Taking On The World - A 5 Seconds Of Summer Story

Chapter 1

Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We’ll make the great escape

-The Great Escape, Boys Like Girls

I had taken the mint green kombi van in the hopes that the adventurous nature of it would find me.

It had been my older brother’s partner in crime since he was eighteen-years-and-three-months old.

But now at twenty-three years old, Zak was firmly situated in university and no longer wanted to drive around in the old van he’d once used to chase his surfing dreams.

It was strange how that mint green piece of junk represented so much.

Only four years ago, Zak had been shirtless in board shorts, with hair long and blonde and tangled, his eyes wild with the call of the sea.

The kombi had been full of laughter, loud boys, sand and saltwater stains, with surfboards tied to the top.

Nowadays, the kombi looked the same, but Zak had changed.

He’d cut his hair short and slick, and taken to wearing button-up shirts and khakis, choosing a life of commerce at university, things he’d sworn on his young life he’d never do.

And when I turned eighteen, the kombi was destined to become mine.

Not like it hadn’t become my safe haven over the past few years anyway.

On the nights when the drinking and fighting got bad, I’d sneak away to the backyard where the kombi had been left to rot and lie down on the worn seats, staring at the stars through the dusty window.

The morning I turned eighteen, I was up at six-am with my bag packed and my hopes high.

I grabbed two water bottles, a box of muesli bars, a sandwich, and the contents of our spare change jar, leaving a torn piece of notepaper on the table as a means of goodbye.

Then I was gone.

Zak and I had said our goodbyes last night.

Sometimes I reckon Zak understood me better than I did myself.

He always knew when I was gonna run and when I was sleeping in the kombi. He knew what made me happy and what made me sad and what made me feel free.

He knew that this was what I had to do.

And now finally, after years of waiting, it was my turn.

My P’s were stuck firmly to the windscreens on either end, and the steering wheel was blissfully rough and familiar in my hands.

Normally, I’d have to wait until I was eighteen to get my license, but this was a small town, and the head (and only) police officer had gone driving with me enough times to test me for my license the day before my birthday when I’d asked.

It was a small town; he knew the score.

I didn’t bother with the radio, just rolled down the stiff window and breathed in the warm summer air that blew in as I drove down the dirt roads and away from this backwards, nothing town where I’d grown up.

But damn, I’d miss that beach.

I couldn’t help but say goodbye.

I parked out at the lookout point, getting out of the van and leaning against the rail.

The air tasted of salt and the wind up here, even in the summer, was cool on my slightly tanned skin, my loose white t-shirt and cutoff denim shorts doing nothing to protect me.

I closed my eyes, resting my forearms on the splintered wood and breathed in deep, trying to memorise the smell of my childhood.

I heard the growl of an engine slamming in from the right and I opened my eyes, stepping back wards to look out at the car.

It was old and dented, strips of dusty pale blue torn away to reveal the dull silver underneath.

Honestly, I was surprised it was even running.

It looked like a death trap, and I worried for the driver inside.

It shuddered to a halt near my kombi and the engine shut off with a sigh.

I watched in interest as the driver swung out of the car.

Despite the languid heat of an Australian summer, his long legs were clad in black jeans and a long dark grey Lone Star t-shirt hid his long torso. His arms were muscular and dark sunglasses shaded his eyes. His hair was dark blonde and curled across his forehead.

I couldn’t tell how old he was exactly, but he moved with the lazy grace of a young man who hadn’t done it tough.

I didn’t take my eyes off him as he approached me, leaned against the rail and stared out at the crystalline sea.

“Beautiful view.” He said.

His voice was low and laced with a hidden softness beneath the rough outlay.

I nodded in agreement, returning to my original position and following his gaze out. “Sure is.”

“You been here long?”

“My whole life.”

“That’s a small town you got there.”

“I bet it’s about as big as your backyard.”

He chuckled. “Not quite.”

My lips lifted in an honest smirk.

I wasn’t even protective over the place, never having a desire to call it home, aside from this one beach where I’d spent countless days with Zak just swimming and dreaming about the future.

“I’ll be a pro surfer, Kiara.” Zak had told me, stoutly. “We’ll travel the world, you and me, in the kombi. I’ll make heaps of money doing what I love and you’ll never have to work again if you don’t want to.”

I laughed, raising my hand from the ocean, the droplets rolling off my fingertips like diamonds in the afternoon sun. “Sounds perfect to me.”

“You heading off somewhere?” He asked, after a moment.

I nodded. “Yep.”

“You know where?”

“Nope.”

He grinned at me, showing off his perfectly straight white teeth. “I know the feeling.”

I held out a hand for him to shake. “Maybe we’ll meet each other along the way.”

He enveloped my entire hand with his own exceptionally large one and shook it firmly. “I certainly hope so.”

Then he released me and I walked towards my kombi, holding his gaze through the windshield as I put on my seatbelt and backed onto the road.

I left him there, standing against the railing, as I drove away.

I probably wouldn’t see him where I was heading, mostly because I had no idea where I was going, only that I had to go.

Which was a shame, because he had intrigued me.

Who drives to a lookout point in the middle of nowhere wearing black jeans and sunglasses at seven in the morning?

I shook it off, along with the pointless memories of drunken arguments and picking fights and sleeping in the kombi.

I had to forget about those wasted years here and drive on towards the future.

The future was bright with the sunrise and promise, and I couldn’t wait to meet it.