“How do I tell him?” Evie thought to herself while pacing the carpeted bedroom. “I’m leaving in a matter of hours and I still haven’t told Joe.”
“Tell me what?” said a deep voice by the door.
“Nothing,” she responded. “No big deal.”
“You’re clearly stressing out about this,” said Joe. “It has to be a big deal.”
“I’ll tell you later,” sighed Evie.
They walked down the stairs of Joe’s huge apartment to go eat some breakfast since it was already quarter past eleven.
“So are you gonna tell me now?” Joe asked once they reached the kitchen.
Evie closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” she whispered.
“ YOU’RE WHAT?!” Joe exclaimed. “What do you mean you’re leaving? You can’t leave!”
“I have to. My parents and I only had 3 weeks here in LA, and 3 weeks ends tomorrow,” she said half-heartedly.
“You can’t leave! We were having such an amazing time,” Joe responded.
“At least we have the rest of the day together. Let’s make the best of it,” Evie replied.
“I know exactly what we could do today,” Joe said mischievously. “But we have to drive to your parents’ hotel to ask if I can steal you for the day.”
The drive to the hotel Evie’s parents were staying at wasn’t very long. Joe lived close by, so Evie’s parents were okay with having her stay at his place. During the car ride, Joe connected his aux cable to his phone and started playing his favorite playlist, both of them singing along to whatever song started playing. When they got to the hotel, Evie greeted her parents and got lost into a conversation with her mom, while Joe went to ask Evie’s father a question.
“Hello Mr. Parks, I was wondering if I can take your daughter out for today, since it is your last day here,” said Joe.
“What are you guys planning on doing?” asked Evie’s dad.
“I was planning on just exploring LA and be tourists, or go to Disneyland,” Joe responded.
“You may take my daughter for the day, and I suggest that you guys go to Disneyland. She’d really like that,” Mr. Parks answered.
“Thank you,” Joe said as he smiled. “If you don’t mind, we’ll be leaving now.”
“Go on before the park gets full.”
Joe walked over to where Evie was and told her that they were leaving now.
“Where are we going?” Evie asked with a confused look on her face.
“It’s a surprise,” Joe smirked.
It took them about an hour to get, but it didn’t matter since Evie fell asleep anyways. Joe parked and shook Evie awake.
“Evie, wake up,” Joe whispered.
She groaned and rubbed her eyes, “Where are we?”
“You’ll find out soon,” Joe smiled.
They walked through the parking lot and Evie gasped in shock with her eyes wide open. Joe just smiled and grabbed her hand. Evie couldn’t hold in her excitement. She had a huge smile on her face and she was squeezing Joe’s hand so tight to try and stop herself from squealing.
“I can’t believe you took me here!” Evie said with a huge smile on her face. “I love this place so much.”
“Well I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far, because it’s only gonna get better.”
The whole day was perfect. Joe told Evie that he’d do anything Evie wanted to do all day. If Evie wanted to ride a ride, Joe would ride the ride. If Evie wanted something to eat, Joe would buy it for her. Joe was treating her like a princess in the Magic Kingdom. He even bought her sparkly Minnie Ears without her even asking for them. Joe was really spoiling her, but he didn’t care. He didn’t mind buying her anything. As they were waiting in line for a ride, Evie asked Joe a question.
“Are we going to see each other after this trip?” Evie asked.
“Of course! Are you crazy I have to see you again,” Joe exclaimed.
“Good,” Evie responded with a small smile.
It was now 9:00 and they were waiting for the fireworks to start. They bought food before the show started so the can eat and watch at a table.
“So what are we gonna do after the fireworks?” Evie asked.
“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” Joe responded.
“Can we go to California Adventure and see what’s over there?”
“Sure. We’ll head over there right when the fireworks are over,”
“What time are we leaving?” asked Evie.
“Whenever you want to or when we get tired,” answered Joe.
Right after he said that, the lights dimmed and the music started. Evie immediately shut up and listened to the lyrics of the first song and watched as the fireworks went along with it. Evie watched in awe as the bright lights flew across the sky. Joe turned to look at her and watched as the different colors of light illuminated on her pale skin. He watched her while he had a huge smile on his face. She didn’t even know he was staring at her until she turned to look at him.
After the fireworks, they tried to get to the exit so they wouldn’t get caught up with all the traffic. They went straight to California Adventure and when they got to the pier, they saw that World of Color was just starting, so they decided that they just stay and watch. After the 30-minute show, you could tell that Evie was really tired.
When they got to their car, Evie went straight to the passenger seat to knock out. On the way back to Joe’s apartment, Evie was knocked out the whole way home and Joe would glance
at her to make she was doing okay. When they got to the apartment, Joe picked Evie up and carried her all the way to the room.
The next day was not that fun. Joe had to wake Evie up because her flight left at 9:30 in the morning. Joe helped Evie pack and drove her to her parents’ hotel. When they got there it was still only 7 so they still had enough time to eat breakfast. Evie and Joe were quiet all morning. They ate their breakfast in silence because they were too sad to talk about anything. After breakfast, Joe drove them all to LAX. They still had to wait an hour before their plane left so Joe decided to stay and wait until they got on the plane.
After a while, their plane was finally called over the intercom. Evie was already tearing up and you can tell that Joe was about to cry as well.
“We’ll leave you two alone,” Evie’s dad said.
“I don’t want to go,” Evie cried. “I can’t.”
“You have to. It’s okay, we’ll see each other again, I promise,” Joe said as his voice quivered.
“We’ll see each other soon right?” Evie asked
“Yes. I promise,” Joe said now finally crying.
“I’ll miss you,” Evie said.
“I’ll miss you too. Now go,” said Joe.