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The beach was the most calming place Allison had ever been to. Not just any beach – she had visited several different beaches in Europe, a few in South America, even one in Asia, though she’d been three years old for that one. But this, right here in California, just a two-hour drive from home, was something special.
Maybe it was the memory of searching for seashells as a child, getting simultaneously fascinated and grossed out by the little slimy creatures she found in them; being carried to the car in her dad’s strong arms when the sun was setting, her little legs covered in sand and eyes drooping with happy exhaustion. Or the afternoons spent there with Isaac and a few other classmates on weekends when they just needed to get away from campus, throwing a beach ball around, giggling dumbly with colorful drinks in their hands. (Some moments with Scott, too, him teaching her how to surf and holding her hand really tight, only those memories still hurt a little, so she liked to focus on the presence of the rest of the gang there and push back the times when it had been just the two of them. It wasn’t about forgetting Scott, it was about avoiding unnecessary sadness on a day that was shaping up to be pretty perfect already.)
The motion of the waves, the salty taste when the water splashed against her body and some drips caught her lips, the sand sticking between her toes. Everything had a delightfully homey feel to it, even the slight sting all over her upper body from when she had been a little reckless about sunscreen. It put her in a happy trance, even as the ocean breeze blew her hair in every possible direction and the wet sand clung to her skin.
A pair of warm, strong arms found their way around her waist, and she leaned her head back to rest against a very familiar shoulder, bodies pressed together tightly. The added warmth made the sunburn hurt a little more, but she didn’t mind too much, not when Derek’s nose was rubbing just below her earlobe, his lips following.
“You smell so content.” He muttered, lips vibrating against her skin in a way that made her entire body shiver. “It’s nice. I like seeing you let go.”
“Mm-hmm. Love it here.”
Allison wasn’t quite sure if she meant the beach or his embrace. Possibly both. The silence between them was easy, comfortable, filled with the calming sound of the waves; it was Allison who broke it after a minute.
“Have you been here before?”
“Not recently.” He shrugged. “My parents brought us a few times when we were children, but that was a while ago. Peter was still around, if that gives you a frame of reference.”
“Wow. That’s far back.”
“Last time was like a week before he left, actually. Cora was four. She and Laura ate so much corn on the cob, they both got sick. Although the copious amounts of saltwater Cora swallowed might also have something to do with that.”
They both chuckled, hands still linked. The tide took away some of the sand beneath their feet, and Allison lost her balance for a fleeting moment, bracing herself against Derek’s stronger body; he took advantage of the shift in position to capture her lips in a brief, salty kiss.
The water was at the middle of Allison’s calves and a few inches lower on Derek’s body, coming and going, coming and going. She didn’t let go of his hand when she broke the embrace.
“Wanna go a little deeper?”
“Lead the way.” Derek nodded with a grin.
She did, gladly, sucking in a breath as the water hit her stomach but not stopping until it was up to her breasts, the dark blue swimsuit completely soaked now. The waves were higher at this point, harsher when they splashed over Allison and Derek; a particularly mischievous one really did knock them both off their feet. When their heads resurfaced, even the soft little kiss they shared had to be interrupted a few times to cough up some more saltwater.
Allison opened her eyes a moment later to find the werewolf smiling at her, the easy little grin she’d come to love. It was impossible not to smile back.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged again, and the end of the word got cut off by another wave, gentler than the previous one, just lifting them up an inch and setting them back down.
“Derek.”
“I’m just really glad you decided to drag me out here. I wasn’t sure…” He broke eye contact to take a look around and a deep breath; Allison could feel the up and down of his chest with how close together they were. “Wasn’t sure. But this is nice. Really nice.”
She was fairly certain that she understood what was left unsaid.
“You weren’t sure if you’d get nostalgic in a good way or a bad way?”
He nodded.
“Me too.”
The afternoon could have turned bitter with the memories of what – and who – they had lost. Could have, but didn’t. Not when the water around them glittered with the day’s last few rays of sunshine.
With her face comfortably pillowed on Derek’s shoulder and his chin resting on her head, Allison imagined the waves washing away all of their worries, the weight on their shoulders dissolving, mixing with the salt and sand and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Or maybe floating off with the breeze, evaporating in the sun, leaving nothing but a few more freckles on their shoulders and little grains of sand clinging to their skin.
For a precious, lingering moment, everything was good.