Rhythm of Heartbreak (COMPLETED)

Chapter 20

Jess, Rick, and Shaun were trailing the path heading to where the campfire was, several young artists were already gathered around as the sound of laughter resonated not far away. It was already dusk and Jess's eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness of the surroundings.

Her pacing was slow as she tried to avoid more sand getting into her shoes but to no avail. She then felt Rick's hand supporting her as his warm hands instinctively held her wrist.

She smiled to thank him.

As they reached the location, Jess saw the huge campfire blazing brightly amidst the darkened area, another merry laughter broke as everyone was preoccupied with whatever stories they were sharing.

She relaxed.

Rick whispered to her that he'll go and fetch some drinks for a moment, she then nodded and sat down when she finally found a spot. She was about to kick the sand off her sneakers when Shaun kneeled in front of her and removed her shoe.

Surprising was evident in her eyes.

"You should have worn slippers instead" he stated.

"Shaun, you don't have to do that" Jess was trying to pull her legs away but Shaun kept it in place.

When he was done removing all the sand that had been stored in her shoe, she then thanked him for doing such an act.

"We never did this, back when we were younger" Shaun commented as he sat right beside her.

Jess wondered what he meant when he started pointing one by one at the campfire, the people, booze, and music.

She laughed realizing that it was true. "We didn't have the proper childhood," she said in passing.

Shaun looked at Jess momentarily but remained silent afterward.

There are about 10 or 15 people in the area. Jess was not expecting to see alcoholic beverages served at this gathering; the committee is lenient with the rules, which is probably a good thing.

Rick was back bringing three bottles of beer. He then gave one to Jess and one to Shaun.

Both Jess and Shaun thanked Rick when suddenly someone asked the remaining artists to gather around the fire to play games.

Jess has no desire to play anything; she was hoping to chill and mellow out, but she also does not want to rain on anyone's parade, so she decided to go with the flow instead.

They started with charades and Jess was finding herself laughing at how ridiculous they looked when acting out the words, some were good, but others perhaps had no future in the film industry, and the rest of them were hard-core competitive. Shaun was all-out participative and was having a blast.

The game then moved on to the infamous truth or dare. At this point, some artists are already wasted and the dares became extremely disturbing, such as skinny-dipping, alcohol drinking without hands, and body shots.

The alcohol moved from beer to tequila and hard drinks. Jess was slightly feeling tipsy herself and started to feel funny so she decided to walk away from the crowd first and have some air. She walked towards the hammock where she and Rick had spent that morning. The entire area was dim except for the light reflecting not far away from the palm trees, it's enough to see a silhouette of people passing by.

Jess then anchored herself and got comfortable in the sling made of fabric, she slowly swayed herself as she lovingly felt the cold air on her skin.

She felt her head spin. She shouldn't have drunk that much. She can't even remember the last time she had alcohol, but she was having a good time. She felt free.