After a rather tedious dinner with his parents and Emily's parents, Martin and Emily walked outside, away from the rest of them, but close enough so that they could still see them.
They were out by the pier, it was a late December night, the sky was clear and stars protruded, reflecting onto the ocean.
"So.. your parents and my parents have been constantly bugging me.. and I'm gonna try and make this look super romantic for them but.." Martin began to take the engagement ring out of his pocket.
"Oh my god I'm so shocked!" Laughed Emily sarcastically as Martin knelt down on one knee. "Will ye marry me?" He laughed, She put her hands over her face to make her look surprised to the parents.
"Should I stay like this for a couple seconds just to build the tension?" Giggled Emily.
"Yeah, really get the suspense boiling." Added Martin, before Emily put her hands down.
"Well then, yes, I will marry you, Martin." She told him, making both of them smile.
"The things we do." Laughed Martin, slipping the ring onto her finger and kissing her hand before standing up and breaking into a hug.
"It's a pretty ring." Giggled Emily as she rubbed Martin's back.
"Bloomin' expensive." He laughed.
"Sorry about my parents." She laughed, kissing his cheek,
"Sorry about mine too." He replied, looking at her again.
"Should we do a really cinematic kiss? I reckon that'll convince them to stop pestering us." Offered Emily, smirking and glancing over at them.
"Oh yeah, with this lighting, they're all looking at us, right.." Martin tilted his head slightly and placed his hand gently on her cheek before pressing his lips against hers, it was suddenly then that he felt a connection, he opened his eyes again with slight shock and saw that Emily's were open too, he looked into her eyes before the chemistry brought them to kiss again, this time he immersed himself, brushing his fingers through her hair as Emily wrapped her arms around his neck, he kissed her again, allowing his lips to close on hers as she tasted his mouth before it ended. They opened their eyes again and awkwardly smiled,
"That really was cinematic." Said Emily.
Martin laughed, shaking slightly in the surreality of it all, "Yeah it was."

"Martin? Martin can you hear me?"
He heard Zoe's voice, it was muffled, but it was her. He wanted her, he really wanted her.
He opened up his eyes gradually but everything was blurred,
"Z-Zoe.." he muttered, reaching out.
"You're alright, Martin." She soothed,
"W-where are we..?" He whispered, looking around.
"We're in the van, on our way down to Nice. We're with Ollie, Jemma, Ryan, Lucy and Cloda, you remember?"
Martin briefly looked around at everyone,
"Did I hit my head?" He asked,
"Yeah." Zoë replied,
"That explains it." He sighed, "how long have I been out for?"
"Just five minutes." Said Zoe,
"Is anyone hurt? Are you okay?" He asked,
"Everyone is fine, just you." She soothed,
"Didn't you fall against the window?" He asked,
"No you caught me," She told him, "my hero."
"Ollie. This is why you don't steal my laptop." Laughed Martin, turning over to see him, he had his hand over his mouth, "I think that's a promise." Whispered Martin before sitting up.
"Not to quickly," said Zoe,
Martin saw the blood on the windshield then pressed his hand against his head, feeling a wound. He caught himself in the wing mirror, seeing a stream of blood flowing down his face.
"Does anyone have a tissue?" He asked,
Cloda passed him a packet of tissues, "you're not driving are you?" She asked,
"N-no. I don't think that would be clever." He replied, wiping the screen of his blood before opening up his door and climbing out of the van. He threw the bloody tissues into a bin by the side of the road as he walked around to the back of the van, the person who crashed into them had obviously driven away. There was a severe dent in the boot, it had crumpled right through the centre.
Martin sighed in annoyance, too exhausted to do anything else. He stepped back into the car, clutching a tissue to his head.
"How does it look?" Asked Zoë.
"Bad." He replied, "did the person who drove into us just drive on?"
"They must have- I dunno I wasn't focused on it." Said Zoe.
Martin moaned in annoyance, sitting down in the passenger seat, "can't even claim compensation."
"Hey, don't focus on that at the moment. I'll get you the hotel and we'll get you properly looked at there." She said.
"Seriously- are you alright sir?" Asked Ryan,
"Yeah. Yeah I'm grand." Sighed Martin, taking the paracetamol out of the glove compartment and leaning his head back against the seat, "is there any water?"
Lucy grabbed the water bottle and handed it to him, "thanks Luce." He said, sipping at the ice cold water slowly with the tablets.
"You sure you're alright to travel?" Asked Zoë, sitting in the driver's seat and looking over at him.
"Yeah- don't crash." He advised, winking at her.
"I'll do my best." She said, leaning over and putting on Martin's seatbelt as he slowly fell asleep again before she set off.
"Well we've had a right mix of emotions today." Exclaimed Zoë, being extra careful when driving.
"Jeez that was all my fault." Breathed Ollie,
"Ollie it had nothing to do with you. It was the car in front and behind." Denied Zoe.
"Yeah but I took the laptop.. I'm so sorry."
"Ollie it's fine, he's fine: everything is fine. Just relax. You'll do a nice gig tonight in a pub, then you'll be seeing Natasha on Friday. It's gonna be alright." Soothed Zoe, taking a brief glance at Martin as his eyes closed and his hand fell from the top of his head back to the side.

After another hour of driving, they reached the hotel in Nice. Zoe parked right outside before unbuckling her seatbelt and looking over to Martin who remained fast asleep.
She wiped away the excess blood from his forehead and saw his eyes open.
"You okay?" She asked, undoing this seatbelt and looking into his eyes.
"Y-Yeah are we here?" He asked, squinting and sitting up.
"We are." She replied, "it's really hot."
"Great." He sighed, reaching his hand out, Zoë helped him up, opening up the door and letting him out into the sun.
The five students walked out after them. Breathing in the heat.
"Are you sure you're okay, sir?" Asked Ollie, taking his arm and helping him up the steps toward the entrance.
"I'm good." He said, "a little dizzy, but good- I hope the instruments aren't damaged."
Lucy and Jemma opened up the bent boot,
Martin looked over to see them both biting their lips, "oh god.."
Jemma handed Ollie his guitar,
"Thanks." He said, briefly opening the case slightly, "looks in tact at least."
Zoe walked out of the hotel to help grab the bags and instruments.
"Only one of the rooms is ready so far, so we'll just put everything in there for the minute." She told them, taking Martin's arm to help him,
"I'm okay, Zoe." Complained Martin.
"well I'm pregnant, I need support." Whispered Zoë.
Martin sighed out a laugh, reaching his hand around her back.