A month later.
"Call me once you land, yeah?" Ashton brought me to LAX to fly all the way out to home in Greece for my family's annual trip.
This time Ana's in-laws were joining us. Luke would be there, but he wouldn't be able to arrive until day two or three due to recording and promotions he had to do. Ana and Jack would fly in from wherever they were and meet us on the island eventually.
"I will."
There wasn't a definite label on Ashton and me yet. We had gone on a few dates last month, spent as much time as we could together in between him flying out to different countries and him recording. We communicated as much as we could, and it was enough to make whatever we had work. Now that it was my turn to leave temporarily, I felt like things were going to go south quickly and I'd lose touch with Ashton. But I had to think positive according to Xander. I think my main worry was that Ashton would run back to Sarah while I was gone after he had gone a month without her.
"There's a layover in Munich, I think. I can call you there if I can find some peace and quiet."
"I can spare you the money to get in-flight Wi-Fi, I'm gonna miss you too much. I'm not sure I can go that long without talking to you." Ashton pouted as he tried to guilt trip me.
"We've gone longer times without talking." I mentioned. I didn't want to sound like I was testing our relationship, or whatever it was, but that was how it came off.
"It was rough though." He pulled me into a hug, my chin rested on his shoulder. I tried to remember his scent as I tried to every single time we were hit with parting for long periods of time. I wanted to find comfort in recalling what he smelt like, how his arms felt around my frame, and how the softness of his voice warmed me inside and out. "Your family is waiting for you. Looks like you're boarding now."
I looked over my shoulder to see my family patiently waiting. I looked back to Ashton. "I'll see you soon, Ash."
"Most certainly." He opened his arms again, pulling me into another hug. "If you need anything let me know." He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I liked how casual this felt, but it did scare me sometimes.
-
To our disadvantage there was a seven-hour layover in Frankfurt, no Munich. Afterward we'd fly to Athens for another long layover then land in Mykonos, back to our real home.
"I'll book a hotel now because I refuse to stay in this airport for seven hours. I do have work I need to get done." My dad had his laptop already placed in front of him once he connected to Wi-Fi.
"Yeah, that sounds nice." My mom mumbled She had an eye mask on since she planned on getting sleep now because she wasn't sure when she'd be sleeping again after this.
I made a quick call to Luke once we landed in Frankfurt and let him know we were okay. Unlike Luke, I didn't disappear for days at a time without saying anything.
"I kinda want to explore Frankfurt, but my body is telling me to just stay right here in bed." Xander sprawled out on the king size bed. His face smushed into the mattress.
"If you're up for it in an hour, we can go eat."
It was almost one in the afternoon in Frankfurt, meaning it was four in the morning back in California and not a likely time to call Ashton. I didn't want to be rude. It was one thing to call and wake up Luke, but another to wake up Ashton.
"Hey Ashton, it's Talia."
"Hey! How was the first flight?"
"Very long and very boring. Also very painful."
"Painful? Why's that?" I could hear Michael still yelling so that was a good sign of Ashton's whereabouts. I was worried he'd end up at Sarah's.
"I had the aisle seat." I began telling him how I continuously was hit on the elbow with the drink mobile as it would pass by. It was almost like the scene straight out of The Wedding Singer, when Glen made Julia take the aisle seat on their flight to Vegas because he hated when the mobile would pass and brush his "big shoulders." And as the mobile passed Julia it ended up hitting her elbow.
"Poor thing! Too bad I'm not there to kiss it."
"Whatever, Ashton."
"Whatever, Talia." He mimicked.
"I just wanted to call you and let you know that I landed in Frankfurt and not Munich."
"Eh, it's all Germany, not a big difference. I'll let you get some rest."
"Xander and I are gonna test out our German and find something to eat since it's like 1 or something. So I'll text you."
"Right. I'm probably going to get some sleep soon. It's 4 in the morning here. I was honestly only awake because Michael has not stopped shouting for 2 hours. I think he's losing momentum now."
"My next flight will leave at 9 AM your time, you'll most likely be asleep so I'll call you once I land in Athens at noon your time."
"Someone's good with numbers."
"Working with numbers at my dad's corporation surely helps."
"All right beautiful. Talk to you soon."
"Goodnight/good morning."
God, he sounded so adorable when he was tired and I didn't want to hang up. I could listen to that voice for hours.
"Finally done having phone sex with the drummer?" Xander was sitting up on the edge of the bed, flipping through the German channels and nothing looked familiar. "Because my stomach sounds like it's about to release a fucking Kraken."
We ended up in McDonald's, considering our lack of knowledge on German food and lack of time to spare. We sat in the McDonald's location, making fun of ourselves because of the very American choice of food.
-
The flight to Athens was almost a 3-hour flight and not a 10-hour flight that Frankfurt brought. As promised, I phoned Ashton but he didn't answer, consequently. I left a message to let him know I landed safe and that he could phone me any time after 9:30 PM his time. We had another long layover that I was going to spend sleeping now that the jet lag seemed to be catching up to my body.
My dad booked two hotel rooms again while throwing a diva-like tantrum because the second plane didn't have Wi-Fi, leaving him unable to get any work done. I think I had the worst sleep of my life. I couldn't even classify it as sleep, it was more like getting a good cardio work out in from all the tossing and turning I engaged in.
If I didn't pass out once we were in Mykonos I was going to be one unhappy girl.
We boarded the last plane that would finally land us in Mykonos in 35 minutes.
My mother spoke to Ana on the phone before we headed to the airport. Ana and Jack arrived in Mykonos the previous night and were already settled in.
-
I was stunned that it was cold in Mykonos, I didn't remember it getting cold when I lived here. Things did also look a tad different, but a good different, rather. The sun hadn't fully rose yet, giving the sky a burnt orange tint. And the birds were beginning to serenade the locals so they would know it was time to wake up.
I began to wonder about my old friends I grew up with and sadly left when I moved. Did they still live here? Did they go off to college? Were any of them married? I only wanted the best wishes for them and I hoped they were happy with whatever they were doing right now. I bet most of them had already started their lives unlike me. That was always a slap to the face.
We settled into the hotel we'd call home for an indefinite amount of time and I drifted into a much needed snooze.
Just trying to get these edits out asap while I have time. Please comment and vote.
Where are you from?
I'm from Texas!
