Neighbours: A HICCSTRID Story

11: Paris

Ally woke up to her annoying alarm clock at 3am in the morning. She was up late the previous night studying so she'd definitely catch some sleep during the flight.

She waddled over to her cupboard and opened it, half expecting it to still be full. But most of it was in her luggage neatly folded up. She put on the shirt and leggings she laid out last night went to the bathroom to wash her face and freshen up. She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and made her bed.

Ally dragged her luggage downstairs and put it next to the counter as she made breakfast which was just plain cereal with yoghurt. She frowned at the thought of missing so much school, but this was Paris she was talking about here people, Paris. She still couldn't believe it. In a couple of hours, she'll be on a plane, peacefully sleeping with Hayden.

Ally looked at the time and saw it was 3:56 am. She rushed upstairs to say goodbye to her parents before hearing a familiar Ding Dong! Coming from downstairs. Skipping every other step, she went downstairs and grabbed her luggage before opening the door to see an excited yet tired Hayden.
"Ready to go?" He asked.

ALLY

"As I'll ever be I guess..." I trailed. As much a plane ride sounds exciting, the adrenaline of the adventures we were going to have overtook the thought of flying through the air at high speeds in literally a metal tube with wings. I don't know how I'll cope, every time I get on an aeroplane, I freak out. Literally. I start sweating and my heart beats really fast.

"Helloo?? Earth to Ally! We're going to be late if you don't stop daydreaming about my perfect complexion here." Hayden gestured to his entire self.

"Okay! And just saying, I was not daydreaming about your 'complexion'." I said, putting quotation marks for complexion.

IN THE PLANE

Just before takeoff, I turned on my music to try to drown out the sound of the roaring engines as we leave the ground.
My palms became sweaty and I gripped the arm rest until my knuckles became white, my heart was racing and it felt like there was this huge fist in my throat. I close my eyes and try to immerse myself in the music but it didn't seem to be working. As we got higher and higher, my heart beat faster and faster and the fist in my throat became bigger and bigger.
"Are you okay?" I hear Hayden ask.

I can just merely nod my head in response.

"You're going to be fine Ally, you're in safe hands of the pilots and the attendants. Plus if anything does go wrong, you have all the safety gear so you'll be fine. Just breathe okay? Deep breaths in and out slowly."

I start breathing, and my heart rate slows down and I loosen my grip from the rest, but the fist feels like it's still growing.

"Look Ally, I can't sit here the whole time and watch you freak out, so instead of fighting it, try and just letting it stay. Just think of it as you don't mind it and it can stay, but it will slowly fade away."

I process his words and I open my eyes, continually taking deep breaths in and out, while repeating in my head,
It's okay, I don't mind you being there. It's okay... it's okay...

And sooner or later, the fist turned into a knot, then it was gone. I took one last deep breaths before looking at Hayden, who was looking back at me with sincerity. I smiled at him and whispered, "Thank you."

He grinned back at me and mouthed, no problem.

AT THE AIRPORT

HAYDEN

As we stepped out of the airport, I close my eyes and took in a breath of the new scents of the Parisian area.
"Hey, just saying, Lauren is joining us tomorrow, she just had to do something today so she couldn't make the flight." I said.

"Okay. Um, where are we staying?"

"Right over there!" I pointed to the park.

"Um.." Ally had this really confused look on her face and was about to say something when I cut her off.

"Just kidding! Our ride's going to take us to the hotel."

"Our ride? Hayden, you're really confusing me."

"Haha!" I pointed to a jet black limo headed our way.

Her jaw dropped and she looked at me with a look that said Vat de actual heck?!
"Woah. I've never ridden in a limo before." Ally stated.

"Well, after today, you can say you have."

HOTEL

When we entered the room, Ally gawked at everything, from the wallpaper to the toilet. Literally everything looked amazing to her.
Then she noticed there were only 2 beds.
"Where's Lauren going to sleep? There's only two beds."

"Well, she's sleeping on the couch. She'd actually prefer it than the bed. Heck, she would prefer the floor. Literally, she's got a desk and everything yet everytime I walk past her room she's laid on the floor doing homework or on Instagram."

"Ah."

NIGHT (I'm really lazy today, so many skips.)

At around 2 in the morning, I woke up to hear Ally breathing really harshly. I walked over to her bed and looked at her to see if she was okay, but she was shivering. Even under two layers of quilt. For about 10 minutes, I stood there contemplating. Should I? Should I not?
Meh. I should. We're friends anyway, and it's a nice thing to do.
So I climbed into the bed with her, being extra careful not to wake her up. I wrapped my arms around her and sooner or later, her breathing slowed down to a normal pace. I closed my eyes too, inhaling the scent of her lavender shampoo.
I was planning to leave as soon as she warmed up but I ended up sleeping with her in my arms.
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Hayyyyy peepadoodoos 💩 How y'all doing? End of the year is coming, and I have a whole heap of yearly studying to do so I might, I repeat MIGHT not be able to update on the schedule but I said MIGHT. So that most probably won't happen. I need opinions! Opinions opinions... 💭
Until next time,
PEACE ✌️