Falling For the Bad Boy

Chapter 33: Sleeping in forests

A/N: Writer's block. I am so sorry :(

"Finally." I breathed out in exhaustion, slipping off of my muddy boots quickly and then dropping myself onto my bed. Well, technically... Brandon's bed since his is the bottom bunk and mines the top one, but right now I was too tired to even care and climb up there.

"I don't do sports, at all." I mumbled to myself, closing me eyes to rest. It was around 6:30 PM, which meant the day was finally over.

We've been doing numerous activities including hiking, abseiling, and other sports. And now here I am, sleepy and exhausted as hell whilst I was still in my sweaty and sporty clothes. I wrinkled my nose at the sweat; I better take a shower.

"Hey! That's my bed." Brandon's voice cut through the comfortable silence, causing me to groan. The others were probably still outside having this drink contest thing.

I opened my eyes, immediately greeted by the sight of shirtless Brandon with a towel around his hips after a hot, steamy shower... his abs were invading my eyes and teasing me in ways I couldn't even-

Oh my god, calm your hormones, Stella.

"I-I know.." I replied, feeling my face heat up. Ever since that night when we confessed our feelings and agreed to not be a couple, but stay loyal like one until we're ready to be together, my feelings for Brandon has gone... wilder. I guess?

I don't know why, but I think I'm finally at that stage of my teenage life where I want to be more intimate with someone, experience what it's like to be loved and... oh god. Control your thoughts, Stella!

"Although, I'm not complaining." Brandon trailed off, a smirk forming on his soft, irresistible lips. I sat up slightly on his bed, raising an eyebrow at him in confusion. "My gorgeous sunshine is lying on my bed breathless and with hair slightly messy, it looks like we just had-"

"STOP!" I immediately exclaimed, feeling myself blushing furiously. Oh my god, he's still the same old player, isn't he? But after finding out that he's only slept with around 5 girls in his lie, which is a lot less than I expected him to, I don't really see him as a player anymore.

I just see a broken boy who's been hurt for too long and tries to mask that with a whole other personality... But I still see my Brandon.

Brandon was staring at me cutely in amusement, causing me to gulp and rush to stand up. "Yeah, I'm going to take a shower now.." I trailed off, trying to ignore his shirtless figure as I walked past him.

"Wait," he interrupted, making me halt in my tracks and turn around to face him questioningly. He stared at me, eyes furrowed as if trying to contain a strong emotion, before sighing and raking a hand through his wet hair, "C... can we take a walk after you finish? I-I need to talk.."

I could sense the desperation in his eyes, that emotion visibly showing sorrow which broke my heart. He needed to talk about something, and whatever it is, I'll listen. I'll always listen and be here for him.

"Sure." I smiled, nodding at him.

I crept on the forest floor, carefully jumping over some rocks in my path whilst still holding onto Brandon's hand. I cast my glance up to the midnight sky, admiring the sparkling stars above before looking down at or intertwined hands.

My hand was in his, like it's supposed to be. It was perfect, but of course he still had something to tell me.

"Brandon?" I murmured quietly, watching him intently as he continued walking at a normal pace whilst his eyes remained furrowed to the ground. He like earlier looked deep in thought and had this sorrow emotion in his eyes.

As I opened my mouth to speak up again, a smile suddenly formed in his lips but he didn't look up, "I love it when you say my name."

"I love it when you call me Sunshine." I replied, smiling internally inside as I pondered about the nickname he always called me. Some day, I will ask him why he chooses to call me that. "I remember when I used to hate it and think it was annoying... but I guess it's special now."

Brandon finally turned his gaze to me, staring intently for a moment before sighing, "I should probably tell you what's going on in my mind at the moment..."

I nodded in reply, following him as we stopped by a lake. The stars reflected in the azure-ness of the water, creating this mesmerising blend of sparkles effect. The island sure was pretty, but the best part of it all was spending time with Brandon.

"Want to sit up here?" he asked, plastering on a daring smirk as I turned towards him again. Oh no. Brandon was stood in front of a very, very large tree, which had thick branches sticking out that would be strong enough to hold the both of us.

The problem is, I'm terrified of heights.

"No! I'm... I'm afraid of heights." I muttered, shaking my head at the horrendous thought of me sitting on one of those branches. But I guess it would create a nice view for me; I'd be able to see the lake more.

Brandon chuckled in amusement at my expression, before placing one hand on one of the branches, and his other on the tree bark before hoisting himself up onto the lowest branch of the tree, which was only 2 metres high.

I've got to admit, that did kind of look fun...

"Come on Sunshine, it's not that bad. 2 metres is the lowest, and that's about the same height as a door. I'll help you up." he explained, looking so much at ease that it made a small smile form on my lips. Just a minute ago, he looked devastated and this climbing the tree thing seemed to lighten his mood up a bit.

I sighed in exasperation, stepping forward to the tree and lightly brushing my fingers over the rough bark. I was glad that I wore suitable clothing to climb a freaking tree, I mean, who would've thought a walk turned into this?

After a full minute of just gazing at the tree, I finally took a deep breath and placed my foot on a thick and small branch, ignoring Brandon's hand that was out to help me. But of course I'm such a klutz as I had stepped on the wrong branch, and almost slipped, but I hastily placed my arms around the branch Brandon was sitting on, preventing myself from falling. I shrieked lightly, feeling my heart racing.

I almost fell!

"Why won't you just take my hand?" Brandon scoffed playfully, rolling his eyes. He then got down from the branch he was sitting on to go back onto the tree bark to help me. I let out a sigh of relief when I had successfully sat myself onto the branch... with Brandon's help, that is.

"You know me, I'm stubborn." I laughed, watching as he climbed back to sit next to me. It was indeed 2 metres high, and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had the full view of the breathtaking lake in front of me.

If only I climbed a bit higher... then I'd see more of the sky, too.

But I was so not going to take the risk again, especially after my clumsy self nearly slipped. I gripped the branch I sat on a bit tighter at that scary thought.

"So, Brandon-" I paused in my sentence, flickering my eyes to my right as he was sat beside me. the smile I had previously seen on his face a few minutes ago had now vanished, and I saw traces of the sorrowful look in his eyes again.

He wasn't looking at me; he was gazing at the midnight azure sky.

I frowned, growing curious again but also concerned about him because I haven't seen him look this hurt before. Whatever he was thinking, it was breaking his heart and mine, too. I reached over, intertwining my hand in his and then whispering, "You can tell me, you know."

Brandon nodded gently, his eyes clouding over a little as he brought my hands up to his lips, pressing a soft kiss on the tips of my fingers, "I know. I trust you, princess."

That made me smile.

"Remember that night... w-when you stayed the night at my house and my f-f-father came home-" His words slowly faded out in emotion, causing my frown to grow deeper. He closed his eyes for a moment, as I gently brushed my finger over his palm.

It hurt me to see him like this... so broken.

Brandon let out a deep breath, and his eyes fluttered open which revealed the slight tears in them. Oh my god... "He threw the plate at my mom, w-which caused her to have that head injury. I tried to stop it, I hit my father, but then he hit me after I had attempted to call the police. You said you witnessed it all, and that you were going to call for help but my mother sharply said no to me. Anyway, I... I don't like talking about it... remembering it, but d-do you remember?"

I furrowed my brows in concentration, and carefully nodded at him once my brain picked up on that memory. Yeah, I remember when that depressing night happened. How could I forget? Brandon's own father had basically attacked him and his mother...

That worried me even more. That had happened a few months ago, w-what if..

"Did you know it happens frequently? I-I mean.. it never went as bad as that again, but..." Brandon trailed off, causing me to snap my eyes shut from my over-flowing emotions. Oh my god, it... it hurts so bad. And I'm not even the one experiencing the pain...

I let out a choked breath, trying to remain calm despite the anger I felt for his father. That fucking monster. He doesn't deserve to have such an amazing family like Emma, Brandon and Milo.

Oh, Milo... so innocent and young he doesn't deserve this. I just hoped he never got to witness it all.

"Sunshine, don't cry..." Brandon murmured in a low broken voice, and I watched as he reached out and wiped a tear that had slid down my cheek. I didn't even realise that I was crying, but I didn't care right now because I wasn't the one who needed comforting, it's him..

I gently took his hand away and enveloped them in mine, before silently urging him to continue.

"I didn't want to go on this stupid trip... I-I didn't want to leave mom and Milo at home without my protection and in the hands of that... that son of a bitch." He continued explaining, his voice growing hoarse by the minute. I wish I could put a stop to his misery. "But my mom insisted that I go. She didn't want me to be at home and suffer more of my father's shitty acts... she wanted me to come here and just enjoy it for a week. I really didn't want to, but..."

I tightened my hold on his hand, trying to reassure him that I'll stand by his side, always.

"What if something happens?..." Brandon whispered, finally lifting his gaze to mine with a worried, heartbroken expression. "What if it happens again and I'm not there to help stop it? That's what I'm worrying about.. and also why I wanted to.. talk. What if it's worse? W-what if..."

I reached over, placing my hands on the sides of his face and then lightly brushed my thumb over his lips, shushing him. "Brandon, breathe. Just take a minute to relax and not over think your thoughts. I know you're worried, and believe me I am too..."

Brandon was now gazing directly into my eyes, his heavy breathing carefully going back to its normal pace at my touch. He was silent now, never broke our eye contact and neither did I. He seemed calmer now that we were in close proximity.

"Brandon." I breathed out in a soft sigh, closing my eyes and pressing my forehead against his. I kept my eyes closed tightly, trying not to cry. "It's going to be okay. I know you can get through this, you're strong both physically and emotionally enough to get through this torture your father is putting you through. And I trust your mother, she is also a strong and I believe she won't let your father walk all over her while you're gone. She's going to be okay, Milo is going to be okay..."

I paused to open my eyes again, and I leaned back a little so that our foreheads weren't pressed against each other but our faces were only inches away, "...You're going to be okay." I finished, still staring into his blurry eyes that were no longer looking miserable, but now relieved and calmer.

I gave him a small, reassuring smile as I dropped my hands from his face to wrap them around his neck; in a warm embrace. Brandon hastily hugged me back, burying his face into my neck and pressing a soft, almost grateful kiss there.

That made me smile mentally at the gesture.

"You always know the right words to say.." Brandon murmured against my neck, causing hot tingle to spread through my skin. "I don't know you do it, but you always make me feel better, even in my toughest times. Your words... heck, you being here with me already makes everything better."

I softly laughed, enjoying the way he held me against his body as if he never wanted to let me go. This night, I learnt more about Brandon Rodriquez than I already know. I had no idea there were more, deeper emotions hidden under all the flirty and egotistic personality he usually had. Overall, it made me love him even more.

This was a moment I knew I'll never forget.

"God, I love you so much." Brandon whispered, as I slightly pulled away to look at him. His arms remain around my waist, and mine around his neck as if we were a couple. And I know we'll be one, one day.

When we're ready...

"I love you more." I grinned, feeling my cheeks burn despite having said the words before. It was all still new to me, and I wanted to cherish these moments forever. Brandon's eyes lit up at my words, causing my smile to grow.

I then shifted slightly, and gaped at the way I was sitting on the tree branch because it wasn't the same as how I sat on it before. Just a few minutes ago, I remember sitting with both my legs hanging off the branch, but now somehow one of my legs had crossed over the branch so that each leg was on either side of it.

Brandon was in this position too. Weird.

"Can we go down now?" I winced, shifting my gaze from my position of sitting and then to the ground. "It's getting a bit uncomfortable. The tree, that is. It's hard."

He nodded in reply, proceeding to climb down the tree with me following in suit. Once my feet had touched the ground again, I let out a sigh of relief because I was finally out of danger. Being on that large tree was fun and all, but my fear of heights was still there.

"Do you want to head back now?" Brandon spoke up, as we awkwardly stood there beside the tree. I pulled down on the edges of my shirt, and meekly shrugged, "Can we stay a few more minutes to stare out at the lake?"

"Of course."

I woke up at the feel of something ticklish brushing on my cheek.

Assuming that it was just Brandon running his thumb over my face in an attempt to wake me up, I let out a chuckle and swatted the space in front of me to shove his hand away. My eyes remained closed, but that was until I realised all that I swatted was air.

"Brandon?" I laughed under my breath, still feeling sleepy as I had just woken up. I still felt his thumb tickling my cheek, and honestly as more minutes went by I grew more annoyed than ever.

I finally opened my eyes, scrunching up my face in irritation. I was in a weird position; my head lied on the crook of Brandon's neck and I was halfway on his lap. We were on the ground...

And in a forest...

And there's a lake in front of us.

"Brandon!" I exclaimed, shocked at my surroundings. However, Brandon was still asleep which only meant that he wasn't touching my face..

OH MY GOD.

I abruptly jolted up, swatting the thing on my face away and letting out a horrified scream when there was a spider on my hand. There was a freaking spider crawling on my cheek, not Brandon's thumb.

At the sound of my piercing scream, Brandon instantly jumped awake and flickered his gaze to me in worry at first, and then it slowly turned into amusement at the situation.

Jerk!

"Oh my god, oh my god..." I mumbled continuously in panic, shaking my hands and body to shake away any spiders or bugs that could be on me. The jeans that I wore had a bit of dirt on it from falling asleep in a freaking forest at night.

I almost forgot we're in a school trip!

Scowling at Brandon, I crossed my arms in front of my chest and sighed, "I'm terrified of spiders, okay? Well, any bug with scary legs really.."

"Cute." Brandon teased, causing me to roll my eyes at that. He finally seemed aware of our surroundings and looked around in confusion, "Did we actually fall asleep here?" I nodded. "Whoa, crazy."

I raked my hand through my slightly knotted hair, and brushed through it with my fingers to get off any dirt that could've gone in contact with it. This was seriously one of my nightmares; sleeping in a forest where there could be wild animals and bugs.

And that's also why camping's not my thing.

"Do you know what time is it?" I questioned, feeling worried because the teachers and students could already be starting activities and here we are. No doubt we're going to get some sort of punishment.

"Yeah." Brandon murmured, pulling out his phone out of his pocket as he walked towards me. He then grimaced at the screen, "34 freaking missed messages and 12 missed calls all from Chimera?! Damn..."

I furrowed my eyebrows in shock, but mostly from anger and jealousy. Yeah, I definitely wasn't going to deny it this time. "I asked for the time, Brandon." I huffed out bitterly, watching as he raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Jealous Stella is a hot Stella." He winked, shoving his phone back in his pocket and starting to walk away. "It's 1:30, we're late anyway so we should head back."

I reluctantly shifted my feet and followed him, feeling the dry leaves beneath me. I was hoping to god that I didn't look like I had lived in a cave for 5 years, considering my clothes were a bit filthy right now.

"You know what? Maybe I could just call Carter to come and get me." I teased, grinning mischievously at his sudden abruptness in expression. He definitely looked angry now.

Brandon narrowed his eyes at me, "Don't you dare."

I laughed.

When we had finally arrived near the cabins, it was already roughly 2 o'clock in the afternoon which meant we had missed about one or two of the sporty activities. In my head I was hoping I'd miss a sport I don't like, but then again we'd most definitely get a punishment from it.

I wasn't looking forward to another detention after only being here for two days.

"Stell! Where in the world were you?" Bloom's voice broke me out of my thoughts, causing me to glance up to see her walk towards me. The other students were wearing sporty, but simple trousers and shirts and looked exhausted and hyped at the same time.

And a few even had a ball in their hands.

"Brandon and I fell asleep in the forest..." I explained sheepishly, lifting my gaze to Brandon who still stood beside me, but was gazing out distractedly like he was trying to look for someone. Hopefully it's not Chimmy.

Bloom eyed me weirdly, but nodded anyway, "Well we just done a simple warm up, and done a few ball activities. Volleyball included!"

Thank god, I hate volleyball. Or, you know... sports in general.

It didn't take long for the teachers to eventually notice that me and Brandon hadn't turned up for the first few activities. When we had to explain what happened, we just told them to truth. I swear I saw Chimera glowering at me for some reason.

So after receiving a strict warning that surprisingly didn't include any punishments, Brandon and I were sent out to clean ourselves and get into our sporty outfits, as our next activity was rock-climbing.

"You fell asleep in a forest with Brandon?" someone chuckled behind me whilst I was watching people climb the rocks, and I turned my head around to see Carter with an amused expression. He had one of those helmet things on for safety.

I nodded, despite feeling a bit weird about it. Carter actually doesn't seem the slightest bit jealous at the fact that I had been with Brandon all night, even though normally he would.

Is it just me, or is Carter's behaviour changing lately the moment Nicola moved here?

"Anyways, have you seen Nika? I haven't seen her all morning..." I asked curiously, staring at Carter's expression intently to see if I could get some sort of reaction out of him. There was this deep feeling in my stomach that he still feels something towards her, but I can't really confirm it just yet.

Carter's amused face faltered for a second, and slowly turned into one of nervousness. Wait- is he actually nervous?! "...Nika? Uh, umm... who's that?"

Facepalm.

I could see straight through the lie, because I've called Nicola 'Nika' several times near Carter, so he should've picked up on that by now. I couldn't exactly tell anymore though..

"Nicola." I confirmed, narrowing my eyes at him and just as I opened my mouth to explain further, one of the instructors appeared in front of me and gave me a small, polite smile.

"It's your turn, miss." He said, gesturing towards the rock climbing wall whilst holding out the harness in front of me. I gulped, looking up at how high the wall is and internally screaming inside because WOW, that is tall as hell.

Here goes my fear of heights... but hey, didn't I climb a freaking tree yesterday?

Sighing, I gave a tight smile at Carter and then walked away.

I hesitantly walked towards the wall, and found myself gaping at Brandon who stood in front of the rock climbing wall looking like he had just put the harness on. He looked up when he saw me, "Hey, sunshine. I guess you're climbing with me."

"Great." I muttered sarcastically, but a grin was forming on my lips because... just, because! I love having Brandon around me all the time and it just makes me happy now that we're in great terms.

Once the harness was on me, I glanced down over it a few times to make sure it was definitely secure, before placing my hands on two of the colourful rocks. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart, and started to lift myself up by placing my foot on it.

Let's hope I don't miss a rock to lift my feet on and die.

After what felt like several minutes, I glanced to my left, expecting Brandon to be way ahead of me, but only frowning when I realised he wasn't next to me.

"Brandon?" I asked in confusion, noticing that he was just a metre or so below me. "Are you slowing down for me or something..?"

When I glanced down to look at his face, he had a mischievous smirk proudly plastered on it, "Oh, you know... just enjoying the view."

What?

"Wait, wait... what do you mean by- OH." I gasped after realising what he meant, and immediately rolled my eyes at his train of thoughts. Seriously? He's slowing down because he likes the good view of my butt?

I felt my cheeks burn in a blush, but carried on climbing anyway because I actually started liking it after a while. I just made sure not to look down, and just kept climbing up.

"Just have fun, alright?" I murmured, looking up into Brandon's mesmerising chocolate brown eyes as a smile formed on my lips. We were standing right outside of our cabin, whilst the other students were standing around picking the last activity of the day.

It was around 5:43 in the evening now, and I could already see the azure sky darkening.

Brandon shook his head, "You know I won't have fun when you're not around..."

The teachers announced few minutes ago that we had to separate into two groups, girls and boys, and we were having a particular sports activity which involved us going to two different places. I wasn't as hyped as the others, but I guess I could have fun.

"Are you sure about that?" I grinned teasingly, leaning closer into him as he kept his hands around my waist, bringing me closer to him as well. I could feel his hot, minty breath on my lips because we were just mere inches away.

He lets out a low groan and slightly glowered at me, "Don't tease me like that."

I chuckled lightly, and placed my arms around his neck. His gaze briefly dropped down to my lips, and then back to my eyes with a love-struck expression.

"I love that we're close now. That we have no big problems in our way, trying to keep us apart..." he trailed off in a whisper, making me nod in agreement. "From how perfect our non-relationship already is, I just wanna go straight into the relationship... so that you can finally be mine."

I looked down, biting down on my lips in uncertainty and then lifting my gaze back to his, "I wish we could do that too."

"Then," Brandon paused, leaning closer until our lips brushed just slightly, causing shivers to run down my body, "Why don't we?"

Damn it. That question was so tempting, that I almost fell for it for a second.

But my mind immediately reminded me of why we can't exactly be together just yet. "Brandon, you know I want to. But... but we haven't gotten our past out of the way. We need to talk about it first; otherwise we'll have a relationship full of lies..."

Brandon lets out a sigh in agreement, and nodded, "Yeah, yeah true. We need to talk about it first; no secrets should be between us. Maybe-"

"We can talk about it on tomorrow?" I offered, cutting him off after I had thought of a brilliant idea. Today it was currently Wednesday, and we leave this trip on Friday. So I thought, why not get the secrets through on Thursday, which is tomorrow?

Then we can leave this trip on a happy thought, knowing that all the past between us is solved. Yeah, I think that would be good.

"Sure. It would be the easiest day to talk about it since we're leaving the very next day." He explained, nodding as he smiled thoughtfully. "The only break we have tomorrow is like, at 7 or something. We can meet up at the cabin."

"Okay." I agreed, smiling, "So straight at seven o'clock, and in the cabin. We'll talk about it, go through every single secret that we've hid from each other regarding the past, and-"

"Then we can finally be together." Brandon finished, smirking at that thought. I slapped him on the arm lightly, and let out a chuckle. "Don't get too excited just yet, buddy."

He rolled his eyes at that, and unwrapped his arms from around my waist as the teacher's voice was heard demanding us to go into our groups and to not bring our phones with us.

"Great. We're not allowed to bring our phones. I'll have to put this in the cabin, then." I groaned in frustration, taking my phone out of my pocket and looking back at the cabin behind me. I then looked back at Brandon, catching him staring at me intently which made me smile.

I can't wait for tomorrow.

"I guess I'll see you later..." I mumbled, leaning forward which caught him off guard, and then pressing my lips onto his for a mere second, and then immediately pulling away.

Damn, I really wished I had kissed him for more than 2 seconds, but more of that can come tomorrow after we've talked it through.

Brandon's face was priceless. He hadn't expected that, and now he was full on grinning.

"Cute." I teased, remembering when he had also called me that in a teasing way this morning. He rolled his eyes, although still smiling, and walked away to his group.

As I took out my keys to open the cabin, I suddenly felt like someone had been listening to mine and Brandon's whole conversation.

I don't know, I just had this bad feeling in my stomach that somebody did. I turned around, skimming the now empty area for a solid minute, and after briefly catching the sight of a girl's dark hair, I shrugged to myself and entered the cabin.

I just must be imagining things...

Sitting down on Brandon's bed, I pulled out the drawer that was next to it and carefully placed my phone in it. Done.

"Hello? Stella?" a familiar voice spoke up, and I glanced up to see Chimera standing by the door with a... genuine smile?!

Whoa, I haven't seen that one in a long while.

"Hey, Chimmy..." I trailed off in uncertainty, watching as she walked into the cabin and looked around. What was she doing here? "Did you want to talk, or...?"

She shook her head, the sound of her heels hitting against the floor as she walked towards me. "Well, kinda. I just wanted to apologise."

She sat down on the bed next to me, and gave me an apologetic expression. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, but I shrugged it off because I was curious on why she wanted to apologise. "For what?" I questioned, confused.

"For everything." She sighed, looking down at her hands, "I've been a real bitch lately. I've barely talked to you or Nicola since I came back, and I feel really guilty about it. I'm sorry, for being distracted by Brandon too much. It's just... we used to be the bestest friends-"

"Don't worry, I get it." I cut her off, nodding in understanding. She sounds so genuine... I think I'll believe her. Chimera wasn't one to apologise, at all. "Honestly, I just miss you since we haven't talked in a while."

She gave me a smile at that, and nodded, "I promise I can make it up to you! I'm just feeling so bad right now, and I want us to be close again. To talk again." she explained, making me smile. "So... do you forgive me?"

After a second of contemplating it, I thought, why not? She was my best friend, and I guess I can understand why she acts bitchy sometimes. I want to give us a go again, at being friends. "Of course, Chimmy."

She grinned at that, pulling me into a hug; one which I returned.

"Hmm, wow... what perfume are you wearing? It smells really good!" she said, once we pulled away.

I then pointed to the perfume bottle that sat by the window, and gestured for her to try it. "It's over there. And I know right?! It's my favourite scent."

Chimera stood up, walking towards it and picking it up. After taking a whiff of the intoxicating scent, she grinned brightly, "Oh my god... can I borrow it? I promise to give it back to you tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure." I replied, getting up as well and walking towards the door. As we left the cabin together, I swear I saw a look of mischievousness and... evilness, in her eyes...

No, I must be imagining things.

A/N: Well that was a bad chapter...

What do you think of Chimera now? Do you guys think she really was genuine when she apologised to Stella?

Next chapter will be updated soon, hopefully. Get ready for the next one, because it'll definitely take a hit at your feels ;)