Getaway

[23] Till Death Do We Part

Leya laughs, dipping her toes into the rippling waters of a lake. A gushing waterfall shakes down behind her, as sunbeams melt onto her soft face. Butterflies hover over the grass by the bankside, and a wild cat prowls between the far off bushes. It's serene and dusty. "So what if we were here forever?"

The loud sound of someone shouting from the boat downstream breaks the dream.

"Well, I guess we'll never know," Raven laughs, giving her a hand up.

"Nope. But we can always pretend."

"Okay," says Raven as they walk back to the boat and climb on. "Let's pretend."

---

Leya is now sixteen. It is three years ahead in time from the last time she saw Raven. Exactly three years. It is the Seventh of August 2015. They are on an island off the coast of Belize in South America.

Since her thirteen-year old self had hugged Raven goodbye as he left for the airport with Phoenix that day, she had started a band called Accidently On Purpose. Leya was on guitar and vocals with Jayla on keyboards and vocals. Soon, Sapphire joined as their drummer and Aspen became their bassist. They had started small, just playing shows in Bristol. But now they were massive. Since the business kicked off.

The business being Jayla's idea. It's what she finally decided to do with the money. As well as setting up the band with Leya: Accidently On Purpose... She had another massive idea. This was to set up a Rave Cruise company. For bands who can't or don't have money to leave the USA to tour the UK, or just for the fun of a festival of music on a ship: fans from the UK can buy into these cruise ship holiday packages, at a bargain price. They include live bands from the UK of a similar style to the main band as support on the way there, and DJ night raves take place. Accidently On Purpose play many nights as support on the ship, and Jayla also DJs. When they get nearer America, they have the main band play the ship, and sometimes even get to party and hang out with them aboard or on an island.

The idea may have been small at first, but it steadily grew more and more popular. Eventually, it is all Jayla and her friends need to make money. As well as the band. It provides them with an almost lifelong job that they love to do more than anything in the world. Of course, Take to the Skies and Golden Atlas play many of the Rave Cruise shows run by her, Sapphire, Aspen and Leya. However, Leya had yet to see Raven again, face-to-face in person, until three years down the line, when she turned 16. She was now allowed to be independent of her parents. It was her decision, and she wanted to accept to do the tour with the band this time all the way back to America. She told Raven, she wanted to see him. She wanted to spend some time with him. Not one day had passed without her thinking of him and missing him. The whole band, writing the songs and getting up on stage every night: it was him who inspired her to do it. Jayla, Sapphire and Aspen weren't going to say no. Nobody could stop her now. The minute Raven heard the news, his heart lit up like a glowing rose.

---

"Wanna hear something?" Raven leans forward his wide mascara-framed eyes glistening as he passes Leya a pair of red patterned Hello Kitty headphones, with a yellow looping wire connected to his iPod. It had a custom case of DTTS/AOP (Accidently On Purpose) covered in their stickers. Running her finger over the picture of her and Jayla, she studied their faces and compared them to the one's next to them of Phoenix and Raven in the bright light of Raven's new luxurious apartment.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Letting the soft sounds drift into her eardrums, Leya leans back into Raven's arm as he pulls her in close. She snuggles up to him and lets it fill her up completely. Time becomes irrelevant as she loses herself in the moment. And as the snow drop sounds of synth bounce up and down intricately interlacing with the echoing acoustic guitar, she finds her face close to his.