Chapter 2 - The Beach

Lara's POV

I heard two people walking in the hallway, one of which was Roth. I could recognize his footsteps from miles away, just like I can recognize Sam's. Roth's footsteps were always relatively loud, even when he's trying to walk quietly. Sam's were short and gentle.

"Hush! Yer gonna wake Lara." I heard Roth whisper.

"Okay." I heard a woman say quietly.

A door opened and closed again. I took my phone from the bedside table and turned on the screen to check the time.

4:53 am

I got out of my bed and went to check on Roth. I opened the door slowly and saw Roth with his arms wrapped around a black woman's waist.

"Lara!" He said slightly startled.

"Morning Roth." I chuckled awkwardly.

Roth released the woman and said: "Lara, this is Reyes. Reyes, this is Lara."

Hey Lara, I've heard a lot about you." Reyes said walking towards me to shake my hand.

I nodded and shook her hand.

"Lara, could you wake Sam and Alex? Jonah's making breakfast." Roth asked me.

"Sure." I said and left the room.

Okay that was awkward... I never saw Roth with women, I thought he wasn't really dating anymore.. Oh well.

I opened Alex's door and walked inside. He was still sleeping. I walked over to him and shook his shoulder lightly.

Alex's POV

"Who what?" I woke up mumbling.

I looked around me and saw Lara standing there looking at me. She was wearing an oversized white short sleeve t-shirt and grey gym shorts with a pink outline.

Jesus… She looks beautiful as ever. She has this gorgeous morning look with slightly shaggy 'ponytail-less' hair and sleepy eyes. Even without make-up she's stunning.

"Good morning Alex." She smiled widening her eyes slightly.

"Morning Lara." I smiled back gazing into her brown eyes, glistening by the rising sun, shining through the tiny circular window.

"What time is it?" I asked her snapping out of my day dream.

"Almost five. Jonah's making breakfast, so if you're ready you can head to the kitchen." She told me.

I nodded and got out of bed. I rubbed my eyes and took my glasses from the bedside table. I put them on and took some clothes out of my wardrobe. I put on a grey short sleeve t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I left my room and walked towards the kitchen. When I passed Lara's room I took a peek inside and saw Lara taking of her shirt with her back facing me. I couldn't help but stare for a second with my jaws dropped to the floor.

The way her hair moves when she pulled her shirt over her head. The shape of her body. Everything is so perfect... Okay Alex, that's enough. Just keep on walking you pervert.

I opened the door to the kitchen and saw a blonde man talking with Roth. I didn't bother introducing myself and took place. Lara walked in a minute later. She had changed her clothes and was wearing a white loose shirt and denim jeans.

"Dr. James Whitman?" Lara said surprised.

"Yes that is me." He responded.

"You know this guy?" I asked Lara.

"I'm a huge fan of your show!" Lara told him, completely ignoring my question.

"Too bad it was discontinued." Lara added with a sad tone.

"Yes, that was not what I hoped for, but everything eventually comes to an end." Whitman responded.

"Oh by the way, I'm Lara, Lara Croft." She said holding out her hand.

"Lara Croft? As in Richard Croft's daughter?" He said surprised shaking her hand.

"Yours truly." Lara smiled and released his hand.

"It's an honor meeting you, miss Croft." He said.

"Please, just Lara." She responded with a smile.

"Lara it is." He said smiling back.

"So Conrad Roth, when are we leaving San Francisco?" Whitman asked.

"Well, since we're all here, we could leave any minute now." Roth answered.

"No time like the present." I said.

"Yeah, now's a good time." Lara added.

Roth nodded and headed to the control room. Lara and Whitman sat down and talked some more about things that didn't interest me a single bit.

I can't stand Whitman. He thinks so highly of himself, it makes me want to puke. And the worst part is that Lara's drooling all over his 'amazing' stories and adventures. Why can't I have a good conversation with her once...

I stood there staring in front of me when I decided to go for one last walk before we leave.

"Alex, where are you going?" Lara asked me.

"Outside." I answered. "You- you want to come with?" I stammered nervously.

"Err… Yeah, why not." She stood up and followed me out of the room.

We we're walking through the hallway towards the exit when she asked: "So.. Where we going?"

"Nowhere in particular. I just want to see the place for one last time before we leave." I answered.

She nodded as she took her scrunchie from her wrist and put her hair in a ponytail. I followed Lara outside and walked along the coast with her. She was gazing at the beautiful view. The sunrise was beautiful, but my eyes caught sight of something far more beautiful than that. She looked gorgeous with the sun lighting up her skin.

We descended the stairs to the beach and went towards the sea. Lara slowly walked step by step into the water. I stood there and watched her make her way into the water. She stopped when she was knee-deep.

"Alex, come over here!" She said.

"Isn't it cold?" I asked her.

"A little." She answered splashing around.

"I'll pass!" I yelled as she made her way further into the water.

"Come on Alex!" She said disappointed.

"I can't stand the cold!" I protested.

She sighed and walked over to me.

She took my hand and lead me to the water. My heart was beating like crazy when I felt her hand holding mine. Her hand felt soft and smooth. She almost dragged me into the water and before I realised it we were waist deep in the water. She was laughing and I couldn't help but smile at her.

"See? It's not that bad." She smiled tilting her head sideways.

"What are you talking about? It's cold as fuck." I chuckled.

She then used her hands to splash water over me.

"Son of a..." I yelled clenching my teeth.

I could barely see through my soaked glasses. Lara laughed and backed away, knowing that I would strike back.

I chased after her and tried to splash her. She made her way through the water as fast as possible.

"No please, sorry! I won't do it again, promise!" She laughed covering her face when I caught up to her.

I grinned and splashed water onto her, soaking her body completely. She squeaked and stood still for a while.

She looked amazing. Her hair was soaked which looked surprisingly good and her skin was glistening in the sunlight. I gazed at her for a second and then burst into laughter.

"You should've seen your face!" I chuckled.

"You should've seen yours." She grinned shaking her hair.

Shit, was I staring that obvious? Or did she mean the moment I got soaked? Damn it, I wish I could read her mind.

"Lets call it even?" She said holding her dripping hand out.

"We're square." I responded and shook her hand.

We made our way back to shore and headed back to the Endurance.

"About time you two came back." Roth said when we walked into the kitchen.

"And why are you both completely soaked with water?" He questioned us.

"Well… Lara wanted to go to the beach and… Yeah." I told him.

He shook his head and told us to change our clothes. We both went to our rooms and changed.

Lara's POV

"So Alex huh?" Sam smiled when I entered our bedroom.

"What?" I said slightly confused.

"Oh come on. You know what I'm talking about, sweetie." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't." I responded, still confused.

"You like him, don't you?" She grinned.

"What, no!" I almost yelled.

"You went to the beach with him. Alone. And you come back all wet. Did you two…" She smirked.

"Whatever you're thinking, I don't want to know it." I said seriously.

"You totally had sex with him on the beach!" She exclaimed.

"Oh my god… Sam, of course not! We're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less." I almost yelled.

"Calm down. I was just kidding." She chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, took some fresh clothes and a towel out of my closet.

I hate these kind of conversations with Sam. For some reason I always get heated when I talk about boys with Sam. It makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

I came back to the kitchen and took place by the table.

"Got everything you need, Lara?" Roth asked me.

"Yep." I answered drying my hair with a towel.

"Okay. We'll be leaving in a few minutes." He said and left the room.

I took my earphones out of my pocket, put them in and shuffled my music library.

"It's been a long day without you my friend

And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

We've come a long way from where we began

Oh I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

When I see you again"

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was storming outside. I looked out of the tiny window. I couldn't see a thing until a lightning bolt struck in the distance lighting everything up for a second. I saw huge waves emerging from a distance.

"Shit…" I hissed.

Then suddenly the whole ship started shaking heavily. I got thrown out of my bed onto the wall.

"What the fuck? Lara, what's happening?" Sam yelled.

"There's a storm, we need to get out of here!" I yelled back and made my way to the door. I opened the door and held it open for Sam to get out. She was making her way outside when I saw a huge wave of water approaching us at the end of the hallway.

"Shit, we need to go!" I shouted and lead the way out of the hallway, but I was too late. The water caught up to us and I went under. I couldn't see what was happening. Everything was spinning when I saw a ladder. I reached out to grab it. I managed to grasp onto it and at the same time caught Sam's hand with my other hand. We climbed the ladder up to the hatch. It pushed as hard as I could, but it wouldn't butch.

"Fuck! Lara, what do we do? The water is rising quickly." Sam panicked.

"Lets push together." I suggested.

She nodded and we both counted to three.

"Push!" We yelled.

The water went from knee height to shoulder height in a matter of seconds. We were going to drown if no one helped us out. I pounded the hatch with my fist, trying to break the glass, but it was too thick.

The water reached our cheeks. We could barely keep our heads above water.

"I don't wanna die Lara!" Sam cried.

"We're not going to die, we're gonna be alright." I comforted. "We'll make it." I reassured her.

I started pounding the hatch with my fist again, but it was useless. The water was getting too high and I went under. Sam managed to pull me back up. I gasped for breath and desperately smashed the hatch with all my strength. Sam did so too. Even together it wouldn't break, it was a hopeless situation. We were going to die here.

The water reached above our heads rendering us unable to catch a breath. I started losing oxygen and my vision began to fade. I couldn't hold my breath anymore and I began to drown. Everything went black.

~ End of chapter ~