Where the Wind Takes Us

I’m tired as fuck when Dad sticks his head in my room and tells me to get ready to leave for the airport at four thirty in the morning, so we can arrive before six thirty and I don’t have to face the trauma of sitting next to Mr. Assface on the 4.5 hour flight to the Gold Coast. The trip has finally come around and for me, this also means my eighteenth birthday, which I’ve been looking forward to for the the past eighteen years. I can’t help feeling like a part of me is ending, or my childhood is drifting away, in a sense. I don’t know. Successfully, I push those thoughts out of my mind and focus on getting to the airport.

The trip to the airport is tense. Mum’s sitting in the passenger seat with Dad driving so I’m forced to sit in the back, which I don’t mind too much so I can sleep on the way. I get about half an hour of sleep before my parent’s fighting wakes me up. Of course.

“You should’ve filled up the tank the night before,” Mum tsks at Dad. “I don’t want Natalie to miss her flight.”

“I’ll be fine with the petrol I have,” Dad replies. “As long as Nat is there on time, that is what’s important.”

Mum doesn’t say anything, but I see her roll her eyes and that’s when I snap.

“Oh my god, can both of you just cool it?” I spit out angrily.

Another silence fills the air. It’s obvious that my parents weren’t expecting me to say anything, but I don’t care. I’m too peeved off at their arguing to care.

“Apologise to your mother,” Dad tells me quietly. I ignore him and for the rest of the car ride, there’s a heavy tension in the air.



When we arrive to the domestic terminals at the airport, Mum gives me the parental lecture about not drinking, taking drugs, clubbing, and doing reckless things of the sort, and I manage to refrain from rolling my eyes. She obviously doesn’t know of the things I’ve done, which in hindsight is probably a good thing. I reassure both parents that I’ll be fine and that’s when they give me my eighteenth birthday present; a silver bracelet with little charms that represent parts of me. There’s a paintbrush, blueberries (Mum knows that’s my fave), two girls with their arms linked together to represent me and Georgia being as close as sisters, and a clothing item. I raise my eyebrows, wondering about the meaning of why I have a pair of pants as a charm.

“Do you really think we don’t know about you and Mick going to the Laundromat?” Mum says teasingly, for which I’m touched, because I didn’t realise she or Dad knew about me liking the Laundromat in the first place.

“Speaking of Mick,” Dad starts. “I know you two are close but no hanky-panky, do you hear me?”

I snort at both Dad’s use of the words ‘hanky-panky’ and at what Dad’s implying. “Oh my god, Dad.”

My parents laugh, and I allow myself to smile. “Thank-you for the present,” I say graciously. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.” I hug both of them, and make my way to where Mr. Assface and the year twelves are at.

I spot Mick first, chatting with Matt. I decide to sign myself in with Assface before I join Mick and ask him to go on a walk with me, under the pretense of grabbing a hot chocolate for myself. He accepts the offer, and we leave our luggage with the year twelves while we get ourselves a drink.

“What’s up?” Mick asks me after we’ve made an order at Gloria Jeans.

“I’ve decided two things,” I tell him. “One: I don’t want to know about you and Josh because I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll make me annoyed and I don’t want to be annoyed this trip and during study time, y’know?”

Mick nods. “And the second thing?”

“I’m gonna ask that you not be a dick, with whoever I talk to or not talk to. I don’t want to hear whatever shit you have to say because ultimately, everything I do is my decision, not yours.”

Mick sighs. “I know I can be a little bitch sometimes, but I’m only looking out for you, I swear.”

“You’re looking out for me but you’re also looking out for you too,” I say dryly. “How much of an idiot do you think I am?”

Unsurprisingly, Mick laughs. “I keep forgetting that sometimes you know me better than I think you do.”

I flick my hair over my shoulder. “You know it, sista.”



In the space of half an hour, the rest of my friends arrive and we’re all chatting away about the excitement of this trip, purposely avoiding the topic of our exams in the upcoming weeks. After our trip, our days would consist of studying, and no one wanted to think about that just yet. Georgia and Colton excuse themselves, no doubt to make out somewhere I’m sure, and James and Mick start discussing something about some upcoming soccer game, so I decide to look around for a bit within the airport. There’s a bookstore - thank God - and I head inside.

While scouring the shelves for a good romance that’ll keep me enthralled for most of the flight, I bump into a nice-smelling stranger. Except he’s not a stranger.

“Josh!” I’d forgotten Josh was on the trip with us. Well, I’d tried to. I had forgotten until now. “What are you doing here?”

He quirks an eyebrow. “At the airport? Or in a bookstore?”

I feel my face flush. “Oh. Yeah. Stupid question. Nevermind. Anyways -”

“Nat, wait.” Josh places his hand on my arm, just as I’m turning away. “Why have you been ignoring me?”

“Ummm,” I pause. I really don’t want to answer this question, but it has been a week and I realise I do owe Josh some answers. “I figured it would be weird, and...I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Josh nods. “Are you planning to ignore me this trip too?”

My heart sinks. “Of course not!” I proclaim. “I know we didn’t, uh, end things the best way, but I still want to be friends with you.” I, quite literally, want to hit myself in the face. “I mean, if you want to. I know that’s a silly thing to say, but I don’t know what else to say.”

Josh laughs. It’s nice to hear his laugh again. It’s a sort of laugh that brings warmth to your insides and makes you happy. I don’t know. That’s how I feel when I hear it. “I still want you in my life Nat. As long as you keep admiring my sweet, sweet ass, we can still be friends.”

I giggle. “You’re a dork.”

Josh grins and offers his arms for a hug. I accept them and a sad feeling washes over me of how much I actually missed him this past week. His smell is inviting and manly and okay, I can’t deny it, he smells fucking fantastic. When we eventually pull away, his eyes are shining bright and I can tell he’s happy.

This makes me smile like an idiot, but I don’t mind.

We walk out of the bookshop with a bag each, when Josh nudges me. “Hey,” he says, pointing to the direction of the convenience shop just left of us. “Check it out.”

I can’t see what Josh is looking at, so I step inside the shop with Josh in tow, spotting Georgia and Colton paying for something at the register. What could it be?

“Ten bucks says they’re buying lube,” James appears, with Mick next to him. There’s an undeniable awkward tension in the air from the fallout of last week’s fight, but with all of us spying on the happy couple, the tension is lessened.

Mick shakes his head. “Nah, Colton says he never needs lube. G’s always ready to go.”

My mouth drops open. “Mick!”

Mick shrugs, but I can tell he’s trying to hold back his laughter. “Hey, it’s a good thing. Less work for Colton.”

The boys laugh. Georgia and Colton turn away from the register unknowingly starts walking towards us, only stopping when Colton sees us and turns a bright shade of red.

“What’s in the bag, Georgia?” Josh asks with a sly grin.

“Lady stuff,” Georgia says nonchalantly. That’s weird. Why would she bring Colton if it was lady stuff?

“Really?” I take the bag from Georgia and peer inside the bag. “It doesn’t look like lady stuff.”

“Nat!” Georgia yanks the bag away from me and out falls a box and a can.

“Condoms?” James asks. “We all know you have sex, you don’t need to hide it from us.”

Josh picks up the items from the ground. “Yeah, but I think they would hide banana flavoured condoms and whipped cream.”

I frown. “Whipped cream? What do you need -” A wave of realisation hits me after the boys howl in laughter. “Woah G, if you’re going to be using whipped cream, I do not want to stay in a room with you.”

G steals the whipped cream out of Josh’s hand and for the first time in a long way, her face turns a light shade of pink. Could this mean - no.

“Georgia Carter,” I say slowly. “Are you embarrassed?”

“You guys are so immature,” she huffs, pushing past the group with Colton in tow.

“Hey!” Mick shouts, earning the attention of strangers in the store. “Don’t forget your banana flavoured condoms!”

“You guys are so immature,” she huffs, pushing past the group with Colton in tow.

“Hey!” Mick shouts, earning the attention of strangers in the store. “Don’t forget your banana flavoured condoms!”

“Fuck you, Ryans!” Georgia shouts, making us all laugh again.