Follow the Sky ➳ dylan au

➳eight➳

I woke up when Thomas shifted and my head fell off his shoulder.

Rubbing my eyes, I blinked away sleep to see we were parked in front of a beach, and Eddie had his hand on a sleeping Holland's leg, slowly moving up.

I grabbed the album--the closest thing that could cause harm--and slammed it down on his arm, screaming, "Get your fucking hand off her!"

Of course, that woke up the rest. I was fuming, breathing heavily out of my nose.

"Jesus Christ. . ." Eddie murmured, rubbing the red spot on his arm that would obviously become a nasty bruise later.

"You disgust me," I spat as I got out of the taxi. "I'm not letting him drive us any further."

Tyler, Holland, and Thomas scrambled out of the car, grabbing their stuff out of the trunk.

I went and sat on a bench, calming down. Holland sat next to me, asking me what had happened.

Once I explained, her skin went pale and she looked like she wanted to puke.

I watched as Tyler and Thomas yelled at the pervert until he drove off without getting any money out of our pockets.

I placed my hand on my forehead, closing my eyes.

"Well, this is great," Tyler spat as he sat on the bench. "We're in Clearwater, Florida."

"This must be the famous Clearwater Beach, then," Thomas remarked, then sighed. "It's still not where we want to be, though."

I frowned and stated at the ground. So close, yet still so far. . .

I flipped to the picture I deemed my favorite and handed the album to Tyler, pointing at the picture.

"Can you tell me that story?" I asked softly, curious. "I saved it for one of the last. That's my favorite picture."

Tyler smiled a little as he looked at it. "Sure. Okay, so, this was senior prom. Dylan was on the ballot for king, and, like all fairy tales go, he won. Everlyn Kingsly was the Queen, but they never danced together; he remembers everyone who has treated you wrong, and Everlyn was practically the girl version of Gian. Over the years in high school, Everlyn spread more rumors about you than anyone could believe. You went into a deep stage of depression. I. . ." He stopped, choked up all of a sudden, looking at my wrists. "You did something. Something that made Dylan punch a hole through a wall. Once Everlyn found out, she told everyone, as usual. However, no one snickered. No one even cracked a smile. Everlyn became the most hated person in school like that, but, of course, she bribed her way onto the ballot."

Holland sniffled, and I reached over and wiped her tears away. Thomas grabbed my hand and gave a little squeeze, and I could see he was trying not to cry.

"A-Anyway," Tyler continued. "Dylan turned Everlyn down on stage, and he was applauded. Then he went to the mic and said loudly: I give the crown up to whoever wants it. I don't need a crown. If Trinity Rowenbliss loves me, that's a prize enough."

I giggled a little, then sighed. "God. I just wish things would go as I wanted sometimes."

Tyler shrugged and handed me the album. "Life's no fairy tale. There'll be falls and dramatic rises in the most unexpected of times."

Holland looked back at the beach, then she stood and looked at the cars around us. "Hey, Tyler! Does this look like Dylan's car?"

Tyler jogged over to the car and looked at it. "A little, yeah."

Thomas and I went over to the car, too, and Thomas peered in the window.

"Guys, it's his car," he said, smiling, and we all joined him at the window, looking in. "The picture on the seat."

I looked at the picture: it was me. I was standing in front of a huge castle.

"Cinderella's castle," Holland murmured. "He's here."

I moved away and looked at the beach. "There aren't too many people."

"Well, let's look!" Tyler said, and I smiled widely, clutching the sweatshirt and the album to my chest. "Let's leave out bags and shoes under the car."

Thomas opened the back door. "Or how about in?"

I kicked off my flats and shrugged my bag off into the backseat, then raced out onto the sand.

I kept running, looking around for Dylan.

Holland caught up to me, pushing her hair out of her face, pointing at a person standing in the sand, his back to me and his hands in his pocket.

"C'mere," she murmured, pushing my curls out of my face and pulling them all to one side. "Go get him."

I smiled and made my way between people laying on the sand, murmuring excuse mes and sorrys every second before I was standing behind him, my heart pounding in my chest.

I reached out slowly and tapped his shoulder, and he turned to face me.

"Trinity?" He whispered, and I smiled.