On The Hill

Chapter 15: together again

A new day began and Arya's phone was already flooded with messages, all from the same person.

-hi babe, I've got to go to the party now. Hope you have fun being boring without me haha-

-stop airing me-

-answer me-

"Uhhh" she sighed at his texts, over the period of 4 hours his mood changed so quickly.

She went onto Snapchat to see Matts story which was much worse than his texts....

A picture showed him and that girl Ruby- from school- together and the caption was.

-love this girl with all my heart-

Arya read the rest of his story, each one showed him to get more and more drunk, even kissing a girl in one. She didn't even care at this point, she was just glad she didn't have to go the party with him or even spend anytime with him.

—

"Breakfast is served" her dad placed down the plates, full of food, with steam rising from it.

They morning, it seemed to be fairly quiet around the site. The dew on the ground still sparkled and the birds began to sing in the trees. The site was beautiful, trees masked the caravans from the coastal wind, leaving the other side bear, showing acres of wild fields as far as the horizon.

"Arya, we are going to go out to look for some dinner tonight, do you want to come with us?" her dad, lent out the caravan, waiting for a reply as he cleaned his sunglasses.

"I think I'll stay here if that's ok" she spoke, patting storms head gently.

"Ok, well we won't be long" before too long, they were in the car, and she was left with the dog.

"You wanna go for a walk?" She smiled at him, petting him once more.

—

She made her way down the path, across the bridge, no one was around. The path was a Sandy grit, which created a satisfying crunch when walked over. Storm padded along, keeping his eye on how far away Arya was.

"Come on storm" she called him along. She came to the end of it and the space around her widened, the path split in two directions, one led to the beach and the other to the town, further in land. She was going neither of those ways.

Looked up from storm, she noticed something rather peculiar, it caught her attention.

Arya walked up to a tree, an old pine tree. It had a note on it, pinned with a thumb tack. It flapped in soft breeze.

She glanced to see if anyone was around in close proximity, but on one. It wasn't there yesterday but here it is now.

Arya read the contents, it stated.

Meet me at our usual spot
-R

It was short and didn't make much sense at first, she read it again to try and understand what it meant. Her eyes soon grew wide with anticipation, wondering. Was this sign for her? She thought of the only person she knew with the initial R. Surely it wasn't left for her though? It's too obvious, is it not?

Arya turned her head towards the trees, where the forest began. There was a small arrow on the sign pointing to the trees. She took one last look at the path she was on before heading into the woods.

She just had to check, even if no one was there, she had to check. Her head would not let her leave it, curiosity getting the better of her once again.

Storm ran ahead, still checking every few moments that Arya was close by. She knew where to go, there could have only been one place that the sign was referring to.

Storm hovered his nose above the ground sniffing familiar smells. Arya watched him as he led her up the hills, getting closer.

The sounds of the sea were starting to reach her ear, she was getting close. Anticipation started to build, combined with the quick beat of her heart as she used her energy to travel up the hills.

Making it up the last bit of the hill, she stopped to take a breath, now at the top she could see she was not alone.

There he stood so broad and tall, so calm, his hands on his pockets. The wind moved his jacket and hair, like a perfect animation.

Storm stood by Arya, glancing up at her, she could only watch him. He faced away from her, looking out upon the view. Moments passed and he still had not noticed her.

Arya couldn't speak, only stare, not being able to move.

He took a sigh but was caught off guard when storm sniffed by his leg. His head tilted down to see storms soft face looking up at him. His coat shone in the light and the glimmer of sparkle in his eye glistened with joy. His tag on his collar chimed as he walked or panted too hard.

He was aware that someone was now behind him and he turned to face Arya. She looked at him, their faces both turned to smiles.

A year apart and yet in those moments it felt like she'd never left. His face hardly looked any different, she was filled with pure joy.

"Arya I-..." before Robin could explain himself, the girl who stood in front ran towards him.

She met her body with his, pulling him into a hug, her head rested on his shoulder as he placed his arms around her. It was the same smell, she recognised it instantly. She smiled behind him, little did she know so was he.

She wanted it to last longer but it didn't feel right, especially since she hadn't seen or spoken to him in over a year.

The sun heated on their faces, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her. She didn't realise how much she had actually missed him. The silence didn't last long.

"We have a lot to catch up on..."