When the sea brings you home

The deck

I was completely exhausted. I spent an extra hour in the hospital with Tina, working out the insurance paperwork. Absolute hell.

She finally took me back to her house, where we were welcomed by the wonderful smell of junk food. A bag of McDonald's was waiting for us on the kitchen counter.

"Finally!" Jake's voice yells from upstairs. A second later he came down the stairs, and we all agreed to have lunch. We took the food outside and sat on the deck on the other side of the house, that many beach houses shared and had access to. I sat on the hot wood, and took off my shoes, dipping my toes in the cold lake water.

"It's so nice", I say focused on the little waves my movements were causing. "It's like when we were kids." I point at the three of us, sitting on the edge of the deck, feet in the water and food in hand.

Jake nods.

Tina clears her throat. I turn to her, curious.

"Well, I've got to say that you really scared me today, B. And I'm gonna whip Four's ass when I see him!"

I chuckle.

- But for real. Sorry for the trouble, guys. And thanks a lot too.

I hold Jake's gaze at the last sentence. He smiles a little but doesn't give himself credit for any of his help.

"Hey, I know that you should be going to New York after tomorrow, and that you have a lot of work too but there's this campfire tonight and my friends are going. Maybe you guys can come too?"

He raises a brow at me.

- Oh, sure. I delayed my meeting, by the work. I sent my boss a mail in the car. New York can wait for another week. That way I'll be able to prepare things more thoroughly too.

"Well, that's convenient", Tina smiles. "So we can go out more! We're totally going to that campfire, right B?"

- Yeah, of course. Who'll be there?

- Just a few of the guys from college. You already know them, Prior. It's Jaden, Oliver and Luke. 

"Oh my gosh I haven't seen them in ages!"

I suddenly feel a rush of nostalgia, taking me back to the first year of college here, where I met all of them. 

- Hey, we should also tell Amy and Grace! I'm sure Mark and Dave can join them too.

My smile widens. I'm so happy for Tina, but I'm seriously hoping he's treating her well!

"Okay great! Now in that case, I think you should get some rest, Tris. We can come by later in the afternoon before leaving." Jake concludes.

- Yeah, maybe you're right. I text you so we can get ready together, T?

She nods. And that's exactly what I did. after finishing off my food, I get back into my house and adopt a more chill attitude, even though I was still getting things done.

I found a few boxes on the doorstep, the ones that were previously in my car that Jake probably unloaded. I put on a Netflix show and organized the rest of the boxes left. They were mostly clothes and shoes, so I spent a great amount of time in my walk-in dressing. The other stuff took me around an additional hour only, since we had really progressed this morning before shit went down.