It Was Always You 》Rodrick Heffley fanfic

21

The drive takes a little less than anticipated, but my family is the first to arrive. I put in one headphone as my parents are checking in. I start to zone out as Electric Love by BØRNS starts to play. Arms wrap around me as the lyrics " And all I need is to be stuck by your electric love," plays. I freeze for a second before I realize who it is. "Hey dork," I say as he laughs. I turn around and nestle my head into his shoulder, "I missed you." He holds me for a half second before moving so we are looking at each other, "At least you didn't have Greg in your car. I swear I was about to jump out of the van every fifteen seconds." My mom loudly clears her throat from behind and we both jump. "I'll see ya in a bit." He winks at me as I go to head towards the rooms with my parents. I relax a little because I know it's gonna be two beds. My mom hands me the key to our room, and I swipe to open it. The door swings open and I laugh, "One bed, fucking cliche." I step in immediately and lock the door. I turn off the lights and make a sweep around the hotel room to check for anything. I realize nothing is really there so I flip on the lights and throw the comforter to the foot of the bed. My bag is slumped by the little open closet area and I start to hang up my dad's outfit for dinner tomorrow. There is a knock on the door and I go to open it. Rodrick is leaning against the doorframe and he smiles. "Hey stranger," I jokingly say. He steps in and looks at the single bed. "One?" I nod yeah, "I can sleep on the floor though." He laughs at the idea, "I don't mind really. If you are comfortable with it." My face grows red, "I am perfectly fine with it."

After a few minutes of getting settled my mom texts me:

Mum: What time are the Heffley's going to eat?

Me: idk want me to make a groupchat??

Mum: Sure

I look up at Rodrick, "Weird question... What are your family's phone numbers?" He looks confused, "Why?" I show him the short conversation with my mom, "She wants a groupchat." He flips over his phone to show me the contacts. I quickly add them all to a chat.

Me: Okay Y'all group chat.

Mum: What time are you guys going to eat?

Susan: In 15

Mum: great

Tea: why am I here??

Dad: wait who is everyone

Frank: Agreed

Greg: Its Rodrick

Sexy Next Dore Nehbore: u wish

Tea: I'm Jasmine dad.

The group chat keeps going, but Rodrick and I stop paying attention. "So like what's today's attack plan?" I ask him. He thinks, "Normally I take Greg to the arcade on the first day, but we don't have to if you don't want to." I scoff, "I love the arcade idiot. Then that's what we will do!" He smiles a lazy smile. I grab my small backpack from my bigger bag, "Need to bring anything?" He holds his water bottle up and puts it in my bag. We walk out the door and both families are waiting down a bit. "Shh follow me." I say noticing a little hallway just off our room. We sneak down it and we find a way to be spit back out near the group. I come around the corner and lean against the wall. I clear my throat and they jump, "What took you guys so long. We were waiting forever." My dad starts to laugh and so does Greg and Jasmine. My mom lets this roll off like water on a duck's back as she addresses everyone, "The adults are all going to a restaurant if you want to come." She pauses, "Actually you two," she says to Greg and Jasmine, "Are coming." They try to reason why they shouldn't, but they are told otherwise. I look over at them all, "Wait I get a choice?" Rodrick pipes up with a, "Me too?" The adults nod. "We agreed that since you too are older we will give you some freedoms like that. I look towards him, and he softly says, "Do you want to go?" I shrug, "I don't know?" I turn back to the families, "So like there is no penalty for not going?" They shake their heads no. Rodrick steps up and puts his hand on my shoulder, "We will go. Why not?" So we all head off to a little place just off the boardwalk. The dinner goes pretty smoothly and it seems like everyone stayed in their little bubbles, the parents, Greg and Jasmine, Rodrick and I.

Once everyone is done the parents get our attention. "These are you guys." They hand us arcade cards, "Now these are for the whole trip. We have your wristbands for the next two days so don't worry about that." The kids all take theirs, and Mrs. Heffley smiles, "Go have fun kids." My mom smiles at us, "Meet us at the gate at 9. Oh and stay in groups of two or all together please!" With that the four of us take off to head to the arcade. We lose Greg and Jasmine soon after we leave. I reach down to take his hand, and he meets me halfway. I turn to him and smile, "Great minds think alike." He smirks as I kinda drag him there. The place is playing various songs that I can place the tune too. The DDR game was open and I beat him. When I look over he is failing around and almost loses his balance. "Careful," I laugh. He drags me to guitar hero and beats me. I won't admit it to him, but I'm a bit offended. Although we both failed horrendously at Let's Make A Deal. Rodrick came out the better end with the 25 ticket prize, while I got 10. I scan over the place and see it. "Come on!" I take him to the photobooth. As I pull back the little cutrian Teen Romance by Lil Peep plays overhead. He sits next to me and his expression turns soft, "Really?" I nod as I start to figure out how to do it, "Of course." It starts the countdown, and we do two cheesy poses. He turns to me and softly grabs my face to turn it to him. The third camera click happens. With the music lightly playing Rodrick mutters, "Fuck it," along with the song as he pulls me into a kiss. The final shutter catches this moment, and I just live in the moment. He pulls back with a smile and a light pink on his face, "Sorry I should have-" I cut him off with another kiss. "I didn't mind." The machine tells us that our photos are printing so we step out and wait. I smile softly as my face starts to grow red realizing what just happened. The photos hit the bottom and I look at them. "We make a cute couple." He smiles as he goes to put the photo in his pocket. "Wait! I'll put it in my bag so it doesn't get messed up." He hands it over and I glance once more at it, "Hey did you see they let you watch the video of what happened?" He cocks his head to the side, "Really?" I nod, "Let's check it out later."

We mess around at a few more games before we run into Greg and Jasmine. "Hey I saw there was indoor putt putt, wanna play?" Jasmine asks us. The four of us head to go do it and I snap a photo for the parents. I send it to them and return my phone to my pocket. As the four of us make it through this oddly themed putt putt I occasionally rest my head on Rodrick's shoulder.

We start to lose track of the score as we continue down the holes. I check my phone and say to the group, "Hey we gotta finish soon it's almost time." Rodrick utterly fails at the last hole so bad that the four of us are gasping for breath from how hard we are laughing. We make our way to the entrance of the boardwalk where the parents are standing. "How was it you guys?" With a smile we scatter variations of great and good. We all start to walk as a group back to the hotel each little pocket in their own conversation. "Hey Rodrick I need to tell you something." I say looking at him.

**************************************

W.C. 1453