-Kady-

"I rarely see him so... unsettled," I say after I tell Mia about Liam's surprise visit this morning. We are currently lounging on the couch with the lights off, sitting among the scattered cushions and a bowl of popcorn resting on my lap while some random rom-com, whose name I didn't care to know, played on the TV.

"Maybe he was just really tired?" Mia suggests, reaching her hand out to take a fistful of popcorn from the bowl without taking her eyes off the movie.

"Maybe, but it's just not him, you know. Something was off about him." I frown at the almost empty bowl of popcorn. I haven't even eaten much of it. Mia is the only one doing most of the eating.

"I'm sure it's nothing," she says as she takes more popcorn. "Probably his obsession with work finally getting to him. Tell him to cut some slack, will ya?"

"You think he'll listen to me? He'll just come up with some snarky retort to shut me up."

Mia doesn't reply. She was too engrossed in the movie already. I sigh and turn to look at the flat television screen too, hoping that it will distract me from thinking about Liam, Logan, or Alex again. That had been my initial plan before Mia unexpectedly showed up with James.

After Liam left, I thought I'd spend all day thinking about everything that happened in the past few days since I met Logan. Maybe look at the picture Liv showed me that day when we went to the ghost town and compare it with some old photographs of Alex before the accident, all the while thinking of the crazy possibilities.

Could it be that Alex is still alive? Maybe he somehow survived the accident? But even if he did, how the heck did he become the freaking manager of Logan Barnes?

I shake my head. It was impossible. I was there in the same car with Alex during the accident.

I saw him in the hospital too.

I saw him when he was buried.

I know Alex is not alive.

I need to stop thinking about these things and enjoy the movie with Mia. I lean back on the comfy couch and stare at the screen, trying to focus on the movie.

I watch as a girl appears on the screen, sitting on a beach in the warm sunshine. Another girl comes over and joins her. They both start talking but all I can think of about is how the beach looks so damn inviting. I can smell the salt in the air. I can imagine the soft sky above me as I listen to the waves. The sweet, sun-warmed waves crashing upon the sand and around the rocks in shallows.

I sigh. When was the last time I had been to a beach? Oh, right. It was when I went to attend Mia's wedding. That was one crazy night. Heck, I was crazy that night.

I bite my lip when I recall what happened that night. I was spending time with Mia and other people when I had to go out to answer my phone. Liv and Lucy had both called me together from their own places where they were spending the spring break before we went back to college. Plus, I wanted to go out to the beach the moment I had landed. The phone call was a good excuse.

"Is this a bad time?" Liv asked as soon as I picked up.

"Nah, I needed to get out of there anyways. I need the fresh air," I said as I was strolling on the seaside.

"So, how's everything going there? Having fun?" Liv asked.

"Oh yes, I'm having so much fun," I said, my voice dripping of sarcasm before a giggle tore through me. There was silence on the other end, and I took this moment to appreciate the ocean breeze bringing a long awaited relief to my bones. I loved this beach. I loved listening to the constant percussion of the waves. Loved how the beach was tinted sepia in the gentle spring twilight, the sand more orange and the water darker.

"Kady," Lucy said at last. "Are you drunk?"

"What? No!" I was quick to defend myself. "I wouldn't be having a normal conversation with you both if I was, would I."

"Yeah, but..."

When I heard Lucy hesitate, I admitted: "Okay, I might be a bit... tipsy. But I needed it."

They both knew me so well. I sighed.

"Sounds like you were having trouble. Let me guess..." Lucy trailed off. She was obviously pretending to think, before both of them spoke up together, "Rose?"

"I wish," I said. "But that doesn't even begin to cover it."

I really did wish my bitch of a cousin was the one causing me trouble like every other time. That somehow seemed better than the situation I was in this time. I was feeling happy just a moment ago. But the moment I'm reminded of Alex, my mood dimmed. I couldn't even begin to think of the trouble Alex put me in by calling me his friend in front of my mom. I had managed to avoid her till now but it was just a matter of time before I'd have to come up with all sorts of lies and stories about Alex and me being friends. But I had time till I faced my mom. Right now, I had to explain everything to Liv and Lucy.

"Okay," Lucy said using her commanding voice that left space for no bullshit. "Spill."

"Alright, but don't scream," I warned. I could imagine Lucy nodding enthusiastically even if I couldn't see her.

I took a deep breath and blurted out, "Alex Walker is here too."

There was a moment's silence before sputtered out, "Alex Walker... as in, the Alex Walker?"

Another moment of silence which confirmed my answer before I heard a sharp intake of breath. "Oh my freaking god! I can't believe this! What the hell is Alex Walker doing there?!"

Knew Lucy would overreact.

Then I heard someone laughing.

"You're joking," Liv said between fits of laughter. "Please, Lucy. She's just joking."

"You really think I'll joke about something like this? I'm talking about Alex Walker here," I said.

"Alex freaking Walker..." I giggled when I heard Lucy murmur.

"You make it sound as if he's the hottest guy in the whole world," I said as I tried to take off my heels with one hand while the other held the phone. The heels were making it so damn hard to walk on the sand, and I wanted to feel the sand under my feet. I don't even remember why I had put heels on in the first place.

"Well, not in the world but definitely in the whole college," Liv said.

"That's so not true." I sighed as I revelled in the feeling of the sand against my bare foot. But it wasn't true. I could name a few guys who were hotter than Alex or were at least as hot as him.

"Okay, okay, one of the hottest guys in the college. But he certainly comes under the top five," Lucy said as Liv hummed along, agreeing with her. My eyes drifted along from sand to stone, from the breaking waves washing the sand in white lace to the rock pools to the far right side of the beach. I start towards the rock pools, thinking that it'd be a perfect place to just sit back and relax while enjoying the view. We kept on chatting while I made my way through the sand.

"Hey, I've gotta go now," I heard Liv speak.

"Okay," I replied. Then I stopped in my tracks. There was a figure sitting on one of the lower rocks nearest to the shoreline from this distance. I took a couple of steps forward and squinted my eyes. I had a sinking feeling as I tried to make out who it was.

So much for relaxing and enjoying the view. Someone had already claimed my spot.

I wondered who it could be as I frowned at the figure. That's when I remembered that Noah, one of my cousins had said that he was going out on the beach for a stroll a few minutes before I came out. He had the same dark hair too. So, who else could it be except for him?

"You know what?" I said into the phone as an idea sprung in my mind. "I gotta go too."

"Alright, I guess we'll talk later."

I hung up and put the phone in my pocket, but my mind was racing. I am usually not this stupid. Sometimes crazy, but not stupid. I don't know what I was thinking back then but I do remember thinking that it was an amazing idea at the time. Plus, he had been teasing me all day long. Sure, he wasn't the only one I had been arguing with that day. There were many more cousins and such, but he and I kinda had a history and we always kept doing these kinds of insane things. So, holding my heels in one hand, I made my way through the sand towards where Noah was sitting.

You've been giving me a lot of trouble the whole day, boy. Now you're gonna regret it.

It was dark by the time I was close enough to have a good look at his face, but I couldn't because it was too dark. I noticed he was holding something in his hands. It was so dark that I couldn't make out what it was. All I could see was Noah's silhouette holding that thing.

But what was that thing?

He was so immersed in it and giving it his full attention. I saw as he fiddled with it before raising it to his eye and that's when I realised it was a camera. At least it looked like one.

I didn't give the camera much thought. Trying to be as quiet and stealthy as possible, I made sure to reach him from the back so that he wouldn't be able to see me. To ensure that he couldn't see me, I couldn't see his face either. I think I might have squeaked a little at some point when I reached the rocks and almost lost my balance, but he was too captivated with whatever it was he was doing with his camera to notice.

Thank God he's sitting on one of the lower rocks. Getting to the higher ones would've been a serious pain.

I bit my lip to keep from giggling as I crept up to him. His back was facing me and he was still twiddling with his camera when I took a silent, deep breath. I put down my heels on the side before jumping forward to wrap my arms around his neck in an attempt of a choke hold.

"Gotcha!" I yelled. My chest was pressed against his back and my head was turned to the side so that I could easily get a hold on him.

Then, in a flash before I could even consider what was happening, I felt his shoulders and back tense up before he deftly bought his head back and hit my temple. I faintly remember my arms falling loose from around his neck as I fell back on my butt. Thankfully, before my head could hit the surface of the rock and get seriously injured, he turned around and caught my wrist. I vaguely recall thinking that his reflexes were awfully fast. Too fast for the Noah I knew.

"What the! - Kadence?" I heard him exclaim.

That wasn't Noah's voice.

"Oh, shit," I whispered as I got a good look at Alex's face before my head rolled back and everything went black.

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