When Everything Changed

Chapter 3

- Brea -

When we woke, the morning was extremely rushed. All of us had been exhausted by the time we got to bed, and the toll of the late night was wearing on us. By the time I got up at 7:45, Ashley - forever a morning person - was already up and ready to go.

"What time did you get up?" I asked Ash in a dry morning voice.

"I've been up since quarter to seven, I went and got breakfast!" Ash spoke in a voice too high pitched for this time of the morning, holding up the McDonalds bags in front of me.

"Thanks babe, you didn't have to do that! Ashley was such a sweetheart, this would save us plenty of time this morning.

"Well I guess we better start getting them two up, considering it might take a while." Ash said, referring to Tara and Lauren. These two - especially Tara - loved a good sleep in every morning.

While I quickly jumped in the shower, Ashley worked on waking the sleepyheads up. I quickly shaved my legs and brushed my teeth in the shower before jumping out to apply a light layer of makeup.

When I emerged from the bathroom I saw that Lauren and Ash were eating hotcakes, while Tara was enjoying a bacon and egg muffin.

"Oh! I'm surprised they actually got up!"

"Yeah, they smelt the food," Ashley replied with a small grin on her lips. "I got you an egg and bacon muffin, come eat."

When I sat down at the table, I offered Tara the bacon off my McMuffin, which she gladly accepted. I loved bacon and egg McMuffins, only minus the bacon.

Soon Tara finished her breakfast, so headed for a shower. Once she emerged ready to go, Lauren took her place.

It was close to 9 o'clock when we entered the lift on our floor, taking us down to the lobby. When we got outside the motel Ashley whipped out the city map. We decided to catch a tram to the ice skating rink, located near South Wharf. The tram stop was close to Flinders Street Station, so we began to walk towards the train station.

Virtually as soon as we got into Flinders Street, Lauren spotted a Starbucks. Typical.

"Guys..." Lauren said quietly as if longing to be reunited with her favourite store.

I took a look at Lauren's face. She had a slight frown on her face, and had made sure to put on her best puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, fine Lauren!" Tara exclaimed.

We all actually loved Starbucks, but would never admit to it. We feared Lauren would take advantage of the situation by wanting to camp out front or something.

Lauren ordered her classic caramel frappuccino, while I opted for an iced coffee and Ash and Tara chose chocolate flavoured drinks. As we excited the shop, Lauren was smiling like an idiot.

We soon found the right tram stop, making sure we were on the right side of the tracks this time. Looking at the electronic sign, we found the next tram would be coming along in three minutes.

In the last 24 hours we had all been so busy that we hadn't stopped to think about the purpose today served. I couldn't comprehend the extent of what today meant to me, and the whole experience just felt surreal.

"In less than twelve hours we're meeting them," I said out of the blue, stating the obvious. It felt like I had to say the words in order for them to actually be true.

"Well duh!" Lauren squealed in excitement at the idea, still overjoyed from our detour to Starbucks.

I was obviously still excited, but my stomach was twisted in knots from the anxiety of coming face to face with the person I literally wanted to marry. I also felt like I was in a daze, like I was in a bubble and nobody could reach me. This was because I was so overwhelmed by the idea my dream had actually come true, the feeling was just surreal.