worry, that will all change soon enough I can guarantee you. I have a plan you see"
"And tell me Andy Fowler, when have any of you plans ever actually worked out?" I asked him and he frowned at me again, pouting this time.
"I take full offense" he said.
"I seem to have hit a nerve" I chuckled. "You know I love you really"
He giggled a little, and smiled again and we continued with the conversation, the lads asking more questions about last night and what happened until Jack walked into the room, his eyes dreary with sleep still but awake, carrying my bucket list in his open hand. He passed it me.
"Check our next goal" he said, sitting on the arm of the chair beside me, leaning ack so his head was resting on my shoulder. I scanned the list and all of the arrows leading to the different sections until I found the goal that was circled and labelled as goal number five.
[[ Watch the sunset together ]]
"I'm getting the feeling that this trip is going to make us all soft for the day" I chuckled. "And I can't figure out just yet whether that's a good thing or not"
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As Mikey aided me up onto the rock beside him, I sat between him and Jack as we reached the mountain peak just in time to see the sun slowly setting. We'd driven a few miles out of the caravan parks way and found a mountain which offered climbing and sitting space and we'd found a little ledge (it wasn't really on the hiking track we were on but you know us here at RoadTrip HQ) and it was perfect to just sit and watch the sunset from, all be it a little dangerous.
Far to the southwest, a wind shrine towered, steely and fine as a needle. At our feet, the hill sloped suddenly away, and I imagined leaping off, falcon-winged, to soar over the wooded hills, following the setting sun into its warm, painted seabed. Scarlet, then amethyst, emblazoned the enormous sky, then it darkened to obsidian. As night deepened, random lights of fireflies blinked more frequently until the canopy below, billowing in dark waves, sparked with benign, green embers under a star-speckled sky.
It was beautiful to watch the skies align and I was so glad I put it as one of my goals.
"I can feel a speech coming on, so may I be the first to start by saying that you guys are honestly the best things to ever happen to me" Mikey said, pulling me a little closer to him as he wrapped his arm around my waist. I lay my head down on his shoulder and let out a contented sigh.
"I was thinking the same" Rye said, copying my action to Andy to where Brook must've felt left out and scrambled to do the same to Jack; Jack would usually push him off but he let it slide this time. "I'm never usually the one to come out with stuff like thisbut you guys are honestly the greatest group of people ever that have come into my life and are the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you for always being here for me when I need yous"
"Ditto" Jack said and I felt his fingers intertwine with mine. "I've been a part of this band for just over a year now and already you guys are my best friends and we all know that Ari has been with me since the bloody dawn of the planet of the apes. You guys are my best friends and brothers slash sister and I wouldn't change yous for the world"
We went around like that in a circles for a while, revealing what we loved about each other and how thankful we were for one another until it got to me and I knew exactly what I was gonna say and I knew that the lads knew it to. It was kinda inevitable for me to talk about it.
"Well, I guess you can say I have a rough couple years when you break it down into your ABC's" I chuckled and Jack smiled at me; I knew for a fact that he loved it when I turned a serious situation of mine into a humorous one, it helped with the pain. "You all know what's going on and you all know what's going to happen which is one of the main reasons for me being so thankful for all five of you; none of you have left? You're all still here and believe me, if I was my friend and spent as much time with me as you guys do, I would have ran off a long time ago but you guys haven't. You're all still here and you haven't left and I know you're never going to leave, even when I'm not here and that makes me so happy to know. You've all taken so much time out to learn about me and to learn how much I need and when I need it, and I'm so thankful"
Everyone was getting a little teary eyed by the end of my small speech and I pulled them all into a massive group hug which lasted for a long time. Times like this I wouldn't change for the world. It was the times like this which I would cherish forever, even when I was gone.
"Thank you for being my best friends" I mumbled to them all. "I love yous"