I walked into the record store and spotted Alex sitting behind the counter reading a magazine. The store was completely empty and she looked fairly bored. She looked up and spotted me. She waved me over as she put her magazine away.
"Wow, you look busy." I said teasingly. "I could always come back later."
"Funny. I take it you took your smartass pill this morning?" she replied sarcastically.
"Actually, I took two." I continued.
"Lucky me," she added. "What are you doing here? I figured you'd be attached to Jay's hip, I mean Craig's."
I rolled my eyes at her sly smirk, "I thought we could grab lunch. You know catch up. Since you've moved in with Brie we hardly see you anymore."
"I haven't moved in but lunch sounds great." Alex said, hopping down off her stool and heading around the counter, "Let's go."
She hung up the 'Be Back Soon' sign and locked up the store before we headed around the corner to a little burger stand. We ordered and sat down at one of the outside tables.
"So tell me all about the fun I'm missing." she said, taking a bite of her burger.
"I wish I could but I'm sure you're having more fun then I am. You and Brie together?" I asked, changing the subject.
She shrugged before changing the subject back to the house, "I figured you'd be ecstatic to see Craig."
It was my turn to shrug, "I thought I'd be too, but with Manny and Emma…"
"And Jay," she added as I trailed off.
"And Jay," I replied, giving in. "Call me crazy but he's not so bad."
"You're not crazy. Granted he can be a complete jerk when he wants to be but he can be not so bad too." she offered. "Just…I don't know. Be careful I guess."
"Right. Once a cheater…."
She cut me off before I could finish, "You know, I wasn't exactly blameless. Things were going downhill between us anyway. It's not an excuse. It just is."
"So I should give him a chance?" I asked a little apprehensively.
"I'm saying you should give YOURSELF a chance." she replied. "Now, if we're done with the mushy love crap, there's a 'Crash the Beach' party tonight. Its a few blocks from the house. You know, kind of a big bonfire and campout on the beach. Brie said she could dig up some extra sleeping bags if you guys wanted to go."
"Sounds like fun. I'll check with Jay and the others." I said as I finished up my French fries.
"Yeah, just let me know." she added.
Brie and Alex dropped off two tents and five sleeping bags later on that afternoon. Everyone had agreed it would be fun to camp out under the stars while listening to the ocean crash against the rocks. Okay, Jay and Craig had thought it would be cool to get drunk on the beach and meet some new people, but basically everyone had agreed to go.
The party was mostly the locals. It wasn't an overly huge crowd. I was mid conversation with a couple of people I'd met on the beach during volleyball games or jet skiing adventures when Jay came up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered in my ear, "I need your help."
I turned around and looked at him like he'd gone completely crazy while fighting the tingles that were rushing through my body. He looked at something over my shoulder then kissed me. It wasn't a little peck on the check or a friendly kiss. it was full on makeout kiss and COMPLETELY threw me off guard. When he finally pulled away, I wasn't just speechless. I was breathless.
"You're a life saver, Red." he started. "Some chick has been following me around all night and it's starting to freak me out."
"Anytime," I replied, taking in a deep breath of the cool ocean air as I tried to clear my head.
I must have shivered because Jay suddenly asked, "Are you cold?"
I wasn't really but because I still wasn't able to think completely clearly I shook my head yes. Jay slipped off his hoodie and held it out to me. I accepted just so I didn't have to explain and slipped it on. It was warm and smelled like Jay, making my head fog up again.
"I think I'm going to go for a walk." I said, finally finding my voice. I walked away before he could say anything else.
I was sitting a short distance away huddled deep into Jay's sweatshirt when Emma sat down next to me. "Hey Ellie," she said in a tiny voice.
"Hey," I replied, keeping my eyes on the waves crashing into the shore in front of us.
"I know it's none of my business, but is there something going on between you and Jay?" she asked, hugging her knees as if she expected me to explode on her.
I could feel a tiny bit of anger building up inside of me but I fought it off replying, "You're right. It's none of your business."
She sat quietly a minute before she continued, "It's just...I know what it's like to miss Sean. I know what it's like to use Jay to feel close to him. I don't want to see you get hurt, Ellie."
The anger was getting harder to fight as I replied, "Since when? You didn't seem to care about my feelings when I was with Sean, every time you'd come around batting your eyelashes! You didn't seem too concerned about my feelings when you decided he needed to face his past, when you didn't try to stop him from staying behind!"
"Ellie…" Emma started.
I cut her off, "Don't, okay? I know he had to stay behind, I know it's what was the best for him. It doesn't mean I have to like it. And as far as Jay is concerned, he's NOT Sean, I know that. Did you ever stop to think that maybe that's exactly why I like him?"
I stood up and headed back to the party fuming in anger. Who the hell was Emma Nelson to stick her nose in my business? If I wanted to fall for Jay, who was she to warn me away?
"Hey," Jay said, catching my arm as I was about to storm right by him. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," I said a little more forcefully then I'd meant to as I jerked my arm out of his hand.
"What the hell did I do now?" he asked, throwing up his hands before heading off down the beach away from me.
"Crap," I muttered before rushing to catch up to him. When I had I quickly apologized, "Sorry, I didn't mean that back there. It's just…I'm so tired of people trying to tell me what's best for me when they have absolutely no idea and Miss High and Mighty Nelson has no idea."
I heard him snort a little like he knew exactly what I was talking about but he didn't speak. He sat down in the sand looking out into the ocean before sighing. He finally looked up at me and asked, "What do you want from me, Ellie?"
I was a little taken aback by the question. I sat down next to him close enough to feel the warmth from his body. I hugged my knees close kind of the way Emma had earlier.
"I don't know." I answered honestly. "All I know is that I like being around you, spending time with you. I don't know where this is going to lead but I think it could be a good place, you know? For both of us."
"I hope you're right." he added, his voice below normal.
I wrapped my arms around his and laid my head on his shoulder. We sat there for what felt like hours just watching the ocean roll. I could hear the party in the background but had tuned it out in favor of the waves and the sound of Jay's breathing. If you'd have asked me I would have said we'd already found a better place.
The breeze began to pick up causing a chill to settle over the beach. Everyone at the party was huddled around the bonfire in an attempt to stay warm. I closed my eyes as Jay moved beside me. I wasn't ready to head back but I knew we were about to.
"We should go," he said. "We'll never find that better place if we freeze to death."
I smiled despite the fact I really didn't want to as he stood up and held his hand out to help me up. I accepted, letting him pull me up off the cool sand before he wrapped his arm around my and led me back to the party.
I ignored the concerned glare Craig shot my way when Jay and I rejoined the group. Jay had wrapped his arms around me to warm me up and by the look on Craig's face he wasn't too happy about it. I could feel Manny and Emma's eyes on me as well, one in confusion and one in concern. I ignored them too as I snuggled into Jay's arms.
I woke up the next morning with a smile as I snuggled closer to Jay in the tent. It had been purely platonic. We'd both be too exhausted to do anything more than sleep, but it had felt natural lying next to Jay with his arms around me. I wasn't sure how'd I'd ever slept without him but I knew I never wanted to sleep without him again.
"Rise and shine!" Alex called out as she unzipped the tent, letting the bright sun shine right in our faces.
Jay growled as he rolled over and covered his head with the sleeping bag. It made me laugh as I made my way out of the tent, zipping it back up so the sun wasn't blinding him. I stretched, taking in a deep breath of the brand new morning air.
"Okay, without the gory details...what happened?" Alex asked as we started to walk off down the beach.
"There are no gory details because nothing happened." I replied honestly.
"Right, that kiss was just a figment of my imagination." she added sarcastically.
"You saw that?" I asked. I could feel my cheeks blush at the memory.
"The whole beach saw that." she teased.
"I wish I could tell you it was the start of everything I've wanted since our second week here but he was trying to get rid of some stalker chick that had been following him around all night." I explained with a little laugh. "Not exactly a dream come true."
"Did you see this stalker chick?" she asked, arching her eyebrows inquisitively.
"No, but…" I started.
"But nothing. Besides, who cares? If you like him, go for it. You've already got his ex-girlfriend's approval." she continued.
I smiled and rolled my eyes, "I guess we should get back and help get the beach cleaned up."
We headed back to the party where Jay had finally crawled out of the tent. He smiled and said, "Morning," before pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head.
"Good morning," I replied, hugging him back.
"A little help?" Alex called to us as she started taking down one of the tents. We both laughed as we went to help her.
