The Beach

When Sawyer, Alex and Jack returned back to the beach house, everyone except for Jake was sitting in the front room. Even worse, they all were wearing sympathetic smiles on their faces, as though they knew.

“Jake came home without you. He went upstairs.” Jayce said. Sawyer shrugged, because she could care less at the moment. She was so infuriated with that man that she couldn’t care if he came back or not. He was no longer a priority. Not after this evening.

“Good for him.” She said stiffly.

“I take it since you came home with two boys that you didn’t leave with and your fiancée came home alone before that, dinner didn’t exactly go very well.” Austin stated. Sawyer rolled her eyes but nodded.

“He pissed me off, so I left. And I’m not sleeping in that room with him tonight.” Sawyer stated, and the room of friends unanimously raised their eyebrows in confusion and intrigued at the way Sawyer’s words ran sharply off of her tongue full of anger and venom.

“I’m sure this is a conversation for another night, where you might be a little more calmed down. Maybe a girl’s breakfast in the morning?” Jayce suggested, and Sawyer smiled just slightly, enough to be visible, and nodded.

“If you will all excuse me, I need to retrieve clothes to sleep in and make sure my idiot of a fiancée understands I have no intention of sleeping in that room tonight.” Sawyer stated before vacating the living area and heading upstairs towards the master bedroom that she normally slept in. When she got to the room, she didn’t even bother to knock or announce her presence, but simply walked in, ignoring Jake who was standing near the window, looking out. He turned at the sound of the door, his eyes locking on Sawyer’s and following her as she moved through the room.

She moved without ever looking at him, and his eyebrows furrowed as he watched her disappear into the closet, only to come back out a minute later without a dress but in pajama shorts and a tank top. He watched her set her jewelry down on the vanity, placing her bracelet, necklace and earrings in the box haphazardly. He watched as she got ready for bed in silence, ignoring that he was even there.

“Are you even going to speak to me at all tonight?” He broke the silence, and her eyes locked on him, narrowing in the process.

“I don’t even plan on sleeping next to you, let alone speaking to you.” She bit back, her anger returning at his voice. How dare he even speak to her at the moment. She was far too annoyed with him, mad at him, to even go down this road.

And she knew that she was being more than hypocritical. If she had insinuated anything between her and Alex, than she would have had to lie, and nothing that she would be saying would be truthful. And saying that he was supposed to trust her was one big joke. She didn’t deserve his trust, and she knew that, but at the moment, she really couldn’t care. He didn’t know that. He didn’t know any of this and as long as he didn’t, she could continue to be mad at him. He didn’t know therefore he couldn’t be upset that she was being hypocritical, meaning she could be as angry as she damn well pleased.

“You’re seriously not going to sleep in here?” Jake asked, completely floored.

“I believe that is exactly what I just said. And I’m pretty sure I also stated that while I was at what was supposed to be our dinner date.” She stated, arms crossed over her chest, letting him know she was beyond infuriated.

“I can’t believe you’re gonna go sleep in the same bed as him” Jake’s anger was getting the best of him, and his voice was rising just enough to tell Sawyer that he was well on his way to being thoroughly angered.

“Good thing Jack told me not to sleep in his room then, huh?” And that remark left Jake completely baffled, because he was so sure that Jack would certainly seize that opportunity. “Good. You are paying attention. Because Jack is such a good guy, he won’t let me sleep in his room since you have gotten it into your head that I’m sleeping with him. He doesn’t want to make anything worse. So I’m staying in Alex’s room tonight because Jack doesn’t want to piss you off for something we both know wouldn’t happen.” Sawyer said.

“And why can’t you sleep with Austin or Jayce?” Jake asked, and Sawyer rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her fiancée.

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe because they’re sharing rooms with their boyfriends? And unlike my idiot of a fiancée, I don’t plan on ruining someone else’s night. So Alex has agreed to let me share his room so I don’t have to sleep on the couch in my own god damn beach house. And frankly, if you don’t like it, I could care less at the moment, because your opinion isn’t worth a whole lot to me right now.” Sawyer said, before turning on her heels and leaving the room, deciding that she had had enough of that conversation.

However, Jake seemed to think that the conversation still had to continue, and followed Sawyer out the door and downstairs, where she was heading to the living area to join everyone else.

“I’m not done having this conversation.” Jake said as he followed Sawyer, who flicked her hand up in response, waving him off.

“I’m far past done with this conversation though.” She said as she entered the living room, where everyone else was seated and watching the same movie that they had been watching when Sawyer had originally come home from dinner. Everyone else looked up to see Sawyer coming into the room, Jake closely on her heels and both looking far from happy.

“I won’t let you just go sleep in some random guy’s bed” Jake said, drawing all attention to himself and Sawyer, and quickly making the room undeniably uncomfortable.

“Funny, he’s not random to me, so I guess it’s ok then.” Sawyer snapped back.

“You’re my fiancée and you shouldn’t be sharing a bed with any other man but me.” Jake yelled, and the room went completely silent. Sure it was silent before this, but now it was a mean silence, one of anger and tension and pure hate.

“You might want to take back that sentence before I make you take back this ring so you never have the right to say something like that again.” Sawyer said calmly but fiercely. Jake’s eyes widened ever so slightly, just enough for her to know he understood what she was saying. “Oh good. You are smart enough to understand that I will have no problem handing back this ring right now. Don’t you ever dare try to tell me what I can and cannot do again. YOU are the asshole that started this whole fight, and if you really don’t want me to share a bed with someone else, then leave my beach house so I can have my bed back. Otherwise, deal with it. You fucked up, and you don’t get to be mad at me, when I’m mad at you. It doesn’t work that way Jake. Now either get your ass back on a flight to California now, or shut up and let me sleep through this tonight and we can talk tomorrow.”

Jake shook his head at Sawyer, indicating he was still beyond pissed, but turned around and headed upstairs. Until his footsteps had faded away, everyone in the room remained silent, unsure of whether they should speak or not.

“So does this mean he’s staying or leaving?” Jack asked, which earned him a smack to the head from both Zack and Rian whom he had gravitated towards them while Sawyer and Jake were fighting.

“Honestly, I don’t know, and I’m far too pissed at him to care at the moment.” Sawyer said with a shrug before running her right hand through her blond strands, catching a couple of tangles as she did so.

“Well. Why don’t you sit and relax and we can see what happens.” Jayce said, and Sawyer nodded, moving towards Jayce on the couch, sitting down in front of her and resting her head against Jayce’s knees and legs.

“Well. How about the Ravens this season?” Rian throughout, and Sawyer let out a laugh.

“The season hasn’t stated yet you idiot.” Sawyer said, her laughter infecting everyone else in the room slowly until everyone was letting out laughs of their own, trying to calm down from the hysterical awkwardness that Rian had created in the room.

After Rian’s comment, the room settled back into calmness as they settled back into watching television. It was silent for over an hour before Sawyer realized that she had fallen asleep and that Alex was carrying her back up the stairs towards his current room. She didn’t know if Jake had left or stayed, but at the moment, the only thing that seemed worthwhile to note was that Alex was carrying her, and her head was placed comfortably on his chest, his scent overflowing through her nose.

“Mmm.” She said, moving to cuddle as close to Alex as she could, because she wanted nothing more than to enjoy this moment she hadn’t had much of a chance to have over the last few days with Jake’s presence.

“Almost to bed, sleepyhead.” Alex murmured to her, and she sighed softly, enjoying the warmth that emanated from his body and enveloping her.

Alex walked her into his current room, knowing Jake hadn’t actually left the beach house. He set Sawyer down in the bed, watching a small pout form on her face when the contact with Alex had disappeared. He smiled, stripping off her shirt and pants before climbing into the bed next to Sawyer, pulling the covers over both of them before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close to his own body. She turned so that they were chest to chest, moving her face to be in the crook of Alex’s neck.

Alex chuckled lowly, kissing the side of Sawyer’s face.

“I love sleeping next to you” Sawyer’s voice came out mumbled and half asleep, but Alex smiled regardless, enjoying having Sawyer in his arms, in his bed with him again. Once he got so used to sleeping with her over the summer, it took him a while to readjust to sleeping alone once he left Virginia. He just felt so comfortable next to her, that with her gone, it was too hard for him to sleep.

“I love sleeping next to you as well. I miss it.” Alex whispered back, and Sawyer laughed a little.

“You couldn’t have missed it too much. I was here last night.” She remarked sleepily, not even opening her eyes. Alex just smiled, kissing her forehead once more before closing his eyes and going to sleep.