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The all too familiar smell of the sea breeze and the sounds of children having fun and splashing around in the nearby ocean met Chloe as soon she stepped out of the car and onto the boardwalk. Her sandals met the wood underneath them, and she immediately let out a content sigh, relieved to be outside without the constant, although mostly unintentional, pressure that went hand in hand with being home.
She shielded her eyes from the harsh mid-afternoon sun, allowing herself to adjust to the scenery. After closing the car door behind her, and waving to her driver, she turned around once more, squinting at the seagulls swarming above her.
She had the perfect beach-day ahead of her, all meticulously planned out in advance. After all, she had finally gotten her sweet, but certainly overbearing, mother to let her go out on her own for once. With a very full tote bag on her shoulder, blue shades resting on top of her head, and a determined gaze, she set foot en route towards the beach.
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After about half an hour, she had successfully made her way to the beach. Unable to find a place fully in the shade, in one of the more quieter areas at the edge of the touristy atmosphere, Chloe had decided on a spot closer to the shore, a few feet away from the nearest pastel pink lifeguard tower.
Thankfully, she had anticipated the crowd levels in advance, having brought her own parasol just in case. Once she had set up the parasol, she laid her towel in the shade underneath it, running her hands over the material, flattening out the creases. She brushed the sand off her hands while a smile formed on her face, completely content and ready to begin her few worry free hours of relaxation.
Chloe blindly dug into her bag, grasping for the book that she had bought particularly for this specific occasion. She held the book above her head in triumph as she managed to find it, and laid partially down on her towel, propping her torso up with her elbows.
She did not even manage to get two pages into her book, when she felt water dripping onto her legs sticking out from under the parasol. She looked up from her book with a sweet, customer-service worthy, smile, assuming that some kid had walked up to her, and was about to nicely ask the kid to find another person to drip onto. Chloe's eyes did, in fact, not meet a child.
As her eyes drifted further upwards, across tanned skin and what seemed to be red board shorts belonging to a life guard uniform, she made eye contact with the perpetrator, who seemed to be around her age, and thus decidedly old enough to be minding Chloe's personal space. She had her curly hair pinned up in some sort of bun, which seemed to be the only part of her that was not soaking wet.
Chloe's smile faded slightly, "Can I help you?"
The girl standing across from her had sunglasses on obscuring her eyes, but Chloe still felt pierced by her gaze. Her lips lifted in a smirk as she shook her head slightly, seemingly disbelieving of whatever emotion Chloe was trying to convey.
The other girl leaned closer and opened her mouth to, possibly, answer Chloe's question, when a droplet of water fell right onto Chloe's book, smudging the printed words on the page.
Chloe let out a scoff, something her mother would have certainly reprimanded her for, as her mouth twisted into a frown.
Somehow, the other girl had gotten particularly amused by her reaction, stepping back and shaking her head backwards while laughing.
"Right, sorry," she started, even though she did not seem apologetic in any way. "Just wanted to see if you were enjoying your time here."
Chloe's eyes narrowed in disbelief, "Don't you have more important matters to attend to?" She gestured with her hands, motioning towards the people in the water. "Are you not supposed to be making sure no one out there drowns?"
The stranger in front of her let out a snort, her grin widening. "Jeez, who pissed in your cereal this morning?"
If Chloe was not tied down by her personal moral obligations and ethics, she would have murdered the other girl at this point.
At that, Chloe's brows furrowed, practically seething at the other girl's antics "You did, asshole."
Without any warning signs, the life guard started laughing so hard she was physically shaking, and had to clutch her midriff to stay standing on both feet.
Unfortunately for Chloe, who did not find this situation amusing in any sense, the other girl's shaking had managed to dislodge just about every single water droplet still stuck to her body right onto her and her book.
Chloe let her head fall against her towel, groaning and running both hands down her face.
Once the stranger had managed to settle down, she took one look at Chloe, and at least had the decency to look as if she was slightly remorseful. She brought her hand up to rest against the back of her neck, and closed her eyes sheepishly.
"Shit, I'm sorry," she started, "I'd pay for the book, but you kinda look like you have enough money to easily replace it."
Although she wasn't necessarily wrong by any means, Chloe still scoffed, "It's more about the sentiment."
The other girl had regained the teasing grin that had adorned her face earlier, "You're right, you're right. If you can bear to wait a couple hours, yours truly will gladly accompany you for the hunt for a replacement."
Chloe sighed, for what felt like the umpteenth time that afternoon. She tilted her head back up to make eye contact with the other, "Do you treat all the visitors this way?"
"Nope." The stranger said, dragging the word out, "Just the prettiest ones. I'm Hazel."
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Since her book was soaked beyond the point of repair, and reading was pretty much the only activity she had planned for the whole afternoon, Chloe quickly found herself people watching to keep herself busy.
As much as she enjoyed watching others having fun, or the beach volleyball game occurring to her left, she often found her eyes drifting towards the life guard tower nearby.
Although Hazel usually had her back towards her while she seemed to actually be doing her job by surveying those in the water, she would occasionally turn her head towards Chloe and wink in her direction. The first time it happened, Chloe whipped her head around to see if she was mistaken, and it was directed towards someone else. It was, in fact, not, as there was absolutely nobody behind her.
Both the comfortable warmth emitted by the sun and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore led to Chloe's eyes becoming heavier, and to her quickly drifting off to sleep.
Once Chloe eventually came to, it was due to a hand gently snapping in her face. She blearily opened her eyes to five fingers, adorned with mismatched gold rings, waving less than an inch away from her face.
Once she had visibly opened her eyes, the hand quickly disappeared, making it possible for Chloe to regain eye contact with the person it was attached to.
Hazel took a step back, resting her hands on her hips. She had changed into a different, non-work related, outfit - a white form-fitting tank top, paired with jean shorts adorned with a brown leather belt.
"My friend, Max, offered to cover for me so I could go early. He owes me one anyway, it's fine."
Chloe frowned slightly. "Are you sure you won't get in trouble?"
"It's fine, princess, I promise," Hazel reached out to offer her hand to Chloe.
Chloe took it, positively surprised at her firm, yet gentle grip. She stood up, expecting Hazel to drop her hand. Instead, she turned Chloe's hand over, and intertwined their fingers together.
"Lets go, shall we?"
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Chloe had been to the beach as a child often enough to have memorized the route it took to get from the beach to the boardwalk. Which was good, great even, as she couldn't even focus on anything in Hazel's company, the other walking directly next to her, their hands still clasped together.
The streets aligning the boardwalk were packed with various shops. Cute, pastel ice cream parlors, bustling terraces during the evening rush, touristy souvenir shops, and, most importantly, bookstores.
Once they arrived at a bookstore that Hazel deemed good enough, she held open the door to the store, motioning for Chloe to enter first.
"After you, m'lady," she said in a joking tone, bowing while stepping to the side to let Chloe inside.
Chloe rolled her eyes slightly, but followed her instructions nonetheless. Hazel followed quickly behind, resting her hand on the small of Chloe's back to guide the other through the store.
"So," Hazel began, motioning towards the many bookcases around them. "What kind of book were you thinking?"
Chloe paused, looking around her - as if the bookshelves themselves were able to speak and answer that question for her.
She shrugged, glancing back at Hazel. "No clue. Got any ideas?"
Hazel led her towards the back of the shop, before stopping at a display featuring multiple novels seemingly belonging to the same series. "Don't read much, but my brother and I like these. Hell, they even managed to get Harry to read. Has to mean something."
Chloe picked up the first installment of the series, flipping it over in her hands to read the back with a slight smile on her face. "It's about pirates?"
"I mean, yeah," Hazel smirked. "Pirates are cool as shit."
"I'll get this one then," Chloe smiled. "Lets see if it deserves the praise."
After checking out at the register, with Hazel paying, of course, the two headed outside.
"Well," Hazel started. "I guess that's-"
"Do you want to get ice cream with me?" Chloe blurted out, before Hazel could finish her sentence.
Hazel grinned.
"Awww, princess, you could also just ask me to stick around longer. Who knew you would be so eager to spend time with me."
Chloe's eyes narrowed, although she couldn't hide the slight twitch of her mouth. "Oh, is that so? Who's saying that that's what I meant?"
"Well, yeah," Hazel replied. "Just can't get enough of me, can you?"
Chloe sighed. "Are you in the mood for a bite to eat, or not?"
"That's not a no!" Hazel cackled in response.
Chloe insisted on it being her treat. Whilst Hazel groaned about not wanting to be indebted to her even more, Chloe just hid her giggles behind the back of her hand.
Once they had both acquired cones with two scoops each of their favorite flavors, mint chocolate chip for Chloe and rocky road for Hazel, they made their way towards the pier side by side, heading away from the bustling atmosphere surrounding the promenade. The sun had already begun to set, with shades of pink and orange painting the sky.
Chloe watched as the couple sitting on the edge of the pier got up and left, hand in hand, laughing among themselves. She hesitated and quickly glanced Hazel's way, wanting to see if she was thinking the same. If strangers saw them together, what would they assume?
Chloe had only met Hazel mere hours ago, only motivated to speak to her by pure annoyance. That initial annoyance had quickly faded to make way for something else, something bigger. Something overwhelming. Chloe was used to being prepared, and well versed in tackling practically any hardships that came her way. She was able to predict nearly any probable outcome in a situation, and would be capable to act accordingly.
From the start, there had been nothing predictable about Hazel. Perhaps that's what made Chloe feel so intimidated. She had no clue what to do, how to act. She had just met the other girl, and whatever she was feeling already felt too intense to act on.
Chloe blinked, having reached the edge of the pier. Hazel's frame had drifted slightly further away, already perched on the ledge, left leg dangling off, nearly touching the water. Chloe stayed still, not knowing what to do. The sounds of seagulls flying above her and of people on the boardwalk enthusiastically shouting had all faded for the sound of blood pumping in her ears, sounding just as rhythmic as the waves gently lapping the shore.
Hazel slowly turned her head around, looking at Chloe with raised eyebrows and a slightly unimpressed stare. Once Chloe met her gaze, she patted the spot next to her, motioning for her to sit down.
Unable to say no, by some invisible force, Chloe took a few steps forward and went to sit next to Hazel, one leg neatly crossed over the other.
Chloe should have known something was up, when, after a few minutes of prolonged peaceful silence, Hazel suddenly fixed her with a conniving look.
Before Chloe could process the intentions behind that particular look, Hazel suddenly threw her legs over Chloe's lap, resulting in her letting out a, fully undignified, squeal.
Hazel's, quite unsympathetic, immediate reaction was to throw her head back laughing.
Chloe huffed out a breath, eyes narrowing. "You think you're so funny, don't you?"
"Oh, I know I am."
Hazel pressed herself even more into Chloe's space, grasping for Chloe's hand to fidget with the bracelets adorning her wrist.
Chloe frowned slightly at the uncharacteristically pensive expression now forming on Hazel's face. "Are you okay?"
Hazel looked up as their eyes met. Her expression quickly softened, regaining her signature slight smirk. "Just peachy, princess."
Seemingly reassured by the other's words, Chloe took a mental leap of faith, resting her head on Hazel's shoulder, who flushed and went rigid at the gesture, before resting her head on top of Chloe's in return.
"You should come round more. Might be nice to be seein' you around here."
Chloe hid her smile in the crook of Hazel's neck, "I could be persuaded."