Staying extremely observant of my surroundings, I switched the position I was laying in at my newly relocated reading spot. So far, I'd lasted two mornings unnoticed, shielded slightly by the untamed bushes growing out of the sand dune. It was a little bit of a walk from the steps, but it gave me the peace and quiet I craved. And if I couldn't see the gorilla boys, they couldn't see me.

I wasn't exactly avoiding Logan, but not having to interact with him gave me a sense of comfort. I needed time to sort my feelings out, and work out where I stood with this whole deal. It still seemed absurd to me, but going back on my word was not something I'd do comfortably. I assured myself that if all went badly and I could never face Logan again, I'd never have to see him once university started anyway.

"Are you really hiding up there in the bushes, O'Conner?"

I heard the cocky British voice before I saw his tall figure, arms crossed in amusement as he cocked his head to the side. Since going to his house to hang out with Lottie, I hadn't seen Alastair around town. He hadn't harassed me during my shifts at work, and the few times I'd caught up with Maisie and Dan around Sandy Cove he hadn't been in sight. With his shirt off and only wearing a pair of board-shorts, I noticed he'd been working on his tan. It was hardly like a Sandy Cove local's but it was much darker than he'd looked when I'd met him.

"I'm not hiding. The sand is just cooler here," I defended.

"Here I thought you were meant to be trying to make an effort. Do you need me to hold your hand still?"

The idea of him holding my hand made me shiver. I'd been sitting in my new spot for an hour already this morning, so I figured it was time to go anyway. I stood up and threw my towel over my shoulder. "No I don't, Alastair. Where have you been lately, anyway?"

"I've been busy. Did you miss me?" He winked, standing aside as I stepped off of the dune and onto the beach. I spotted the two figures out in the surf almost instantly. "But really, I wanted to see you because I hadn't heard about anything on tonight."

Oh, right. It was Saturday, and we were due for another hang out on the beach. "It's always on, just come to the usual place at like, sixish. Someone will be there."

"Will you?"

I shrugged. "Probably."

"Will golden-boy be there?" He pointed his thumb behind him at Logan and Noah. I was amused that he'd labelled Logan with the same name I did when I referred to him in my head. But I couldn't help narrowing my eyes in suspicion. Would this be phase two of the plan?

"Probably."

"Have you go a surf board?"

"What?" I questioned, perplexed at the sudden topic change.

"A surf board, you know, the flat pointy things that you stand on in the water-"

"I'm aware of what a surf board is."

"Well do you have one? Or ideally two?"

I narrow my eyes, trying to calculate exactly what he would want two surf boards for. "I have one, probably two if you include my dad's. Why?"

"Well," he began, a smirk formed on his lips. "We should join them out there."

"We should surf with the gorillas?" I raised my eyebrows, confused at the bizarre idea.

"The what?"

"Never mind," I shook my head, forgetting not everyone was aware of my lingo. "Do you even know how to surf? Or even swim?"

"Well, no, but I know how to swim. How hard can it be?"

I smiled, the idea of watching Alastair attempt to surf with all of his cocky confidence was just enough to get my approval on the idea. "Let's go get the boards then."

I didn't think about it at the time, but bringing Alastair back to my house wasn't exactly ideal. After visiting his mansion a few days ago, the sun damaged little shack I called home seemed dramatically unremarkable. Would he laugh openly when he saw the overgrown front garden and the odd broken tile on the floor? Or when he saw my father, fast asleep in the lounge room? I decided to avoid inviting him inside for those reasons.

He didn't comment as I walked down the little path of stones to the front door.

"I'll just grab my board from inside, then my father's is in the shed somewhere," I gestured to the little tin structure just visible over the side fence.

"Alright... do you want me to wait here?" He asked awkwardly.

I nodded before unlocking the door and quietly tiptoeing down the hall into my room. My board was perched against the wall beside my window. It was decorated with purple floral patterns and coated with a sheen of dust. I hadn't used it in a while.

Just as quietly as I'd entered, I left the house, locking the front door as I went.

"Nice," Alastair said. He ran a hand over the surface of the board. "This is really cool."

"Maisie designed it," I explained. "She wanted to be a graphic designer when she was younger. I think her dream career has changed a few times since then.

I unhitched the lock on the side fence and gestured for him to enter. I leant the board against a wooden pillar and grimaced at the sight of the back lawn. Surely this was a hazard for snakes.

"Sorry about this, its a little unkept."

"Do you live by yourself?" He asked.

"No." I shook my head. But I didn't want to go into the whole thing about my dad, so I didn't say anything else on the topic. "So if I remember correctly the board is hanging on a shelf on the far wall, but there's a little bench to the side with wax, which we'll also need."

"You're not going in?" He asked.

I shook my head again, liking the idea of him going into the dark, spider infested shed by himself. Also, I had a completely justified terror of spiders, so if I could avoid it in there all together, I was happy. "There's not much room for two people, and you're tall enough to reach the board anyway."

I opened the combination lock on the door and stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter. There was a small automatic light that had come on, illuminating the cluttered storage space. Alastair stepped in tentatively, looking around the small room. I saw him move towards the bench, no doubt where the wax was situated.

"You look like your mother."

The words shot a trickle of freezing cold through my veins, like someone had tipped an icy bucket of water down the back of my shirt.

"What?"

"This photo here..." He walked out of the shed and into the daylight, holding a dusty photo frame. "It's your parents, right?"

I looked at what he was holding. It was a faded picture of my parents on their wedding day. Their bodies were facing each other, almost touching as each wrapped their arms around the other. Their faces smiled happily at the camera. My father's hair was not grey then, it was a chestnut brown and flowed to his shoulders. My mother's was blonde, tied in an elaborate bun as her brown eyes, which matched mine, looked sideways at my father. Even I couldn't deny that they looked absolutely in love.

"Put that back," I told him. There was no way I wanted that happy picture back in my life. Or my father's. A few months after my mother had left I'd removed every piece of evidence that she'd ever lived here and placed it all in this shed. As a nine year old girl, you could imagine how distressed I'd been. I hadn't remembered the clutter of stuff I'd dumped onto the bench.

Sensing the touchy subject, he complied and stepped back into the shed. To prevent him bringing out anything else, or seeing more that he shouldn't, I decided to follow him. The space remaining in the shed after all of the junk tucked into it was tiny and to follow him in meant standing so close that our shoulders touched.

"This is the wax, yeah?" He confirmed, picking up a rectangular navy blue packet. It was laying beside the miscellaneous assortment of goods which I'd stuffed here. I should have thought this through before sending him in.

"Yeah, that's the wax," I said. I held out my hand and he placed it in my palm.

"And that's the board." He pointed to where the dusty board sat on a rack close to the ceiling. It was ancient, my father hadn't used it in almost a decade, but it was sturdy and a good board for beginners. It was just in his reach as he stretched up and took it down carefully. I had to leave so he could lead it out, and I watched him carefully as his eyes scanned the belongings of my mother one last time.

We used my back garden hose to get the dust of the boards and then waxed them. I showed him the circular motion and he picked it up quickly, only uttering a few sarcastic remarks about me making him do all the work. As I pointed out, there was only one wax block and he was the one suggesting this.

"They probably won't even be out anymore," I told him. We were walking down the steps to the beach, boards in arm. When I was younger I struggled to hold my board with one hand and used to place it over my head. It would make Maisie laugh and tell me to grow my arms longer. Now, to my contentment, I could do it easily.

"Well, we can practice for next time."

But, the two fluorescent boards were still out on the water. Just as we caught sight of them, Noah took a nasty fall as a wave engulfed him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I checked with him. The idea of him taking Noah's place was still appealing.

"Yeah." He looked cocky, but his voice sounded less confident.

We sat down on the sand and I tried to explain to him the basics of surfing. I'd been taught at school, but the exact simple steps they'd rehearsed to us didn't come back as smoothly.

"You shouldn't go out the back right away," I point to where the gorillas were. I had my back to them now, so I hope I'd pointed correctly. "We'll stay around where the waves have already broken and try and catch some in. Here, lay on your stomach with your feet just on the end of the board. Once you feel the wave under you, lean up on your arms with your hands below your chest, not on the edge of the sides. Then, leaning on your left foot, bring your right knee forward so you're half kneeling. Then quickly, pointing your foot away from you, stand up, with your left foot angled to the side of the board."

He didn't look like he'd listened to a word of what I had said, he was just staring with a weird smirk on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"Nice lesson, Vally."

I turned to see Logan behind us, dripping wet with water and leaning against his board. I couldn't help the instinctive rake my eyes made as they took in his appearance up close. From where I usually sat in the mornings I didn't quite get the full effect of his six pack.

"What do you want?" The words left my lips before I could translate them to have the friendly and flirty tone they were supposed to. But I was sure that he'd come to torment me about the other night.

"I just saw you had a beginner out here, I didn't think you were experienced enough to give lessons."

I rolled my eyes, biting back the retort I was building up. I looked to Alastair for help.

"Actually, I think she's a very good teacher," Alastair said. He crossed his arms over his chest lazily.

"Well, it's probably a good thing Noah and I are out here today for when things go wrong."

"Which they inevitably will," I add. I was sure that Alastair's confidence would get him hurt.

"Well, what are you waiting for? The best way to learn is in the water."

I disagreed with Logan, thinking it was important for Alastair to practice on the sand first before diving in the deep end, literally. But, both of the guys were keen to enter the water. So we did.

The swell, thankfully, wasn't as chaotic as it usually was. Although the waves were a little large for beginners, the water was relatively peaceful, so we weren't pelted with them as we paddled out. The water wasn't as icy as I'd expected, it was nice and soothing as we glided outwards. Logan, his arms penetrating the water easily as he took lazy strokes, paddled ahead of us towards where Noah was sitting on his board.

"You need to make sure something goes wrong," Alastair said when we were just out of his ear shot.

"What?" I asked him, confused.

"Just get taken out by a wave or something. See if he goes to help you. If he does, the physical contact could ignite something between you. You have so many verbal strings hanging between you that its blurring the chemistry."

"First of all, we don't have chemistry," I assured him. "And secondly, what if he doesn't? He might just laugh and watch me drown happily."

"Well, if he does that, deals off. But he won't."

"We'll see."

I didn't exactly want to stack it and get myself hurt because of a stupid plan, so I decided not to intentionally put myself into danger. But for Alastair? Well, danger really was inevitable.

The four of us were straddling on our boards just behind where the waves were breaking, exactly where I'd advised Alastair not to surf as a beginner. Noah had greeted us with enthusiasm, remarking about my return to surfing. I hadn't surfed since I was about fourteen, but not for any reason in particular. Maisie had never liked it, so she never wanted to go and I wasn't a big fan of going by myself. My board had been too big for me then, but now it was weighted more appropriately. I itched to catch a wave again.

We bobbed up and down as each wave rolled beneath us. From here, we could see the shore, which looked a lot smaller than it really was. Pine trees lined the road above the sand dune, and a flock of gulls moved back and forth along the point at which the water joined the fluffy looking sand.

"You should go for this next one," Logan was telling Alastair, pointing to a wave a hundred metres or so away. Both him and Noah were giving a running commentary of each wave that passed.

"Are you sure?" Alastair asked. He suddenly looked a little worried.

"Yeah, it won't be too dumping. Vally should probably go for it too, she's more or less a beginner."

I scoffed, but prepared myself to take the wave. I heard Noah instructing Alastair to just ride the wave in for now, and to not stand up until he was comfortable. I internally thanked him, not wanting Alastair's death or significant injury to be on my conscience.

"You remember how it works?" Logan asked me. He'd drifted my way, the wave was only metres away now and I had turned to face the shore, leaving us face to face.

"I think so," I replied.

"Well, don't hurt yourself."

I waited for the catch, but none came. It was almost weird that he'd made some form of positive statement, especially one towards my well-being. But there was no time to ponder further as I started paddling quickly, a little late because of my hesitation. I made up for it in speed, cupping my hands and pushing my way through the water as I felt the wave build behind me.

I looked to my side, Alastair had just missed the wave and was bobbing back over it in defeat. It was just me and the wave now, uninterrupted. It carried me from beneath as I glided through the surf. Like I remembered, as if it was instinct in me, I jumped up, balancing tenderly on the now unfamiliar feeling board.

I wasn't accustomed to the weight distribution, and I'd managed to stand for merely a few seconds before the wave broke around me. It threw me off and churned me with it as it made it's way towards the shore. Under the water I was tossed like I had been thrown in a gigantic washing machine. My hair, which I hadn't tied, wrapped around my face, suffocating me more than the water around me.

At least Alastair got his wipe out, I thought to myself as I shielded my head with my elbows and tucked my knees in as I'd been taught. I wondered if anyone was out waiting for me to surface.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably barely fifteen seconds, my head emerged from the water and I gulped a large gulp of air, my lungs rattly after the unexpected submersion. My eyes were blurred but there was indeed someone swimming up to me briskly. I wondered if Alastair's predictions were correct and he was coming to my rescue. My heart's already fast pace doubled with the thought of confronting Logan physically.

"Here, are you okay? Grab my hand."

But it wasn't Logan, it was Noah. I think I heard Logan's laugh somewhere from over the waves.

AN: I hope you're enjoying so far! Please don't forget to vote if you're enjoying the story, and comment any feedback if you're not :)