Marcus

                We arrived at LAX at around 11 in the morning. I hadn’t sleep well last night after what happened. I just hoped Kate didn’t remember anything or thought of anything suspicious about me. I pushed my trolley as I led the way out of the airport. Kate was walking beside me. She has been silent the whole time we were in the plane. I guess it was because of Andrew’s departure. That suddenly sent an ache on my heart…

                “Do… you want to stop for a while?” I asked her just to hear her speak. But she didn’t respond. I decided to not force her anymore so I diverted my attention to something else. “Aish! Where are those three?” I said, bringing out my phone. “Darn! My phone’s dead. Kate, you have yours?”

                She looked at me before deciding to hand me her phone, still without saying a thing.

                “Thanks. You have Aiden’s number, right?”

                “I… didn’t save it,” she said in a low voice.

                “What?? Why??” I said, anxiously.

                “You’re blaming me?” she asked me still in a soft tone.

                I sighed. “What do we do now? I don’t know their house,” I said.

                “Why are you blaming me?” she answered me again.

                “I’m… not blaming you.”

                “Then, what is your plan?”

                “Let’s just go around first.”

                “Then what?”

                “I don’t know. Let’s just walk around and figure something out on the way,” I suggested.

                “Seriously?” she asked in sarcasm.

                “Yeah. So just come or I’ll leave you here,” I challenged her.

                She didn’t move. I got impatient so I just walk forward leaving her. I knew that she’d catch up to me any time soon.

Kate

                When Marcus turned his back, I thought he wouldn’t dare leave me. I thought he was going to come back. But after how many minutes, he didn’t show up. I have been standing on the corner of the airport since we arrived. Some people started to throw confused looks at me. That time, I decided to move and walk around. Now I was really regretting that I didn’t go with him…

                I reached outside and got stunned to see an even bigger and busier group of people. Some just walked past me while some bumped into me without even looking back. I followed my instinct to just move forward so I did.

                After half an hour, I started to feel weak. I was still carrying my suitcases. My feet were already numb from walking. I was standing outside a boutique when suddenly, I noticed a guy on skateboard coming towards my direction. I didn’t move from my post. I was just looking at him while he’s approaching me. “Hey, move it!” I heard him yell at me.

                I wasn’t able to respond quickly. I found myself just staring at the incoming skater so we collided into each other. THUMP! I fell hard on my . I tried to stand up but my head felt dizzy. The skater guy threw me a piercing look as he stood up and picked up his board. Then, he left without even helping me or saying sorry.

I was still sitting on the ground feeling sick and nauseated due to the heat and fatigue. Passersby were looking at me pitifully. But no one dared to get near me or ask if I was alright. I buried my face on top of my knees and shamelessly sob. “Marcus… where are you?” I mumbled to myself.

Just then, I felt someone tapping my back. Finally, someone was actually kind enough to approach and help me. I slowly looked up and saw a familiar face of a guy. He was looking straight at me with a worried face. “I told you to come with me,” he said in a soft voice.

“Marcus!” I exclaimed and out of impulse, I hugged him. “Thank you for finding me,” I said, still not letting go of him.

His arms hugged me back and at that moment, I felt a sense of security again. Then, I heard him speak, “Promise me that you’d stay beside me from now on.”

“I promise,” I said.

Aiden

                We’ve been looking for Kate at the airport since Marcus said that she stayed there but then, we couldn’t find her there anymore so we decided to just scan around the area. And when we did, we saw a girl hit by a skater guy on the street. We thought it wasn’t Kate but as we moved closer, we realized that it was her. I was supposed to run and hugged her when she started to cry but then, Marcus quickly responded to her.

Max, Vince and I were stunned at Marcus’s sudden gesture towards her. No… I wasn’t completely surprised actually. I already knew that he likes her. From the moment that he saw Kate’s sketches, even though he still didn’t know that it was her who drew those, I already had a feeling that Marcus fell for her. I’ve never seen him act like this before towards anyone. It was like Kate changed him and softened his heart.

As we approached the two, they were still both on the ground. Max and Vince turned to me and smiled. They also knew what Marcus was feeling for her and even though how many times he tried to deny it, we still didn’t believe him. “Uh… ehum…” Max cleared his throat, catching both their attention.

They turned to us and Kate’s face suddenly lit up. “Max! Vince! Aiden!” she called out our names, as she tried to stand up. Marcus helped her when he noticed that she was still feeling weak.

I walked towards her and smiled. “Kate, are you alright now?”

She nodded. Then, she gave me a hug. “I missed you Aiden,” she said.

“Me too,” I answered back.

She also gave high-fives to Max and Vince after hugging me. Then, we decided to just go to our place for a while since Kate still needs to rest.

∞∞∞

Kate

                That same night, the guys told me that they wanted to visit Disneyland. I wasn’t supposed to go since I wasn’t still feeling well but they tried to convince me saying that they’ve prepared for it so I just agreed. It was already 8 in the evening. I just wanted to sleep so I took a nap on our way to the park. When we arrived there, I noticed that there were only a few cars parked in the lot. Actually, there were only three cars there including ours.

                I followed them on our way in. There was even no queue in line of the tickets. I turned to Aiden with a confused look. “Are we still allowed to go in?” I asked him.

                He smirked. “Yeah.”

                Marcus led the way and as we approached the security, they let us enter without even showing our tickets. “Okay, what’s going on?” I asked Aiden again.

                He laughed a bit. “Surprise!”

                “Huh?” I asked dumbfounded.

                “Marcus paid the whole park for the night. It’s all ours,” Vince answered me, who was walking infront.

                “What??” I exclaimed.

                “Is that supposed to be a ‘thank you’?” Marcus asked me.

                “No,” I said. “Why are you even doing this? It’s not my birthday.”

                “No, but it’s like an advanced gift,” Max said. “Right Marcus?”

                “Uh… y-yeah,” Marcus said stutteringly.

                “Oh guys, come over here. Let’s try this one,” Vince said, pointing at the bump cars section.

                “That’s no fun,” Max told him.

                “How about the ferris wheel?” Aiden suggested.

                “Oh no no! I’m afraid of heights,” Vince admitted.

                Max elbowed him. “Kate is here. Can’t you at least pretend that you’re not scared of anything?”

                I let out a small laugh. “Don’t worry Vince. I didn’t hear anything,” I assured him, making him smile.

                “Kate you should go,” Aiden said, pushing me to go.

                “But… I don’t wanna go,” I said to him. “I’m also scared.”

                Then, Aiden grabbed Marcus’s hand and dragged us both to sit. “You both go,” he said to us, as he buckled up our seats. He signaled the operator to turn on the machine. And when it started to move, I quickly held onto one of Marcus’s arms. “Marcus, I’m scared,” I said to him with my eyes close.

                I heard him laugh. “Don’t close your eyes. You’ll get dizzy more,” he told me.

                “But… I don’t wanna look down,” I said, trying to hide the fear inside me.

                I felt his hand gripping mine tightly. “Listen to me. Just slowly open eyes,” he ordered me. When I did, he spoke again, “Now, what do you see?”

                I looked around and saw the beautiful nightlights from the buildings. “Beautiful!” I muttered, as I continue to look at the city lights.

                “I know,” he said beside me.

                I turned to him and saw that he was looking at me. It was getting awkward staring at each other like that. The past days he’s been really acting nice towards me. I wondered if it was only because of the exhibit or if it was because he now treats me as a friend.

                We were moving slowly that I could barely feel that we’re on a ferris wheel. I was actually enjoying it already especially that he’s beside me. He was still holding my hand and honestly, I didn’t want him to let go of me. “Uh… how are you liking it?” he suddenly asked me.

                “It’s pretty… but… you didn’t have to rent the whole park Marcus,” I said to him.

                “Don’t worry. It’s just for tonight. I just want us to enjoy here. All of us,” he said.

                I nodded. Then, there was silence again.

                “Do you… really like Andrew that much?” he suddenly asked which got me taken aback. Why was he asking me this? And what’s in it for him?

                I couldn’t answer him. Yes, I’ve always liked Andrew. But, he has someone else in his heart and I didn’t want to appear as the third party. I also knew for a fact that Andrew loves Steph so much. I couldn’t compare to her. She’s everything that he wanted.

∞∞∞

A/N: Hello! I was supposed to update yesterday but something came up so I wasn’t able to do so. Sorry about that. Just a few more chapters and it’s done… I don’t know how will I end this :D Honestly, I was supposed to make this longer but I’m really hard up writing multiple fics so I needed to finish this one first.