toronto / drake

17) one year on...

LIA

Lia Sanders, the bubbly beauty also known as one of Aubrey Grahams infatuations. the fast paced, exciting lifestyle full of expensive gifts and bragging rights - easily enough to impress a 16 year old who was basically already in love with him. but everything fizzles out, and when you realise the inevitability of breaking up due to living across the ocean, a small slither of chemistry seems hard to hold onto.

so they didn't.

she flew back as soon as the storm ended. Lia's life was amongst the few that remained the same once she landed home, despite the crazy summer with memories she'd never forget, but would rather repress for the rest of her days.

a year on, she was preparing for a busy year at university, had become close with another male who she now called her boyfriend, and had no contact with the girl who she became best friends with during those weeks. I guess everything comes to an end - or at least a pause.

AUBREY HIMSELF

"It was always going to happen," is what he told himself, despite formerly believing they'd make it work. those weeks seemed like an alternate universe when he looked back on it, as if those 2 girls hadn't accidentally almost turned their worlds upside down and back again. despite this, he remained Drake. and Drake had albums, tours and other girls to attend to which acted as a great distraction until the memories fled. but he would be lying if he said he didn't think about them.

a year on, Aubrey's life remained the same as it was before that summer, and exactly how you saw in the media. friends over, girls over, studio time, music videos, fights at cheesecake. no one woman had settled into his life as much as everyone believed Lia eventually would, but I guess the reason was that the right girl hasn't come around.

KYE

now here's a story different to the rest. those weeks he spent without seeing her after the event happened near enough killed him for a while. his friends never saw him and he locked himself away. himself and Aubrey fell out&off because Aubrey refused to let him see her, due to her orders, in the little time she had remained before flying home. Kye didn't know what she had gotten up to after they ended, or the mess she got herself in - but that's another different story.

nothing ever came of the incident, and his friends back home told him 37 people had wanted R dead anyway, and that they admired him for what he did. despite this earned admiration, it also caused his life to deteriorate and destroyed one of the only things keeping him sane.

but he had attempted to reclaim his life. as did everyone else, Kye attempted to push and push the thoughts out of his brain of her endearing nature that he once could not get enough of. stages of blaming himself, blaming her and hating the world encapsulated his mind - so I guess he didn't do as good a job at destroying the memories as the others did.

a year on, he was back to hanging with Aubrey, Leon, Rio and the rest of the guys 24/7, as they helped him become the goofy guy that they knew and had missed, as new windows opened and new people entered his life.

now, for HER

Lola was a completely different person.

but I guess you're wondering what happened after she escaped with Mars?

"you're beautiful, you know that?" Mars whispered in her ear as they walked down a part of Toronto she didn't ever want to see again. we had escaped through a fire exit and out of a window, ran for a few minutes until we gave up and realised they wouldn't come look for us.

her response was a smile, as he grabbed her hand and held it gently. thoughts of his touch came flooding back into her mind - strong & possessive, she thought. it was very different to Mars - who held her softly and moved his thumb in circles on her skin. "so why do you hang with them?"

"they're my older brothers, man. not blood but I've known them forever - honestly it's just entertaining to me, shit"

a giggle slipped from Lola's lips - the first genuine laugh in a while, she thought. they walked for 30 minutes until they reached the bustling lights and people of downtown Toronto, a familiar sight to her eyes. she saw places she recognised from her limited times of being down here, smiling until she remembered who brought her.

"what's up? are you crying- it's okay, you don't gotta go back there you're safe-"

she cut him off. "that's not it, I've just been here before and it reminded me of him- uh, i mean,.. stuff I'd rather forget.."

he sighed and she knew her slip up caused awkwardness. what guy wanted to see a girl cry over some guy in her past? "you don't look so good, you need to go home, okay?"

and so she did. Mars called her an uber to take her back to the address she typed in, and the uber drove away as they completely forgot to exchange numbers.

from then on, Mars became a lost lover, a friend, and sometimes Lola's mind told her he was only a fragment of her imagination. but who knows?

after that day, Aubreys home was all she saw. and with seemingly almost perfect timing, flights were available back to London, England 6 days later. and so she left. she left Aubrey, Kye and all the friends she had made along the way behind her, and tried to return to her normal life back home. but I don't think anyone would've thought it'd be easy.

the inevitable longing for Kye returned 3.2 weeks after arriving home, and lasted.. well, I'm not sure if they've stopped. the thing about leaving without saying goodbye, is that you do not get closure in any way. which leaves you desperate to see them - and thats exactly what she was.

and all Lola's life she had gotten what she wanted, so a year on, her plane ticket to Toronto airport had been bought, her 17th birthday had taken place, and she had forgiven Kye for the emotions he put her through - but now she just wanted him back.