World of Endless Days

The air was crisp. It was cool, yet the sun was shining brightly. This time in the morning was always peaceful, most kids hadn't yet surfaced from their beds, with it being Saturday, and the majority of adults were either already at work, or lazily making their way around the aisles of a supermarket, stocking up on food in preparation for the next week.

Charley had woken up, her good mood tainted with a brush of loneliness. Today was her day. She was going back to work, she had things to do, something to keep her busy. That was the main upside of Nick abandoning her, she had enough to do to keep her mind off him. She wouldn't be sat at home twiddling her thumbs, wondering what the hell went wrong.

She had gotten up easily, quickly returning to her previous routine. As she showered and dressed, she looked around her apartment. Everything reminded her of Nick. He had become such a huge part of her life in such a short space of time.

As much as she hated to admit it, her wish at the wishing fountain had failed her. The truth was Charley Hart had fallen for Nick Santino.

The van smelt reasonable. Within twenty four hours, it was highly likely it would smell of rotting pizza, the stench of greasy fast food, feet and general boy smell. The smell would no doubt be joined by organised mess, with each member of the bands possessions strewn about lazily. So much so, it was almost guaranteed that Loren would have a heart attack and get himself worked up in a panic after 'losing' his phone, only to find it hidden in one of Eric's shoes. It happened every single tour without fail.

Nick wasn't happy. He wasn't looking forward to seven weeks on the road. It was all so predictable. Waking up in a new, unfamiliar place, eating as much junk food as humanly possible, not sleeping as much as he should, playing music to a bunch of kids who had paid their good, hard earned money to see an amazing show. It was the same, every day, every night.

Nick was going to miss the unpredictability of his days with Charley. They never planned what they did, they just went with the flow. Whatever happened, happened. The chips all fell into place with them, no strategies or advanced planning.

So sitting in the drivers seat of A Rocket To The Moon's home for the next seven weeks, Nick had an idea.

Music was blasting from the tiny speakers, distracting his friends and fellow band members, as each of them sung louder than the one sitting beside them. Eric was sitting in the front passenger seat beside Nick, singing along completely out of tune. Nick took this as his cue to change direction, whilst his friends were oblivious to what was going on, and focusing on the lyrics to the song and the volume their vocal chords would reach.

"Nick, you're going the wrong way!" Loren pointed out, cutting off the camp fire sing along moment.

"No, I'm not," Nick mumbled, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him.

"Yes we are."

Eric raised one dark eyebrow in thought. "We're going to the mall, aren't we?"

Nick glanced at him for a moment. "Yeah, we are."

Eric turned in his seat, "gentlemen, we're taking a detour, turns out Nick's got some unfinished business that couldn't possibly wait till after tour."

"Let's just hope she listens to what I've got to say," Nick sighed heavily to himself, turning into the car park that belonged to the shopping centre.

For Nick's wish at the wishing fountain had come true. But he'd gotten his wish, and so much more.

Charley walked through the busy shopping centre. The weekend shoppers were bustling around, knocking each other with filled plastic bags, stopping to admire a pair of shoes displayed in all their glory in a shop window, talking animatedly to each other, or to someone on the other end of phone conversations.

She kept her head down, her ear phone buds jammed in her ears. She just wanted today to be over, so she could crawl into bed and cry herself to sleep like she had done the night before. Sleeping made her forget everything, if only for a few hours. It was the time she was most content, and when she was awake, she missed that feeling.

She rounded the corner and looked at the shop window. The display was exactly how she had left it. She inhaled deeply, taking a couple of small steps forward, before she stopped, her eyes widening at the display. A curious frown creased her forehead, and she began power walking towards the window.

Nick and Eric and a couple of other people she had never met before were standing amongst the mannequins.

For a moment, Charley thought her eyes were deceiving her. Of course, thats what she wanted. It's what she longed for, to see them again.

Utterly perplexed, she stepped into the shop and straight into the window, not bothering to dump her bag and jacket in the staff room, Chuck would have changed the damn entry code anyway. She headed straight for Nick and waved her hand in front of his face. He stayed still. She repeated the movement, hoping to bring him to life somehow. His face broke into a smile and he pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry," he mumbled into her ear, he couldn't have made his words more sincere if he tried.

Charley melted into him. She clung to his shirt, deeply inhaling his comforting scent. "I'm sorry for shouting at you, and everything. I was just upset."

He nodded, pulling away from her slightly. "I know, I understand, it's fine."

"If you'd stayed yesterday, I'd have told you I love you too," she confessed. She had to say it.

A smile graced his beautiful face. "Charley, I know this isn't love, not yet, who knows if it ever will be? But you can't deny that there's something there."

She nodded. "I know, and the thought of you leaving me made me realise it."

Nick lowered his face, meeting Charley's in the middle, the pair locked in a short, yet sweet kiss.

And that, was the best window display in the entire shopping centre.