I'm back, everyone! I am so super extremely ridiculously sorry that I was a horrible person and didn't update this story for months on end. But, to make it up to you, I tried to make it awesome! There's a little Emma/Ash for those of you who are fans of that and a few key developments to keep your minds turning. Stick with me, guys, I promise it will be worth it! Enjoy!

"Ha!" I covered my smiling mouth with my hand in surprise.

There were two horses waiting near the pier, saddled and everything.

"I'm sure you remember Rebel," Ash joked, gesturing to the horse on the right.

I felt a twinge of guilt in my stomach. "Ya, how could I forget," I mumbled.

"It's okay, I think he likes you after you took care of him," Ash said.

"You think?" I asked. I wasn't really up for telling anyone, but I was still awkward around horses.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Em," Ash said, "I was only joking. Do you need a lift up?"

I stared at the horse whose head was a good foot taller than mine. "Nope. Should be fine," I replied.

This shouldn't be too hard. I've gotten better since the first time I tried to get on Rebel.

I walked over to Rebel, staring at the stirrup that was at the level of my chest. I could hear Ash checking his saddle and getting on his horse. Working fast, I brought my left foot up as high as I could and barely managed to get it in the stirrup. I bounced a couple times on my right foot and hoisted myself up, almost missing the handle on the saddle.

Panting, I lowered my stomach and swung my right foot over the top of Rebel and stuck it into the stirrup on my right.

"Ha!" I shouted. I turned at looked at Ash who was trying to hold back a laugh.

"What?" I asked. "Who cares how I got up here. Where are we going?"

"As cheesy as it sounds," Ash said, "I thought we could ride along the beach. Are you okay with that?"

Awww. That's so cute.

"Ya, it will be fun," I said. "You go first, though. As much as I know my skills of getting on a horse have improved, I don't think I've made it to the moving part, yet."

Ash laughed, and got his horse to go at a slow walk. Rebel, out of habit, followed at his side.

It really was beautiful. Ash had timed the horse ride perfectly with the sunset, so the orange and gold and pink colors were reflecting off the waves. There was a cool breeze whistling in with the water and the sand was sparkling in the sun.

We rode down the length of the beach until we arrived at the picnic benches and fire pits. And what I saw surprised me.

Cleo, Rikki, Lewis and Zane were all there, waving at us.

"Ash, do you know what this is?" I asked.

"We all wanted to say goodbye to you, Emma," Ash said. "We wanted to have one last chance where we could all be together and just have a good time."

I was going to start crying again.

"A year isn't all that long," I said. "It's not like I won't see any of you again."

"Yes, but we can still have fun, can't we?" Ash replied.

"Emma!" Cleo shouted. "Have fun on your date?"

"Ya, did you guys do any kissing?" Rikki yelled. Then she made kissing noises loud enough for anyone around us to hear.

"Rikki!" I grumbled. I could tell my face was pink. I wasn't much of a romantic person in front of my friends.

Ash didn't seem to mind, though. He was laughing pretty hard on his horse, actually. I glared at him. Traitor.

As the horses moved closer to the picnic area, I could see there were bags of marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers covering the table. Drinks from the JuiceNet Café were in to-go cups and there was even some snorkeling gear.

"Are we going swimming?" I asked Ash.

"We thought it could be fun," he replied. "We picked a spot on the beach that was the most secluded, and Zane offered to rent out the entire place just for us."

"Wow."

"I know, I was surprised, too."

"What?" Zane said. "I can't do something nice for my friends?"

"Oh, come off it, Zane," Rikki teased. "They're only joking."

"Anyway," Cleo said. "We all had dinner already so we brought stuff to make s'mores! But while we still have the light…"

Cleo got a sneaky look in her eye and ran towards the waves, diving straight into the water.

Lewis wasn't far behind her, grabbing his gear and running towards the ocean, looking ridiculous waddling through the sand in his flippers.

I laughed so hard I almost fell off of Rebel. Which made Ash laugh even harder.

"Are you sure you don't need help getting off?" he asked.

"Yes, I am sure," I said smiling. "But, um, if I look like I might fall, feel free to intervene."

Ash smiled and quickly dismounted his horse, walking over to Rebel's left side.
"Whenever you're ready, then."

I took a breath, then slowly took my right foot out of the stirrup, bringing it over Rebel's back and behind my left foot. I clutched the saddle's handle, leaning on Rebel's side. I looked behind me, and slowly started to let myself down to the ground. I felt my foot touch the sand and said, "HA!"

That must have startled Rebel, though, because he lurched forward with my other foot still in the stirrup. Ash ran over to his face and calmed him down, while I frantically untangled myself. I plopped down in the sand and crawled backwards until I was clear of his hooves.

"Ya, you're getting loads better, Em," Rikki smirked. "Any other tricks you want to show us?"

"How about me beating you in a race to the reef?" I challenged.

"All right then," Rikki grinned. "Meet you in the water."

She grabbed Zane's hand and walked toward the ocean, looking back with a kissy face towards me. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her.

"For what it's worth, Emma," I heard Ash say. "You are improving…a little." He smiled at me.

"It's alright, Ash," I said. "I'll get better eventually."

"Let's hope so," he joked. "I don't know how much more Rebel can handle."

"Whatever," I grinned.

We walked the horses over to a patch of dune grass and tied them to a nearby picnic table.

"Can we just leave them here?" I asked.

"Ya, some of the stable hands are coming to pick them up," Ash said. "They'll be here soon."

I realized that we were alone again. Sure, my friends were close by, but they were busy playing in the ocean. Although I'm sure Rikki was watching just so she could tease me about kissing Ash later.

"Hey, Emma," Ash began. "I know that a trip around the world is something to really look forward to. I mean, I hardly ever leave town. But just know, that I really am going to miss you."

I could feel my eyes starting to water again. If I had known I was going to be close to crying this much I wouldn't have worn mascara. And as many times as I had stopped myself from crying today, this time I finally let it go. I felt the first silent tear come down, and the rest followed soon afterward.

Ash pulled me into a hug, and we just stayed there for a while. Luckily my tears weren't chest-shuddering sobs accompanied by a runny nose; they were just silent, and I let them come. I had spent so much time trying not to think about how much I was going to miss my friends and Ash, that all of my emotions seemed to be surfacing at once.

Ash was a good sport while I was going through my breakdown. He stood there, rubbing my back and occasionally pressing his lips to my hair. I was so lucky to have him, and he shouldn't have to see me crying on our last actual date. I let the last few tears drop, and pulled back. I wiped one side of my face with my hand, but before I could clean up the other side, Ash had already moved his thumb across my cheek. I looked up at him and gave him a soft smile.

He looked worried, but I think seeing me smile lightened him up a bit. And because I didn't want this date to be remembered as a sad one, I reached up and kissed him.

"Finally!" Rikki shouted.

Still kissing Ash, I smiled a little bit and pictured the water around Rikki's tail freezing solid.

"Hey!" she yelled. I heard her start to threaten me, but then Cleo reminded her that she could simply melt the ice around her fin.

By that time, Ash and I were already laughing, holding hands walking towards the water.

"Still up for that race?" I asked Rikki.

"Oh, we'll see if you're still so confident after I beat you," Rikki retorted. "Let's go."

For the record, it was a tie. Rikki tried to convince everyone there that she was the one who reached the reef first, but I have Cleo as a witness.

"I don't care what Cleo says," Rikki continued. "It was obvious who won the race."

Rikki was sitting next to Zane around the fire pit, roasting her marshmallow over the fire she had started.

Cleo and I looked at each other and we both just rolled our eyes. Cleo was sitting next to Lewis, who was eating a s'more he had just made, and he was having some trouble with the marshmallow and chocolate spilling out the back. Cleo watched him, giggling the whole time.

I laughed a little bit myself; Lewis trying to eat from both sides of an oozing s'more was pretty funny. I leaned back a little bit, resting against Ash. We were both just sitting there, watching the fire. I was focusing on some of the rising embers, trying to form ice crystals from the moisture in the thin air around the red specks before they disappeared.

"So I have the results of the tests," Lewis announced.

Everyone looked immediately up at Lewis, and then burst into laughter. He had melted chocolate and blobs of marshmallow all around his mouth. He looked confused for a minute, and then realized what he must have looked like.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked Cleo.

"Uhm…" Cleo giggled. "Here, let me help." She focused on the water from her cup and controlled a small sphere up near Lewis's face, cleaning up all the signs of the s'mores he had eaten.

"Thanks," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Anyways: yes, I have the results of the test I just performed and it was similar to what I had originally expected."

"Well," Rikki interrupted, "can we read minds or not?"

"Not exactly," Lewis replied. "If you could actually read minds, you would be able to read each other's minds right now, but that obviously is not the case. No, what you're able to do is based on how sound travels through water.

"It's similar to the way that dolphins communicate: they emit a sequence of low frequency sounds that travel through the water. The sounds that you are emitting are at a much lower frequency than dolphins', though. So much lower, in fact, that they are only audible to, as far as I could find, mermaids. For you three, the sound is so low that you mentally recognize it within your mind and are yet still able to determine direction. All in all, it's an extremely impressive form of communication."

"I have a question," Cleo said. "If you said that we use the low frequency sound for communication, then why do I hear dolphins speaking at high frequencies?"

"Well, the two have different uses," Lewis answered. "The high frequency sounds are actually what dolphins use for their echolocation. The low frequency sounds are specifically used for communication, since they can travel long distances through water."

"How far do you think we can hear each other?" Rikki asked.

"I don't have a specific distance," Lewis answered, "but I bet you could hear each other for miles, easy."

"I wonder if that means we would be able to talk to you, Emma!" Cleo said. "That would be amazing!"

"That would be pretty incredible," I said. "But I don't think it could reach me in all of the places that I will be going to."

"Who cares?" Rikki asked. "I say we give it a shot!"

I had to smile at their enthusiasm. Who knows, maybe it would work.

My smile turned into a yawn, and I suddenly wondered what time it was. It felt like we hadn't been out here long, but then again I hadn't been paying much attention to the time. Lewis answered my question for me.

"Well, I should probably be getting you back home, Cleo," Lewis said. "I don't want to get on your father's bad side."

Cleo sighed. "Alright."

"Ya, I should probably take you home, too," Zane said to Rikki. "I know that misunderstanding between your father and me was cleared up, but I still think he wouldn't mind chewing me out for doing something wrong."

We all started to move around and clean things up. Cleo put out the fire while everyone else grabbed the trash and threw it in a nearby waste bin.

"Thank you for doing all of this, you guys," I said to everyone. "It really meant a lot, and it was so much fun."

"We're glad you liked it," Cleo smiled. "And who knows? You still have a week before you leave with your family, so we could definitely do all of this again."

"I'd like that," I replied. "And we should all meet at Mako one time. It's weird to think that I won't be seeing that island for an entire year."

I gave Cleo and Rikki a hug goodbye, waved to Lewis and Zane, and walked towards my bike with Ash.

"I almost forgot I rode my bike to the beach," I joked. "It seems like such a long time ago."

"Well don't think I'm going to let you ride back home all by yourself," Ash said. "We'll put it in my car."

"Thank you," I said. "But just to let you know, there isn't too much to worry about. Built-in freeze ray, remember?"

Ash smiled at that. "Still, I want to make sure you make it home safely."

I realized we had a little bit of a walk to go; we rode those horses down the beach much farther than I had originally thought.

"This really was fantastic," I said. "Before you texted me, I was just sitting in my room thinking about all of the things I was going to miss. Today really picked me up. I realized that even though I'll be missing out on a great year with my friends, I'm going to have a great year, myself."

"I'm glad," Ash said. "You should be focusing on how much fun you're going to have. Just don't have too much fun and end up realizing that there are other guys out there who are probably much more exciting than me."

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes. "It's not every day that I find someone I can trust. Don't count yourself out like that."

We kept on talking during our walk back. I told him how I was excited to go to Fiji and Hawaii, and France, too. I already had itineraries planned for the stops on our trip. Ash said he wanted a postcard from each place I went to, especially Yellowstone Park in America ("the wildlife there is going to be incredible") and Germany ("there are great cars in Germany").

Before I knew it, the walk to my bike was over. I unlocked it, and brought it over to Ash's truck in the nearby parking lot. He lifted it into the back, and then opened the door for me on the passenger side.

I twirled the locket around my neck while I waited for Ash to sit on the driver's side. While I did that, I felt my thumb catch on something on the backside. Confused, I flipped the necklace around, but it was too close to my face for me to see anything. I reached up behind my neck to unclasp it—

"Ready to go?" Ash asked.

I quickly rearranged my hands, making it look like I was simply fixing my hair and gave a quick nod.

I didn't live too far from the beach, so we were there much sooner than I would have liked. Ash helped me get the bike out of the back and I walked it over to the side of my house. When I came back around, we both walked up to my front door.

"Thank you again, Ash," I said. "I didn't realize how much I needed this."

"Anytime, Emma," Ash replied. He smiled, then bent down and kissed me.

Aww, how sweet. If someone did all of that for me, I know I would surely appreciate it. I wonder if Ash has ever used his horses to win girls over…haha. =)

Thank you guys for sticking with me so far! Every time I get a review my day gets that much better. Hopefully this made up for the long wait!