This Love

3

"I can't believe that we're finally here" Lexi squeals when we enter the airport in Melbourne, "yeah the lead up has been so much" I add as we walk towards the luggage carousel to pick up the rest of our bags. Jill is basically skipping as we get there, I hoist my bag off of the rotating belt extending the handle ready to get outside. A few minutes later the three of us have our belongings so we walk out of the airport towards the car rental place, where Lexi is going to handle the rental. "Can you even drive here Lex?" She looks over her shoulder at us, "yes of course, my aunt made sure of it" we nod and follow her to the counter where an employee is smiling at us.

We get into the car later stuffing our bags in the trunk and the empty seat of the backseat. "Okay are you guys ready for this drive?" I nod happily and Lexi leaves the parking lot heading towards her aunt's place. I roll down my window as we drive, my eyes not knowing what to focus on as we get deeper into the city. "Babe why haven't we done this before, I think I'm in love" Jill exclaims making Lexi laugh, "my aunt has never offered so I didn't think it was an option" she replies, "well make sure to thank her times one thousand" I add, "will do girls" I smile and lean back in my seat shutting my eyes starting to feel the tension leave my body.

I jolt awake later feeling the car come to a stop, I blink squinting slightly at the sunlight. "Morning Cal" I look over at Jill who is grinning" I groan, "how did I fall asleep so quickly" I mumble, "jet lag? work stress?" Lexi says while turning in her seat, "yeah true, but I'll stay awake for the rest of this day, I swear" they laugh and get out of the car. I follow along grabbing some bags from the backseat where I was sitting. My eyes widen at the building in front of us, "woah" I say, "yeah I know right, and she has the penthouse" I shake my head shocked before helping to pile our bags onto a luggage cart. Two of us go inside the building with the key to get up to the apartment, while Lexi drives the car to the designated underground spot for the penthouse.

——

Me and Jill walk into the penthouse apartment a few minutes later. My jaw drops at the view through the floor to ceiling windows. The two of us approach the window looking out over Melbourne, "this is amazing" my friend mumbles, I nod feeling entranced by the city. The door shuts making me turn away from the window, "kinda great right" Lexi says with a grin, "that's putting it mildly" I reply making her laugh.

"Guys check this out" we turn to Jill who is holding up some lanyards, "what are those?" Lexi asks, "passes to the Australian Grand Prix" I walk over grabbing one of the passes, "wow that's pretty cool" Lexi takes the card from the coffee table. "Thought you girls would want to go see this, seems to be quite the event when it comes to town" I smile at her Aunt's comment, "I mean I can get behind some racing" I say with a shrug, "ditto" Lexi smiles, "well looks like we found something to do" we all nod and drop the passes back on to the coffee table. "Enough about that let's explore this penthouse, I want to call dibs on a room" I laugh but follow my friends as they walk towards the various hallways in hopes of finding the bedrooms.

——

I'm laying on my chosen bed a few minutes later, my phone, with its overseas sim card, in front of my face researching things to do in the area at this time of year. A knock on my door makes me look away from the screen, "we're ordering some food come help us decide" I nod enthusiastically at Jill's statement as I hop off the bed. In the living room the three of us crowd around Lexi's phone scrolling through the options for dinner. "I don't see why we need to neglect pizza, it never lets us down" I interject, "don't you want to get something different since we're on vacation?" Lexi asks, I shrug but keep watching as she scrolls, "how about we do both? Get a pizza and other stuff" Jill suggests, "see this is why we're friends babe, you're the smart one" we laugh and finally come to a decision for dinner, the only thing left is to wait for it to get here.

An hour later we're sitting on the couch our food spread out on the now vacant coffee table. "This feels like home" I say while grabbing some food, "yeah nothing actually changed" I roll my eyes but we keep eating while setting up the big screen tv for Netflix. I smile sinking into the plush couch feeling at peace because I don't need to think about anything outside of this present moment. "I could get used to this" I mumble, "same" my friends reply in unison, making me giggle. "Enough chatter lets watch" Lexi exclaims while pressing play on the show we decided to watch.