10th June 2019

"Why don't you tell her, they shout to me,

Share the feelings that are running deep."

"I don't see her?" Jaxon squinted at the hotel building. "This time someone get her god damn number," he grumbled.

I shook my head. He was more excitable than Teddy; an overgrown kid in the body of a twenty-two year old.

"You need your eyes checked, she's right there." I pointed out.

Kotori chuckled as we watched Evie shrug away from the wall and head towards us.

"How'd she do that? I swear she wasn't there five seconds ago." Jaxon gaped, but we just ignored him. With the hyper mood he was in, it was no wonder he was missing things.

"So you promise this isn't just an elaborate plan to kidnap me?" Evie chuckled, but was eyeing us with critical eyes.

Kotori crossed his arms. "You can trust us."

And it was hard not to believe Tori. I could see his heartfelt words made Evie relax.

There was just something about his presence that spoke of protection and honesty.

"Well...okay... led the way." She fell into step with Jaxon, her bag strapped tightly over her body.

"So where is Hazel?" Evie asked.

"She's on shift at the hospital today." Kotori supplied in his usual clipped tone.

"And Alexa, that's Sam's girlfriend, is visiting her parents in L.A. So I get to enjoy another Alexa free day." Jaxon danced on the spot, making Evie laugh.

"I'm guessing there's bad blood there?" She looked between me and Jaxon as he shrugged.

"We have a difference of opinion on religion."

All of us stopped to look at him. As far as I was aware, there wasn't a speck of Alexa that could have been described as religious. And Jaxon had become disillusioned when he was a teenager after his parents had left.

He smirked at them all. "She thinks she's God and I disagree."

None of us could help it, we cracked up. Evie laughed so hard she had to hold her stomach, and even Tori snorted in his effort to remain his usual cool self. For my part, I laughed with them. It was perhaps one of the more apt descriptions of my girlfriend, who was more akin to getting everything she wanted than not.

"She can't be that bad?" Evie reasoned, but Jaxon was already shaking his head.

"You'll undoubtedly meet her at least once this week so you should reserve judgement until then." Tori spoke before Jaxon could spill into a tirade about how much she irritated him.

Evie blinked and looked up at Tori with a surprised face before it morphed into something similar to devilish delight.

"Then I'm definitely looking forward to it."

Tori looked away, smirking whilst Jaxon high fived her.

"Okay, that's enough roasting of my girlfriend. We're almost here, anyway," I grumbled.

Jaxon took Evie's hand and dragged her forward, thoughts of my girlfriend now far from his mind.

"If his criticism annoys you so much you should stick up for Alexa."

Tori's voice broke into my mind as I realised I'd been staring after Jaxon and Evie.

"What?" I tore my eyes away from them to look at Tori, who just frowned at me.

"Jaxon likes to run his mouth but if it bothers you, stick up for your girlfriend."

My mouth fell open a little. "I thought you didn't like Alexa either?"

"I don't. But she's still someone you care about."

"I..I..." Care about?

"I'm just saying, you can defend her sometimes. You don't just have to let Jaxon have his say."

I watched as Tori walked ahead, but I wasn't really seeing anything.

Care about? What was it I felt for Alexa?

Sure, I didn't want her to get hit by a bus or anything, but did I really care for her like I should? Or like I used to?

When we'd met, I was awed by her attention. She'd watched us play at Charlie's, a run down dive of a place that came alive on a Friday night. It was the place to go for live music, and we had been lucky enough to be the regular headliners.

I was the typical Latino band practice kid, preferring to blend into the background simply because that's where the real quiet was. If I was that kid - and I was - then Alexa was the hot cheerleader or one of the popular rich kids.

Her grandparents had made millions investing in one thing or another. The truth of her wealth was so diverse that even she didn't know where it had come from. She wanted the best, and it was flattering to think that that included me.

Still, the initial world wind that had accompanied her had waned. And even I was left wondering why she was with me or I her. Now it felt like we were just going through the motions of what we both thought a relationship should be.

"Hey Sam, you coming?"

Evie's voice shattered my focus, and I headed in their direction, trying not to dwell on my previous thoughts.

I plastered a smile on my face, though I doubted it was convincing. "So Evie, what do you think?"

Her eyes roamed my face with a frown, but it disappeared as her eyes turned to look at Madrona Marsh.

"It's amazing. Like a breath of fresh air from being surrounded by so much concrete." She smiled, but it was a little wistful.

"We thought you might be missing home and since Cornwall is pretty wild, according to Google. We thought we'd take you to the next best thing." Jaxon looked on, worried as Evie's eyes became glassy. "I mean, we can leave if you want to." He was quick to add.

He was too busy worrying over his own idea - and make no mistake, the day was completely his idea since me and Tori were useless planners - that he wasn't prepared for Evie to grab him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his chest.

He looked at us with utmost terror that even I couldn't resist smiling for real this time.

Tori sighed and moved Jaxon's arms so he was hugging Evie back. "You really are useless."

"Hey, my Nanna always said that you want to be careful if you ever make a woman cry."

Evie laughed as she pulled away from him, wiping away a few errant tears with the back of her hand.

"These are happy tears, don't worry. It's just you've gone to so much trouble." She bit her lip, looking away.

"Well, you haven't seen this place yet, not really." Jaxon took her hand once again and led her along the paths.

Tori and I were happy to trail along after them in silence. We'd already seen the place a hundred times before. There wasn't an elementary child in the area that hadn't been there at least once. It was the school's choice for field trips; cheap and local.

Already many of the flowers were wilting under the summer sun, and the vernal pools were bone dry. It was always prettier in the Spring, but it didn't seem to dampen Evie's excitement as she pointed out the birds and squirrels that scampered amongst the trees.

Jaxon sprouted out fact after fact, which seemed to intrigue Evie to no end. Eventually he admitted to his near photographic memory, which only prompted another round of questions.

By the end of the walk, even I was impressed by my friend. He must have stayed up late looking up each fact, so he'd be ready.

Eventually we settled on a vacant picnic beach. Since it was a Monday there weren't that many visitors to contend with, so we almost had the place to ourselves.

"Ta da." Jaxon laid the contents of his bag on the table, and Evie's eyes lit up in delight. "So we have Onigiri, Miso soup with Tofu and beef kushiyaki. Since you said you'd always wanted to go to Japan, I thought we could bring Japan to you."

"This is amazing." Evie clapped, leaning forward to get a better look at what was on offer.

"It won't be hot but it should still be pretty warm." Tori uncapped the soup, releasing a puff of steam, before handing it to her with a spoon.

We all watched as Evie tucked into it her soup with gusto. Once satisfied that she was happy, we too devoured the feast on offer. Jaxon really had outdone himself. The fresh stuff from the Japanese market was always out of this world.

"So what about you, Jaxon? Anywhere you really want to visit?" Evie handed her rubbish to Tori, who packed it up and walked away.

"Maybe. Lots of places I guess. But I don't see an extended travel plan on my list of things to do."

Evie tilted her head, looking puzzled.

Jaxon fiddled with his fingers, displaying his more subdued side. "Hazel and I take care of my grandmother. She's getting older now and needs a bit more help."

"That's kind of you, but couldn't your parents help as well?"

There was no time for me to warn Evie about Jaxon's parents. I looked at him in worry.

He clenched his fists. "I was fifteen when I told my parents I was gay and they gave me an ultimatum; to forget everything I said or get the hell out of their house. That night we packed our bags and Hazel and I moved into my Nanna's. We haven't spoken to them since."

Evie covered her face in horror. "How could they do that?"

Jaxon's shoulders slumped. "My Dad's family are very religious. They said it went against God's wishes. That my soul would be damned if I continued on my wicked path."

"That's such bullshit," Evie exploded, making Jaxon laugh, though it sounded hollow.

"Yeah, that's kinda what my Nanna said. Still, it was hard. We lost our parents and Nanna lost her daughter all because they couldn't understand why I didn't find girls attractive."

Evie leaned forward and gripped his hand. "Your parents' decision is not your fault, mind."

Jaxon smiled at her, patting her hand. "I know in my heart that my parents were giant idiots, but it doesn't make it hurt any less, you know?"

Evie nodded. "Family is supposed to be the ones that support you no matter what," she growled, her cheeks reddening with her anger.

"My parents were never the supportive type but we've still had good people take us in. Like my Nanna and Sam and Tori's families even though they had their own families to look after."

"Yeah, a lot of us to look after," I sniggered, making Evie look at me. "I'm the youngest of five," I explained.

Evie's eyes popped wide as Tori sat down next to her, smirking.

"Your poor mother. At least my Mom only had me and my brother to look after," Tori teased.

"I'm suddenly feeling very grateful for being an only child," Evie joked.

"Does it not get lonely though?" I asked without thinking. Being an only child was so far away from my reality that I struggled to wrap my head around the concept.

My house was always filled with noise and clutter. But I don't think I would have ever wanted to change that.

Evie's face fell a little. "Sometimes it can be. And if anything ever happened to me, it would destroy my parents." Her frown deepened as she thought about it more.

"But nothing is going to happen to you," Jaxon reassured her.

"Yeah, exactly." But I could tell something was bothering her.

"So is the Marsh anything like Cornwall?" Tori questioned, drawing Evie's attention away from her thoughts.

Her face cleared as she considered his question. "In a way, yes. It feels wild, but it's still too manicured. Cornwall is more rugged and open. In the night, it's so dark you can see millions of stars. It's something I miss."

"Sounds like you'd like the observatory in L.A."

"Tori, you're a genius. We should take you." Jaxon fist pumped the air. "Right, what's your number?"

Evie reached into her pocket, her eyebrows drawing low before she cleared her throat. "Sorry, I forgot. I cracked my screen on the flight over here; my phone is unusable now."

"No problem, we'll meet you outside your hotel at 3pm tomorrow."

Evie looked relieved and agreed.

I don't know what it was, but her behaviour seemed off to me. There was no reason for her to lie about her phone, and yet something in her expression made me feel like she wasn't being honest with us.

I looked at Tori. He was usually the first one to spot a lie a million miles off, but there was nothing on his face to suggest he doubted her.

I brushed the feeling aside, putting it down to paranoia. After what Hunter had done to us, I was reading too much into people, waiting for the moment when they showed their true colours.

And Evie wasn't like that. Was she?