Connecting the Dots (Shane Madej x OC)

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The next morning we wake up at 10 or so, letting ourselves sleep in but only a bit so that we can get to Arches with some daylight left. We grab our bags and head down to the lobby to check out, relishing our last moments at The Bellagio before going to pick up Shane's car.

Before we know it we're on the road again, leaving Vegas behind us as we start the 8 hour trip through Utah. The whole drive is beautiful, Shane and I had purposefully taken the most scenic route we could find.

Shane's Insta Story

When we get to Arches we park in the camping lot where you can leave your car overnight and then choose one of the trails to hike, we both wore hiking appropriate clothes for the drive so we'd be ready to explore once we arrived.

Sophie's Insta
Location: Arches National Park

sophiemc: tall boy looks at rocks.

Tagged: shanemadej

user1: so prettyyy

user2: i love the tall boy <3

ryanbergara: those are some big rocks! @shanemadej almost looks... small??

shanemadej: @ryanbergara ik! If this was a picture of you, you'd probably look like a tiny lil grain of sand!

user3: big fan of the rocks, not so much the tall boy.

chrismccarthy: 1 more stop and you're here!

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Arches is beautiful and Shane and I have a great time hiking and taking photos, we get back to the car as the sun is setting and Shane pops the trunk so we can sit in the back and eat some dinner. From where we're parked we have a perfect view of the sunset and the stars once it's dark. Once we've finished eating the food we'd packed I figure we'll probably call it a night, we're both exhausted from the hike and from the long drive, but Shane seems to have other plans.

"Here," Shane says, reaching into the car and pulling out a blanket. He stands up and I follow, the next thing I know he's climbing up onto the roof of his car. I laugh,

"Shane!" I say, "you're gonna put a dent in your roof!" Shane just shakes his head and reaches his hand out to me,

"Come on," He says, I shake my head but take his hand and climb up to join him. Once we're both sitting comfortably on the roof he wraps the blanket around our shoulders.

"Pretty good view huh?" He says and I laugh,

"Mhm," I say. 'Pretty good' is an understatement, the view is amazing. Out here in the desert, there isn't any light pollution to ruin the night sky. I can't remember the last time I saw so many stars, and then there is the milky way... it's stunning. A cold river of existential dust floating millions of miles above us. It all takes me breath away. We sit in silence for a little while, both in awe.

"This is perfect," Shane says, breaking the silence. I smile, leaning my head on his shoulder and nodding, he kisses the top of my forehead and puts his arm around my shoulder.

I think I could fall asleep right there on the roof of Shane's car if the temperatures hadn't kept dropping, but after an hour or so of laying up there it starts to get too cold for just a blanket to be enough. We climb back down and pull on sweatshirts. I grab my good camera from my backpacks and sit down under the open trunk of the car, messing with the setting a little bit before getting a picture of the stars. When I look back up from my camera Shane is smiling,

"What?" I ask,

"I guess that's one of the pros of having a camera-nerd for a girlfriend," he says, sitting down next to me to look at the picture, "you get a little picture of every memory," he winks at me, but I'm still reeling from the fact that he called me his girlfriend. I mean I know we talked about it a little bit, but he's never said anything like that before and it all just feels 100 times more.... real when he does. And I kind of like it...

Sophie's Insta

sophiemc: Perfect. 

tagged: @shanemadej

user1: this is stunning!

user2: with every post I just become more and more convinced that "Sane" is finally happening.

ryanbergara: Whaaa- this is insane!

user3: can you stop flexing on us like damn we get it you're 'artsy' or whatever.

chrismccarthy: uhhh this is!! Beautiful!!

shanemadej: :o

user4: Ugh they really do be living the life that I can only dream of....

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Eventually, we put down the back seats and create a little makeshift bed in the back of the car. It's probably going to get pretty cold in the car too considering we can't exactly leave it running all night, but at least we'll be protected from the elements. Plus thanks to the sunroof we've still got a view of the stars above us. Once we've piled all our blankets up its actually kind of cozy too, and I fall asleep with the best view in the world next to my favorite boy in the world.