The Escape

[tamaracorine]

College was over. Real life was calling.


And all they wanted to do was escape.

 

[tamaracorine]

Leah's family home was blocked from view by the big yellow bus on the front lawn. She stood inside it with Jamie, grinning wildly. "Now we wait for the others. Vi said she'd be here soon, and Liam... I don't know." she shrugged and wrapped her arms around Jamie's waist. She was wearing a short denim skirt, a pair of converse, and a torn up black singlet, showing off her tattoos. "We've got a bit of time though..." she smirked at him.


Liam was picking up Samantha on his way through - a college drop out that was tagging along on their trip, and was managing to run late already. He felt back, but he anticipated that whoever arrived first would have to break up the happy couple from whatever they were doing. He was glad it would most likely be Violet.


@RedLipstick34

 

[RedLipstick34]

Jamie grinned at Leah's suggestiveness, cupping her face with one hand to pull her mouth towards his, free hand landing on her hip. it used to surprise him, how easy it had been to settle down with a beautiful girl and stop going to bed with every groupie who offered, but now it was just sort of routine. He didn't look at other women or think about doing any of them, he was more focused on getting his name out there, finding a reasonably decent band and making it big, hopefully with Leah by his side. He was just starting to get into the make out session with Violet made her 'fashionably late' grand appearance.


Violet didn't have time to put a lot of thought into her outfit, slipping on a simple black crop top and tight silver skirt over some black leggings. She was rushing around her dorm, throwing extra things she'd forgotten into her duffel bag and tripping over her roommates things scattered around the floor on her every turn. After running a brush quickly through her hair and spraying some perfume, she jogged out the door, taking one last look over her shoulder at the place she'd spent the last four years, and only allowing a moment of nostalgia because she really did need to get there soon. A taxi ride to Leah's house later and she was stepping into the bus to find Jamie's tongue down her best friends throat as per usual. She groaned, throwing her bag onto the bed she planned to claim. "We really should have spent the extra two hundred for the bus with a closed off bedroom so you two could make porno's in privacy." She joked, though her tone was deadpan. Jamie laughed as he detached from Leah, waving half-heartedly towards Violet. "Wonderful timing, thank you." He mumbled, hopping up onto the closest counter and pulling on Leah's hand to drag her over with him, arms wrapping around her shoulders from behind and chin resting on one of them to watch Violet make her bed.


@tamaracorine

 

[tamaracorine]

Leah had been shy with Jamie at first. She had been uncertain of herself, but the longer they were together, the bolder she was. She loved him, and she knew he loved her. Her body responded easily to him, and Violet's entrance caused her to jump slightly, then laugh and let herself be tugged to the counter. She leaned against Jamie, between his legs. "We suggested it, Vi, but Liam got all outraged about how if he wasn't getting any, we weren't. So I'm afraid you guys are stuck with us, in all our physically affectionate glory." she smirked, brushing some of her bright red hair from her face. "We've claimed the double bed, in case that wasn't obvious..." she added. There were two single bunks on either side of one end of the bus so four could sleep there, and a double bed took up the far end. "Unless you and Liam..." she began.


"What about Liam?" Liam asked as he walked onto the bus with a blonde girl, Samantha. "Liam is here." he announced, tossing his bag onto the upper bunk. "Y'all ready to party?" he grinned, a slightly southern accent showing. He had played football in Texas as a kid and part of the accent stuck. Samantha tossed her bag onto the bottom bunk opposite Violet's, settling down and smiling.


 
@RedLipstick34

 

[RedLipstick34]

"Apparently the only way to get the larger bed and some leg room is if I sleep with you." Violet answered Liam easily, never one to be shy or considerate. She smiled at the girl she didn't recognize, though she'd known he planned on bringing someone else along. Samantha was probably just there to be Liam's bed buddy when he was bored, but she was admittedly hot-ish and Violet had no preferences or morals, so she considered snagging her before Liam got into her pants first. "I brought the illegal substances" she suddenly remembered, furthering the party subject and digging through her duffel for the baggie full of green extra curricular activities. "It's not much, but I had to use the tiny bit of money I had left. Dear old daddy's credit card doesn't exactly cover getting high." She explained, tossing the bag on the closest available table.


"I've got a twelve pack, but someone's gotta start driving so I assume we'll save that for a stop one night." Jamie added, removing himself from the conversation for a moment to release one of his arms from Leah and reach it out towards Liam's friend. "Welcome aboard. I'm Jamie, and no, I'm not a model, but thanks for wondering. This perfect human specimen in front of me is Leah, in case you two don't know each other. I know how girls are about awkward introductions." He said while shaking her hand. "I'll drive. Any suggestions on destination numero uno?" He asked, turning his attention back to the group.


@tamaracorine

 

[tamaracorine]

"Sam." Samantha introduced herself, shaking his hand. "Liam was there when I stormed out of the admin building at college saying I was done... He said I could tag along. Hope it's okay." she shrugged, letting her hand drop. "And uh, nice to meet you, Leah."


Leah smiled at her before casting a glare at Jamie. "We've talked about public flattery. Not allowed. Never allowed." she whispered, half joking. "Let's go somewhere there's a beach." she suggested, "I'm assuming bathing suits are packed, and beer and beach and some greenery sounds quite perfect for our first night, if you ask me."


Liam grinned, mostly happy to see the girls in bikinis. "Sounds perfect." he told her. "Let's get on the damn road. I'll take second driving shift. Just let me know when you're over it, Jamie. I'll take care of your girl until then." he teased.

 

[RedLipstick34]

Jamie scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious, Liam, really. You should look into a comedy career." He remarked sarcastically, sliding off the counter to hold the hood of his hoodie up, blocking everyone's view so that he could kiss Leah without her complaining about PDA. He kissed the tip of her nose quickly afterwards, and made his way to the front of the bus to take a seat, and searching through his phone for a moment to gps the closest beach city.


"So, when's the wedding?" Violet asked Leah with a smirk, sitting pretzel style on the double bed. She and Jamie were all over each other constantly, and obviously in love so she was always teasing about them getting married and having the worlds cutest babies. Not that she saw Jamie as much of the proposing type, and couldn't really even picture Leah as a housewife, taking care of babies and cooking her family dinner. Regardless, they'd been together for ages and it was bound to happen eventually. "I insist on the maid of honor dress being red. I look good in nothing else." She added, never ending smirk still in tact. She remembered the abundance of food in her bag and rushed over to it, returning to the larger bed and pulling out chex mix to snack on, offering the bag towards her best friend once she had a handful

 

[tamaracorine]

Leah couldn't help but return the kiss. In spite of her objections, she liked it when he kissed her and complimented her in public. It embarrassed her, but it was nice that Jamie was happy to let everyone see that they were together. "Jerk." she whispered, grinning up at him as they parted. She walked over to sit beside Violet on the bed and rolled her eyes. "Maid of honour, huh?" she asked. "Presumptuous that you'd assume you get the task. Perhaps I've got a secret best friend you don't know about." she took a handful of the chex and began to eat it slowly.


"So what's your excuse?" Liam asked Violet. "I know Leah and Jamie are here because they want a grand adventure together before he inevitably knocks her up. But you? I can't pick it." he tilted his head curiously, leaning back against the wall. There was a mischevious edge to his expression, that wasn't even shaken when Leah threw a pillow at him.

 

[RedLipstick34]

"I'm bored." Violet explained honestly to Liam, mouthful of pretzel, also known as the only ingredient in chex mix she could stomach unless she was hungover. "And the next step in my life is a nine to five job in some office. I'm not exactly in a hurry to start fetching coffees and copies." She explained, uncomfortable with the seriousness of the conversation, or mentioning her future. "Not to mention I'm desperately, pathetically in love with you. As soon as Leah mentioned you were coming there was absolutely no way I could stay away. I researched sports so that we would have things in common and everything" She added on a more light-hearted, joking note. "Why are you here?" She returned the inquiry, tossing the bag at him, willing to share now that the pretzels were gone

 

[tamaracorine]

Liam picked at the bag, "Hey... you took all the good ones." he complained, but ate some other flavours anyway. "I'm here because I'm tired of sports. So you're sort of out of luck with our conversations, hate to say. All I've ever known is sports, and I realised that maybe I wanted to know more. Hell, maybe I'm doing the whole 'finding myself' thing people talk about." he shrugged, handing the bag over to Sam. She took it, but was already engrossed in reading a book.


Leah settled on the bed, laying with her head in Violet's lap. She and Violet didn't make sense as friends, but somehow it worked. They had partied together, and cried together, and laughed together, all through college. "Hey, Vi," she teased, "Maybe you could find yourself. Or you could find yourself a bunch of cute guys to party with. Either works, yeah?"

 

[RedLipstick34]

"I already know myself pretty well, I've personally found that I'm pretty awesome. But finding cute boys sounds like my kind of road trip, step on it, Jamie!" Violet replied, speaking the last part just a tad bit louder so that Jamie could here her clearly in the front. Not that the bus was particularly large, there wouldn't be much privacy or whispering for sure. Not that she needed secrets, she was more of a flowing open book kind of girl. "Maybe I'll find a boy good enough to finally fall in love with and we can go on double dates and have babies at the same time, I'll have a boy, you have a girl, and when they grow up and get married, we'll be related!" She exclaimed, despite never wanting kids or even love for that matter. She could live her romantic life vicariously through Leah's relationship. She didn't need one of her own to suck the fun out of everything she enjoyed.

 

[tamaracorine]

"Can we please stop talking about babies?" Leah groaned, "I don't want to think about it carrying another human around in my body for nine months, and then carrying them around outside my body forever." she told Violet pleadingly. She had a pregnancy scare a few months earlier, that she hadn't told anyone but Jamie about. It had turned out to just be that she was particularly stressed and had missed her time of month, but it was enough to make her be particularly careful. "Let's talk about something else." she requested. "Hey, Jamie! How far away is the beach? Can't be more than a few hours, right?"

 

[RedLipstick34]

"Two and a half, love." Jamie called back. "Hey, this thing even has a radio!" He added excitedly, turning the music up so loud that she speakers prevented any further conversation. Violet shrugged, fine with this new arrangement, and slipped out from under Leah to pull her to her feet and force her to dance together for a while to waste time.


LALALALALALA time skip


By the time they arrived to the beach things had settled down and Violet was lying in Leah's lap this time until Jamie announced that they were ten minutes away and she stood to walk over to her bag. Her skimpy bikini wasn't much, just small and plain and completely white, though it had been carefully picked to compliment her tan skin. And in normal Violet fashion, she made sure Jamie was distracted before stripping down right there instead of waiting for privacy or attempting to change in a tiny bathroom, and switched into her bikini, pulling an unnecessary, just as revealing, see-through black beach cover-up dress over her head afterwards.


When he found an appropriate place to park the bus, Jamie pulled it to a stop and stood from his seat, stretching momentarily. It was reaching evening now, so the beach wasn't too hot or crowded, and they had apparently chosen the perfect one, because there weren't many people to begin with, and it was beyond beautiful. "Let's go cause trouble." He said excitedly, digging for his trunks and heading out the door, eager for air and exercise.

 

[tamaracorine]

Liam couldn't help but look at Violet as he saw her bikini. He stripped his shirt off, and was already wearing thin shorts, tossing it to his bed and removing his shoes. He pulled two bottles from his bag - both large. One was vodka, and the other whiskey. He walked off the bus and headed down to the sand at a run. Samantha was only a few steps behind him.


Leah changed into her own bikini, which had been a present from Violet. The trick had been that the present was for Jamie, not Leah. Leah wearing it was apparently the present for Jamie. She put the black string bikini on and looked at Jamie uncertainly. There were a few tattoos she normally kept hidden, but in the bikini, none could be. Right on her hip was his name in his own handwriting. He was the only one who knew of that tattoo. "Violet," she called, not looking away from Jamie, "Do I seriously have to wear this poor excuse for clothing off the bus? I swear, my underwear covers more than this does..."

 

[RedLipstick34]

"Yeah, that's the point. Jamie sees you in underwear all the damn time. This is sexy. Underwear is...what you protect your privates with? I never really thought about that. Why does underwear exist?" Violet answered, shaking her head when she started to get off topic. "Go get 'em, tiger." She finished encouragingly, patting Leah's butt to push her towards the door, and running back to grab the baggie of weed at the last minute before returning to the door and exiting. A moan escaped her mouth as the feeling of slightly damp beach air caressed her entire body. "If this doesn't get you a night full of foreplay romance, your boyfriend's gay. You'll thank me later." She whispered to her best friend, blowing her a kiss before turning swiftly and skipping off in Liam's direction to steal the Vodka from his hands. "No cups I'm guessing? Hope you guys don't have herpes." She commenting, taking the liberty of the first swig, face contorting as usual against the bitter taste for a few seconds afterwards.


Jamie changed in a pretty nasty port-a-potty, leaving his jeans on the sand as he made his way back to Leah. His feet stopped moving suddenly when he rounded the bus and laid eyes on his usually rather modest girlfriend. He did have to admit, he wasn't a huge fan of Violet or her infulence over Leah, but sometimes, the influences worked to his advantage. "Hello gorgeous, I'm sorry, I was just looking for my girlfriend, wondering if you'd seen her? She actually looks a lot like you but with a little more fabric, probably." He joked, a quick kiss to her forehead. "I'm a lucky man, love. let's swim." He finished, swooping down in one swift move to pick her up bridal-style and walk her into the water.

 

[tamaracorine]

Liam laughed, "No herpes here. Just much alcohol. The good stuff, not the cheap stuff. God, I hate cheap beer." he sighed, opening the whiskey and taking a sip. He glanced back at Leah and Jamie and raised an eyebrow, then turned his attention back to Violet. Sam had disappeared to go for a walk, needing a decent amount of alone time - plus, she got the feeling Liam and Violet would end up taking that double bed sometime. "So, going to light some of that up?" he gestured to the baggie.


A squeal left Leah's mouth as he picked her up. She clung to him, her arms around his neck and her head buried against his shoulder. It always amazed her that he would choose her. With all the possible women that threw themselves at him at shows, he always seemed to come back to her without even considering them. As he walked her into the water, she planted a few small kisses on his neck and collarbone. "I bet it's cold in there, huh?" she asked, nodding to the water. "And I bet you're going to be a jerk and drop me in, even if I keep kissing your neck to persuade you against it."

 

[RedLipstick34]

"It would be the best way to go ahead and get you used to it, though. I'm just looking out for your best interest, swear." Jamie replied with a pout. "I mean, fine, I was just trying to protect you, but if you're going to call me a jerk, have it your way." He added with a smirk, leaning down slightly to set Leah down on her feet gently in the waist deep, chilly water.


Violet glanced over at the happy couple enjoying their romantic get-away every few minutes and wrinkled her nose in disgust. She loved Leah and Jamie to pieces, but all she saw every time they hung all over each other was how broken they were both going to be when it inevitably ended, and how busy she'd be trying to keep both of them sane afterwards. It wasn't that she didn't think they loved each other as much as she didn't believe that love, if it even existed, lasted forever. Everyone got sick of each other eventually and it was better to just not get hearts involved. Sure, they'd probably get married, maybe even reproduce, but Jamie would get bored and bed a groupie eventually, or Leah would have a breakdown and get tired of being a boring, loving, supportive mother and wife. Break up's were unavoidable and neither of them wanted to admit that. "Yeah" she said absentmindedly in response to Liam's question. After sliding the baggie open and digging out the lighter and pipe, taking a few hits before handing it to Liam, Violet fell back against the sand, what was left of the sunset shining into her eyes from behind them and causing her to squint a little as she stared at the sky, a little more chill and content now that substances were running through her system. "So, if you don't like sports anymore, what do you like? What do you want you life to be about, Liam Jones?" She asked, the herbs also sending her into the usual philosophical mood.

 

[tamaracorine]

Leah scrambled to try and keep herself above the water, clinging to Jamie, but once he released her she had no choice. She shivered slightly, taking a deep breath before diving under the water to get herself entirely covered. Standing up again, she grinned at him, her hair slicked back from the water. Violet had been right - she did look good in the bikini, and she even felt good at she stood in front of Jamie. "Before we make out," she began, "I've been thinking... Maybe you should try and play some acoustic shows while we're on the road. It's a good chance to get some exposure. And I mean, Violet is good at getting people somewhere with the promise of greatness..."


Liam raised an eyebrow, laying back beside Violet so it was easier to share the pipe. "I don't know. I want life to be about... living. Not training. Not eating no crap food just so I'm at peak performance for a damn game. I want it to be about every day, not game day." he shrugged, handing the pipe back to her. "Hell, I wouldn't mind partying more often. I don't know what it looks like, though... For life to not be about game day. Guess I've got to work that out eventually, huh?"

 

[RedLipstick34]

At first, Violet turned her head to the right to watch Liam's profile while he spoke. By the end, she was propping herself up on her elbows, genuinely excited for him. "Sounds like you got fourth wheeled on this trip with the perfect girl. I'm sort of an expert on partying and letting loose." She replied, reaching for the Vodka again once it was his turn with the pipe. "In fact, after this trip, I have to do the exact opposite, I guess. Figure out something to focus on. What I want to do for the rest of my life. I practically majored in alcohol for four years and now it just all has to stop all of a sudden. It's terrifying." She admitted, taking four or five more drinks, somewhere around there. She lost track. "But I'm on a beach with my best friend and some extra attractive people, supplied with wonderful substances, and we shouldn't be thinking about football or careers right now." She realized, lying back down. The careless alcohol in her system now fighting against the philosophical marijuana. "The whole world should just be drunk and happy all the time."


Jamie nodded, deeming Leah's idea a good one, but smiling a bit when he glanced past her at Violet. "I'm not sure a party girl taking her shirt off and announcing an acoustic show is going to exactly bring in the kind of crowds and exposure I'm looking for, but if you think it's a good idea, I'm up for it." He decided, nodding once in confirmation. "Definitely a good idea to get my name out there in different places."

 

[tamaracorine]

"Letting loose, huh?" Liam met her eyes and grinned. He sat up and took the bottle of vodka from her, taking a sip and grimacing again. The burn of it sliding down his throat was unpleasant, but he couldn't help but enjoy it. It made him feel alive. He looked down at Violet and smirked, replacing the lid of the vodka bottle and taking the pipe from her. He inhaled slowly, then leaned down, his lips close to Violet's. "Let's be drunk and happy together." he whispered.


Leah rolled her eyes, "She's not like that all the time. Sometimes she's just charming. Other times she's naked, but you know, she can be charming for sure." she chuckled and wrapped her arms around Jamie. "I know you want to make a name for yourself, and while you're on the road is a good time, but uh, I'm acting more like a music journalist than a girlfriend right now. So, sorry. I'll stop trying to plan your life for you."