Mark stood in the now empty living room, coffee mug in hand, staring at the retreating figure of Alice.
Peter, Alice's older brother, had become a good friend in the past two years. They had met at a PAX event and hit it off immediately. They both lived in LA and regularly met up for collabs.
Alice moved in with her brother this past year, having just finished college and looking for work. Mark liked her at once. She was quiet and gentle-natured. He appreciated that. He could be energetic and manic in his videos, but in his normal life, he was rather subdued. With his busy schedule, though, he never had an opportunity to really get to know her. She was obviously shy, and she always went into her room when he came over to hang out with Peter and the guys. He didn't take it personally. That was just what made her comfortable.
She was pretty, but not in the gaudy, fake way of most girls her age. Petite in stature, she gave off an aura of gentleness in her movements. She wore little makeup and dressed casually, comfortably. That suited him just fine. High maintenance girls were nothing but headaches, in his past experiences.
When she had asked about the camera, it startled him at first. That was the first time she had asked him anything. He was more than happy to oblige. Then she hugged him...
He didn't react, but immediately sensed her embarrassment. Before he could say anything, though, she had apologized and shot out of the room like a bolt.
He walked over to the large, room length window of the beach house and scanned for her along the shoreline. He could just make out her silhouette in the distance, combing the beach for the sea turtles.
"Sea turtles." he though to himself, and smiled, sipping his coffee. She made pretty good coffee, too.
Alice was gradually coming down from her embarrassment and finding peace in the feel of the sand and the sounds of the waves. The beach was always calming to her. She slowed her pace and began to take in the scenery. The sun was making its ascent, casting shadows upon the reeds and the dunes. She finally came upon the sea turtles' nesting ground. She saw the grouping of eggs just under sand. Careful not to disturb the surroundings, she knelt down and began recording.
Eventually, people came in to rope off and put barriers around the nesting grounds. Alice made sure to record everything, as she found it fascinating and reassuring that such efforts were made to protect this endangered species. They were kind and allowed her to film, even answering some questions she had. This would be a great keepsake video for her nature collection. After they had gone, she walked down the beach for another half mile and found a secluded dune. She carefully stowed Mark's camera in her small tote and settled down on her back. She closed her eyes and just listened to the waves crash on the shore. The gulls were calling to one another, and a breeze came along, blowing her short hair across her face gently.
She thought about Mark. She thought about the hug. Alice decided she was not going to pursue anything but a small friendship with Mark, if he was even interested in being her friend. The "little" sister of a friend may not interest him in the slightest. Heaven knows he had more women than she could count just throwing themselves at him during conventions and expos. Yes, she thought, I'll just go about things as normal, and pretend this morning never happened. That's for the best. She smiled and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
Alice woke up with a start. The sun was high over head and her face was scorched by one nasty sunburn.
"Crud!" she said. She looked down the beach, which was now filled with tourists and locals. The ocean was brimming with surfers and swimmers. She checked her watch, It was 12:45! What on earth?! She reached down to grab her tote...but her hand grabbed sand. She looked over and the tote was gone! Frantic now, she leaped up and began digging in the sand. Nothing. It was gone. Stolen, most likely. Thankfully there was nothing valuable of hers in the tote...but Mark's camera was gone.
She felt herself die inside. Tears sprang up and she couldn't breathe. Mark's camera was gone. All of his footage, gone. She couldn't bear it. He had let her borrow it so willingly, so happily. He trusted her and look at what's happened. She fell asleep and it was snatched. She didn't want to cause a scene on the beach by crying, so she brushed herself off with shaking hands, took a deep breath, and began walking back to the house.
At least they wouldn't be back until this evening.
