14th June 2019

"Her freckled face remains unchanged,

Just a memory lost to space."

"Are you sure you just want to go to the beach?" Jaxon asked Evie for the hundredth time. "We're supposed to be showing you around and we haven't really done much of that"

I couldn't argue with Jaxon. As tour guides, we sucked. And yet Evie never seemed to mind.

"The beach sounds perfect," she reassured us before stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.

"You look tired." Tori's eyes dropped to her.

She shrugged. "Just haven't been sleeping well."

I analysed her face, noting the loss of colour in her cheeks and the bags under her eyes. Even her freckles, which were usually so prominent, had faded into her white skin.

But it wasn't just her face, it was her being. She looked tired, but also worn out.

I instantly felt guilty. Maybe it was our doing? Or more specifically mine?

I was the one who had dragged her into our problems, after all. She should have been relaxing around Torrance or exploring L.A. but she'd spent her time helping us.

We had to acknowledge that although we had wanted to help her, she may have helped us more.

"You do look..." Hazel struggled to find the right word without offending her new friend. "Dead on your feet."

"If you want to just relax at your hotel you can-"

"No." Evie was quick to cut Jaxon off. She looked out over the sea with an expression that seemed a million miles away from us. "I just want to enjoy my last day with you guys."

Hazel's eyes shone with unshed tears, and the rest of us fell silent. It was easy to forget that Evie had another home, in another country, across a vast ocean from us. Tomorrow she would fly home. And no doubt she would leave with promises of keeping in contact and we would promise the same.

But it's never as easy as that. Life gets in the way. Family, careers, they would all take precedent over someone who was halfway around the other side of the world.

"I'm going to miss you." Hazel took Evie's hand, chuckling at the usual electric shocks that seemed to accompany her.

It would be one of those things none of us would forget about her. It was just so uniquely Evie.

Evie squeezed Hazel's hand. "I know, I don't want to go," she whispered, her smile sad.

Even I had to swallow a few times.

"Right, enough of this...sadness. We are going to have the best effing day ever." Jaxon rubbed a hand over his face. "Damn sand in my eyes."

Everyone chuckled as Tori bumped his shoulder against Jaxon's. "Sand?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't judge me," Jaxon quibbled back.

When we finally reached the steps down from the boardwalk to the beach, several people had already gathered. It was always the same during the summer. No one wanted to miss out on a glorious day at the beach.

It wasn't as busy as a Saturday, but it still meant walking around a number of holidaymakers and locals.

"Time to find our spot." Jaxon led the way, his longer legs having no problem with the shifting sand.

I and Evie struggled a little more and Hazel - whose balance had always been questionable - had to cling to Tori lest she face plant the floor.

"Ooohh." Hazel hopped a little as the hot sand brushed against her toes, peeking out of her sandals. "Careful of the sand."

"Pshhh. It's just sand." Jaxon tossed his head, giving his sister a look full of mocking.

Hazel narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, why don't you take your shoes off and try it?" she challenged.

Jaxon shrugged and did as she asked, his face blanching when his tanned little feet met hot sand.

"And?" Hazel asked in a mocking tone.

"I don't know what you were so bothered by." And took off much quicker than before, his feet flying over the sand.

We laughed as we watched him pick the spot, throw his towel down, and jump on it with relief.

"You're such a jackass." Tori chuckled, placing his and Hazel's towel down.

"I am as God made me." Jaxon shouted back, lifting his burning feet up to catch a breeze across his overheated skin.

"Then he must have been drunk or high." I joined in, pleased to see Evie laugh.

Jaxon went to argue, but cracked up before he could. "Maybe. Would definitely explain some people."

"Hey, Samuel."

We all turned to watch Alexa striding down the beach, already in her skimpy two-piece costume, an expensive gym bag dangling from her arm.

"Saying that, there's no way of explaining everyone." I heard Jaxon whisper to Evie, both of them smothering their giggles as Alexa got closer.

"I thought you were going to wait on the boardwalk for me." She pouted, pulling out a blue towel and placing it on the sand next to mine. Teddy's head turned in her direction before he moved to sit by Evie.

I smiled sheepishly. I had told her that when I'd mentioned our plans to go to the beach earlier, but I'd forgotten. The conversation of Evie's last day had taken over my thoughts.

"Sorry, we were just in a rush to get a spot." I tried to explain.

Her lips pursed and her eyes drifted to the areas of the beach that were, for the moment, still empty. But thankfully, she said nothing in response to my obvious lie.

"So no site seeing today?" She stretched out her legs and pulled her sunglasses down.

"No, Evie's heading home tomorrow, so we're taking it easy," I said.

She lifted her glasses to peer over me to watch Evie, who was digging her hands in the sand with a blissful expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry you're leaving." Alexa smiled politely, though her tone was as false as her veneered smile.

"I've had a brilliant time so I can't complain." Evie tried to smile, but struggled.

"You were very lucky that Samuel and the boys took you under their wings, at all, especially when they should have been focusing on themselves." It was implied that if we had left her to the decision, Evie would have never joined us.

I gritted my teeth as Alexa laughed to take a little of the sting out of her words, though I knew she'd intended them to hurt.

"I am." The smile that graced Evie's face was more easy this time, her mood unaffected by the undercurrent of hostility in Alexa's words.

Jaxon and Tori were not, however, as they both turned to look at Alexa laid out in the sand.

"I think it's us who are lucky that we found Evie," Jaxon snapped.

"We would never have known about the orchestra without her." Tori pointed out.

Alexa's lip lifted in a sneer. "Of course, though I have to wonder if your talents aren't wasted at some crummy orchestra."

I watched Evie shrink from the corner of my eye, Alexa's snide comments finally finding their mark.

"Come on Evie, Teddy, I need to cool these feet off in the water." Jaxon helped her to her feet, throwing Alexa a nasty look, which she failed to see.

"Why don't Tori and I get some ice pops whilst you're in the water?" Hazel offered, looking between Tori's guarded expression and Alexa.

"None for me, thanks," Alexa said.

Hazel grabbed Tori's hand before he could answer her back and shook her head. She wasn't worth it.

He looked down at his girlfriend, his expression unnaturally calm, before he allowed her to lead him away.

"I'd take your t-shirt off as well. We won't be long, and you're going to need it when we get back." Jaxon shielded his face from the sun.

Evie nodded and removed the oversized t-shirt belonging to Tori, revealing her red bikini beneath.

I was glad that Alexa had turned the other way, because for a few seconds I couldn't tear my eyes away from Evie's body.

The bottoms rose high around her hips and though the top part rose to her neck, it still outlined all her delicate curves.

She was bigger than both Hazel and Alexa, and her hands fluttered around her full thighs and stomach, nervously.

Jaxon kicked my foot, jarring me from my thoughts of her body, and I looked away in embarrassment, but not before I thought I saw something. Between her hands, I thought I had seen two thin scars running across her body. They looked angry and red, but when she turned, they were no longer there.

I squeezed my eyes shut as she walked away. I didn't want to get caught ogling her again, especially with my girlfriend right next to me, but also because the sun must have been getting to me.

The scars had looked real enough. Their puffy edges had been fresh and raw. But there weren't any scars.

"Finally, we're alone." Alexa scouted closer to me and grabbed my face for a kiss, but I held her back.

"What was that all about with Evie?" I questioned her.

She pulled back with a practiced, innocent look. "What do you mean?"

But I was done playing games with her. "You know what I mean."

Alexa laid back down, but turned her head to face me. "Well, I just think she's a little selfish. I mean, she took up so much of your time this week when you really should have been focused on the band."

I bit my tongue to hold back what I really wanted to say. Selfish? Evie? It was the most hypocritical thing I'd ever heard come out of Alexa's mouth, and in the last four months I'd heard a lot.

"We offered," I reminded her.

"You're a good person, Samuel, but that doesn't mean she should take advantage of it." I looked away, watching Evie and Jaxon bobbing in the sea. "And this idea of the orchestra, you're never going to get famous from it, are you?"

"That's not why I play music."

Alexa waved her hand. "Doesn't matter. Fame is fame."

I stared at her, wondering how after four months of being together, she didn't understand me at all.

Water droplets landed on my legs and I jumped. Jaxon chuckled as he continued to flick his hair in my direction, Teddy shaking off his fur behind him.

"Sea's lovely, thought I'd bring some to you." He smirked, plonking back down onto his towel, Evie doing the same.

I laid down on my towel, staring up at the blue sky. It was one way I could be sure I wouldn't stare at Evie, plus my mind was still rattled by Alexa.

We all settled into silence. The sound of kids playing in the sea, and people chatting provided a nice background music.

"Jaxon?" I heard Evie ask. "Jaxon?" I looked over to see Evie looking between Jaxon and a dude in cut off board shorts.

Evie flicked his arm, and Jaxon broke his gaze away from the man.

"Go say hi," Evie suggested.

I was shocked to see a blush spread over Jaxon's cheeks.

"What...no..." But his gaze returned to the man with the shaved head.

Evie turned back to me and winked.

"Hey, guy with the shaved head, whatcha doing?" Evie shouted, making Jaxon pale, as the guy in question headed in our direction.

"Why'd you do that?" Jaxon whispered harshly.

"Because life is fleeting."

There was no time for either of us to question her before the man was standing in front of us. The three of us stood whilst Alexa continued to sunbath.

"Hey, I'm Tye. I'm part of the beach clean-up crew."

Evie shook his hand. "Evie, and this is Sam and Jaxon."

I shook hands with him, and so did Jaxon, though I could see the way the latter lingered over it. Then it hit me. Jaxon had a crush on him.

"Nice to meet you. We're out trying to raise awareness of ocean pollution." He handed us leaflets. "Don't worry, it's biodegradable paper," he reassured us.

"You're doing a concert tonight?" Evie read the front of the leaflet.

"It's to raise money for ocean conservation. Me and a few of the other marine biologists will be there giving people some more information." He scratched at his beard, possibly realising that he'd turned it from a concert to a classroom in less than ten seconds.

"I think it sounds really cool." Jaxon smiled at him, his eyes connecting with Tye's.

"Same, can we buy some tickets?" Evie asked.

"Sure, it's $5 a ticket."

Jaxon held out his hand, using his fingers to count. "We need five...no six." His eyes strayed to Alexa.

"You only need four." Alexa spoke up. "Me and Samuel are having dinner with my friends tonight."

I cussed silently. Of course we were. How did I forget that?

"The concert starts at 7pm but it's running till 12," Tye supplied.

"Make it six tickets. We'll come back after dinner." I decided, though Alexa looked like she wanted to argue with me.

"Great." Tye took our money and handed the tickets to Jaxon.

"Wait." He took a pen from his pocket and scribbled something on the back of the last ticket. "My number in case...you need it or something." He chuckled nervously and waved as he walked away in a hurry.

Tori and Hazel arrived a few minutes later, and Jaxon still had a stupid smile plastered on his face.

"What did we miss?" Hazel waved an ice pop in her brother's face until he took it.

"We just got tickets to a concert tonight," Jaxon said.

"And Evie just got Jaxon a date for tonight." I winked in his directions, pleased to see him looking all flustered.

"Well...um maybe," he responded, but everyone could tell that he was happy. "Thanks, Evie," he mumbled before shoving the ice pop in his mouth as everyone watched him with knowing eyes.