Ashley’s POV
After experiencing tours, you quickly learnt that they were made up of next to no sleep, coffee, panadol and a whole lot of fun. My life before Shaun was entirely different. The nightmares I used to have had almost stopped, the day actually had meaning. Last night, my 18th had been so amazing that it was worth the pounding ache behind my eyes everytime I opened them. I popped a few panadol tablets into my mouth before attempting to sit up. I had been drunk before I admit, a few times, but that had been drinking for the sake of forgetting everything. This hangover, although it was the worst I’d had, was also the best. Beside me, Shaun had disappeared leaving a note in his place. I screwed up my eyes to read the messy scrawl of letters spelling out a message. Smiling, I forgot the pumping hangover and got up, turning the shower on to full blast and scrubbing the glitter off from last night. In my bag was a heap of black skinnies, hoodies and the type of clothes I used to wear.
But now, I had forgotten the past, or was trying to. I ignored those clothes and pulled on a high waisted skirt, singlet and sandals, letting the natural curls of my hair show through.
I followed the instructions on the piece of paper that had been left behind, ending up in the middle of the city in some random coffee place. This was quite obviously part of Shaun’s plan because the waitress handed me a cup of coffee with another note stuck on it, this would have taken forever to organize. Nobody had ever put his much effort into anything involving me before. Really, they’ve never even bothered to look past the sad broken image I presented. The hot coffee was just what I needed though. It stopped me feeling so woozy and heavy, and the note on the cup lead me somewhere else. After a while on a train, I found myself at a shopping centre, just outside jay jays. This used to be my favorite shop and Shaun knew that. Sure enough, the person behind the counter handed me a bag. Inside, was a spongebob bikini and sun glasses. I finally figured what he was playing at, I told him ages ago while we were sitting on a beach that I always wanted to see Bondi Beach. I smiled a thank you at the girl before pulling a map out of the bag. Having never been to Sydney besides that abortion, Shaun was obviously sending me on a scenic tour. Now, I looked totally different. I wasn’t in danger of being attacked by fangirls.
An hours worth of trains, buses and a bit of walking later, I did end up in Bondi Junction. The last place marked on Shaun’s map was a house, I had no idea who lived here. Sonny answered the door, I hadn’t seen him since he left weeks ago, he had only been around for a bit of the tour. He hugged me which I didn’t expect and handed me a large wrapped thing with a ‘Happy Birthday, Ash’ in his house. I opened it, and inside was a large blow up Havaiana thong and some chocolate. He gave me another note with a wink, which informed me Shaun was not too far away. I took my bags and assorted junk I’d bought this morning and found Shaun on the beach. It was after 3 by now, and I was starving. Shaun had brung food, I had brung cheese. Sounds random but today wasn’t Tuesday, it was Cheeseday!
It did make him laugh, we sat in a muddle of legs and arms, feeding each other cheese and the chocolates from sonnys present. I had put my new Spongebob swimmers on up at Sonny’s, Shaun produced some bright blue zinc cream and we took it in turns to draw on each other. I bought my camera again today, wanting to take as many photos of my time here as possible. We pulled stupid pose after stupid pose, blowing kisses and doing bunny ears behind each others heads. The water was amazingly warm, the blow up thongs were the funniest things I’d ever been on in water. Practically un-controllable we crashed again and again, swam for hours. Tomorrow morning, Short Stack had a show, just a small one before their big show at the Opera House so we made the most of the day. We left after dark, when it was too dark in the water and I was starting to get goosebumps. It was still a fair way back to the hotel but we decided to make our way back rather than crash with Sonny.
Shaun held my hand tight in the semi darkness, gripping me close to him. When I used to be terrified to be alone, I used to tell myself un the dark “Are you afraid of the dark or are you afraid of you, Ashley”. Somehow, it seemed like the right thing to say now. ‘Are you afraid of the dark or are you afraid of you, Shaun’ I muttered in his ear before he hugged me closer. ‘Definitely myself when I’m with you…’ he whispered and kissed me hard. By the time we got back it was after 10, so instead of just going to bed we went to annoy Nax and Aleesha. They were in the main room where we had the party last night, playing truth or dare. We joined in and it was great until Imogen picked truth and her question was “Do you have feelings for Shaun?”
