MesonHill’s Anem

Chapter 8: 25th October

It was now midnight. The windows on the minivan were steaming with condensation from the warm tickle of minimal chatter. The droplets glistened in the moonlight and Celeste watched as the odd one would roll down the window every few minutes. 

Axel had spun the passenger's seat around to face into the back of the van and Beck had now made himself comfortable In the drivers' seat, having turned that seat to face into the back too. Celeste sat alone, facing Axel on the double seat she had spent the journey on, whilst Fawn and Aria shared the double seat that sat opposite Beck. Faint snoring could be heard above the chatter from the seat behind Celeste, as River had drifted off into a deep sleep. Keeping their voices down, in hopes not to wake him, the group continued to whisper among themselves after calming their giggles after River started to sleep talk.

"Axel, your brother looks so much like you!" Celeste said, smiling at her first encounter with River, earlier that day. Axel rolled his eyes at her (something that was a common sight whenever she sat across from him) and she realised that people must tell him that all of the time.

"I'm much better looking, though. Don't you think?" He asked, his usual smirk pinned onto his face.

He stretched his legs forward and started to playfully kick Celeste's feet. His eyes looked tired as he stared through her, not really paying attention to what he was doing. Still, he continued to tap her feet with his. Celeste couldn't understand why, but she started to do the same back. Their feet intertwined, and their feet soon began to mirror each other's, until Celeste's were pressed against Axel's. Her legs were fully extended, but Axel still had his knees bent, showing Celeste how short she really was compared to him.

She also couldn't help but notice how small her feet were compared to his. Celeste's shoe size was big for her height. She took size seven shoes, whilst she was only five foot two. Axel's shoes must have been at least a size twelve. 

From behind his large feet, Axel's face emerged and their eyes locked as he gave her a sweet, sleepy smile. She couldn't help returning one at his obscure cuteness.

...

The clock in the van now showed 1.30 am. They would be boarding the ferry in half an hour, but they still sat motionless in the service station, with River still fast asleep.

"Do you think we should wake River up? It's half one." Celeste asked, worrying about being on time, as usual.

Fawn had also fallen asleep with her head resting against the window of the minivan. It turned out that it wasn't only River who had drifted off. Aria was also sound asleep resting her head on the shoulder of a sleeping Fawn, whilst Beck's eyes were drooping in the front seat.

Axel looked around at the others and realised that if they stayed any longer, they may all have been in too deep a slumber to wake in time, so he took the responsibility of waking up River. He struggled from his seat, yawning and stretching to keep himself awake and knelt on the seat beside Celeste. He reached over to the row behind her and gave River a gentle shake.

"Come on mate, wake up. It's half one." His voice was soft as he spoke.

River eyes instantly opened wide and he shoved Axel's arms off of him. He was on his feet in seconds, creating quite the ruckus when he hit his head on the roof of the van. Beck heard the commotion, snapping him awake from his daydream, and he moved to sit in the passenger's seat. River took his place back in the driver's seat, leaving Axel to find somewhere else to sit until they boarded the ferry.

"Looks like you've got me." Axel looked down at Celeste, raising his eyebrows.

"Don't be so pretentious. My feet deserve that seat more than you." Celeste grinned smugly, as she knew without looking that Axel was smiling.

"Ouch, Cely! Does your royal highness require me to park my buttocks elsewhere?" He turned around to reveal his so-called 'buttocks' and gave it a concerning stroke.

"Hmm, I think her highness can make an exception this once." She laughed at his idiocy, and patted the seat next to her, signalling him to sit down.

Once everyone was seated, River started the van's engine, and pulled out of the service station. It wasn't a long drive to the ferry port, now. It was only about fifteen minutes but Celeste wanted them to be on the road now to avoid any chances of them missing the ferry.

Celeste looked at Axel sitting next to her to see his eyes drooping and his head falling forward. He must've been tired as he'd fallen instantly into a deep sleep. His head fell to the left and landed on Celeste's right shoulder as the van turned a corner and she blushed at the sudden surprise.

Nobody had noticed that he was asleep on her shoulder. She wondered what people might think if they saw and considered pushing him off of her to stop those thoughts, but she didn't want to wake him, so she let him keep his head there until the queue of vehicles started boarding the ferry.

When the van was at the very rear of the vessel, Celeste lifted her shoulder to bring Axel's ear closer to her mouth, as she whispered "Ax, we're boarding the ferry. We'll be getting out of the van soon." His eyelids fluttered, as he began to stir. On realisation of what had happened, he turned to Celeste, giving her a tired but cheeky grin.

River pulled the van onto the metal ramp, and onto the ferry. There were three rows of vehicles, entering the car parking deck. The sound of engines echoed around the ship's walls, creating an unbearable drilling noise. There were staff dressed in orange, luminescent jackets, directing vehicles to a parking spot. A man signalled River to a spot just next to the staircase that guided you up to the next deck.

"Alreyt, delinquents. Everyone out. Can't stay dahn 'ere when't ferry gets going." River announced to the group. He jumped out of the van, and the rest followed suit.

They all made their way up to the top deck, where the café was. The interior of the boat was elegant. There were several black tables placed around, next to the café, with deep green, leather chairs sitting at them. The floor was carpeted in the same colour green, and the walls were painted cream.

"After't ferry sets off, we should get to Calais in abaht an hour. 'Til then, if you want to spli' up, go ahead, an' we can meet back at' café. Dunno abaht you guys, though, bu' I'm going aht on't deck!" River exclaimed.

Celeste had never been out on the deck before. Usually, when she was on a ferry with her parents, they would just sit and watch the waves through the windows, so the idea of going out on the deck was intriguing.

"I'm coming!" She yelled before River could shut the door behind him, as he exited the room. An echo of similar responses followed behind her and as the vessel started to move, they all lined up along the railing outside to stare at the view.

Towards the port, the bright lights reflected off of the waves, showing how still the water was on that October morning. Out at sea, there was complete darkness, besides the small reflections of moonlight.

Being out on the deck brought thoughts of endless possibilities. If this small group could get away with going on a whole trip to France, without anyone knowing, what else could they accomplish? Celeste took a deep breath, letting the fresh, salty, sea air fill her lungs. The feeling was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It was surreal.

"Does anyone else feel like they could just take on the world right now?" Beck asked. His gaze stayed facing forward, looking out to sea.

"It's funny you say that, Beck. I was just thinking the same thing." Celeste replied.

She turned to look at the group standing next to her. They were people she hardly knew, yet people she was so close to. Of course, Aria was a handful to get along with, but in her own way, she still had a connection with Celeste similar to the others'. The fact that she didn't want to let it show, was her choice.

Celeste's thoughts were soon interrupted by River's strange need to announce everything that he did.

"Am ravenous! I'll be at' café, probably eatin' me weigh' in food if you need me." And with that, River headed back inside.

Beck followed him, soon after, along with Fawn. Aria didn't want to end up alone with Celeste, so she, too, went inside.

Then, it was just Celeste and Axel and not a single soul but the two of them. He moved closer to her, to narrow the gap between them. She continued to admire the view, but she could feel his eyes looking at her.

"It's quite lovely, isn't it?" He said. She really hoped that he meant the view. "I could stay out here all night." He turned back to look out over the sea, and a wave of relief washed over her.

"I can fetch you a jacket to use as a blanket if you really want." Celeste joked, nudging Axel slightly with her elbow.

"You're hilarious, you know that?" Axel said, in the most sarcastic tone Celeste had ever heard.

"I know I am and you know it, too. Just admit it, Ax. I'm funnier than you, and you can't deal with that fact." She teased.

"Oh, I most certainly will never admit to that, because it just so happens to be a lie. I'm way funnier than you!" He retorted, pretending to be slightly offended.

"Whatever, Ax." She laughed.

"I win." He replied.

The cool sea breeze had picked up, the further out to sea they had gotten, and Celeste felt a shiver rise through her body.

"Blinking heck, I think I'm going to head inside, now. It's turned a bit cool." She said. She turned straight towards the door and headed back inside, not wanting to admit that Axel had, indeed, won.

When she walked over towards the café, she saw the group sitting at a table, next to the front windows, engulfed in a game of blackjack. She sat down and joined in with the next game, and soon, Axel came to join them.

...

An hour had passed, whilst they had been playing blackjack, and the ferry was soon docking in Calais, so the group went down to the parking deck to get back in the van. Engines were starting from all corners of the deck, and eventually, vehicles were beginning to move off of the ferry.

Aria was now sitting in the passenger's seat of the van, and Axel had seated himself next to Celeste, again. She didn't see much of the journey in Northern France, as she had fallen asleep. This time, her head was resting on Axel's shoulder, who had also drifted off- his head resting on hers.

After about four hours of driving, River pulled into the first service station in France. There were still around seven hours of driving to go before they would reach Saint-Tropez. This meant another stop at another service station, after another four hours of driving.

Celeste didn't even notice that they had come to their first stop, because she was in such a deep sleep. She only started to stir from her sleep when they approached the next service station because her bladder had apparently become too full.

Only Fawn and River were awake when they arrived, so she whispered across to Fawn.

"Fawn, do you fancy coming to the loo with me?" She asked. Fawn nodded and slid from underneath the sleeping Beck. They headed over to the ladies toilets, but to their astonishment, when they arrived, there was nothing but a hole in the ground.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Celeste laughed. "How are we supposed to pee in that?" Both her and Fawn were in fits of laughter, looking down at the hole.

"Oh god, I'm gonna have to go. I don't care. All this laughing has put me at breaking point!" Celeste exclaimed.

The rest of the battle with the hole was left up to interpretation, as Celeste shoved Fawn out of the cubicle and quickly locked the door. On the way back to the van, Fawn asked "how did you manage to tackle it?" to which Celeste gave no reply, and just shook her head in embarrassment instead.

Once they were back in the minivan, River had nodded off, and Aria had woken up.

"Where were you two?" She asked. Celeste looked at Fawn, and they both burst out laughing, still trying to stay as quiet as possible.

"Oh, you should've seen it, Ari! It was just this little hole!" Fawn was giggling in between her words.

Aria formed a smile, as the two girls explained what had happened. But soon, the boys started to wake up, so the conversation ended abruptly. Celeste looked over to Fawn, giving her a look as if to say 'don't say a word', and it was obeyed.

Once River woke, he had put them all back onto the road. Then, within the next three hours of minimal conversation and tired teenagers, they were in Southern France and had arrived in Saint Tropez.