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Twenty two hours. That’s how long it takes to fly from London to Sydney. Twenty two, long, painful, hours. I was exhausted. I wasn’t even aware sitting on my arse could be so exhausting. All I wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep. Sleep for a week.
“But Sophie!” A voice whined as I pulled the covers further over my head.
I groaned in response, “Go away Calum.”
“You’re only here for a week!” He protested, “You should be making the most of the time we have!” He had a point, but I was too exhausted to care. All I wanted to do was snuggle up and sleep.
Calum and I had been dating for two years when my parents moved back to England, taking me with them. I’d wanted to break up, the idea of long distance hadn’t appealed to me. I loved Calum, but I didn’t want him to feel trapped. He, on the other hand, had no desire to end things and had practically screamed at me for suggesting it.
“Calum, baby, a few hours in bed isn’t going to kill us.” I mumbled, trying to pull him into bed.
“But there is so much to see and do! Baby, don’t you want to go and explore? There are so many adventures to have!” He grinned like child, but I just pulled the duvet closer.
“I want to nap! Then we can explore.” I chuckled, leaning up to place a kiss on his jaw.
He sighed, looking at me uncertainly, “Do you not want to be here?” he blurted, “I mean I know you wanted to break up and I wouldn’t let you. Is this because you don’t want to be with me?”
“Are you fucking stupid?” I shouted, sitting bolt upright. I’d never seen Calum act insecure before. Never. I didn’t know how to react.
“I, Sophie, I just don’t get why you’d prefer to lie in bed that do something…” He furrowed his brow and I couldn’t help but laugh because he just looked like a confused child. I leant over placing a kiss on the end of his nose.
“I want to be here. I want to be with you. I also want to sleep. Twenty two hours on a plane is a long time. I’ve barely slept, and I was sat next to a crying baby the whole way. Adorable kid. Not so much when I want to sleep.” I laughed, “I just want to be able to enjoy the time I have with you, without being exhausted.” I added more seriously.
He sighed, finally relenting, “Can we go on adventures afterwards?” he asked, looking up at me through his long lashes and I chuckled.
“I already have something planned! Luke’s mum sorted something out for me.” I smiled.
This seemed to brighten his mood, because next thing I knew he was crawling under the covers with me. “So we’re going to go adventuring later, right?” he confirmed as he snuggled closer to me.
“You are such I child.” I giggled, turning to face him, “Yes, we are going to go adventuring.” I couldn’t help but stare at his face. I never wanted to stop looking at it. It was the first time I’d seen him in so long, and it physically pained me to be so far away from him. I reached up, placing my hand on his cheek, just to check he was still real.
“Please never leave me.” I whispered as I felt tears prick my eyes, and my throat begin to close up. The idea of Calum leaving me was painful. The idea of going back to England alone was almost as bad. The truth was I hadn’t slept on that flight because I was far too excited. He was going to be waiting for me at the other end, and how could I sleep when I knew that?
“Now who’s the idiot?” he smirked, pulling me closer, so our noses were touching, “I’ll be here as long as you want me, and probably longer because I’m just never going to accept this could come to an end.” he smirked, finally kissing me.
I’d kissed him at the airport. It had been one of those overdramatic running at each other from the other side of the room, pick me up, twirl me around, kisses, but it didn’t compare to this. It was slow and soft, and so, so meaningful. Like he was letting me know he was never going to let me go. “I love you, Sophie.” he whispered into my lips, and I swear to god my name has never tasted so good.
I fell asleep pretty soon afterwards, and when I woke three hours later I was still in the same position and Calum was still awake, his arms still wrapped around me. “Morning sleepy head.” he chirped, his good mood still present. Not that it ever wasn’t. It was why we worked so well, we were so happy all the time, and we just lifted each others moods.
“Did you watch me sleep?” I laughed, sitting up.
“Pft, no.” he smirked, and it was adorable. I’d forgotten how much I missed it.
“A week isn’t long enough.” I frowned, nuzzling into his neck.
“It isn’t. So we should make every second count!” he chirped.
“What time is it?” I rolled my eyes.
“Uh, seven?” he shrugged.
“Shit.” I mumbled, jumping out of bed. “We have to go!” I shouted as I ran to the bathroom to freshen up quickly. I grabbed a pair of jeans, and one of Calum’s jumpers to wear over my top and changed.
“What’s the rush? Adventurers don’t rush!” he called, and I rolled my eyes. I swear to god he was the biggest child I had ever met.
“Well this one does!” I called back, toothpaste frothing from my mouth. I’d spent weeks talking to Liz about things I could do with Calum, and she’d suggested this. She had a friend who worked there who could arrange it for us, and I couldn’t think of anything more perfect or romantic.
“Are you ready?” I asked as I exited his bathroom.
“Yeah.” he frowned, clearly confused about what was going on.
“Pass me your car keys then.” I smirked. He was going to love this. I just knew it.
“You are not driving my car!” he protested, but my pout won him over. He didn’t bother asking where we were going. He knew me better, and I was thankful, because, honestly, I was too excited to keep it a secret if he asked.
The drive took a little over half an hour, and when we pulled up I saw Calum’s eyes go wide before he frowned, “It’s closed.”
“Only to everyone else.” I smiled brightly.
“How?” he asked, following me up to the front door.
“Liz helped me, and the fact you’re like Sydney’s golden boy.” I rolled my eyes. Since the band had taken off he’d been finding it hard to pay for things. The first time it happened he’d come home and skyped me at stupid o’clock in the morning. Some girl who worked at starbucks recognised him and refused to let him pay for his drink. It had become slowly more frequent, and his reaction was still the same every time. He couldn’t believe that people could recognise him. It was weird for me too. I’d been in class the other day and Louise was talking about going to see this band she’d just heard of. It was odd to me, because these were boys I’d known for a long time, and now people were ‘hearing about them’ and to me that was just weird. People had crushes on Luke, people who’d never met him, and I couldn’t wrap my head around that. Nor could Calum.
“So what exactly are we doing here?” he asked as the guard opened the doors for us.
“I thought we could go digging for gold!” I joked, “What do you think we’re doing at an aquarium?”
“I love you, you know that right?” he smirked, pulling me close, placing a kiss on my lips.
“You’re such a softie!” I laughed, pulling away to greet our guide.
“Hey!” she smiled. She looked about our age, with wispy blonde hair. “I’m Amanda, and I’ll be your guide tonight! I say that, but I’ve been told to leave you guys to your own devises. I’ll be here if you want or need me though!”
I thanked her, and dragged Calum off towards where I knew the whales were. I’d only been here once before, and it was on my first ‘date’ with Calum. We’d been fifteen and he’d convinced me to skip school with him. I thought he was an idiot. I couldn’t possibly skip school, but the boy had always been a charmer and he’d managed to convince me somehow. So we ended up on a bus into the city. He’d brought me here. We were stood by the sharks when he asked me if I liked him. There was nothing cute or romantic about it, no suggestion that he even liked me just, “Do you like me then?” that was it.
I stuttered and stumbled for so long he eventually put me out of my misery, “It’s okay, I like you too.” I’d been planning on Calum telling me he liked me in some grand and beautiful way...like standing outside my window with a boom box, but this was perfect in our own little way.
We wandered for a while, not saying anything, just watching the animals. “They’re so beautiful.” I whispered, watching the fish as they swam.
“Can we go see the stingrays now?” he asked as we reached the end of the tunnel and I nodded. I loved it here. I wish I’d come here more often when I lived here.
We wandered around the stingrays for a while, Amanda even came over so that Calum could touch them. It was like watching a kid at Christmas, “You have to try this, Sophie!” he called as he stroked the stingray. Normally I’d protest, but the look on his face made it impossible. So I did, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
“Can we go see the sharks?” I asked, as he climbed away from the tanks. I caught the smirk on his face as I asked.
“Yeah.” he smiled, pulling me to his side and entwining our hands. We wandered some more, before stopping at the shark tank. It was weird to see them so close. From here it was hard to see how they could possibly be dangerous.
“I have something to ask you.” Calum stuttered. “I haven’t told you this yet, because I wanted to wait until you got here, but the band...we’ve been asked to go on tour with One Direction, and well it’s a world tour, and I know you’re taking a gap year and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with us. I asked they guys and they don’t mind. I...please say yes?” he asked desperately and I felt my heart melt. My boys were getting famous, and touring with One Direction, well that was something, really something. Me going on tour with them? I’d love to, but how could I justify it to my parents, or even to myself?
“I’d love to.” I blurted, well there was no going back now. Calum’s smile literally took up the whole of his face and it was infectious. I threw myself at him, kissing him deeply.
“Oh, and one more thing.” Calum smiled as he pulled away, he took a step back and sunk to the floor. “Will you marry me?”
THE END