Chapter 30 - In the Arms of a Friend

My eyes fluttered open and the first thing I saw was my feet covered in sand, the sun just hovering above the horizon, causing the sea to glow a gorgeous golden yellow hue, and the sky, which was ever so slightly growing dark. I looked down to my left and Gracie was still clinging to me, sound asleep with her hair blowing in the slight breeze. She looked so beautiful and peaceful lying here with me and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Isn't this lovely, Gracie?" I said, even though I knew she couldn't hear me. "Just lying here on this beach with the sun starting to set, just being able to see the stars…"

Wait a minute. The stars… What the hell was the time? I turned around and glanced at a nearby clock that was sticking out of the high street cafe. It was ten to nine. Oh crap. I hadn't even realised it, but I had fallen into a doze next to Gracie as well, and I remembered her telling me that she had to be back at the hotel by nine o'clock at the latest. No… That meant that I had only ten minutes to say my final goodbyes to my beloved and I had to start now.

"Gracie…" I whispered, gently shaking her. "Gracie, darling…"

At last, she woke with a yawn and stretched in my arms. "Mm…hey Ludwig. Are you okay? You look a bit…frazzled."

"Well, er…yes." I mumbled, losing my mind in how the hell I was going to tell Gracie about the fact that we now had to spread our wings and fly in different directions.

However, before I could do so, Gracie yawned again, rubbed her eyes and stared out to sea. "Wow…the sea, doesn't it look gorgeous? I just want to stay out here with you all night…" she sighed longingly and stared wistfully at the sun, which was now shining its last remnants onto Gracie's face, lighting it up like a burning candle.

This sight hurt a lot. Knowing that I wouldn't ever see this stunning, adorable, kind, beautiful girl ever again… It was like my heart was slowly being punctured all over. I swallowed a sob, which made Gracie turn her head towards me.

"Hey, sweet…are you sure you're alright?" Gracie asked, concern lingering on her face as I stared back at her.

I took a deep breath and pushed down the lump that was forming in my throat. "Gracie, there's something I have to tell you. I know that this is not a nice thing to wake up to, but…" I bit my lip and glanced away for a moment. "We have to go."

Oh my gosh… The way Gracie's face turned upside down within that amount of time made me want to just disappear and scream at myself, "You idiot! Why did you have to say it like that?" But it soon occurred to me that there was not really any other way I could've said it.

"Wha- But…how?" Gracie stammered, her lip quivering slightly.

I signalled to the cafe clock above the beach wall, which was now reading five minutes to nine. I could tell that Gracie was becoming increasingly upset by the second, so I brushed the sand off my feet, slipped on my plimsolls, stood up and held my hand out to her.

"Come on." I said comfortingly. "I don't want to do this just as much as you don't want to, so…I guess we should just…do it."

Reluctantly, Gracie took my hand in hers and pulled herself up, and we slowly began walking towards the exit of the beach. We stopped and looked into each other's eyes for the last time.

"Well…this is it." Gracie said, her voice all wobbly with emotion, which made it really difficult for me to keep my own emotions in check.

"I know…I'm going to miss you, sweetie. So much more than you realise."

There was a silence that followed as Gracie stared back at me. She blinked her eyes, bit her lip…and burst into tears. My heart instantly shattered to pieces and I felt awful for even saying such a thing. I moved forward and wrapped my girl up in a loving embrace, allowing her to cry into me and seek all the comfort she needed. At last, she glanced up into my eyes and wiped her nose.

"I…I love you so much… I don't know if I'll ever be happy again…"

I gazed back into her eyes, momentarily feeling speechless, but then I decided to try and make her feel positive about this, even though she was feeling the complete opposite. I wiped away her tears and cupped her cheeks. "Gracie, let me tell you something. No relationship in the entire world stays forever, does it?"

Gracie sniffled and shook her head.

"Well, I'm just going to put it out there, our relationship will never crumple, and…we'll always be together forever in our hearts." By now, I was gulping every five seconds, trying to fight back tears. "I'll never, ever forget you Gracie. Nor will I fall in love with another girl because my heart belongs to you and nobody else." I wrapped her up in a hug and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.

"I love you…" Gracie muttered, looking up into my face that was trying so hard not to screw up in extreme sadness. "I won't forget you either…ever. I'll be waiting each day, just hoping that we'll see each other again." She turned around and took a glance at the clock, which was just about to strike nine.

"Look, I…I think you'd better go." I whispered, trying not to show that I was upset. "I don't want to get you into trouble."

Gracie nodded sorrowfully before kissing my hand and letting go. "Goodbye, Ludwig…" she said, slowly beginning to walk away from me.

I waved after her as she walked, her form gradually growing blurrier and blurrier. The moment she was out of sight, I let my emotions break free in full force. I fell to my knees, tears ran down my face and painful sobs escaped my mouth. I felt so stupid crying here on my own and I wished I hadn't hidden my emotions from Gracie and just told her how I was really feeling.

I wanted to run after her and cry it out in her arms, but unfortunately, it was far too late. Gracie was gone, and this time, she was actually gone forever. I weakly wiped the hurtful tears from my face, my sniffles becoming more frequent as I tried to stand up and pull myself together, and that was when I decided to make a decision on how I was going to make the situation the tiniest bit better.

…

I kept on walking away from the beach and I didn't look behind me the entire time. Sure, the beach was a beautiful and memorable place to look at and be reminded of, but honestly, at this point in time, I didn't want anything to do with the place. It wouldn't remind me of happy memories and the wonderful things I did to spend time with Gracie, instead, it would just make me sad and as much as I hated to say it, or think it for that matter, I would never see her again. My eyes and nose still felt a little puffy from all that crying I did not very long ago when I watched Gracie leave for the hotel.

Part of me wanted to just slap myself in the face and say, "Pull yourself together! Why are you even acting like this? Going on this show was sort of a warning that you and Gracie weren't destined to be together forever! Grow a pair and stop this!" but part of me just wanted to hide away and cry and cry until my whole body turned inside out. As much as I wanted to do that, I thought that I would appear as pathetic to Larry. Yes, he had once referred to me as pathetic and a coward before I appeared on I'm A Koopa and I had hung in there for the whole process, however, I still wasn't going to act up when I got back to the hotel.

Unfortunately though, there were no mirrors within my surroundings so I couldn't get a look of my appearance and see whether I still looked like I had been crying. After a few tens of steps, the hotel finally came into sight, but unexpectedly, the pristine white paint and the gold framing of the windows didn't lighten up my mood in any way. As I looked further ahead of me, I noticed that the doors were opening, revealing the slight hint of the regal decor from inside.

I saw Larry walking out of the doors of the hotel from a distance and the moment I saw him, my heart crumpled and I began to quicken my pace. The faster I moved and the closer I got to him, the more desperate and fragile I became. Larry smiled at me as soon as I could see his face clearly, but as soon as I did, I looked back down again; I didn't want him to see me sad, however, it seemed like I was failing miserably because Larry appeared to notice how I was feeling.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked. "You look like you're gonna cry."

I stared ahead, then I looked back up at him. If I kept this all inside me, then I would not feel good at all, but I also hated letting out my emotions because it was just embarrassing. Actually, it didn't matter in this case because it was only Larry, it wasn't like it was someone I barely knew. This was someone who had my back, someone who was always willing to comfort me, no matter how silly I looked. My eyes filled with tears and I put my hands up to my face. That did nothing, so I was left there crying openly and freely.

"Oh Lud…" Larry sighed, wrapping me up in a warm embrace and rubbing my back lightly. "What's wrong? What happened?" I was just about to catch my breath and reply, but at the last minute, Larry somehow realised what had happened. "Did you…say your last goodbye to Gracie?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh, I'm sorry man… I know you loved her, but…there's nothing we can really do about it."

"I'm never going to see her again!" I sniffled, breaking away from the hug. "Everything I said to her on the beach was complete and utter bullcrap! She might be believing that we're going to be reunited again someday because she thinks I believe it, but in truth…I don't! I really don't!" My voice cracked and I sank down on the steps with my head in my hands.

There was a moment where there was silence between us both, which I guessed was because Larry was thinking of a reply to make me feel better. I mean, if I were him, I wouldn't really know how to reply if he were in my state, let alone do it straight away. After about a minute, Larry finally spoke up and sat down beside me. "Lud, listen to me for a moment."

I wiped my eyes and looked at him, giving him my full attention.

"There are sixty seven and a half million people living in the UK right now, and the average lifespan is eighty years or over. You may not realise it yet, but that's actually a very long time. Considering all the cities and counties you could visit during those years, you might just have the chance of seeing her again. You may see her in a few years from now, or you could see her when you're both old and grey. But…if you come to lose hope within the next few years, then don't worry. There are plenty more fish in the sea…"

I let out a little sputter and let a few tears escape my eyes. "B-But, I promised Gracie I wouldn't fall in love with anyone else! She'd be devastated if she found out I was cheating, I just can't love anyone else! I can't do that to her… I wouldn't dream of breaking her sweet heart…"

"Oh, come here…" Larry said after a few seconds, and he hugged me tight, giving me the cue to just let it all out, and I did. "Oh, it's okay, I'm here now…I'm here." He drew back from the hug and looked into my eyes. "You know, you must be so damn tired right now. You've left the jungle, came back to this hotel and eaten your biggest meal in three weeks, made lots of friends, your gir-" Larry stopped himself, for I thought that he was almost going to say something that would upset me more. "That doesn't matter. You've been through a lot, so let's go get our bags packed ready to leave for tomorrow, yeah?"

I nodded slightly as Larry wrapped an arm around me and started walking into the hotel. I took a moment to look behind me, to capture all the beautiful sights of the palm trees lining the roads, the beach where- No, forget the beach, the golden sun bleaching the pavements a lighter grey colour than they normally were, and even though I couldn't see the jungle, I still lost myself in the moments of when I was actually there, and that was when I knew that I would miss it a lot more than I'd know.

AN: Can't believe it's taken me nearly a year to write this story, oh well. Don't go away, people! Stay tuned for the last chapter! :)