Meeting the Higher-ups

Chapter 19 ~ Road trip

Two weeks later, we were up way early in the morning and putting our bags into my car to make our way down to the beach. We were going to be staying in my parent's condo down by the shore.

"Alright! Is everyone ready?" I asked. It was still a little dark out due to it being about 5 o'clock in the morning, but I could make everyone out. They all looked around at each other and nodded. "Okay, then let's go!"

As planned, I was driving, with Jake in the passenger seat. Levi and Erwin were in the first row of back seats and Hanji and Mike were in the second.

"Jake, you have the GPS ready, right?" I asked.

"Yep, it's all set." He replied. This was my first time driving such a long distance, so I was a little nervous, but I've been down to the beach plenty of times so it shouldn't be that bad.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked, sensing my nervousness. I put on a smile.

"Yep, I'm fine." I started the car and we started on down the road. I didn't turn on the radio because 1. I wanted to have full focus on the road and 2. I needed to hear the GPS.

However, that didn't stop Hanji from going on and on about what experiments she had thought up of doing once they were back in their own world. Levi seemed more than a little annoyed, so when we were stuck in a small traffic jam on the interstate I turned around and gave him my phone and headphones to tune her out. It made me laugh how quickly he accepted my offer. Erwin was reading a book that I had leant him and Mike was looking out the window.

Time skip

We were about two hours in and still had two hours to go. I pulled into a side stop that had bathrooms, vending machines, etc. "Alright, if you need to use the bathroom or stretch, now's the time to do it." I said to everybody. I turned to everybody and they were all asleep. Hanji must have tired herself out and Levi must be catching up on sleep due to his insomnia. Jake and I were the only ones who weren't asleep, for obvious reasons.

They all slowly woke up and got out. I got out and stretched my legs and boy did it feel good after sitting down driving for two hours straight. Hanji and I went to the girl's bathroom and then waited on the boys. We didn't buy any snacks or anything because we brought all that along with us.

When we got back into the car we sat for a few minutes before heading back out. "So how are you guys feeling so far?" I asked, resting my eyes.

"Bored." Levi simply stated. I giggled.

"Excited!" Hanji exclaimed. "I mean, this is so exciting! Getting to see parts of another world that we can only dream of seeing in our own!"

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing." Jake commented.

"What about you, Erwin and Mike?" I asked.

"I'm tired but excited." Erwin smiled.

"Me too. I'm happy we can go see the ocean." Mike said. It made me happy that I could share part of our world with them. Not only because of the fact that they would most likely have not seen it otherwise if they had not come here, but also because of everything that has happened: Jake and I figured out they were actually real, we met them and grew so close to them, and hopefully this would be a memory that would stick with us forever.

"Alright, well let's get back to it." I said and started the car. "Two more hours."

Time skip

The rest of the way most everybody was awake. Hanji was rambling on again, but to Mike this time. Poor Mike... Levi took a small nap and Erwin watched out the window. I continued driving while Jake helped me out with the GPS. Pretty soon, we pulled ip to the condo we were staying in.

"We're here, everybody!" I said.

"Wow, it's so pretty!" Hanji exclaimed and tried to rush out of the door by crawling out from the back of the car and into the first row of backseats, going through the door on Levi's side.

"Oi, Four-eyes! Get off of me!" Levi shoved her out. I giggled which earned me a signature glare from Levi but I disregarded it.

I stepped out and inhaled deeply. I loved the smell of the beach, the ocean. So fresh. Looking out, you could see the blue tides of the ocean crashing on the sandy white beach.

"Should we go in now?" Jake asked. I nodded and went to unlock the condo. Everybody stepped in and looked around, seeming amazed.

"Wow, this place is amazing!" Hanji said.

"Hehe, thank you." I replied. "Now, as for the bedrooms, there are four upstairs and two downstairs. Jake and I will be using two of the bedrooms upstairs that we always use. So take your pick."

"I'm going upstairs." Levi stated bluntly and started walking towards the stairs. Erwin nodded and followed. That left Hanji and Mike downstairs. He's stuck with her again...

"Alright, everybody get settled in and then we'll look at the schedule." I said and walked up to my room. It had a nice white silky bed and curtains that you could look out of and see a perfect view of the ocean.

I was admiring the ocean when I heard a knock on my door. "Coming!" I called. I opened it up and it revealed Levi. "Hey, Levi."

"Do you need help unpacking? I already finished." He said.

"Um, sure. If you want to hang up those shirts over there, that'd be great, thanks!"

He nodded and did what I said. It was a little quiet so I decided to break the ice. "So are you excited?" I asked.

"Tch, I guess. I never thought that I'd get to see something as beautiful as the ocean." He replied.

"Hehe, well I'm glad I could help you accomplish that." I replied.

"Yeah, thank you." He said and pulled me in by the waist into a kiss. It was sweet and would have lasted longer except that Hanji decided to burst through the door at that exact moment.

"Hey, Emma!! Guess what I foun-" She yelled but stopped when she saw me and Levi. "Awwe, my OTP!! Shorty's kissing Emma!! Shorty's kissing Emma!!" She continued to yell that around the house.

"Tch, so annoying." Levi commented.

"You know you love her." I said.

"Tch, whatever." He replied and picked back up where he left off. I smiled into the kiss and pulled him close, thinking, this was definitely going to be a really great trip.