Tomorrow Never Dies

Chapter 52 - "Just like you"

The first few days on board the Pride of Bermuda were alright, once I'd got used to the jetlag. I missed Michael and Grace, of course I did, but I could cope with a few days without them. But then it started to get difficult. Michael and I were struggling to find times when we were both free for FaceTime sessions, and while Grace and I kept up our snap streak, we barely got a chance to properly talk.

On the fifth day of the cruise, I walked into the cabin to find Jade crying quietly on her bed. I snuggled in next to her, let her hide her face in my neck, and joined her, letting tears roll silently down my face.

"I miss Jed so much," she whispered. "I didn't think it'd be this bad."

"I know," I agreed. "I've barely spoken to him, and it's so hard." She wiped her face on her sleeve and handed me a tissue. I dabbed my eyes and pulled my laptop out of the bedside table, connecting straight to Amazon Prime. "What do you want to watch?"

"I don't mind," she said, and I shook my head, putting the Walking Dead on.

"You're useless," I smiled, nudging her gently. Her phone buzzed on the phone next to me and I handed it to her, noticing that Jed's name was illuminating the screen. I smiled as she picked up without looking at the caller ID, and she burst into tears when he first spoke to her. I stood up and left the room, allowing her to speak to him privately. I walked through the ship, wandering in and out of the shops, the hairdressers' salon, the café, and eventually I wound up on deck, looking at the blanket of blue that stretched for miles in every direction, further than I could see. Sunlight glinted off the crests of the waves, twinkling like little stars in the water.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" A voice came from beside me. I'd been so fascinated by the ocean that I hadn't noticed the guy come up next to me. "I like to come up here to think."

"It's so pretty," I agreed.

"You're one of the dancers, right? I'm a waiter, I see you dancing every day."

"Yeah, I'm Flora."

"I'm Jack," he smiled. "I wish my girlfriend was here to see this, she'd love it."

"My boyfriend would too, but I think he'd think about me more because he'd cringey like that."

"Oh, me too," he laughed. Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my hand and I noticed his name in the caller ID. "Is that him?" I nodded, picking up.

"Hi babe," I whispered, feeling a smile pricking at my lips.

"Hey princess," he said, and the whole world seemed brighter. The sea was a more electric shade of blue, the sky cloudless, the sun beaming down on me even warmer. My eyes filled with tears as he spoke three simple words. "I miss you."

"I miss you so much," I echoed.

"Are you crying?" I nodded before I realised he couldn't see me. "Don't cry, baby."

"I love you," I said. "So much."

"I love you more," he assured me as I started wandering along the deck of the ship. "One day I'm going to bring you to London with me, we've been here for a week now and I think you'd love it."

"I want you to come on a cruise, the sea is bluer than you can even imagine."

"We will," he promised. "One day." I smiled, noticing the barest trace of an island in the distance.

"I think I can see Antigua," I told him. "The girls and I are having a spa day tomorrow."

"That's exciting," he said. "Baby, I have to go, but keep an eye on my Twitter okay? There's something coming in about-" He paused, and I overheard him shouting to Luke. "About half an hour."

"Okay babe," I whispered. "I love you."

"I love you," he replied, and I could hear him smiling. "I'll FaceTime you later I promise." And he hung up. I smiled at my phone, then decided to go back to my cabin to check on Jade. Before I walked in, I knocked on the door, scarred after a previous experience of walking in unannounced, and waited for her to signal for me to come in. I heard her give her confirmation, and entered to see her wiping tears off her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Has something happened?"

"No, I just miss him."

"Me too. Michael said something is happening on his Twitter soon so I need to watch that." I pulled out my laptop and logged onto the social network, briefly switching on Tweet notifications for my boyfriend. I decided to have a little follow spree in the meantime, looking at people who followed me and seemed nice. My DMs flooded as they noticed, and I replied to a few before a notification popped up from Michael.

For my love it read, with a link to a YouTube video. I followed it, and saw that the boys had uploaded a new song onto their account. I clicked play, and soft guitar chords came through my speakers, and old videos of the band played out on the screen.

"For a while we pretended that we never had to end it, but we knew we'd have to say goodbye,"  Luke sang. "You were crying at the airport when they finally closed the plane door, I could barely hold it all inside."  And suddenly I was crying again, reliving the memories from the airport, being taken away so quickly, so cruelly from Michael. I listened to the rest of the song, letting tears roll down my face, not wiping them away. The song finished, and I immediately picked up the phone to call him. He didn't pick up, so I left him a voicemail as quietly as I could.

"Michael I heard the song, I love you so much. It's beautiful and I honestly couldn't ask for a better boyfriend, thank you." I ended the voicemail, and decided to look at a Flipagram Michael had made for me before I left. It had Sexual by Neiked playing in the background, and it was three minutes of all of the photos we'd taken together, and one embarrassing video he'd taken of me when I was drunk and stumbling home. Once that had finished, I was still feeling homesick so I decided to FaceTime Grace. She picked up almost immediately.

"Hey, wifey," she almost sang. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, so much," I smiled. "Where are the boys?"

"On stage, they're coming off soon. Michael is pining for you, it's actually adorable," she laughed. "He spends ages looking at pictures of you and looking through your texts and stalking your Facebook."

"Did you see the song?"

"Wherever you are? Yes, I want Ashton to do something like that for me," she said, looking up. "Oh, here they come!" Ashton's face appeared on screen, and he kissed Grace softly. "Good?"

"Amazing," he grinned, then turned to the camera. "Hey, Flora, how are you?"

"Good," I smiled. "Where's Michael?"

"Is that my fabulous girlfriend?" His face popped up on screen. "Yes it is!"

"Thank you so much," I said, looking into his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." He smiled. "I'll call you separately, okay?" I nodded. He vanished, and Grace pulled Ashton close.

"We okay to go?"

"Of course, I don't want to watch you having sex," I told her, and she blew a kiss and hung up. I wrapped my blanket around myself and waited for Michael to call, scrolling idly through Instagram, posting a quick picture Jade had taken of me posing on the deck of the ship. The post quickly garnered a lot of likes and comments, and I was about to lock my phone when Michael's call came through. I accepted, and his face came up on screen.

"So, you liked it?" he asked, and I nodded hard.

"It's amazing," I told him earnestly.

"Just like you."

"Just like you."

*****
ha how are my fanfic chapters longer than my history essays
s/o to my grandma for always saving me when i forget things/need last minute lifts what an angel

song of the chapter: castle on the hill by ed sheeran