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“Are you sure? Are you positive you have everything Chase?” Riley asked once again, scanning the base around them with a critical eye. “Honestly I can’t believe how much of your stuff ended up in the base, you were practically living here.”
“Yeah well, being dragged back to the states in a giant ice cube didn’t give me much time for any preparation.” Chase put his hands on Riley’s shoulders, leaning in until their noses were just barely brushing. “And yes I am positive I have everything. I’ve turned this base upside down looking for all my things.”
Riley stared at him.
And then, he tilted his head ever so slightly to the right to stare at a spot right behind Chase on the other side of the base. Chase turned slowly to follow his gaze to see a worn black beanie still lying on top of one of the chairs..
“...Oh.”
Riley laughed and shook his head. “You’re lucky you have me or else half of the contents of your suitcase would still be scattered around the base.”
“Thank you Riley.” Chase replied in a sing-songy voice as he went to grab the beanie to stuff it in his bag before he checked his watch. “Almost time to go isn’t it? We don’t want to leave Tyler and Shelby waiting.”
Riley nodded, and both of them grabbed their bags and dragged them to the exit of their base. They both turned around to give it one last look around, partially for nostalgia’s sake but also to make sure Chase really didn’t leave anything else in an incredibly obvious place.
“Well, this is it then.” Riley finally said, after some silence.
“Should I turn off the lights?”
“...I honestly still don’t even know how you do that in here.” Riley admitted.
Chase started laughing. “No one ever taught you? I thought you were joking when you said that on your birthday!”
“Why would I be lying?”
“I dunno, you seem the type to sass yourself if there was no one else around to sass.”
Riley shook his head. “Touching farewell ruined, let’s go. Ms. Morgan can deal with the electricity bill.”
Chase was still laughing to himself as they made their way out of the museum and towards Tyler’s jeep. The former red ranger brightened up like a beacon (as he always did) at the sight of them, waving his arms in the air as though he were in a crowd trying to get their attention even though they were the only people outside at the moment. Shelby on the other hand, looked considerably less impressed as she marched up to them.
“We’re already late. What took you guys so long?”
“Chase managed to end up with clothes in incredibly strange places.” Riley responded while helping Tyler put their bags in the back of the jeep before climbing in himself. “The most impressive one was finding a t-shirt in one of the beakers in storage.”
Chase shrugged as he climbed in. “I don’t even remember how it got there.”
“Well if you miss your flight don’t come crying to me.” Shelby crossed her arms.
But soon enough they were on their way, the sights of Amber Beach quickly blurring past them as they made their way towards the airport. There was something oddly familiar about this whole situation to Riley, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was until Tyler commented on it after a thrilling rendition he did of an N-Zed boys duet with Chase.
“This kinda reminds me of when we first met, doesn’t it?” He said, looking back at them briefly before returning his eyes to the road.
Oh, that’s what it was. “Yeah, with a few minor differences. There’s minus one scooter and plus one kiwi.” Riley poked Chase on the shoulder as he said this.
“Well, if you want you could ride me too, Riley.”
Shelby covered her ears. “Oh, my god. I do not need to be hearing you say this about the baby of our group.”
“I meant like a piggyback Shelby, get your mind out of the gutter.” Chase rolled his eyes, but then ruined it by turning to Riley and winking at him.
Riley shook his head, but felt his cheeks flush slightly. “You’re weird.”
“I know.”
It was rather sad when they finally reached the airport and realized that they finally had to get out of the jeep and leave. They had already said their goodbyes to the rest of the group earlier that day, and all that was really left was to say goodbye to Tyler and Shelby, who would be going off to meet up with Tyler’s dad somewhere on the other side of the United States. Shelby was the first one to go up to Riley, giving him a tight hug before jokingly patting him on the head. “Take care. Make sure Chase doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ll definitely give it a shot.”
Tyler’s goodbye was a bit more of a surprise, because after they did their hugs Tyler pressed something into Riley’s hands. Something...rectangular? “You got me a journal?” He asked.
“I figured you might want something like it since you’re going to be able to explore New Zealand properly with Chase.” Tyler’s face grew a bit more gentle as he continued. “And, it’s kind of nice to be able to write in it if you get homesick for whatever reason. Address some entries to your mom or your brother, even if you never actually give it to them. It helps.”
Riley smiled. “Thanks Tyler, that’s really sweet of you.”
He and Chase gave the both of them one last wave after they properly checked in. Tyler was still waving at them wildly even as they went higher up on the escalators leading them up to the rest of the airport, and Riley was sure that he probably kept waving a while after they disappeared too. He was really going to miss them, but in his mind all of this was worth it, because the person he would have missed the most out of all of them was still standing right next to him. He wasn’t looking forward to when he finally had to come home, but for now he was going to bask in the fact that they’re here and they’re together.
Riley turned to look at Chase and almost opened his mouth to say something, but quickly decided against it. Instead, he stuck his hand out as they walked, their fingers brushing together slightly in those few moments before Chase realized what was going on. He saw Chase glanced down for a split second before Riley finally felt his hand curl around his own. And still, neither of them said anything. But they were both smiling as they continued on their way.