The Floaters [cake au] ✔

⌛ ➊➐ : sydney. ⌛

Chapter 17: sydney.

"Sorry... can you explain it again?"

I groaned internally and said, "Basically I can see these scars on my chest but no one else can, and I want you to tattoo them so that they can."

He didn't look any wiser. "But I can't see them either."

Shit. Didn't think of that, did I? It wasn't even like I could draw them out on paper – so I grabbed a pen and started outlining them on myself, roughly. My hand was pretty shaky and many of the lines turned out wonkier than I'd have liked, but the tattoo artist got the right idea and started inking me up. I just sat back, gripping the leather seat as I did with all my tattoos.

"Okay, I'm all done. You wanna look?" he asked, and I peeked down. That was more like it. Instead of scars, they were now colourful pieces of art and it made me so happy inside. It felt amazing – like I'd been baptised, or spiritually enlightened by some divine force. I paid him the hefty fee and he stuck some stuff on it, giving me clear instructions on how to care for my tattoos.

After getting that all done, I went straight to the hospital. I hoped Luke had decided to go to the voice fountain that afternoon, because he needed to hear about this.

"Hey Luke, how are you doing? Guess what. I got your tattoos done for real today! They left scars – well, scars that only I could see, but I could outline them and the tattoo artist simply followed them. It was totally worth the pain. What did you do today? Have you been hanging out with Ashton and Michael? I hope they're being nice to you – please say they are. If not I might have to get myself into a coma just to smack them."

His fingers twitched ever so slightly in my grasp, and I help them tighter. "I miss you," I whispered, kissing his tired sagging cheeks. Every day got no easier than the last – I always came in hoping that he'd be awake, vibrant and cheerful again, but I was constantly disappointed. There must've been something I could do to trigger his awakening, surely?

Then the idea popped right into my head.

"I've hardly seen the world. I want to wake up and visit Sydney, because that's my dream holiday destination."

"Sydney? That's where I live!"

His head shot up and looked me in the eye. "Seriously?"

"Yeah! I live in Sydney. Where do you live?"

"Darwin."

"Wow. That's far away."

He mumbled in response. "I never had the chance to go."

"Tell you what," I said, wrapping my arms around his thin frame just a little bit tighter. "When you wake up, I'll bring you over on the first flight and you can have your holiday at mine. How does that sound?"

His expression lightened up and he smiled, tears still present. "That sounds awesome! Thanks CalPal."

"Hey, I told you not to call me that..."

He giggled and shut his eyes. "Good night CalPal."

I cried at the memory. How could you not? He was just so adorable and I wanted him to wake up so badly. It would be risky to try and take him to Sydney – and there was a good chance Liz wouldn't allow the excursion. But it was worth a try.

I returned to Liz's house, where mum was still waiting for me, and asked, "Liz – how would you feel about me taking Luke down to Sydney for a weekend? He told me that he'd always wanted to go, and I promised that when he woke up I'd take him there. I know he hasn't woken up yet, but I was hoping it might trigger him into it."