CHAPTER TWO

Emily finds herself traveling back to the same beach spot she tried to enjoy the previous night. Thankfully, when she peers to the rocks the blonde has heeded her advice to avoid them. No rescues for her this evening. "Perfect. Sunset, here I come."

"Are you sure you aren't the one who was knocked on the head?" A vaguely familiar voice calls from behind her and nearly sends her into a mild heart attack. "Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."

She clutches her chest and turns to see the victim from yesterday. Her blonde tresses are falling limply past her shoulders as a yellow tank top fits her form just right. She's oozing a self confidence that even dogs could sense and Emily's pretty sure she's hearing them howl in the distance.

"Are you going to invite me to join you or are you just going to stare?"

Emily shakes herself out of her thoughts and pats the spot next to her. "Sorry!" Smooth, Em. Real smooth. She gulps as Alison saunters closer, collapsing in the spot she just motioned to on the sand. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. My head still hurts, but not as badly as I expected." She turns her head instantly so Emily can get a better look and inspect.

Emily parts her hair just slightly to avoid provoking any additional pain and gives her own Dr. Fields assessment. "You lucked out. It doesn't look bad at all." Slightly bruised with just a tiny hint of dried blood, she notes.

Alison turns back abruptly as she's in the middle of examining the wound. Their faces come a little closer than anticipated and that's when she can fully take in her face. Not dyeing, drowning and coughing up water Alison. The fully alive short short wearing dry version. Geez, is her eye color even a real- she pulls back realizing she's being strange and focuses back on the horizon. "I'm hoping you aren't planning on going rock climbing again tonight."

"God, no! Never again. Strictly beachly from now on." Alison sighs, eyeing the water as well. "You know, I was thinking about it last night. You're kind of a mermaid."

"Mermaid?" Emily almost asks to examine that head wound again.

"You saved me. Like in The Little Mermaid. Ariel saves Eric from drowning?"

Emily turns to assess her, amusement written all over her face. "Did you really just compare your near death experience to a cartoon?"

Alison shrugs. "If you have a talking crab in your pocket, I wouldn't be surprised."

Emily can't help but laugh audibly and let's out a light snort in the process. And simultaneously she's wants to crawl back into herself.

Alison smiles knowingly, but spares her any teasing. "So, how's the sunset tonight?"

"Better than last night's. First one I've had the pleasure to enjoy since I've been here."

"They're not that bad. My parents, brother and I have almost always come down to Cape May for the summer. When my brother and I started getting older, we fought a lot. Like way more than normal siblings. I would always sneak out to catch the sunset and avoid them as much as possible." Alison looks down solemnly, clearly caught in her own memories, but Emily won't dare to probe. "There's always been something soothing about coming out here alone."

"I've always enjoyed that it's one of two times you get to see all these different colors fade into one another. It doesn't last very long, so you have to catch it while you can." Emily interjects and Alison stays silent. "It's like a beginning and an end to all the stress of the day. That weird in-between."

"So, how's it working out for you tonight?"

"Better than being at home."

"Trouble?"

"Sometimes." Emily keeps it as vague as Alison had, leaving the moment void of anything to weigh it down. "Plus, its always nice to look at something pretty."

They enjoy each other's company for the duration of the sunset, mostly bathed in silence. The occasional quip about how great the food at Annie's Crab Shack in town is or the weird smell that sometimes radiates off the boardwalks in the adjacent shore towns. The burnt oranges melt into the horizon and Emily's sure this might be the most relaxed she's felt all summer. She sneaks a glance at her phone and groans as she catches the time. "Sorry to cut this short, but I need to head back."

"Late for a hot date?" Alison jokes.

"Yeah, a date with a bunch of old ladies and some of my parents old friends." Emily sighs, standing to brush off the excess sand from her legs. She really doesn't want to endure that pain. "So, ya know, loads of fun."

Alison follows suit, mimicking Emily's movements. "I should probably get back, too."

"Well, it was good too see you again. Glad you're okay."

"Thanks again. You know, for the saving and everything."

"My pleasure. Bye, Alison." They begin to head in their opposite directions until Alison is re-enacting their same goodbye from the previous night.

"Emily, wait a second!" She jogs the short distance and smirks with her hand held out towards Emily. "Can I see your phone?"

Emily complies and ignores the way her stomach churns when Alison's fingers brush lightly over her own.

Alison punches something in quickly and hands it right back to her. "I sent myself a text, so now we have each other's numbers. Have fun with the old ladies! Make sure you get some money out of 'em." She winks and Emily just shakes her head in amusement.

Emily stretches her legs across her grandma's old leather couch the next morning. Her parent's have gone out for the day, leaving her to spend some quality time with the original Mrs. Fields. She doesn't mind, but according to her grandmother, quality time meant a steady flow of The Price is Right and her heckling the ladies of The View.

Her phone beeps, breaking her out of the draining lull and alerting her of a new text message. Alison is scrawled across as the sender.

ALISON: Good morning! How were the old broads?

Emily smiles, fingers typing faster than thought. She thanks the gods of Cape May she found someone her own age to occupy some of her time.

EMILY: Riveting. Lots of cheek pinching and embarrassing baby stories.

ALISON: Meet at our spot tonight?

EMILY: Sunset?

ALISON: Duh. See you then, Ariel!

Emily feels a flutter of excitement in her gut as she scrawls another reply.

EMILY: With bells on, Flounder.

ALISON: DORK :-p

"What lucky lady has you smiling like that?"

Emily jumps a little, completely caught off guard that she had some how gotten her grandmother's attention. And wait- did she just say lucky lady?

Her grandma seems to sense her internal monologue and rolls her eyes. "Oh Emily, calm down! Your father told me." She stretches a consoling hand to Emily's leg and pats it lovingly. "I don't care who you love as long as you're happy. Your mom will come around."

Emily's emotions bubble up instantly. All she can feel is the overwhelming feeling to bawl her eyes out, but reels it in to settle for glassy eyes. She wipes a few stray tears that fall naturally and ticks another coming out speech off the list. She can't help but stand and envelope her grandma in the biggest hug imaginable. An over exaggerated ommph radiates from Mrs. Fields and Emily just laughs. "I love you, grams."

"I love you too, Emmy." Mrs. Fields hugs her back, but then playfully pushes her off. "Alright, too much sappiness. Let a woman breathe. So, you didn't answer my question. Who get's to make you smile like that?"

Emily shakes her head, trying to play it off as nothing. "It's not like that. She's just a new friend I met on the beach the other night."

Grandma Fields just gives her a knowing look. "I might be old and cynical, but I do like my romance. She pretty?"

"Oh my god!" Emily moves to march out of the room, grabbing both of their empty mugs from the coffee table. "You want another one?"

The elder woman relents, knowing her granddaughter will tell her all about it when she's ready. "Of course, Emmy. Just put a little whiskey in it this time."

Emily doesn't think she loves her grandmother more than this moment.

Emily makes her way to the usual spot that evening. She catches blonde wisps of hair dance in the light wind as she approaches, small bag at her side. "Hey."

Alison whips around at the sound. A smile takes over her face as the brunette comes into focus. "Hay is for horses."

Emily raises her brows. "And you were calling me a dork?"

"How very dare you!" Alison feigns offense like a southern debutante clutching her precious pearls. She sits and picks the bag up from her side. "I brought you a present."

She pulls out a bag of Reese's Pieces and instructs Emily to open up her hands. "It's no diamond ring, but everyone loves chocolate and peanut butter. Right?"

"Of course." Emily replies. Alison let's a bunch spill out onto her hands and makes sure to take a handful for herself, letting the bag fall to the space between them. "Thanks."

"So Emily, how many boy's hearts did you break when you told them you were moving?"

Emily nearly chokes on the candy, but is able to recover and save herself the embarrassment. "That'd be a big fat zero."

Alison's looking at her like she's lying and sends some severe disbelieving side eye her way. "Bullshit. Boy's down south must be moronic if they're not graveling at your feet. You're gorgeous."

Emily bows her head in an attempt to hide the blush that's beginning to creep up her neck. "Well, we've moved around a lot and it's not like I'm all that interested."

Alison finds her coyness almost as endearing as her babble from their first night. "You're better off. Nothing but trouble."

"What about you? I'm sure you're not exactly having any trouble reeling them in like fish."

Alison laughs and Emily's attention is far more focused on the girl to her right than the reason they've even come here for. She's quite sure that reason's changed now. "Always with the fish comparisons?"

"I like to keep it consistent." She nudges her shoulder against the blondes to egg her on. "Now answer the question."

"Reeling them in? Easy. Actually wanting to be around them?" She just shrugs, smile fading a bit.

Emily studies her expression for a second and decides to keep the banter light. "Well forget them and everybody else. Its just us, the sun and some Reese's. That's all we need. At least for right now, anyway."

Alison looks fixedly at her and almost unnervingly before she removes the bag of chocolate from in between them. She scoots a bit closer and let's out a large breath as she places her head on Emily's shoulder. "It's more than enough."

Emily smiles contentedly and stares ahead. She's already counting down the hours until tomorrow.