Where the Wind Takes Us

When James said I was going to have the best birthday ever, I don’t think he knew how right he was. I haven’t been able to stop smiling, and everyone keeps asking me why I was smiling when I eventually returned back to the club, why I kept wanting to dance with Josh (James was drunk at this point, but I’m pretty sure he was just messing around) and why I looked like I was on drugs. I wasn’t on drugs. I was high on life.

A loud knock on the door alerts Georgia and I. Georgia groans because she’s a little hungover and I’m trying to make her take Panadol so the quicker she can be done with her hangover, the more fun we can have at Movie World today. Hangovers and rollercoasters don’t work too well together. I get up off the bed and answer the door and to my surprise, it’s Josh.

“Hey,” I say shyly, smiling up at him. “How’d you sleep?”

“Awesome,” he answers, blushing. After we kissed on the beach, we kissed some more until my lips felt chapped and then we dipped our feet in the water, because it was cold and nice and we held hands, which was really nice. And then we returned back to the club and I enjoyed the rest of my birthday with Josh and my friends. Sneaking in was too easy, and Josh and I shared some sweet kisses in the elevator before returning to our separate rooms. Kissing Josh is fun. I love it. “You?”

“Same,” I reply. Without giving much thought to it, I step towards Josh and kiss him gently on the cheek. “I’d been wanting to do that the whole time,” I confess.

Josh raises an eyebrow at me, but he’s smiling. “After all that happened last night, all I get is a kiss on the cheek?” He places a finger underneath my chin and juts it forward, allowing me to kiss him properly, on the lips this time. It’s long and sweet and I don’t hesitate to throw my arms around his neck, enthusiastically joining in. There’s something irresistible about Josh that makes me want to do all sort of things to him.

We’re both breathing heavily by the time I reluctantly pull away. “That’s better,” he chides lightly. “Keep up the good work.”

“Josh!” I hit him on the arm and he laughs.

“You’re so easy to tease,” he grins. “You’re lucky I find it so cute. Find you so cute.”

I blush. “Shut up, Josh.”

“Agreed,” says a new voice behind me and it’s Georgia, smirking like there’s no tomorrow. “You guys are so disgusting I’m going to hurl.”

I frown. “I thought you wanted me and Josh to get together?”

Georgia slings an arm around my shoulders. “Of course I did, you dork. I just didn’t want it shoved in my face. That being said, I’m very happy at what’s developed here.” She turns to Josh. “You took your fucking time, though.”

Josh shrugs. “I got what I wanted in the end, didn’t I?” He says cockily and I can’t help but smile. “It’s not exactly shoved in your face when you chose to interrupt us.”

“Besides,” I add. “This is just payback for all the times I’ve walked in on you and Colton.” I grimace. “I’ve seen worse.”

For the second time this trip, Georgia blushes. This must be some kind of world record.

“You guys coming to breakfast?” Josh asks, changing the subject. He offers an arm out for me to take. “Would you like me to escort you, m’lady?”

I giggle. “Give me five.”



“Having a hangover and going on rollercoasters suck,” James complains. He grabs my free hand (the other one is holding a drink bottle) and places it on his forehead. “Am I burning up?”

He feels warm, but not enough to be sick. “No,” I tell him. “Now quit being a baby. I wanna go on the Wild West Falls!” The Wild West Falls is a fairly tame water log ride which doesn’t slosh around too much, so I’m hoping that the gang will want to go on it with me. And Josh. In a weird turn of events, Josh and his friends, Max and Stanley, join us too. Most of the boys play footy or soccer or some sort of sport together, and we do share some classes with the boys, but it’s still weird for them to join us. What’s weirder is that Mick doesn’t say a word. About Josh hanging around, I mean. I knew our conversation last night was massive for us, but I wasn’t sure whether Mick was going to hold true to what he said about letting me and Josh do our thing. It turns out that he is, though, and for that I’m grateful towards Mick.

“Hey,” I tug on Mick’s arm as we’re about to line up for the Wild West ride. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Mick looks surprised. “Sure.” We excuse ourselves from the group and walk a fair bit away, but not far enough that we couldn’t join ourselves in the line when it’s moved up a little. “What’s up?”

Standing here with Mick, it doesn’t feel like how I used to feel when I used to stand next to him. I used to dote on him and care for him so much, and now, while I still care, I don’t feel the way I used to. I don’t feel like I’m drawn to him anymore.

“Thank you for what you said last night,” I tell him. “About letting me and Josh do our thing and like, standing out of the way and not being so annoyingly protective and whatever.”

Mick runs a hand through his dark locks. “I know my behaviour before was pretty stupid and that I still haven’t explained to you my thing with Josh but-”

I place a hand on Mick’s arm. “It’s okay,” I say gently. “I know you can be a massive fuckwad but what you said last night pretty much confirmed that you can be a decent guy. Despite the shit you pull.”

Mick sighs. I can tell he’s embarrassed by the way his shoulders slump and with the refusal to look me in the eyes. “I’m sorry about everything Nat, really.”

I nod and lean up to kiss him on the cheek. “I know,” I say. I’m surprised at myself for kissing Mick but even more surprised when I realise that my feelings towards Mick have disappeared. I love Mick and I always will, but I’m not in love with him. Not anymore. “I’m not mad at you anymore, but when we get back you’re going to tell me the full story, okay?”

“Done,” Mick confirms. “I guess I better cherish these moments now before I tell you, huh?”

I wrinkle my nose. “That bad?”

“Fader, I’m an asshole, remember?” Mick laughs hollowly. “I didn’t kill anyone but like, what I did wasn’t cool either.”

Now I’m really wanting to know what happened but now’s not the time and both Mick and I know it.

“Anyway!” I exclaim, changing the subject. “Back to the line now. Always a good talk, Ryans.”

Mick ruffles my hair. “You know it, Fader.”



The rest of our day is spent riding rollercoasters and gleefully watching Colton and James as they puke up remnants of last night. Georgia, Mick and I take photos with the movie characters that come out through the parade, such as Batman and The Incredible Hulk. After Mick and I joined the line, Josh decided that he needed to leave with no explanation, with Max and Stanley following behind him. Max apologised for Josh, not knowing where his sudden change of behaviour came from. Neither did I, and instead of focusing on his sudden disappearance, I decided to focus on having fun with my friends instead. Though the look of hurt on Josh’s face was etched into my brain and I was so confused to why he could be feeling hurt.

Since we’re leaving today to go home, it’s time to pack up our belongings and get out of here. I tried to catch up with Josh but he shrugged me off and said he needed to clean up because he made a huge mess or something. I frowned, but let him go.

“Is something up with Josh?” Georgia asks as she folds her clothes into her suitcase and I’m writing in my diary.

I close my diary and shrug. “I think so, but he won’t tell me what’s up and I don’t know why.”

“Go find him,” Georgia tells me. “I overheard him talking to Max and he said he was going to hit up the gym before we left.”

I bounce out of bed and grab my hotel key card. “Wish me luck!”



I’m walking around the gym for Josh but I can’t seem to find him. There are some separate rooms for dance classes that I haven’t checked out yet so maybe he’s in there. I walk over to the room and hear a noise, well two in fact. Two voices and one sounds super similar – it’s Josh’s! I’ve found him!

The door is open so I walk straight in, and the sight I see in front of me is not what I’m expecting.

Josh is there, obviously, with a girl I recognise from our year. I think she has English with me but I’m not sure – regardless, they’re standing very close to each other and I have no idea what either of them are about to do until the girl leans in and touches her lips with his and I think I’m going to cry. But I don’t. I let out a squeak, alerting Josh to my presence as he looks up, shocked to see me there. I don’t know what to say and I don’t think I could say anything even if I wanted to – the words jump out of me but I can’t seem to get them off my tongue.

Instead, I turn around and run out of the gym as fast as I can, a tear running down my eye.