A Strange Escape 7/14

[charminglygawky.livejournal.com]

Title – A Strange Escape.
Chapter – 7/14
Author – Charminglygawky
Pairing - Ryan/Colin
Rating – for the most part about a 15 for swearing.
Disclaimer – I own nothing and nobody!
Feedback – Adored - in fact I do believe that it makes the world go round!
 
Part 7 of my insane fic - key point is that Colin is English - did I mention that I have a deranged imagination?
As ever thanks to jerluvsdean for her help and for just being on the other end of msn!  XD 

We're half way! XD Thank you to everybody who has read so far and left such lovely comments, they have all made me very, very happy! I'm afraid that this is slightly shorter than the others - sorry, but I have added extra fluff to make up for it!

A/N – Colin is dissatisfied with life, does Greg hold the key? 

The next time I woke it was with a feeling of bemusement that accompanies not only waking up in a strange place but waking up in a strange place in the dark with the vague feeling of not being alone.

The darkness wasn’t quite pitch as I sat slowly and looked around blinking owlishly. Trying desperately to both place myself geographically and to work out what it was that had awoken me. Gradually memories of the previous day bubbled to the surface of my consciousness.

“Ry?” I whispered cautiously.

“Sorry – did I wake you?” Came his wide awake reply.

“Are you ok? Is your back bothering you again?”

I heard I gentle chuckle “No mother hen, it’s much better now.”

“Oh, good... but, then why?”

He worked out what was causing my confusion and answered my unasked question.

“Just not tired, I got loads of sleep yesterday then an early night. Got my eight hours and then some.”

I glanced down at my watch in rapidly lightening gloom; it was four and thirty in the morning. Not far off dawn, disentangling myself from my duvet I went over to the window.

“Sky’s clear.” I remarked.

“Hmm?” He queried from the bundle of duvet on his bed.

“Wanna go for a walk?”

“What, now?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“We could watch the sun rise.”

The lightening of the room allowed me to see the warmth in the smile that he flashed me.

“Ok.”

We quickly pulled clothes on over the top of the boxers and t-shirts that we had both worn to bed and hurried from the room. Dressing properly could wait; we didn’t have the time now the light seemed to be increasing exponentially.

We ran helter skelter out of the motel before pausing.

“Which way?” I asked looking to Ryan.

“That way.” He was pointing at a wooded hill just behind the motel.

“Ok.” We had taken a few steps before my curiosity got the better of me. “But... the trees, surely they’ll block the view?”

“We came here last here.” He answered shortly. “There is a viewing platform thing about halfway up, we should be able to make it in time.” He glanced up at the ominously light sky then grabbed me by the arm and took off towards the base of the hill. “If we hurry, come on!” Laughing loudly I let him drag me.

Racing the sun we darted up the hill, there was a narrow and fairly winding track to follow, which we did, laughing and pushing each other, the futility of racing the sun occurring to us but remaining unspoken. Although we did have to slow on the steeper sections we were both still young enough to keep up a decent enough pace. It was a close run thing though; we burst out onto a little outcrop of rock, surrounded by railings that formed a small viewing platform about a minute before the first rays of sunlight burst out from the opposite hills. We both made a beeline for the solitary bench and collapsed onto it breathing hard.

“So...” I gasped out after a few seconds. “I take it that you feel better!”

He gave a strained laugh and let himself fall against my shoulder. “Can’t talk... need oxygen.”

I laughed back, and then as he seemed to be in no hurry to move away I cautiously leant back into him, feeling a thrill of excitement when he didn’t take it as a rebuff but instead slipped and arm around my shoulders. He was now leaning most of his weight on me, admittedly the moment could hardly have been called romantic, neither of us could breathe properly and it wasn’t a cute snuggled up moment, we were more slumped over each other. But it was nice all the same, it was comfortable.

“Look.” He whispered and I looked up just in time to see the sky transformed into a myriad of different tones, there were pinks and purples that would soon be giving way to the brighter oranges and yellows, but muted pinker colours were still holding sway, their pastel shades mixing and blurring and stretching out to encompass the whole of the horizon.

“Beautiful.” I murmured appreciatively.

“Yeah.” Came the quiet response from very close to my ear.

Twisting my head I looked down at him just as he laid his head on my shoulder, smiling to myself I turned back to the picture show of nature’s providing and let my head rest against the top of his. Then I snaked my arm cautiously around his waist, he seemed to ease a little bit closer.

And I had thought that sitting in the field with him the day before had been pretty much perfect!

We watched the rest of the sunrise in silence holding each other close, eventually the show ended the same way it always does, with both of us having to blink and look away from the suddenly painfully bright sun peeping above the horizon.

“Jeez that fuckers bright!” Ryan swore as he turned his face into my shoulder.

I burst out laughing and grinned down at him affectionately as he peered sheepishly back up; an impish smile hovering about his lips.

“You always this funny?” I asked lowering my head and rubbing my nose against his in a sort of Eskimo kiss, he tilted his face slightly and our lips brushed against each other. I inhaled sharply but did not pull away. His smile broadened against my mouth as he deepened the kiss slightly, I felt his hand move upwards from its place on my shoulder to cup the back of my head. Sighing happily against him I gave myself up, he would have to lead but I doubt I could have refused him anything. I felt some trepidation, this was new ground for me, I wasn’t a virgin but I wouldn’t have called myself experienced and, well, he was a little different from my previous partners. For a start he was a he and, this was rather fast, it felt amazing but...

He ended the kiss and pulled away slightly “You ok?” He asked quietly.

I nodded in response; I didn’t trust myself to speak.

He sighed and I felt his hand rub my back slightly “Sorry, I promise I won’t rush you.”

“Don’t you dare apologise.” I growled at him whilst inside my head I rejoiced at the understanding he seemed to have for me. I lowered my head onto his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his waist snuggling close, I felt his arms slip around me in response.

“I like this.” I murmured.

“Me too.” I could sense his smile and squeezed him in mute response.

We sat in silence for a minute or two, each of us taking in the scenery. The hill we were on was thickly wooded, the greens around us were of thousands of different tones, the morning chorus of birds had begun to quieten but there were no other sounds, no cars could be heard from the small town in the valley below us. To a Londoner like me it was bliss.

I watched the shadow of dawn sweep across the valley towards the hills on the opposite side as the sun rose gradually higher and the hills could provide less and less shade. Feeling Ryan nudge me slightly I glanced up at him, he nodded towards the town.

“I think we can see our room from here!”

Following his gaze I saw a familiar building with an even more familiar looking beaten up old truck outside it. “We can even see the car from here.”

“Oh yeah!”

There was about a beat of silence before I felt that one of us had to point out the obvious, so I supposed it may as well be me.

“But I can’t see the motor home.”

I felt him stiffen and we pulled apart, his quick eyes were darting around, scanning the roads close to the motel in case they had parked in the street for some reason.

“Col, did you actually see the guys last night?”

“No, they knew that we would check them in so they weren’t going to rush. And I was tired.”

“So we don’t know if they made it here?”

“No.” I felt guilty, it was my idea to split up in the first place. “We could ask at reception, if they didn’t turn up then they would still have the other room keys.

“Great, let’s go.” He leapt up and offered me his hand, I took it and allowed him to pull me to my feet.

Following him to the edge of the viewing area and back towards the trail I paused to look back at the bench. I could almost see the ruined moment sail away across the valley. Then I shook myself mentally and told myself to stop being so bloody daft and go and look for my friends. I turned back to Ryan and saw that he was looking at me sadly; maybe he doesn’t want to go back to the real world either. I mused absentmindedly and a little bit hopefully. Taking a step towards him I took his hand.

“Come on.”

He turned with me and together, hand in hand we headed back down the trail.

It actually took us longer to get back down the hill than it had to get up in the first place, I didn’t want to rush, I wanted the emotions of the sunrise to stay, and I think Ryan felt the same. In what felt like no time at all, however, we found ourselves reassuring the receptionist that we had every intention of paying for rooms that had not been used.

We did pay, mainly just to shut the woman up then headed back to our room.

“Shit.”

I winced at his tone. “Sorry Ry.”

“Huh? What?” He looked at me in astonishment. “What have you got to be sorry about?”

“I made the decision to split up I...” He waved his hand at me impatiently which was effective at quietening me.

“They’re grown men Col, you couldn’t have known that they were apparently incapable of making their own way here.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“Look for them I guess, we’ll check the other motels then we can double back on ourselves for a bit and see if they decided to camp or something.”

“What if...”

I really didn’t want to finish that question, and I had a feeling that I wouldn’t need to. I was right as he responded grimly with.

“Then I guess we’ll find a pay phone and start ringing the hospitals and garages.”