Alex's. POV

I wake up and slowly open my eyes to see .. nothing, because there's an arm in front of my face.

I tense immediately and try to think, what happened last night? I push away the limb only to realise it is Rian who is still lying in my bunk, now the nights events come back to me. I had this horrible dream.
I look at him and have to smile, I remember falling asleep with him comforting me but now he is cuddled so close to me it looks the other way round.
Then I frown, maybe it wasn't only a dream, maybe it was a psychic information. I try to get out of my bunk without waking Rian because I have to check and make sure Charlie is alright.

I put on a shirt and make my way to the back lounge trying not to wake the guys up, it is very early

here but with 17 hours time difference it must be in the middle of the night at Charlie's. Anyway I have to try and talk to her maybe she is still awake.

I start up my laptop my fingers tapping the table impatiently until the application pops up on the screen, I hit her contact mumbling to myself. "Please Charlie, pick up."
It rings a few times until I hear this weird sound when someone picks up and then the screen slowly focuses on a smiling face.

"Hey Baby, this is an unusual time for you to call. Has something happened?" Her smile changes to a worried look. I hear loud music in the background and I notice Charlie is wearing a cut off shirt and her arms and face are full of little specks of white paint.

"No, Charlie, don't worry, nothing happened, I just had a bad feeling and wanted to check if everything is okay with you." I sigh contently seeing her safe and happy. "What are you doing up so late anyway, have you been painting?"

"Yeah, but it is not an art piece if that's what you were thinking, we are repainting Anna's apartment, it is supposed to be a surprise because she was letting me stay here." She smiles again and studies my face. "God, it is good to see you, Alex. Even in the middle of the night."

In that moment a guy enters through the door carrying a paper bag, he is tall, shirtless with dark hair and a muscular body. He is pretty attractive even from a mans point of view. "Hey Luv, I brought you brown rice, tuna and salad." He places a take away container in front of Charlie and ruffles her hair, he looks at the screen for a moment, smiles and shakes his thumb and pinkie in a surfer greeting to me and walks back into the other room where I can see him sit down on the couch.

"Who is that?" I blurt out before I can even think. I feel a strange tugging in my stomach it doesn't feel good at all.

"Oh that's Jake, he is a friend of Anna's, he is also from Byron and is here in Sydney for a week. He helps me with the repainting as it is a pretty hard job with only one arm." She says casually opening the box and taking out a fork digging into her food.

"Why doesn't he wear a shirt?" I can't help sounding angry.

"Because it is easier to clean your skin than your clothes from the paint and we have something like a heat wave here at the moment, if I could I would go shirtless as well." She giggles.

"Charlie! What? Are you serious? Keep your clothes on! And anyway, why is he calling you 'Luv'?"

She starts to laugh holding a hand in front of her mouth to stop the food from spilling. "Seriously Alex, are you jelly?" She asks after she swallowed the bite.

I sit back with my arms crossed and a sour look on my face, I don't like to admit it but this ugly feeling I have in my guts feels a lot like jealousy. So I say nothing and just look at her, she is so beautiful and so genuine, I don't know how I can keep her mine, I bet every guy wants to get to her. I had to death stare multiple dudes each time we were going out together in Byron.

She sees my face go all sad while I am caught up in these thoughts and snaps me out of it by coming closer to the screen with a serious face. "Ally! Are you for real? Hey, I love you! We are married! Do you honestly believe this means nothing to me? You must be joking."

She shakes her head at me. Then she adds with a sigh. "He is just a friend, he is in a band as well, called 'In Hearts Wake' they are awesome, he is the singer, you should check them out. He calls me Luv because that's what Australians do, it doesn't mean anything. And he has a beautiful girlfriend with who I went to high school together. So please Alex, don't get all upset because of nothing."

I take a deep breath and try to fight down my emotions. "You are going to the embassy tomorrow, are you?" I ask, my voice raspy.

She snorts. "You are a piece of work, Gaskarth. Of course I go to the embassy tomorrow, I was only teasing you the other day. I can't wait to be with you again. You are so stupid sometimes." I can see tears welling up in her eyes as she shakes her head again.

"Hey, don't cry Baby, I am sorry, it is just... It is so hard to be away from you. I love you so much it hurts." I get all sentimental and are about to cry as well.

"Okay now, let's stop this, Baby, we can't be crying all the time, there is no reason, we have each other and that is the biggest gift I could have wished for and I am grateful for that. I have to get back to painting now, I will go to the embassy first thing tomorrow morning and call you as soon as I know what's going on. I love you." She leans forward and kisses all around the screen, pretending it would be my face.
I have to smile and hold my cheek to the camera for her to kiss on which she does with a loud smacking noise. Then we end the call.

I return from the back lounge and run into Jack who just hopped out of his bunk staring at a still sleeping Rian.
"Alex, what's going on with you guys, why is Rian sleeping in your bunk?" He looks at me with raised eyebrows

I'm in a good mood and decide to prank Jack a little.

"Yeah, Jack, uhm, we wanted to tell you this for some time, you know, Rian and I, like we have this thing going, you know." I act as if I am feeling awkward and scratch the back of my head. The look on Jack's face when his jaw drops is priceless. Absolutely made my day. I leave him frozen to the spot and turn around to walk out of the bus chuckling. That was so funny!

Notes

Been gone for a while....