"Hey, what was wrong with you last night?"

Catriona winced at Bryana's question.

"What happened last night?" Sophie asked without lifting her head up from where it was resting on the table of the diner they were getting lunch at.

"Some, uh, drunk assholes were catcalling. Made me uncomfortable," Catriona lied, picking at her grilled cheese sandwich.

What was she supposed to say? 'I saw some random guys and became convinced they were out to get me'?

"Hmm," Bryana hummed, losing interest "We got any drink left for tonight?"

"Half a bottle of vodka," Catriona shrugged "Not enough to get more than tipsy."

"Ugh don't talk to me about vodka," Sophie groaned "At least not for another four hours."

"What about Jack Daniels, can we talk about that?" Bryana teased and then giggled when she got flipped the bird for her efforts "So we're gonna laze around on the beach whilst lightweight here recovers?"

"Sounds good," Catriona agreed quietly "I just hope those guys from last night aren't out today..."

Bryana rolled her eyes in the way she always did – the same way that made Catriona wonder why she bothered opening her mouth.

Their second day in Santa Carla was a good one. After an hour or so of anxiously scanning the beach up and down, looking past fellow tourists for the guys in biker jackets, Catriona relaxed. She was sure she was just being drunkenly paranoid the night before – probably the result of one too many lectures from her parents on staying safe whilst she was gone. She flitted between reading the book she'd brought along and swimming in the ocean with Bryana, all whilst Sophie slept off her hangover on top of a beach towel – they'd dutifully wake her up a few times every hour or so to make her put more sunscreen on or turn over so that she didn't end up burnt on one side.

It was their second night in Santa Carla that put Catriona on edge. Sunkissed, with limbs pleasantly aching from all of the swimming, Catriona was in a good mood when they set out for the boardwalk that night. They'd all made somewhat of an effort, hoping that it might encourage some good samaritan to share their booze if it came down to it. She had opted for a red velvet skirt, which matched the dark red shade that she dyed her hair, a Guns N' Roses shirt, ripped up the back which made the ladder in her tights look a lot more intentional, and a pair of doc martens.

"What about them?"she nodded her head towards a group sitting around a bonfire, sipping beers.

"Not loud enough," Bryana shook her head "We need people who are already halfway legless – that way they're friendlier and more generous."

Bryana had always had a knack for this kind of thing. Catriona had loved going to parties with her in high school – she'd simply follow Bryana's lead of sidling up to a group, off-handedly mentioning how she hadn't even had a drink yet, and soon they'd be walking away with a case of beer and, on some nights, maybe even some weed.

Their trip down the beach was an unsuccessful one – it was way too early for anybody to be more than tipsy, and therefore not yet generous, and the only people hanging around the liquor store were middle aged and eyed with with distrust whenever they got near. That was, until the sound of motorbikes filled the air. Her suspicion from last night had been right – the four guys from last night sped down the boardwalk on bikes. They were a lot younger than she'd thought they were when she'd been squinting at them in the darkness. They must've been around her age, perhaps a few years older. Catriona let out a laugh without fully meaning to, mainly at her own paranoia the night before.

Then all of their heads turned in her direction as they flew by her and she froze. Her laugh hadn't been loud enough for her friends to hear over the noise of the engines, so there was no way they could've heard her. They didn't slow down, but she was sure she saw them grin – whether it was directed at her or at each other, she didn't know - before they went by her and she could no longer see their faces.

"Oooh, somebody's flustered!" Bryana smirked.

"What do you mean?" Catriona asked, attention snapping back to her friends.

"They totally checked you out!"

"They smiled," Catriona snorted "They probably felt bad for freaking me out last night."

"Wait, that was them?" Bryana's eyebrows shot up "Assholes."

"They were probably just kidding..." Catriona shook her head, not wanting them to know she'd lied about the catcalling, but with no idea of why she was bothering to defend them.

Catriona was more than ready to push the odd events out of her mind when Sophie spoke.

"Look!" she giggled "They're stopping!"

"No they're not," Catriona snorted, but then she looked to where her friend was gesturing.

Yes they were.

"They're coming over!" Bryana said in a sing song, elbowing Catriona in the ribs.

"No, they're not!" Catriona repeated, protesting, feeling her cheeks heat up.

Yes they were. She briefly wondered what exactly she'd done to piss off the universe or whatever god controlled it. To her relief, they stopped a few meters away, leaning on the wooden rail separating the beach from the boardwalk. She had no idea why she felt so odd around them, nor did she want to know – she wanted to avoid them, get through the holiday and then fly back home, safe, sound and unconfused. However, their distance didn't prevent them staring – and nor did they try to disguise their stares.

"Guys, come on. Let's just go find a bar or something. First round on me," she pleaded.

Big mistake. The mention of a bar seemed to spark an idea in Bryana.

"I think we just found our alcohol suppliers," she announced with a smug smirk towards Catriona "And our little Kit Kat is the key."

"No!" Catriona's voice rose, annoyance flaring up in her chest "Fuck you! No!"

She could barely approach her tutors at university to ask for help with her work – how did Bryana expect her to approach a group of intimidatingly attractive strangers and start asking for favours?!

"Don't be such a bore!" Bryana snapped back, clearly not appreciating Catriona's defiance "That one in the stupid jacket clearly likes you – his friends keep trying to shove him over here!"

Catriona refused to look over to see if this was true.

Bryana continued "The worst they can do is say no!"

"I'm not going to flirt with some stranger for booze! One of you guys do it," Catriona hissed, fully prepared to storm off.

"C'mon, Kit Kat," Sophie broke her silence, trying to diffuse the tension "You're the 'alternative' one, you've got the best chance! We'll be right here and it'll be so worth it! Look, he's cute!"

Catriona considered it briefly, beginning to break under the pressure and chancing a glance towards the focus of their argument. Green eyes met grey and he bit his lip before he gave her a small grin. Just as she was about to begrudgingly agree, Bryana opened her mouth.

"Fucking killjoy," she muttered under her breath.

That was the last straw. Catriona span on her heel and walked away – not towards the bikers, but towards the hotel. She was seething, moreso at Bryana than at Sophie – but she was still angry at Sophie for not siding with her, not that she expected her to. She never did. What did they take her for? Some kind of prostitute? 'Buy me some vodka and I'm all yours!'? Yeah right!

A voice called out behind her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hey, you! Wait! Hey!"

It took her a few moments to realise that whoever it was was calling after her. After all, it was male and American, her friends were neither of those things. She turned around reluctantly to see the centre of all of her troubles. The attractive blond in the tux jacket – and boy, he was attractive.