A Week, A Lifetime

As Dakota woke up, she kept her eyes closed, as if time would slow down and allow her to stay in Rian’s arms for just a little bit longer. She bit the inside of her cheek, having a hard time keeping her face straight. She already knew that Rian was awake, because he was stirring, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her waist. She did not want to open her eyes, but she did anyway.
“Morning,” she mumbled, and buried her face in the nook of Rian’s neck.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he breathed, and kissed the top of her head. Dakota quickly stood up from the bunk, and jumped out of it, leaving Rian with a puzzled look on his face.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to pack. My things are spread all over this place.” She walked over to the closet, where her bag was, and started tossing her belongings into it. Kaylee woke up from the commotion, and sat down, stifled a yawn.
“Oh, we need to pack,” she complained, but kept in her seat. Dakota tried smiling, but she knew it was a fake smile.
“Yeah, we need to pack. Start packing Kay, your stuff is all over the place.” She stopped her rambling when she realised how angry she sounded. She gave an apologetic smile to her friend, but Kaylee shrugged it off.
“I’m sad too, Kota.” She stood up, and started packing as well. A single tear made its way down Dakota’s cheek.

Both girls had finished their packing quite quickly, and Kaylee was frying eggs for a lovely breakfast before the guys had to go to the airport. Jack came stumbling over, and grunted a hello, before he sat down next to Dakota. She could smell the alcohol on him, which made her nose twitch.
“You have to take shower, dude. You stink!” Jack sniggered, as he put a smelly arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug.
“Cooking for us?” he asked Kaylee, and she gave him a sweet smile.
“I know how to make eggs. And pasta!” she replied, a proud smile on her face. Alex came into the room, and let out a breath of happiness, as he smelled the food. He gave Kaylee a peck on the cheek, before slouching down on the couch. His nose twitched, and he looked at Jack.
“Dude, you stink!” Jack let out a breath of expiration and left the room, and Dakota was hoping that he was going to take a shower.
“Sleep well?” Alex asked, resting his hands on the table.
“Kind of… It took quite a while before I fell asleep.”
“Yeah, me too,” he replied, and Dakota could not tell if he was tired, of if he was sad.

They all ate a wonderful meal, thanks to Kaylee, and before they knew it, the bus was headed to the airport. Dakota was feeling sick to her stomach at what was going to happen only a few minutes later. There was complete silence in the bus, as no one knew what to say. Dakota and Kaylee were holding hands, and Dakota was doing her everything to keep herself from crying.
“Looks like we’re here,” Jack commented, and Dakota could see he was gulping. They carefully got their belongings, and walked out of the bus. There were fans standing inside the airport, waiting for the guys, and they instantly walked over to them say hi. They did not have much time though, because their plane was leaving in a short amount of time.
“Wish I could stay and chat, but we really need to go. Thank you for coming out though,” Alex said happily, and signed a final photo. They went to the room before Dakota and Kaylee could not walk with them any more. Dakota gulped, a big lump in her throat.

Kaylee immediately walked over to Rian to say goodbye, and Dakota walked over to Zack. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
“Bye Dakota. It was lovely meeting you,” he said, and Dakota could not take it any more. The tears were battling their way down her cheeks, and all she could do was smile at him. She then moved to Jack, whose eyes were watery.
“Jack,” Dakota sniffled, and he three his arms around her, and picked her up from the floor, swinging her around in a circle.
“I will miss you so much, Dakota, you have no idea!” Dakota laughed a tearful laugh, as she tried breathing calmly. Kaylee was also crying as she gave Zack a hug. Dakota moved on to face Alex, and she absolutely was torn apart in sadness. He too, was crying, as he wrapped his arms around Dakota, and she heard him sob into her hair, which did not make matters any easier for her.
“I’ll write, and we’ll skype, and we’ll arrange to meet again, ok? Because you are awesome, and I’m not done having you in my life.” He was talking extremely fast, as if he slowed down, he would not be able to finish what he wanted to say.
“I will miss you so much, Gaskarth…” Dakota’s voice failed her, as she sobbed loudly. “You promise me, we will keep in touch.” Alex nodded eagerly, and let go of her, accepting a hug from Kaylee. He was crying very much now, and he was sobbing onto Kaylee’s shoulder.

Facing Rian was the worst, and Dakota could not make her feet move. Rian took her hand, and walked away from the others. He carefully put his arms around her waist, wrapping her in his arms, and looked her straight in the eye. Dakota could not take her eyes away from his beautiful face, which was wet from tears.
“Dakota…”
“Rian…” They both giggled a little, as they had both started talking at the same time.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” he said, and Dakota collapsed in tears, and put her head on his shoulder. Her whole body was shaking, and Rian was stroking her back carefully. It made her feel a little bit better, but she still felt an intense sadness.
“I will… miss you… too!” she managed to force out, and Rian put a careful finger under her chin, bringing her lips to meet his. They stood like this for quite some time, before Alex came and tapped Rian on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, dude, but we have to go.” Dakota shuddered, as Rian kissed her a final time, before he let her go. Kaylee quickly walked over, and put a steady hand around Dakota. They were both crying, as were all the boys, as they waved their goodbyes. Rian looked the most miserable of the bunch, and as he turned around, Dakota followed him with her eyes until they rounded the corner, and they were gone. Dakota started crying out loud.

Their dear friend, Greg, had picked them up from the airport, and he was trying the best he could to ask the girls about their week, but none of them were capable of giving an answer.
“I don’t like seeing you like this,” he said, and Kaylee put a hand on his shoulder.
“Thank you for picking us up. And thank you for looking after Aria this week.”
“Oh, no worries! That dog of yours has been an angel all week. She is at your place now. I figured you would want to see her when you get home.” Kaylee nodded. Dakota’s forehead was pressed up against the window, silent tears running down her face. After greeting a very happy Aria when they got home, she went straight to bed. She picked up her phone, as she remembered she had not checked her twitter in a long time. She read the tweets from the guys with her heart pounding.

Great week, with great girls! Will miss you! – Alex Gaskarth.

I will miss mah gurrrls <3 – Jack Barakat.

Fantastic UK tour! Thank you all! – Zack Merrick.

But the one tweet that made Dakota’s heart break into a million pieces was a tweet Rian had sent just a few minutes after they had left the airport.

You see, I have fallen in love with this girl… – Rian Dawson.