Chasing Euphoria

Chapter Fifty Nine

Cassie 

Being awoken by Adrian calling me was not how I imagined my day to start. From there, I had no way of going back to sleep. Matthew cried for two hours afterwards and nothing that either of us did would get him back to sleep. Now, even in silence, my ears ring with imaginary newborn cries. 

Luckily, babysitting was only one night. Hailee and Jackson arrived back in the early afternoon and in the morning, Landon tried to rest so I could sleep in the car on the way home. It didn't exactly work because we were still in the car and only had about thirty minutes left and I had only managed to nap for around an hour. Before going back to Landon's apartment, we promised to stop at Adrian's house. 

Whatever had happened between when we last saw him and this morning wasn't good and Landon and I were both worried, but tried not to discuss it in case we exaggerated the circumstances. 

"This isn't the way, Landon." I lifted my head up from the window having realised that I had no idea where we were. Allegedly, we were back in Northlyn Hills, yet I knew the area Adrian lived and this wasn't it. 

"Don't worry, we're taking a little detour." He said, rubbing his thumb back and forth on my thigh. 

Maybe I was too sleep-deprived to understand. I don't think he mentioned needing to do anything before. Considering I didn't know where we were, there was a chance there was something or somewhere he needed to go or see. He knew this place a lot better than me. "Is it a short cut or do you have errands to run?" 

"You'll see. It's nice here though, don't you think?" Landon glanced over at me and gestured to the greenery we were driving past. 

He wasn't wrong. They were all small cottage-style homes with a wrap-around porch. Each of them was unique with various colour schemes, some pastel, some neutral, and a few with black features. Flower beds lined the pathways up to the front door, all pristinely looked after as if everyone shared a gardener. On the other side of the road was a mix of fields, trees and benches next to a park. Couples were walking their dogs and an elderly couple strolled holding hands by the large pond, pointing to the ducks.  

If Landon hadn't pointed it out, I never would've appreciated how quaint and charming it was. What a peaceful life everyone there must live. 

"It's gorgeous." The corners of my lips curled up slightly into a smile. 

"It's not too far from the main city, about a ten-minute drive, fifteen on a bad day. You wouldn't have thought, would you?" He said. Apparently, Landon woke up today and decided to be a tour guide. I hoped that the next stop would be somewhere I could get a coffee. 

"Really? It's so different here. In a good way, of course. I can't understand how this can be so close to everywhere that's so much more modern. It's quite literally the best of both worlds." I said, rambling on. Not that I was lying. 

Landon was driving a lot slower as I took it all in and we fawned over certain aspects of the dainty neighbourhood. Then, he suggested, "How would you like to live here?" 

I turned my full attention to Landon, how had he already had time to think about where we could live when I only asked him the night before? Having expected that I would have to put all of my thought into the whole moving process, I was giddy learning that Landon was planning it too. 

"I'd love to live here, when did you come up with this?" I asked, wondering if he planned to drive us this way when we left the house or if it was a last-minute thing. 

"I'm not sure, I guess I always liked it around here but I had no reason to move out of my apartment. Then a few weeks ago I was driving here and was just imagining what it would be like for both of us to be here." Landon said. So he had been thinking about it before I asked? "I thought I'd be the luckiest man on earth to wake up every morning next to you."