I woke up groggily, feeling a little disoriented—I was just so damn tired. Not that I was complaining, though. When I fully opened my eyes, I realized I was in Vic’s bunk, under the blanket and everything. I couldn’t even remember falling asleep, let alone him carrying me here. I must have been really dead asleep.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes, and then I stretched out my arms. I sat up carefully so I didn't hit my head on the bunk above me, and I slid open the curtain, swinging my legs over the side. I edged forward and when my feet touched the ground I straightened my legs out, standing up. It didn’t look like any one else was awake, so I wandered to the bathroom to wash my face, brush my hair (Vic was letting me use one of his many hair brushes) and just freshen up in general.

I splashed my face with water and groaned, seeing that the area under my eyes were a little dark, showing just how tired I was. I was exerting a lot of energy under the brutal sun the past few days, which was a lot for me considering I had been stuck in my bed for over two weeks right after accident. I didn’t have any make up to cover them up, though, so I just sighed and hoped nobody would notice or care.

I went to put my hair up into a pony tail, running my fingers through my hair. I flipped my hair forward to gather it all up easier, but I grimaced when a splitting pain hit the center of my forward. I whisper yelled a curse as I realized I had flipped my head onto the edge of the sink.

“Damn it,” I muttered, rubbing the sore spot and making sure I wasn’t bleeding or anything. It was surely going to bruise, though.

After brushing off the vibrating pain in my head—clumsy idiot—I walked towards the main area of the bus to check my phone and send my mom a good morning text. When I stepped into the area, I had forgotten that that was where Vic was sleeping and blushed a little, why, I don’t know. He looked just as zonked as I had probably looked before I woke up, but a lot cuter. I smiled and turned to the counter, reaching for my phone that has been sitting there the past few days.

It was only nine in the morning, but I already had a text from my mom. She sent it about thirty minutes ago, though. I also had a file of messages from Casey building up; I haven’t even bothered to look at them. I didn’t know if she was continuing to harass me or if she was trying to apologize—frankly, I didn’t really care, either. Deep down I did, but not enough right now to let it bother me. I had one last day to have fun with the guys before I left tomorrow morning.

I replied to my mom’s text, telling her good morning and that I had just woken up and that I loved her and would check in again later.

I was going to set my phone down, but the bus was so quiet and curiosity was getting the best of me. I knew I shouldn’t because it would ruin my mood, but did I really want to have to face all of these messages alone?

“I hope you’re not doing what I think you’re doing,” I suddenly heard Vic’s voice. Before I could turn, he was already behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. He wrapped his arms around my middle and reached for my phone. I let it fall into his hands, giving it up.

“Do you have some sort of radar or something?” I giggled shyly. He turned his head so he was looking up at me, his breath on my jaw.

“Yes,” he said simply and proudly. I laughed a little and shook my head. Then, I shrugged him off of me so I could turn and face him. He straightened up as I did so and held his hands lightly on my waist, causing a swarm of butterflies to flutter within me. “Good morning Savannah,” he said with a small smile.

“Good morning,” I grinned. “I hope I didn’t wake you up,” I realized, seeing that it was still pretty early.

“Nonsense!” he replied. “The other guys will probably sleep until late afternoon, but I’ll have other times to sleep. Not when you’re here,” he said.

I smiled softly and nodded. Even the small action made my head throb a little—why did I have to be so damn clumsy?

“I feel bad,” I said shyly, looking down. Vic hushed me and grabbed my hands, swinging them around together.

“Don’t be silly, Savannah. I just want to spend the day with youuuuuu,” he sang. I smiled and, impulsively, walked forward into him, wrapping me arms around his waist and turning my head into his chest. I heard a soft “aw” escape his lips and he hugged me back. “Let’s not mourn your absence just quite yet, though,” he said, petting the back of my hair for a moment before pulling away. “It’s early, we have so much time!” he said, but I could see his eyes were sad. Mine probably were, too.

“What should we do today?” I asked, bringing him back to reality. He put on a thoughtful face before shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s a good question. I know we’re having a big bonfire tonight. Everyone wants to say bye to you. You’re popular,” he grinned, poking my side.

“Aw,” I laughed, blushing a little. “That sounds nice.”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “But…” he dragged out the word as he turned with me, leading me back to the couch. He plopped down on top of the blankets he had slept with and brought me down with him. “What should we do today?” he asked, repeating my question from earlier. I was very aware of how close we were sitting, and my stomach consisted of a swarm of butterflies. Just sitting here with him, talking, all day would be enough. I felt very comfortable with him, I was sitting next to him with my legs curled across his lap and his arm around my shoulder, our heads barely six inches apart as he was turned towards me. At the same time, though, my insides were a bundle of electrified nerves.

“Hey!” Vic exclaimed softly before we could continue going back and forth, wondering what we were going to do today although I felt like we both were totally fine with just lounging around, as long as we got to spend the time together. It’s not that I didn’t want to hang out with the other guys, I just felt a lot closer with Vic for some reason, mostly because of what he knows and I just felt attracted to him. It was like we had the mutual yet unspoken thing going on—I don’t know! I couldn’t wrap my head around it; all I knew was that I wanted to hang out with him and I got the same vibe from him, based off of his actions and his words. He was so caring and gentle and adorable and I definitely liked him and had a, for lack of a better word, crush on him.

His eyebrows creased and he lifted his far arm, tenderly touching the center of my forehead. “What happened here?” he asked.

“Oh,” I laughed and blushed, bringing my hand up to my forehead as if I needed to remind myself that it was there. “I hit my head against the edge of the sink this morning,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Ouch,” he frowned. “Does it hurt?” he asked with concern.

“It did at first. I’m okay, now. I’m just really clumsy, I guess,” I laughed again.

“Aw,” he said, still frowning. He leaned over and kissed the spot where there was probably a visible bruise forming already. I smiled shyly. “How did that even happen?”

“I was flipping my hair to put it up, and… yeah.”

He laughed and ran his fingers through my hair, which I now realized was completely down. “I guess that didn’t work out too well for you,” he chuckled.

“Oh, wow,” I laughed. “I forgot,” I giggled, face-palming. Vic chuckled again and took my hand off of my face, holding it in his. Then, he just smiled gently at me, and I smiled back. We were quiet for a few minutes, waiting for the other to say something but I didn’t really know what to say and neither did he apparently. My grin widened and then we broke out into a small fit of laughter, just sitting there, laughing at nothing in particular.

“Savannah,” Vic said quietly when we had stopped being idiots. I raised my eyebrows at him expectantly. He looked up at me and his eyes looked almost nervous and shy, qualities I wouldn’t normally characterize Vic as possessing. He leaned forward a little and my breath faltered and my heart skipped in my chest. I smiled gently and leaned forward, too, just to silently tell him that I wanted to kiss him, also. We had been acting so close the past two days, anyway—why was this taking so long to happen?

Vic seemed just as frustrated with that fact as I was, letting out an annoyed sigh when the sound of a phone vibrating against the counter interrupted the moment. I frowned, realizing that it was my phone. I didn’t want to get up, but the sound was taunting my head just as it was probably taunting his.

I sighed and smiled apologetically at him. “Fuck it,” he mumbled. He looked up again and without any hesitation, kissed my lips, catching me off guard because I didn’t think he was going to do it. I kissed him back happily—my heart running like a wild animal in my chest. Vic smiled and pulled away, looking satisfied. I giggled and looked down a little.

“Finally!” he exclaimed goofily. I laughed and bit on my lip a little. He brushed his thumb across my cheek sensitively. He leaned forward again and kissed me softly, with a lot less surprise than last time but a lot more tenderness. I nearly melted right then and there, until my phone started to vibrate again. Instead of being frustrated with the constant interruptions, Vic just chuckled and pulled away. I liked that kiss a lot, though, and I didn’t really want to get up at all. The phone continued to annoy us, though, so I smiled shyly and slid off of the couch, walking to where my phone was.

“It’s probably my mom,” I said softly to myself. When I picked it up though, my heart thumped in my chest but this time in a bad way. I turned to Vic and frowned. “It’s Casey.” His small smile quickly turned into a frown and his eyes widened with concern. He stood up and walked over to me at the counter.

“Are you going to answer?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” I bit my lip.

“Do you want me to answer?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think she’d respond well to that,” I laughed a little. “I’ll just see what she wants…” my voice trailed off. As I went to answer, though, the call ended. Knowing her, she was going to call again. I waited for not even a second and she was already calling. “What the fuck,” I sighed in annoyance. Vic chuckled a little but backed away, giving me a little bit of space. Hesitantly, I answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Savannah,” Casey said flatly into the phone. Vic looked at me expectantly and I just shrugged my shoulders, unsure as to what she wanted and why she was calling. My phone-call-anxiety was kicking in, though. Normally I was fine talking on the phone with people I was close with, but because of the way Casey was treating me I was really nervous to be on the phone with her.

“Er, hi,” I mumbled. My eyes flickered up from the floor and I saw Vic staring at me with concern. I looked back at the floor, waiting for her to speak.

“Today’s your last day with them,” she stated.

I gnawed on my lip and shifted on my feet, tucking hair behind my ear. “Uh, yeah. It is.” I was already irritated with her; what did she want? Why couldn’t she just let me be happy? “Um, what’s up?” I tried.

“Don’t what’s up me Savannah.” I rolled my eyes. Was she really just calling me to more directly make me feel like shit?

“Can you not be so fucking immature?” I snapped, surprising myself. “What do you need?”

“I’ve been trying to talk to you, Savannah, but you haven’t even answered my texts. So I figured I’d call you.”

“Why the—” I sighed loudly, composing myself before I got really angry with her. “I haven’t been looking at your texts, Casey. I haven’t been looking at my phone at all,” I said.

“You’re so caught up in your fantasy land over there that you haven’t even bothered to check your phone? That’s—”

“Don’t even, Casey. I wasn’t about to look at my messages just to see you ripping me apart.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so self-centered you’d see that I was trying to apologize to you!” she raised her voice.

“I shouldn’t have to be afraid to look at my phone, Casey. You’re being ridiculous,” I said, a lot quieter than I intended.

“I was going to be nice, Savannah, but you’re just pissing me off. You’ve got your head in the clouds and I can’t wait to see you fall down again,” she said angrily. I don’t know what it was about her words, they just sent me over the edge. I intended to be angry and stand my ground, but, instead, my eyes burned and I started to cry. Why did she want me to fall down so bad? Why did she want bad things to happen to me just over a few extra days with someone other than her?

Not even a few seconds passed and Vic was already closer to me, staring at me in concern. I kept my head down and my eyes trained on the ground while he gently placed a hand on my arm. He went to take the phone from me but before he did, I turned on the speakerphone. I wanted to hear what she said, even though I was weak, upset, and could hardly take it.

“Don’t be such a wuss, Savannah. You survived a nasty crash I’m sure you can survive this,” she sneered. I picked my head up to see Vic glaring at the phone, as if he could glare at Casey through it. Tears freely flowed down my face and my mouth was in a weak frown, but at least I wasn’t crying too hard. I could feel my heart breaking, though; I couldn’t handle words like that. I was sensitive, too sensitive.

“Fine, don’t say anything to me. Whatever Savannah. I text you to apologize and you act like you’re higher than me and don’t even answer. And now you won’t even talk to me over the phone, you overemotional freak!” I flinched and looked away, not wanting to see Vic’s facial reaction to her words. “The guys just pity you, like everyone else. You’re a loser with no friends, I’ve only pitied you. Just like them, they’ll be glad when you’re out of their way—”

“Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know you knew what I was thinking. Last time I checked I really liked Savannah, not out of pity, but because she’s beautiful inside and out.” My head shot up at the sound of Vic, talking calmly into the phone. His words were smooth but his facial expression was angry.

“Those ugly scars on her arm don’t make her that beautiful,” she scoffed. My jaw dropped at her words. So did Vic’s.

“Savannah’s the strongest person I know. And considering people I know and love and even myself have dealt with those kinds of things before, I can’t even put into words how offended I am. No fan of mine or friend of Savannah’s gets away with saying shit like that, it’s pathetic and disgusting. Don’t you dare contact Savi again, or accuse her of being guilty of shit when you’re the only bad friend in this case. You’re out of high school now, we don’t have time for your drama when we’re trying to have a good time. If anything be upset with me for not bringing you back, but it wasn’t even my doing, it was Jaime’s, and it was last minute and I had no idea it was happening. Even so I shouldn’t be having to explain myself to you. Get your head out of your ass and grow up,” he growled. Immediately after, he ended the call and slammed the phone on the counter. He wouldn’t look at me, he was so angry. I felt horrible. Embarrassed and horrible but also cared for—it was clear from his words that he cared. I was just afraid that it would all wear off and he would realize that I was just a sensitive and annoying girl, too much to deal with.

I wrapped my arms around myself and kept my eyes on the ground, backing away. I wasn’t really crying, but tears still flowed out of my eyes, they were burning and I could practically feel the shame building up and crawling on my skin.

“I’m sorry, Savi… I know you didn’t want me to but I couldn’t just listen to that…” Vic said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

“No,” I shook my head. “No, it’s okay,” I said. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and looked up at him, forcing a smile. “Thank you.”

He smiled softly and stepped forward, shaking his head. “Look at you,” he rested his hand on my cheek, “smiling even though you’re upset.” I shrugged my shoulders weakly. “C’mere,” he murmured. I stepped forward to meet him and stood up on my toes, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck and burying my head into his hair. He brushed the back of my head and I sighed.

After a few moments of quiet, I pulled away and my cheeks warmed. “Sorry,” I whispered. He held my chin and lifted my head up gently, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with that,” he said, wiping a few stray tears away. “You’re so wonderful, Savi. Don’t let that shit get you down, okay?” his face twisted. I nodded. “Are you alright?” I nodded again. He took a step closer to me. “Promise?” I smiled a little and nodded another time. A grin stretched across his face and he tucked some of my hair behind my ears. “Promise me a second time?” I giggled and nodded, re-hooking my arms around his neck. “Good,” he murmured, leaning forward more and making my insides melt and calm and spasm all at the same time when he gently pressed his lips to mine.

“Either I just witnessed Savi and Vic kiss or I’m still really fucking drunk!” I heard someone screech. We jumped apart and turned to the source of the voice—Jaime, of course. Vic scratched the back of his neck and chuckled at Jaime, who was staring a few feet away with his jaw on the floor. Instinctively, I stepped closer to Vic, sort of hiding a little.

Jaime’s jaw finally lifted off the floor and he smirked at us. Then, his face completely brightened up. “Mike!” he screamed, bouncing back to the bunk area. “You owe me ten bucks!”

Notes

HEYY

Hi, Claire here. Sorry this has taken a while but we didn't forget about y'all! Life is hectic. But on a brighter note, they finally kissed :)
Tell us what you think!!!!!! Yayayay!!

Love yaaaa thanks for reading xox