The Beach

“I can’t believe you live here.” Alex said, still amazed by the apartment that Sawyer shared with Jake.

“Correction. Lived. Moving out remember?” Sawyer said with a smile.

Alex had every right to be a bit astounded though, because the apartment that Sawyer had lived in was not only immaculate, but incredibly high end. Not only was the apartment gated, but it had a security staff on detail at all times. There was a bulletin board of clubs in the apartment complex with the times they met, and even cooking classes offered. The pool looked like something straight out of a Hawaiian vacation catalog, plants surrounding the pool walkways and cabanas that were positioned around the sides of the water. And the apartment itself had been no different. If Alex hadn’t known better, he would think he was walking into a penthouse in New York city, 3000 miles away.

With beautiful polished granite countertops in the kitchen, new appliances and even a damn fireplace, Alex was struggling to figure out why in the world Sawyer was trading all this in for living with him, Rian and Macy in a three bedroom condo across country that, if he was honest with himself, needed some work done to even think of bringing it close to the status of this apartment.

“This place is so nice though.” Alex stated as he continued to pack up some of Sawyer’s personal effects in the bathroom.

“Yea. It is. But it’s not home.” Sawyer said, not really knowing how best to describe living in this apartment. Sure, it was far superior to most apartments in Los Angeles without question, but it was not something that Sawyer would have ever picked. It always felt so sterile. So unnatural. Homes weren’t supposed to feel like a museum, and that’s how she always felt, like she lived in a museum. Since Jake’s parents paid for the apartment, he was always incredibly insistent on keeping it immaculate, not wanting to dirty an apartment so nice, especially one that was a gift to him. But it was horrible for Sawyer who was the one who was home the most, therefore the one usually responsible for keeping the place spotless.

“How much more do we need to pack?” Macy shouted from the bedroom closet, where she was carefully packing away all of Sawyers clothes that resided in the closet while Sawyer was near the bathroom door, packing the clothes that were in the dresser.

“We already got all my books and movies. I think I just need to get the stuff I have out of the hall closet, like blankets, scrapbooks, and such. Alex is getting all my jewelry and stuff out of the bathroom so I think that’s all I really need to take. The rest is just stuff that’s completely replaceable.” Sawyer stated, mentally going through the stuff she wanted to take with her in her head.

“Awesome. At least none of this furniture and crap is yours. We only gotta deal with boxes and shit here.” Macy said happily, causing Sawyer to laugh a bit as she finished emptying another drawer of her stuff from the dresser, closing it only to open the one below it and start with the stuff in there.

“I think I got everything that’s yours from the bathroom. You might want to check though. Some of that stuff I think is Jake’s but I can’t be positive.” Alex said, exiting the bathroom to stand next to Sawyer.

“If it says men’s or styling gel or styling anything, it’s Jakes.” Sawyer said, causing Alex to laugh at the fact that he knew that he was going to have to unpack some of the stuff he packed assuming that it was Sawyer’s.

“I think I may have packed some of his styling products thinking they were yours.” Alex said, causing Sawyer to laugh as she watched him walk back into the bathroom.

“Yea. I don’t use that much hair product.” Sawyer replied back, finishing the last drawer in the dresser that was hers.

“I think I got all of your stuff out of the closet. The shoes are in the duffel bag and all of the clothes are packed in boxes neatly so avoid too many wrinkles.” Macy said, exiting the closet.

“I just finished the dresser.” Sawyer said as she closed the box she had just finished packing, using the packing tape to seal the box off.

“And here’s the box of bathroom stuff.” Alex said, carrying the medium sized box into the room, setting it on the dresser next to the one Sawyer just taped off, mimicking her actions and sealing it.

“So I think it’s just the hall closet where I have stuff still. If you two go there, I’ll do a walkthrough of the apartment to make sure that I don’t miss anything that I want to take with me.” Sawyer stated, and the other two nodded. Alex leaned over and kissed her forehead before he followed Macy out of the room. Sawyer walked into the bathroom, giving it a once over before making her way room by room in the apartment, grabbing a few miscellaneous items along the way.

“Hall closet stuff is packed. Do you wanna toss that stuff in the box? There’s still some room.” Macy announced as her and Alex walked into the living room to meet with Sawyer, an opened box in Alex’s arms.

“Yea. That’d be great. I think I got everything of importance.” Sawyer stated as Alex set the box down, allowing for Sawyer to put the few random items into the box before grabbing the tape out of the box and sealing it as they had done with all the other boxes.

“Alright. Let’s get these into the car and get out of here.” Alex said and Sawyer nodded.

They had made the second trip down to Sawyer’s Range Rover and were setting the boxes in and closing up the trunk when Jake’s car pulled up into the parking space next to them.

“Sawyer? What’s going on?” Jake asked, confused as he watched his fiancée go a bit wide eyed.

“Uh. Hey.” She said, and Macy and Alex coughed.

“We’re just gonna wait in the car. Yea?” Macy said before her and Alex got into the Range Rover.

“You’re leaving then?” He asked. “You weren’t even gonna say anything?”

“I was about to go write you a letter.” Sawyer said pathetically. She was really hoping to avoid this. She kinda sucked at bad news and this was definitely what Jake would think was bad news.

“What happened to promising me we would talk when you got back?” He asked and Sawyer let her head bow down a bit. She’d kinda forgotten about that.

“I didn’t want to make this harder than it would be.” Sawyer said pathetically, and Jake just leaned back against his car, his scrubs bunching a bit in the process.

“So you’re moving in with Macy then?” Jake asked.

“Uh no. Well. Yes. But no.” She said, and took a breath before continuing. “Me and Macy are both moving. To Baltimore.” She said and Jake shook his head.

“To be with Jack?” He asked and Sawyer bit her lip, shaking her head no.

“No. Nothing has ever or will ever happen with Jack. We’re moving in with Alex and Rian house.” She said and Jake nodded.

“It was never Jack was it?” He asked, and she shook her head.

“No. It never was.” She said and Jake let out a little laugh.

“Here I was, worried you were gonna do something with Jack, but I should have been more worried about Alex. I guess it makes sense now. He would be looking at you and I just thought that it was one sided. But it wasn’t was it?”

“No. Alex and me. Well. It’s complicated. A lot of feelings we’ve been battling for a lot of years.” Sawyer said sadly.

“So this is it right? You’ve decided.” Jake said and Sawyer nodded in affirmation.

“I am sorry Jake. I really didn’t see this happening.” And she meant every word. She never once thought that her and Alex would be anything more than they were. She never once thought that she would be packing up to move across country to live with him. This wasn’t what she thought would happen in her life at all.

“S’fine.” Jake said before walking away without another word, heading towards his apartment.

Sawyer sighed before turning around and getting into the passenger side of her Range Rover, hearing the engine start as Macy started the drive back towards her condo. She was just thankful that Sawyer had left her car at her house prior to leaving for vacation, because if they had to take two cars at the moment, Macy wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on Sawyer.

“You alright?” Alex asked, leaning forward from his seat in the back to be closer to Sawyer. She turned and looked at him with a small smile.

“Yea. It just sucks. I know that I blindsided him and I didn’t mean to. I didn’t actually want to hurt him. He is a good guy, ya know?” Sawyer stated and Alex gave a small smile in reassurance back, leaning forward just a little bit more to be able to kiss her cheek.

“It had to be done. And now it is. You can leave for Baltimore in two days knowing that you left with no unfinished business.” Macy stated and Sawyer nodded.

“I know. It just sucks. But Baltimore and everything that comes with it is going to be worth it.” She stated, reaching her right hand across to grab at Alex’s left that was sitting on the center console.