The Beach

Sawyer had been awake for what seemed like hours, but she didn’t even care. She knew it was early, because the sun had barely started to rise when she woke up, but at the moment, the early hours of the day didn’t matter. She was too content to let the fact that she should still be sleeping bother her. Well, if she was being truthful, it had when she had first opened her eyes and realized that she should still be peacefully sleeping away, not catching the rays of sun filter through the window and start to hit the walls of the room. But none of that mattered right now. Truth be told, Sawyer was too mesmerized by the moment to be angry about being awake.

She was angry for the first few moments when her eyes opened and hit the bright light coming through the window. She had stretched her arms above her head, and was about to groan when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her close. She stopped what she was doing to find Alex, still completely unconscious, pulling her closer to him. At that moment, she couldn’t even help the smile that stretched across her features. Alex’s actions were far too cute and innocent to do anything other than smile.

It was moments like these that she forgot about Jake. She forgot how she was engaged to a man that was the polar opposite of everything she was. She forgot about living in California. She forgot about her job, her family, her real life. The only thing that Sawyer could think of in moments like these were how she was so sure that she was meant to be with Alex and nobody else. How there had to be a way for the two of them to create a real relationship for the two of them, something that lasted outside of Virginia Beach, outside of the beach house, and out in the real world. Sawyer could picture all of that, an entire life where she and Alex were together, when she was trapped in a moment like this.

She stared at the sleeping man next to her, and her heart swelled. She knew she loved Alex, and that she held no real feelings for Jake. She knew what she was doing was wrong. She’d known from the first time that she kissed Alex while she was dating Jake that this was wrong. But she didn’t care then, and she didn’t really care now, even though she should have. She should have cared that she was cheating. She should have cared she was stringing Jake along. She should have, but she really didn’t care at all.

She cared about the same one thing that she had cared about since she was 16. Alex.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Alex shifting once again, but this time his eyes started to flutter, slowly getting to the point where they were open and focused on Sawyer. She leaned forward enough to press her lips against his lightly, just enough so that he knew she was there next to him in the bed.

“Good morning ‘Lex” Her voice was hoarse from lack of talking all night, but Alex smiled regardless. She was in his bed. He was waking up next to her again. The way it should be.

“Morning.” He replied, his voice just as scratchy as hers had been. “Have you been awake long?” He asked, bringing his arms out and stretching, his body tensing as he yawned and pulled his muscles awake from their slumber.

“Probably about an hour. Just as the sun was rising.” Sawyer said softly, turning to snuggle into Alex’s chest as he finished stretching, his arms wrapping around her body instantly.

“That means it is an ungodly hour of the morning and we’re both awake.” Alex said with a groan, causing Sawyer to let out a giggle. Alex was not what you would describe as a morning person. She was pretty sure that he was considered to be an antonym of morning person.

“You could always go back to sleep.” She suggested, a small smile on her lips as she began to kiss his chest lightly, slowly working her way up to his next. Alex’s fingers clenched at her as she did so.

“Yea, I can tell you would let me go back to sleep right now.” He said, his breath running a bit short as the words left him, Sawyers kisses trailing up towards his ear.

“Of course I would.” She said between kisses, working her way along his jaw.

“Liar.” He said before grabbing her roughly and forcing their lips together in a needy kiss. Sawyer let out a soft whimper, pressing back with just as much force as Alex. He rolled them over so that he was on top of Sawyer, pinning her underneath his body.

Their moment was cut apart at the sound of the floor boards creaking outside in the hallway, forcing the couple back into reality. Alex rested his forehead against hers, both of their breathing ragged and uneven.

“I guess we probably shouldn’t do this until after Jake leaves.” Sawyer whispered softly and Alex gave a small nod, leaning down to press his lips softly to hers once more before rolling off of Sawyer and landing next to her on the bed.

“Today right?” Alex asked quietly, turning on his side to face Sawyer, his head propped up by his arm. She turned to look at him, smiling with a nod in confirmation.

“He leaves today. I promise.” She said, the smile on her face growing a bit as did Alex’s. “But I should get up and talk to him. I’m sure that was him walking around. It doesn’t seem like anyone else in this house would be keen on waking up before the clock hits double digits.”

“Probably not. But now I’m up and I probably won’t be going back to sleep anytime soon with that wonderful wakeup call you gave me.” Alex replied with sarcasm. Sawyer just smiled and shrugged a bit, leaning over to kiss his forehead before sitting up and getting out of the bed. She turned to smile at Alex one last time before heading towards the door and opening it, walking out and closing it behind her.

Sawyer sighed before she headed downstairs, the bliss from waking up and spending time with Alex slowly leaving her as reality sunk in. She had to talk to Jake. She was going to have to do what she always did and reconcile with him. After all, she would be spending the rest of her life with him, so she obviously had to make things better with him. But right now, it was really the last thing that she wanted to do. She just wanted to curl back into bed with Alex and forget that Jake was still even there. Part of her wanted Jake to catch her in bed with Alex. Then she wouldn’t have to pretend anymore. Sure, it would be super awkward and a hard conversation to have with Jake, but she would have had Alex.

And Alex was always what mattered more.

Sawyer sighed as she walked downstairs and found Jake sitting at the table, a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked up at the sound of someone entering the kitchen and gave a small smile to Sawyer when he saw her.

Sawyer returned the small smile with one of her own before walking to the fridge to pour herself a cup of orange juice and going to sit across the table from Jake. She just sat there, looking at her fiancé and sipping on her juice, while he mimicked her actions with his coffee.

“I’m surprised you have coffee in the house, let alone a coffee maker since you don’t like coffee.” He said, and Sawyer shrugged.

“My parents drink coffee, so that’s why there’s a coffee maker, and the rest of the house pretty much drinks coffee, so there’s normally some in the house.” She didn’t need to mention that the only reason there was coffee in the house was because she bought coffee for Alex since he was an avid drinker. Thankfully, it helped that all of his friends seemed to also drink coffee as well.

“I’m sorry about last night.” Jake said, and Sawyer looked at him and sighed, taking another sip of her juice.

“I know you are Jake, but quite frankly, I don’t even know what to do with you. You should have trusted me when I said that there was nothing going on between me and Jack, and instead you chose to believe what you wanted, rather than me.” Sawyer stated and Jake nodded, because everything that she was saying was true.

“I know. I should have trusted you. I know that nothing is going on between you and Jack and that you wouldn’t cheat on me. I guess you’re just not that close to any guys back home and I didn’t know how to handle it.” Jake said, and Sawyer wanted nothing more than to point out that she wasn’t even that close with Jack since they had only known each other for a few days, but she bit her tongue, deciding that was not the route she wanted this conversation to go.

“I’ve known all of these people for years, far many more than I’ve known you for. You don’t know my relationship with any of these people, and frankly, I’m really embarrassed to even admit to them that you’re the person I’m marrying. Who in the hell acts like that when meeting their fiancé’s friends? What would you have done if I had acted the way you had when I met your friends? Especially Bianca, who just so happens to also be your ex-girlfriend. Did I freak out on her? No, I didn’t. In fact I welcomed her with open arms. And you couldn’t even return the favor.” Sawyer said, shaking her head.

“Sawyer, look, I know I fucked up but come on.” Jake said and Sawyer shook her head.

“Honestly, I really need to just think this relationship through. I don’t know how I feel about us after this little vacation. It’s given me a lot to think about, and honestly, I need to think. So I’m going to go to breakfast with the girls as planned, and then I’ll be back in time to help you pack and take you to the airport. We can talk more when I get back to California.” Sawyer said before drinking the rest of her juice and standing up from the table. She put her cup in the sink and left the kitchen to go upstairs and get ready for breakfast with Austin and Jayce.

Jake sighed as he took another sip of his coffee, not even knowing what to think at the moment. He knew that he hadn’t acted in the most rational manner, but he hadn’t thought that his actions would threaten his entire relationship. He had never once thought that him and Sawyer would ever be in a position like this, but then again, he had never seen Sawyer as happy as she was here at the beach house.

Even he noticed the difference in her when she thought he wasn’t looking. She was so much more carefree and at home, so much more than she ever was when she was in California. It was obvious now to him why she lived for the summer months, why she waited anxiously for the warmest season to come back around. She was at home at the beach house. She was free and happy there, so much happier than she was back at home in California. Sure, she was happy, but never as happy as he had witnessed in the past couple of days.

He just hoped that he hadn’t pushed her far enough to keep her from coming back home.