Turning on the sink, he splashed his face tiredly with cold water. His break up with Elizabeth had certainly taken its toll on him. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. He removed his clothes throwing them into a messy heap on the smooth tiled floor. He turned on the shower full blast allowing it to run for a while before he climbed in.

The hot scalding water soothed his skin, as he stood almost paralyzed. He stood as the water pelted down on him just thinking. I should have told her sooner. The familiar feeling of remorse took over his body again as he realized that he had been such a fool. He hadn’t told Elizabeth just how important she was to him. Why not? Was it fear or insecurity? Maybe a combination of both. Whatever it was, he hadn’t told her and inevitably he had lost her.

Suddenly a new face entered AJ’s thoughts. Mya. Just one word from her lips had left him eager to hear more. Just one look into her eyes and AJ had found himself aching to help her, to make her happy again, make her smile. AJ shook his head attempting to dismiss all thoughts of her. What is it about her?

AJ and Mya had spent the better portion of the day just roaming the beach listening to each other talk. Just being with her was an exhilarating experience in itself. Listening to her views, thoughts and opinions somehow seemed to make the world seem less complicated. With a sigh, AJ finally dismissed all thoughts of her. He didn’t even have her phone number or know where she lived.

You’ll never see her again, his mind told him as he turned off the water. As he dried himself off with his towel he couldn’t help but hope that he was wrong. After all, he had been wrong about seeing her again once before.

Jessica sat across from Lila and Elizabeth cupping her mug of coffee gently. Nick had got up to take a shower and Jessica had made her way downstairs hoping to find the girls. She could barely even remember the last time they had sat down and talked – just the three of them. She had so much to share with them. She smiled contentedly to herself as she thought about Nick. She knew that she was putting her heart on the line; hopelessly inviting heartbreak. This time, she knew her heart wouldn’t be broken though. Nick would never do that to her. To Jessica it didn’t even seem strange that her feelings for Nick had developed so quickly. All she knew was that being with Nick felt so right to her.

Looking up, she realized that Lila and Elizabeth had been staring at her for some time now. Jessica watched as Lila quickly dabbed at her moist eyes with a tissue. “What’s wrong?” she asked with concern.

“Nothing Jess. I’m just so happy to see you like this. It’s been a long time," Lila said with a smile.

“We missed you,” Elizabeth added.

With a small smile she replied softly, “I missed me too.” Being happy was still something Jessica had to get accustomed to. Although she was happy, she could still feel Justin lurking in her thoughts. No matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to shake the feeling that Justin was still there haunting her, hurting her and watching her. It was a horrible feeling that not even Nick could help her shake.

At the girls beach house Lila and Elizabeth sat across from each other eating lunch. After Jessica and Nick had left for the beach, Brian had driven them home promising to call later to make plans.

Out of habit, Lila glanced at her watch. It was almost 12:00. Although she hadn’t been consuming the pills anymore she had been making a conscious effort to make it seem like she was. No one could ever find out. They wouldn’t understand.

Excusing herself, she made her way up the stairs. She avoided the hallway mirror fearing that the girl in the mirror’s reflection wasn’t her. It was something she couldn’t and certainly didn’t want to see.

She made her way quickly to her room flinging herself down onto the bed. She buried her face in the soft pillows attempting to cease the gnawing ache in her stomach. The pain stemmed from guilt. She felt so horrible for doing all of this. With each progressing day she was betraying Brian more and more.

What could she do though? She felt trapped – cornered even. Every aspect of her life depended on him. Every ounce of her being, fibre of her body told her that this was what she had to do. It was certain that someone would end up getting hurt. She didn’t care though, as long as it wasn’t Brian and as long as they were together.

Her phone rang just then. The shrill ring cut into her thoughts. She took a deep breath to regain her composure before answering it.

“Hello?” she said shakily.

“Hey baby. Decided what you want to do tonight?” Brian asked oblivious to the tremor in Lila’s voice.

Lila didn’t really feel like going out anywhere. She felt like just being alone with Brian. She would be perfectly content lying in his arms all night. “Can we just be alone together tonight? Just you and me?” she asked voicing her desires.

“You read my mind. I’ll tell Nick and AJ to make themselves scarce so we can have the place to ourselves.”

As Brian droned on Lila bit her lip forcing herself to remain composed. Every so often Brian would pause and Lila would mumble a word or two prompting him to continue speaking. Brian finally finished and they ended their conversation chorusing “I love you” as they always did.

As Lila hung up the phone her tears began to stream freely down her face. All the pieces were falling into place. Now she just had to fit them together. Tonight was the night. Her chance to put her plan into action.

Just thinking about it made her sick. How was she going to go through with it? This is for us, she repeated for the millionth time trying to make her plan somehow seem less deceitful and more acceptable. Unfortunately though, it just didn’t seem to be working.

Nick and Jessica walked hand in hand down the beach. It was such a simple thing – holding hands, but to them it was a new and exhilarating experience. They walked in silence for a while, Jessica gripping Nick’s hand tightly.

Nick knew exactly what Jessica was trying to do. She was trying to forget. Trying to make the pain go away. Nick desperately hoped it would work. He would do anything and everything in his power to help her. He wanted to see the old Jessica again. The one he knew and remembered from high school.

As they walked, Nick watched Jessica as her eyes roamed the beach. She seemed to be doing all right. Appearances could often be deceiving though. He knew that better than anyone one else. Jessica was a prime example of the proverb. On the surface, all appeared well, but when he looked into her eyes he could tell that it was anything but.

As they walked along the shore just listening to the crashing of the waves, he could feel Jessica’s hand trembling slightly. Her eyes were masked with pain as they wondered the sand. He hated seeing her like this. He hated feeling so helpless. Not being able to help her was tearing him apart.

Nick had an idea. A way to take Jessica’s mind off Justin at least for a minute. Using his foot, he splashed Jessica lightly with water. He did it again repeatedly until Jessica began splashing him back.

“Nickolas Carter! Stop it!” she shrieked.

Nick smiled back at her, a bemused expression upon his face. “What?” she demanded.

“Nothing. You called me Nickolas.”

“And…”

“Well as far back as I can remember anytime anyone ever called me Nickolas I was always in trouble. It just brought back memories.”

Jessica smiled back at Nick squeezing his hand tightly. Just seeing her smile, he knew that he had succeeded. It had been worth it too. Seeing her smile was priceless. They continued down the empty beach so enraptured in each other that they failed to notice that they were being watched. He had been following them stealthy for a while now. Watching their every move, gesture and gaze.

[Next Chapter].[Table of Contents].