What Once Was, Is No More

April 16, 2010

Brendon stared out of the window of the private jet, watching the stars disappear as the sun brightened the once blue sky. He felt the shift in position next to him and turned to see Olivia adjusting her head on his shoulder. He smiled as she wrinkled her nose in her sleep. He leaned over and kissed her forehead before drifting off to sleep.

“Promise we’ll go there?” Olivia asked Brendon.

They were both laying down on the grassy knoll at the park they met at, staring up into the dark blue sky gazing at the stars, hoping to catch a shooting one. He reached his hand for hers and laced their fingers together.

“Liv, wherever you wanna go, I’ll take you there. I promise.” He said turning his head towards hers.

She turned her head in his direction and smiled at him. “I love you…” She whispered.

Something caught Brendon’s attention and he looked back up into the sky. He pointed at the dazzling light that zoomed by. “Look, a shooting star. Make a wish.”

She quickly looked up in time to catch a glimpse of it and closed her eyes. Then she felt his warm lips touch hers. As she was about to push him over to lie on top of him, they began to roll down the knoll. Their laughter filled the night and continued as Olivia rolled into Brendon at the bottom. They held each other in their arms, embracing in the first night of summer.

“Are those sirens?” Olivia asked sitting up and looking around the park.

“Holy shit, it’s the cops.” Brendon whispered seeing a police car on the side of the road.

“Where is he?” Olivia asked searching around for him.

“Excuse me you two. This park has a curfew of ten PM and it is twelve in the morning.” An officer said hovering over them pointing a flashlight at them.

“Oh, is it already midnight? Damn, I missed my favorite show.” Brendon said sarcastically.

Olivia nudged Brendon in the ribs with her elbow. “We’re sorry officer. We’ll leave.” She said with a hint of laughter.

“I would highly suggest it.” The officer answered back.

Brendon felt his body shake and his head bounce on and off the headrest. He grumbled in his sleep, not wanting to wake up.

He heard laughing. “Brendon wake up.” The voice he heard made him smile.

“Brendon I know you can hear me. Come on wake up. We landed already.” Olivia said as she kept shaking him.

He opened his eyes and stretched in his seat while he yawned. “That was the fastest six hours I’ve ever slept through.”

“More like snored through.” She said sitting back in her seat.

“Hey, I thought we landed. Why aren’t you getting your bags?” He asked.

“Oh, well we’re about to land and none of the pilots will tell me where we’re going.” She said a little irritated.

“That’s because I told them not to tell you. God, I love it when you get angry.” He said reaching over to kiss her.

After a few minutes the pilots announced they had begun descending and would be landing shortly. When they landed, Olivia and Brendon grabbed their luggage and exited the jet.

“So, where do we go from here and where the hell are we?” Olivia asked setting her luggage beside her as they waited by a drop-off area.

“Don’t worry Liv, someone is coming to get us, and I’m not telling you yet. If you figure it out before I do, just shout it out.” Brendon said looking at his phone. 3:15 PM. “They should be here any minute actually.”

“Is that them?” Olivia asked pointing to a car driving up towards them.

“Looks like it.” Brendon said putting his phone away.

After the driver parked the car, he came and loaded their bags in the trunk, while Olivia and Brendon scooted into the backseat.

“What do I tell Jason if he calls? I can’t ignore him for the remainder of the trip. He’d start getting suspicious.” Olivia said looking down at her hands as she fiddled with her fingers.

She saw Brendon place his hand over hers and looked at him. “You can either pray he doesn’t call for four days or don’t tell him where we’re at.” He advised.

“Hmph…easier said than done, but I’ll just pray he doesn’t call.” She said looking back down at her hands.

The minutes passed and Olivia still couldn’t figure out where they were at, until suddenly they passed through the archway of the entrance to the place she had been dying to go to since childhood.

Brendon smiled as he saw Olivia’s eyes widen and her jaw drop. He was bringing her to the one place she had always wanted to go. A place he was sure Jason would not have remembered to bring her to.

“Close your mouth. You’re embarrassing.” He joked as he pushed her lower jaw up to her upper with the back of his hand.

“I-I can’t believe you remembered. You’re amazing.” She said going in for a hug and ended up kissing him.

“Yeah, I couldn’t get us a trip to Europe, but you can visit a little portion of it here, I think.” Brendon said.

Olivia nodded her head. “That you can. Oh my and we’re staying here for four days? Where at?” She asked.

“At one of the on location resorts. I picked the music one, only because I thought it suited better than the others.”

“How did you manage to plan all this? This is just insane, not that I don’t appreciate it, because I do, so much.”

“I made a few calls while you were out. I still got connections.” He said smiling at her, then looking out the window. “I think we’re here.”

As the car rounded to the entrance of the resort, Olivia felt her phone vibrate. Her heart stopped knowing it could only be one person. She looked at Brendon, who looked at her with a puzzled look.

“Looks like you gotta make up a little white lie.” He told her.

She answered his call, “Hey Jason.”

“Olivia, how’s my beautiful girlfriend?” He asked.

“I’m doing great. How’re you? How’s work?” She asked back.

“I’m good, work’s good. We’re good, right?” She was stunned by his question.

What could possibly make him think that anything was bad with their relationship? Other than the fact she was going behind his back with her ex-boyfriend-his cousin. She searched for some words to say.

“Of course, what makes you think we’re not?”

“I don’t know. The tone in your voice and I just thought you were a little mad because I’d be missing our four year anniversary.” He replied.

She was somewhat relieved that that was what he was talking about. “Oh, babe, I understand, I’m not mad. We’ll just have to do something a little more special when you get back.”

“So, what are you doing?” He asked, yet it sounded like prying.

“Just here at home. Watching some T.V.” She lied.

“By yourself? Where’s Brendon?” Curiosity filled his voice.

“Uh, I think he went out with an old friend…Courtney.” Another lie.

“Well, that’s good right? He’s getting out there again.”

“Haha, yeah, he sure is getting out there.” She laughed as she looked over to Brendon, who was smiling as he heard the entire conversation.

“Okay, well I’ll be busy for a few days and might not be able to call, so I’ll talk to you when I can. Love you.” He said.

“Love you too. Bye.” She hung up.

“Ready to go inside?” Brendon asked as he opened the door.

“Yeah. What are we doing today?” She asked.

“Well, they do say this is where the magic happens.” He said smirking at her.