Watercolour

Twenty Eight

Here it is; the long awaited chapter 28...

Alana's P.O.V

The car cruised down the motorway, travelling south. I was in the front passenger seat while Jace was sat in the back and we were only about 30 minutes into our hour and 40 minute long journey when he fell asleep. He'd been at training all day and even though I'd told him to try and wait until we were on the plane, sleep was obviously too enticing to be able to deny.

We'd just turned off the motorway when it had begun to rain and by the time we were on the slipway into the airport, enormous droplets of water were splattering onto the windscreen. Both the car park and the terminal were pretty desolate so check-in was swift and after saying bye to Dad, Jace and I were left with another 40 minutes to wait until we could board our plane. It was already half ten and I was beginning to feel sleepy.

Jace had accidentally packed his earphones in his suitcase, rather than his hand luggage, so we shared mine and I leant my head on his shoulder. I kept on drifting in and out of sleep every few minutes but on hearing the boarding announcement, I immediately got up, grabbed my rucksack and followed Jace down the stairs and out to the plane.

Once we had taken off, I turned slightly in my seat so I could rest my legs on his lap and lean my back against the window. I let Jace keep my earphones to himself for now and as I watched him doze off, I couldn't help but think about how grateful I was to have Jace in my life. Between the two of us, we'd been through a hell of a lot but we were still here, standing on our feet and just as happy to be alive.

I stared out of the window at the hovering clouds and before long, I felt my eyes becoming weary and eventually succumbed to sleep.

After hours of drifting in and out of sleep, reading, chatting and walking around to stretch my legs, we were finally told to return to our seats and prepare for landing. From the window of the plane, the wing was semi-illuminated by the rising sun; the lower half shining around the rim, the upper half several shades darker and as the plane dipped, the line between shadow and light moved.

As soon as we stepped off the plane I felt the heat hit me. It was only morning and I'd been here thousands of times before but no matter how prepared or expecting I was of the heat, it always seemed to take me by surprise.

"There he is," Jace said into my ear from behind me. I looked up from the documents in my hand and followed his arm to where he was pointing. Sure enough, on the other side of the barriers, was Luke. He looked up from his phone and scanned the room before finally spotting us coming through passport control. He smiled and gave a small wave and I immediately returned the gesture.

There's something that happens when you don't see someone you love for a long period of time. I can't quite put my finger on it; but changes you. It has to, because as soon as you seen them for the first time in however long, someghig switches back. And it's something you'd never realised had switched in the first place.

And in that moment it felt like a 'step one' on the way back to the original Alana.

*

After Jace and I had had our naps to recover slightly front he jet-lag, the three of us decided to head over to Ashton's house where luke knew Calum and Michael would be as well. They still didn't know that have and I were in the country as like had done a surprisingly good job at keeping it a secret.

"Let's go and check round the back," Luke suggested as he and Jace walked back down the drive. "Maybe they're in the garden and didn't hear the bell."