and we played

Chapter 56

MYA & ASHTON

MYA

It's five am and I'm awake.

Not only am I awake, but also walking along the racetrack in a pair of grey sweatpants, a white rib top and some sneakers, a paddock pass hung around my neck.

Along with me at five am are Ashton, who is matching my look by wearing a set of a grey hoodie and some sweatpants the same color, white sneakers and an APOLLO cap; Lewis and Aria, the first one in one of his old money looks, Aria in a pink crop top, high-waist jeans and some sneakers, and Levi and Chris. Fabio excused himself, having to go to the gym.

We at one point arrive at three e-scooters, all with the APOLLO logo.

"So, who's ready to explore the track?", my brother asks, a bit too excited for the hour. As if knowing what I'm thinking, my walking Sunshine in form of Aria Grant walks up to me and hands me a Pocket Coffee, winking once. I thank her with a nod and after opening the wrapper and biting once, I take the much-needed shot of espresso.

"I managed to get us three e-scooters for this morning. Please pair up, so two people can share a scooter."

Ashton puts a hand around my shoulders, making it clear I have a pair. Aria quickly goes to her boyfriend, while Levi comes next to Chris.

Lewis raises an eyebrow at the two, joking: "Are you sure you don't need another e-scooter? I don't know if we have any others, but OAKLEY seems to be opened and I could try to get one from them."

I instinctively look at the OAKLEY garage, where the pit crew is already fidgeting around, rehearsing for the pit stops during the race today.

Chris steps on the scooter, Levi behind him. "Nonsense, we're fine", the first one replies to which Levi comments: "Come on wifey, let us show them how it's done." Levi pulls out his phone from his pocket, starting to play Moonlight, the two starting to drive on the "I just wanna get high with my lover." They even choreographed put on some black sunglasses at the same time, and for once, I am glad someone filmed it, cause this is too precious. I once found a Lewis/Levi/Chris/Fabio fan page, I would lie if I would said I didn't follow it immediately.

Sharing a side eye, Ash and I step on the bike and also start driving along the track. The sun is rising, creating some amazing views of the scenery. I take out my phone and make a small video of the landscape, then take a video of me and Ash on this scooter. He's the one to actually drive, so I can take photos in the background.

As I place my phone back in safety, I sink my lips on his collarbone and come even closer, my body pressing on his. I can see he seems more tense now, our bodies so close, but we just keep driving.

It might be five am, but I don't regret waking up one bit.

~

ASHTON

We left Maddie and Lukas at the beach, while Mya and I keep driving to reach the place we'll go diving for pearls. Fabio gave us all the information earlier, so we just had to type it in the GPS. I'm behind the wheel, while Mya is looking outside the window, sipping from a coconut. We had breakfast at a small café with my sister and Lukas a few minutes ago, yet as we passed a lady selling coconuts at the margin of the road earlier, Mya made us stop cause she really wanted to get one.

I park the car in front of a hut and we step outside, going to meet the owner. He introduces himself as Will, ginger hair, blue eyes and a swimming suit. We follow him inside the hut, where he gives the two of us some equipment, then leads us to a swimming pool somewhere near the hut to give us some training.

We learn that he was born in Australia but moved here some time ago when he met his wife. He and Fabio met as the latter came here once, with whom, Will wouldn't tell us.

We are now walking along the shore to reach the point Will wants us to begin in. I have an arm around Mya's shoulder, kissing her from time to time. I still can't fucking believe I'm moving in with this girl next year. I still can't fucking believe my life comes together. And I can't believe that when she smiles, I'm the reason she's smiling for.

As we reach the point, Will helps us get inside a smile fisher's boat and we start sailing on the sea. Mya is about to jump any minute.

I chuckle. "Are you excited?"

"So excited."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"Never." Her whole attention is fully on me now. "Have you?"

"No, but I'm glad the first time I do it is with you."

She smiles even brighter, offering me a small kiss. I pull her even closer and we deepen our kiss, until the boat suddenly stops.

"We're here", Will says.

Mya nods, letting out a cheer, so close to jumping out of the boat. I sigh amused, yet I also somehow regret we're already here. If we would sail around the Pacific Ocean for days and I'd kiss her all the time, I'd still regret reaching the destination and having to pull away.

Will jumps first, then Mya, then me. 

We snorkel at first, to get familiar with the water. Luckily, Will brought us an underwater camera that Mya soon takes, to take picture of the wildlife, picture of me and selfies. I spot some oysters and point them to the others, so Will dives deeper to get them. They were sadly all empty. It's then we continue swimming, and Mya and I are also allowed to dive deeper. After I almost ran in a rock for looking at my girlfriend too much and not paying attention, I decided I should be more focused.

Mission failed.

I still keep looking at her.

Three hours and a bunch of empty oysters later, I hear Mya scream.

Since I was busy opening an oyster of my own and didn't know what was happening, I rush to her and find her with an oyster in her hands. One, that has two pearls.

"It's fate", she tells me.

"What is fate, sweetheart?", I ask her.

She takes one of the pearls in her hand, the other one she hands it to me. "Usually an oyster has one pearls. And if you think about it, that one pearl is precious on its own. But our pearls stand together. Because they know that no matter how precious life could be, only if the other one is there next to them, then it makes the life worth living."

I wrap one arm around her waist, pulling her close to me. "I love you, Mya", I whisper in her ear.

She looks me in the eyes and smiles.

A smile filled with promises.

"I love you too, Ashton", she answers.

And as she kisses me, I do not want to let go.