SANDY COVE HAS one bar in the entire town.

Sat in the center of the town itself, alongside the other shops and businesses, it is the only place that remains open so late. The life of the town nightlife people call it, where a lot of the out of towners come for a good time and where the locals come to hook up with out-of-towners. Any nightclubs or a more exciting nightlife existed outside of the town. Somewhere most of the younger locals go to for a good time.

Growing up here made it impossible to get into the bar or drink underage, since everyone knew how old you were. Even now, at twenty-three, when I walked into the bar earlier in the night, I passed the locals who knew me when I was a kid and watched me grow up. That's why most of the time we all snuck to the other town with fake IDs, and I'm sure that's what the teenagers do now as well.

Leaning my elbows on the bar behind me, I look around the newly renovated bar. For the third time since I've lived here, it's been bought by many town's people, recently from one guy I went to school with whom wanted to revamp it and make it a place for the younger locals and the older ones. He succeeded, considering it was nearing one in the morning and the bar is filled with younger people in town as the older residents have cleared out.

A DJ plays in the corner of the bar, with people already have cleared space and dancing in the middle. Including Gabi and Thalia. I can't help but snicker as I see Gabi dancing without tiring. Meanwhile, Thalia looks like she has no idea what she got herself into dancing with her. My eyes can't help but drop to the satin dress covering Thalia's body, which sways as she dances yet clings to her upper body.

Her gaze flickers my way just as I feel a tap on my shoulder. Taking my eyes off her I turn seeing, Jake, the owner of the bar, placing the tray of drinks down, that also have shots on the tray. Thanking him, I bring the tray towards me.

In my peripheral vision, Thalia comes into view, leaning her hip against the bar before she grabs a shot glass and throws it back. Raising my eyebrow at her as she places the empty glass back, she pulls her hair away from the back of her neck.

"Well, you're now a shot ahead of the rest of us," I tell her, before flagging down Jake for another shot to replace the one she had.

She shoots me a small glare before fanning herself. Clearly warm from the atmosphere, the dancing, and the drinking. "Does that girl ever stop dancing?"

A smirk plays at my lips before I shake my head. "Gabi is a profound social dancer. Everyone usually taps out dancing with her by now."

She mumbles, "thanks for the warning."

"Don't tell me you don't enjoy dancing, too? I'm going to think there isn't much you like," I say before doing a little dance that could be considered 'dad dancing'.

She eyes my dancing and shakes her head, a small smile tilting at the side of her mouth. "You're a dork."

I feign hurt. "I embrace that statement. What's wrong with my dance moves?"

"Everything," she says as I do the wave with my arms. She reaches out to stop me and places them at my side again. I pout and she rolls her eyes. "Does that actually work on women?"

"I'll have you know my dancing attracts women," I say, before a smirk appears on her face as she looks past my shoulder.

"Clearly, because there's a woman looking over here, more specifically at you."

I furrow my eyebrows before turning my head so I can look behind me, seeing the woman she is referring to, who I know from school, looking at me. She sends me a smile, and I give a small wave before turning back and clearing my throat. Grabbing my beer and taking a drink, I place it down before leaning my palms on the bar.

"We went to school together."

"Did you date?" Thalia questions, and I shake my head.

"No. Never. She hinted about going out, but I wasn't interested," I explain to her.

She raises her eyebrow before thanking Jake as he places a replacement shot down on the tray. "Have you ever dated anyone from this town?"

"In high school, yes, but they all moved away for college and didn't move back. Now I'm older, I'm more hesitant to date anyone in the town," I say, picking up the tray of drinks as we make our way to the table. "Since everyone knows each other, if anything went wrong, I wouldn't want it to impact or make anything harder for me."

"Well, she clearly has a thing for you," she adds before we reach the table where the rest of the group sits. Sliding the tray onto the table, I slide back into the booth, with Thalia following me.

"Who does?" Gabi asks, confused, as we take all the drinks off and hand the shots to everyone.

I subtly point over in the direction. "Rachel."

"She still has that huge crush on you?" Landon questions and I shrug, unsure, but Gabi rolls her eyes.

"Oh, she does. Every time she comes into the coffee shop, she's always asking about you," she says, and I rub the back of my neck before she looks at Thalia.

"Ok, let's move on," I say, coughing, and they all chuckle at my embarrassment.

"Our first shot of the night!" Millie announces, and I look over before shooting a wink at Thalia, who gives a sheepish shrug.

Hitting the glasses together, we all throw back the shots, the strong alcohol burning down the back of my throat. Blowing out a breath, I clear my throat and shake my head.

"Ok, who wants to dance with me?" Gabi shoots up out of her seat, slamming her shot glass down on the table before shaking her hips. I shake my head at her eagerness to dance again.

"We just sat down." Thalia's jaw drops and I snicker before looking away as Gabi looks at me. I know that's the best thing to do or else you'll be stuck with her until six in the morning. Made that mistake before.

"Fine. Sam, you're up." Gabi grabs his hand, and he begrudgingly follows her to the dancefloor, looking to us with a pleading look, yet none of us help.

Shaking my head at them, I go back to nursing my beer, resting my arm on the back of the booth. Tuning out the conversation of the rest of the group, I allow myself to relax in the setting.

"I must admit the nightlife isn't so bad here," Thalia muses as she looks around the bar, and I chuckle.

"Let us take you out of town one night. We'll show you we can party like city people." I wink and she chuckles before looking out at the people dancing. I nudge her. "Don't tell me you're done dancing for the night. You can't tell me a pro-surfer doesn't have more stamina than that."

"I can dance more. I'm just choosing not to," Thalia points out, and I raise my eyebrow.

"Prove it then," I goad, and she stands up before placing her hands on her hips.

"Okay then, it's on."

Placing my drink on the table, I slip out of the booth myself and follow her over to the dancefloor. Taking her hand, I spin her around under my arm and she shakes her head at me before we dance, her laughing as I pull out the dad dance moves.

✺✺✺

"Why are we at the beach? At night? Intoxicated?"

Thalia's question is valid as we walk down the steps of the beach near my apartment. After a few hours at the bar and more drinks, to where we're not drunk but lightly buzzed, we called it at night, but I am too wired to sleep.

"Come on, be a local for the night," I tell her, holding my arms out wide as I walk backwards. Almost tripping over the sand, she laughs as I find my footing again and give a sheepish smile.

"The rest of them aren't here, and they're locals. So, is this a local thing? Or an Atlas thing?" Thalia questions, removing her shoes as we step onto the sand, and I wave her off.

Walking to the middle of the beach, I smile, looking out at the ocean with my hands on my hips. Soaking up the smell of the ocean and the crisp air as it brushes my skin, I close my eyes and sigh happily. Opening them again, I lie down on the sand to look up at the stars, placing my hands behind my head. Not noticing any movement beside me, I turn my head seeing Thalia stood there shaking her head at me.

I pat the sand. "Don't tell me you have a thing against stargazing, too?"

She lies down next to me, clasping her hands together on her stomach. "So, drunken Atlas is a stargazer?"

I chuckle, shaking my head. "I'm not drunk. Plus, it's nice to just come out here sometimes, especially after the loud bar."

"I haven't really let loose like this since before my accident," Thalia reveals, a solemn look on her face that I want to remove.

"That was you letting loose?" I joke, and she lets out a small laugh, pushing my shoulder.

"Everything after just felt so serious and pointless. Just numb."

"Well, good news for you is letting loose is my standard setting," I say, and she chuckles. "And because of that."

Jumping to my feet again, I tug my shirt over my head before unbuttoning my jeans.

"What are you doing?" Thalia's eyes widen, and I shrug before pushing my jeans down.

"Going in the water," I tell her before kicking my clothes to the side and running to the water before diving in. Surfacing, I shake my head and run my hands through my hair. Thalia stands on the beach, looking at me as if I'm insane.

"Has no one ever told you not to go into the ocean when you've had a drink?" She crosses her arms over her chest as if she's scolding me. "You're crazy."

Smiling, I make my way out of the water and over to her before holding my hands out. Her eyes widen as she knows what I'm thinking. After her first time of going in the water, and by that I mean sitting there while the waves touched her feet, we had met most nights on the beach after I closed up or even during the day at the smaller beach. Sometimes it would just be sitting closer to the water, letting it lap at our feet, other times we'd get further in, yet still on the shore. It wouldn't be for long. 

"Dance with me," I tell her, and she raises her eyebrow. I spin her around on the sand, slightly walking backwards as I do before pulling her closer as we slowly dance.

"If you think this will distract me, sorry, but your good looks don't render me speechless," she comments, and I laugh.

"Well, damn, there goes my plan." I smile.

"Surfer looks may work for some people, not me," she teases, and I place a hand to my heart.

"You're killing me, Tal."

"Tal?" She raises her eyebrows at the nickname before flinching as the water touches her feet, and I give a sheepish shrug. "Does that mean I can call you shaggy?"

I groan. "Stop hanging around with Gabi, I beg you."

"You do have that shaggy hair. Ever thought of a haircut?" She reaches up to mess with it.

"My hair is my best feature...or my abs," I say, and she laughs. "I happen to like my hair."

"Well, at least you didn't say the cliché guy thing and say girls love it because they can run their hands through it during sex," she says, and I raise my eyebrow.

"Clearly, that's where your mind has gone." I poke her side.

I spin her around under my arm as the waves lap at our feet. The water splashes as we dance in the shallow end, our feet stomping against the water that doesn't go higher than our ankles. The silence surrounds us as we dance, the occasional laugh or comment coming from either of us about how ridiculous it is to dance without the music.

Even if she is only happy for this moment in time.

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A U T H O R   N O T E

I think this is potentially the cutest chapter so far? But at the same time the way I imagined Atlas looking at Thalia when he was checking her out...

Q: what do you all want to see in Riptide? Since I'm writing on the go as opposed to having it written all offline first I'd really love to hear your input and include you all!

I found listening to the playlist as I write helps me imagine the scenes, the vibes, the town and the relationship between Atlas and Thalia a lot better.

P L A Y L I S T |  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7hlYV6C1QSriJbLGmKxHYl?si=206fcb2f1bbe4420