Chase You -1- Formula 1

79. Bonding moments or something

We kept watching the sunset turn in to a dark night sky filled with stars. We were just busy having a heartfelt conversation, not realising that all the people surrounding us had turned to their rooms and before we knew it, it was somewhere in the early am. A soft summer breeze blew my hair out of my face as we sat on two sunbeds on the beach. The sound of soft waves crashing into rocks filled the silence whenever we weren't speaking, though that was only on rare occasions. A few lanterns lighted up the path leading back to the hotel, but we didn't desire to go to sleep just yet. Not wanting this night to end. What if the morning wasn't the same?

There were only a few times where I could really acknowledge the value of a moment, knowing it'd become a memory someday. This was one of those moments. Together with one of my closest friends, finally, on the holiday I craved for since we planned to do this. The waiting was worth it now that we were sitting here, having heartfelt conversations.

It had been a while since I talked with someone and being truly invested in what the other said. With Lando, those things were impossible, for a weird reason I hadn't found yet. With George, everything went smoothly. We talked about the future, some more about how scared we were for what the future might hold for us. Life passing by fast had been a primary subject of many of our conversations these past few hours, but it appeared to be something that kept showing up in any type of way. Sophia's death might have influenced that, but George and I hadn't talked about Sophia yet, until now.

"Dais, I don't want to be that person, but is Lando blocking you from grieving?" George asked all out of a sudden. Okay, maybe not all out of a sudden. The last ten minutes I rambled about my sister, recalling some memories that just kept coming up the more I spoke. I had forgotten some of them and as I continued speaking new things came to mind.

"What? Of course he isn't. I'm just not struggling as much as everyone is expecting... Lando on the other hand is struggling and I will do whatever it takes to help him. That is not stopping me from grieving, that is actually the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Honestly, George, I thought you were smarter." I looked away from him to just roll my eyes, was this guy serious?

"It just comes across as if you have no time to take things your own way because you have to soothe him all the time," George said, which confused me even more. "I just think it's strange, he and Soph weren't even that close..."

"I wouldn't search too much behind it, sweetie," I sighed. "He copes differently than I do and I want to help him with that. I consider it important for him to be doing alright and if I can help him, I will."

"I understand that, but you shouldn't forget about yourself and your own feelings."

"After Soph's death, I just feel so numb. I highly doubt if I even have feelings to care about," I scoffed, I turned to my side, face to face with George. Our fingers intertwined as he copied my pose. "It's stupid innit?"

"No, of course not, you're just taking your time, there is nothing wrong with that. All that I'm saying is that I doubt if you have the time to have feelings," he admitted. "You know, a half-hour of therapy every week is not enough to process something like the death of a family member."

Okay, no need to call me out. "When summer break is over, I promise I will take care of my mentality. Now, I just want to pretend nothing ever happened, do you understand? I don't want to hear a single thing about Lando, Sophia or anyone we left at home. If they were really that relevant, we would've taken them with us." Okay, maybe Soph would be an exception, as she couldn't go anywhere anymore.

"Loud and clear," George chuckled, shaking his head.

For the first time this evening, it fell truly silent. I had no clue what to say to George that didn't sound cliché or like it came out of my mum's notebook with conversation starters, which I memorised for parties with relatives I didn't quite remember. At least she got compliments on what an amazing daughter she raised, so I must've done something right.

We sat there for a while, still in comfortable silence. Having no idea what George was doing -he appeared to have fallen asleep- thoughts wandered through my mind, some of them making me feel a bit nauseous. Especially when thinking about my mum, I started feeling worse. I left her behind again and this time the circumstances at home were different too. Even though she started getting on my nerves, I came to the realisation I should've stayed with her to get her through this time.

I took a glance to my side, George most likely slept now. His grip on my hand had also loosened. Not wanting to let go of him, I twisted and turned until I could grab my phone that I had put in my bag. I received a couple of messages I still needed to respond to, but I decided to put priority on answering my mum, who asked if I had everything under control a few hours ago. I assumed she slept right now, I couldn't blame her if she did. If it was past midnight here, the same counted for the UK. I let her know George and I were both doing alright, but I also mentioned that I missed her a little bit. With those words, I shoved my phone back in my bag, sighing deeply when turning back on my comfortable side.

A bit later, I felt the need to pinch George as he started snoring. With such peaceful surroundings, the snoring of a friend ruined the whole moment. Respectfully, I woke him up. After rubbing his eyes, he stared at me as if I just murdered his entire family.

"If you're that tired, we can just go to our room and sleep," I suggested, not craving to sleep outside. "You have three more days to lay on this beach bed." We'd go to Mykonos a few days later for a change of scenery, and the parties, of course.

"Are you sure?" He asked, furrowing his brows. "If you want to stay here I'll-" his speech got interrupted by a yawn "-stay awake with you."

I insisted on going back to our rooms, though that didn't decrease George's snoring problem. It actually made it worse. As we shared a room, more specifically a bed, my state of relaxation got absolutely ruined. I pushed his arm a couple of times, which caused him to shut up for approximately ten seconds on average. Eventually, after covering my ears with my pillow and untangling myself from his embrace, I took my blanket and pillow with me and went to sleep on the couch. A great start of the holidays so far...

---

Shuffling noises woke me up from a rather uncomfortable night. I swore I just dozed off and now the day started again. I rubbed the sleep out of my face and hummed, looking over my shoulder expecting movements. Confusing enough, no one stood in the same room as I did, but a bit after my inspection, the door of the bedroom opened and George entered the living area wearing his 'lovely' pyjamas.

"You look like an idiot," I commented, brushing my hands through my hair. I stood up from the couch and walked up to George, who now poured water in a glass. He just showed a smile and brushed his hand over my arm. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you too," he said, before taking a sip of water. For some reason, he seemed to be glowing today. A charming smile and just good vibes. "Just when I thought I'd finally wake up next to you, you're gone."

"You got yourself to blame," I admitted. "You kept snoring the entire time!" He raised his brows, finding my words hard to believe. "I swear, I almost punched you, but then I realised sleeping on the couch was a better idea."

"I'm sorry?" George chuckled and shook his head a couple of times. "I will not do it again."

"I hope so. I refuse to sleep on the couch the entire vacation," I made clear. "Now, do you want breakfast? Kate told me the food here was amazing and I can use a snack, to be honest."

George agreed with me. Both of us dressed up in a quite casual outfit instead of our pyjamas and went downstairs for a quite luxurious breakfast. As we ate the food, we went through our planning of the day. We wanted to see as much as Athens as possible in a short period. Our whole days were stuffed, on the other hand, it would all be worth it. My main goal this vacation was to cross off every single thing Kate had written down on a list for me, starting today.

~~~
A/n:
The fact I looked forward to write these chapters ever since I started this book and now have NO inspiration whatsoever is pretty annoying. I really want to say more, but I have no clue to be completely honest with you.

If you haven't filled in the form concerning the sequel yet, please do! I'm surprised with the current statistics to say at least, all in a positive way of course.

I love you, you're amazing, you're valid. I don't have much more to say, ciao ciao.

xx Meg