"I swear I saw a gator!" Mia huffed, crossing her arms adamantly as she took a few steps away from the water.

"Oh yeah, just like last year when you swore you saw a mermaid?" Brooks scoffed, joining us down by the shore. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my throat, and Brooks shot me a humorous glance, our previous conversation forgotten for the time being.

"I did see one!" Mia insisted, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.

"It was the reflection of a fish, MiMi."

"To the less imaginative, sure."

Brooks rolled his eyes and playfully pulled his sister into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles against her head. Mia screamed and swatted him away, crying out for me to help. "Sav! Help!" Mia cried out in the kind of half-laughing-half-crying tone that suggested the siblings' play fight had an undertone of roughness to it. I shook my head with a small laugh.

"Sorry Mi, you're own on your own with this one."

Not liking my answer, Mia's arm reached out and grappled me, looking for purchase. Her fingers hooked through the loop of my jeans and yanked me towards her at the same time that Brooks took a step back. All three of us tumbled to the ground, a cascade of arms, legs and elbows.

Brooks released Mia in shock, my weight causing him to lose his balance as he fell flat on his stomach and I was launched over him and slammed down onto my back. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I made contact with the sand, but even through the pain I couldn't contain my laughter. I clutched my stomach, wheezing as I attempted to catch my breath.

I rolled onto all fours slowly, sneaking a glance at Brooks to see if he'd survived his epic face plant and Mia to see how she'd faired. None of us could hide our mixture of laughter and painful grimaces.

"Thanks for that Mia." I wheezed when my lungs finally started to function again.

"That was not my fault!" She retorted, pulling her phone out of her pocket and using the screen to fix her hair, "Brooks is the one who started it!"

I considered that for a moment. She wasn't wrong. "That's true. Blame it on you then Brooks." Before I could register what was happening, my hand rose up and flicked a handful of wet sand in Brooks' face. He blinked in shock for a moment, and I shrunk back, realising I'd pushed it too far.

I looked over at Mia for help, but she was too busy primping. When I turned my attention back to Brooks, he was staring at me with a shit-eating grin on his handsome face. I breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't mad at me, but my happiness was short lived when he suddenly stood up and lunged at me all within the blink of an eye.

"Now you're going to get it." He growled playfully, scooping me up into his arms and, before I could fully comprehend what was happening, started to jog down towards the water.

I screamed and flailed my legs about uselessly, clutching onto his hoodie and closing my eyes. "Brooks don't you dare! I swear, if you throw me into the damn water I am going to castrate you!" I screeched, trying to give him my best I'm not freaking kidding tone. Brooks just laughed, bending his knees as he prepared to throw me. I braced myself for the freezing water, my fingers practically sewn into the fabric of his shirt. At least if I was going down, I was going to try damn hard to take him with me.

The icy cold sensation never came though, and I opened my eyes to find that Brooks had paused, staring down at me in amusement.

I exhaled deeply in relief, shaking my head. "You're an asshole, McCormack." I tried to wriggle out of his arms, but his grip on my legs tightened.

"Not so fast, you're not getting out of this that easily."

I narrowed my eyes. This did not sound good.

Brooks grinned mischievously, his face still covered in sand. Our faces were only inches apart, and from this proximity I could clearly see the little flecks of gold that were scattered around his pupil. His lips were slightly chapped from the cold air and his tanned cheeks were tinged with pink.

His expression softened, and he stared right through me. "Answer one question for me and I'll let you go." He murmured.

I gulped, deciding that maybe the water was my better option after all.

But the question that Brooks asked surprised me, and I bit my tongue to stop myself from blurting something out without thinking it through first.

Do I ever wish that I hadn't left Beaufort?

I thought back to all the holidays I'd spent alone, the birthdays that I'd partied too hard for before sitting by the phone for hours waiting for a message from my mom that would never come. I thought about how much I loved Scandalous but how lonely it was not knowing who your true friends were.

I shrugged, tearing my eyes away from Brooks' intense gaze. "Yeah, sometimes." I admitted quietly.

There was a moment of unwavering dead silence, and then he set me down gently on my feet.

***

"What took you guys so long?" Mia asked, her hand diving back into the packet of chips to grab another handful.

Jaz rolled her eyes and elbowed Dallas roughly in the side, her voice dripping with annoyance. "This one insisted we take a shortcut, only he got us lost and it ended up adding an extra hour and a half onto our trip."

Mia snorted, cramming a huge chip into her mouth. "Good one Dallas."

Dallas stuck his bottom lip out, reaching up to tousle his already-messy hair. "I never claimed it was a shortcut, I was taking the scenic route, that's all!"

Jaz reached up to smack him over the head, and I laughed as he yelped loudly in surprise.

"Well, you're here now, and that's what counts right?" I asked, trying to keep the peace as I reached past Mia to pluck a grape from it's vine.

Dallas scooted away from Jaz and went to sit safely beside Brooks on the sofa, the two of them instantly launching into a conversation about jet skiing on the lake.

Jaz made her way over to us and helped herself to the food laid out on the kitchen counter. "Why'd I get stuck with the meatball head?" She muttered, peeling the shell off a pistachio and dropping it on the table. 

Mia placed her hand over her heart in solidarity. "I ask myself that question every time I'm alone with him."

Just then, Sarah made her way into the kitchen carrying a huge stack of old newspapers.

"Oh good! You two are here!" She grinned, walking over to Brooks and Dallas and dropping half of the newspapers onto each of their laps. "Make yourselves useful and get started making a fire please."

She didn't wait to listen to their responses as she sashayed over towards us. "Mia, you can help your father with the barbecue outside and Jaz and Savannah, if you girls could wash the dishes and cutlery that would be great. They're a bit dusty since no one tends to stay here during the fall season."

I offered Sarah a smile and got started rounding up the dishes from the cupboard, washing them in warm soapy water before handing them to Jaz to dry. Mia teetered off reluctantly to help Lewis outside and Sarah had gone to check on the boys, leaving just Jaz and I in the kitchen.

We washed and dried in silence for a few moments, and I realized that thus far we had never really been left alone together. I opened my mouth to ask her a question about herself, to start a conversation, but she beat me to the chase.

"He's been different, since you've gotten here."

I froze, my hand pausing midway between the sink and Jaz. "What?"

The corners of Jaz' lips twitched, as if she were fighting off a smile. She tucked her long black hair behind her ears and shot me a knowing look. "Brooks." She clarified, leaning over to take the bowl from my hands. "He seems different."

Finally regaining my composure, I shook my head and returned back to the dishes. "Yeah well, I know I've put him in a monumentally bad mood. We used to be best friends but we didn't exactly part on the best terms. My return has just been a pain in the ass for him." I brushed her off.

Jaz shook her head at me and bit her lip thoughtfully. "Maybe." She said, and I could detect the slightest hint of bitterness in her tone.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise and turned to ask what she meant, but she was too busy staring at her feet.

Eventually she sighed, throwing her dish towel on the counter. "Never mind. I'm gonna go see if the boys need help with the fire."

And then, with one last lingering glance, she sauntered out of the room.