Infinity and Beyond

17 - Brighter Than the Sun

Ashton

After more than two weeks of it being just Emily and me, travelling up and down the country without anyone else, it felt so strange that it was the end of our trip and we would be home the next day. As much as it felt like a lifetime ago that we were home and surrounded by our friends, it had gone by quicker than lightning and I yearned for more time. No amount of time alone with Emily would be enough - not even a lifetime. But we didn't even have a day left, so I made sure to make the most of every second of it as we walked out of Melbourne, back to the car along city streets for the last time that trip.

The last thing on our agenda was to drive some of Great Ocean Road before we started to creep back towards Sydney the next day, although Emily didn't know that I had one more surprise planned for that evening. I'd been checking the weather forecast for days and when I had woken up that morning and seen it was still perfect I breathed a sigh of relief that it should go to plan. I tried my best to hide my anticipation throughout the day, but the closer it got to sunset the harder it got, especially as we drove away from the city, and Emily twigged something was up.

"What's going on with you? You've been acting like you're up to something all day," she asked, poking me with a smile which I returned.

"Hmm...you'll see," I replied and she threw her head back in exasperation.

"See, now I know it's something big! You always get so mysterious when you've got something up your sleeve!" she noticed, grabbing my hand and tugging it lightly. "Can you tell me something? Please?"

"Nope!" I denied, wiggling my hand. "You have to wait."

"You know I can't, not now that I know there's something to wait for," she sighed. "Can I guess?"

"I don't know, can you?" I teased her.

"Is it food?" she asked first up and I laughed with a shake of my head. "Oh...a place? A person? A thing? Are you doing it? Or is it something or someone else? Wait - are we going somewhere else? Another country? A book shop? A concert?!"

"Em, calm down, don't get that carried away," I said in an attempt to reel her back in.

"So it's not a book shop or a concert?" she asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"No, sorry," I chuckled. "It's better than that though."

"What could be better than that?" she frowned and then paused for thought before gasping. "A hot air balloon ride!"

"What? No, it's not - just wait and see. You won't guess it," I said and that put an end to her speculations. I could still tell she was pondering on it in her mind, but at least she didn't keep asking me for the whole two and a half hour journey.

Driving along that road was literally like chasing the sunset. It felt like it could have gone on for miles, hours, days, just following the setting sun as it cast a whole spectrum of oranges and pinks and even purples across the ocean. Even though it was a long journey, Emily and I spent a lot of it in silence as we both drank in the view, lapping up every inch we could see. It was hard to speak when your breath had been taken away from you and was yet to be given back. Although, this still didn't stop Emily from finding something to bug me about.

"Ashton, please can you hurry up and eat your half, it's torturing me," she groaned, gesturing to the pizza box on her lap. We'd grabbed one before we got too far out the city and had been sharing it so far, though Emily had polished hers off a lot quicker than I had.

"I am driving at the same time, you know," I pointed out to her. "For both of us, I'll also add."

"I'll drive while you eat then!" she offered.