EVERY DAY LIKE clockwork.

The mystery girl is at the beach every morning, looking out at the ocean. She's here at the break of dawn when I get to the surf shack to open or for my early morning surf, and she disappears at some random point of the day. Never going into the water, but just sitting there, staring at it. As if it's the most complex problem she's trying to figure out. It surprised me when I saw her up on the balcony of Easton's grandmother's place or what used to be before she moved into a nursing home.

The house has remained empty ever since. With Easton touring and myself in an apartment building across the other side of the town. The only sign of life it has got was when I went around to clean it every so often.

Walking out of the ocean, with my board under my arm and the leash strapped to my ankle, I shake my head. The wet strands of my hair from my early morning surf fall in front of my face before I push them back. I reach down to uncuff the leash from my ankle and stick my board in the sand before peeling off the wet rash guard and throwing it over my board.

My eyes land on her as she walks along the shoreline, her sandals in her left hand, with her gaze focused on the ocean as she walks. She remains a mystery to me, never gives too much information away, and looks to be as if battling with herself every second of the day.

I smile to myself as she gets closer, not even realizing there is someone standing in the path she's taking.

"Morning sunshine."

Her head shoots in my direction at the sound of my voice. Now being close enough where I don't have to raise my voice that much for her to hear me. Her eyes flicker from the board perched in the sand to my now naked chest, seeming to take an interest in the tattoo that rests on my left peck. The curiosity swims in her eyes and I can tell she's dying to ask what it's about.

She comes to a stop in front of me, ignoring my cheerful smile and the fact I'm clearly a morning person. "Sunshine? Is that the best you can do?"

I shrug. "Do you want me to call you the moody girl? Sad girl?"

"I am not moody," she scoffs, reeling back and crossing her arms defensively.

"I'll get you to smile one of these days," I say, resting my arm on top of my board.

"Are you always a morning person?" She questions and I nod my head. She rolls her eyes, clearly not surprised, before she mutters, "Fantastic." With that she carries on walking, and I pick up my board before walking at the side of her. Her eyes flicker over to me and my board. "How long have you surfed for?"

"Since I was ten. It's a good method of relaxation for me. My buddy and I learned together. Signed up at the same time," I explain, sighing wistfully at the memory.

"You're rotating too late on your three-sixty," she tells me, her eyes flickering to mine, and the surprise is clear in my eyes. "You need to rotate a few seconds earlier than you think you do."

"Alright, clearly you know something about surfing. I'm guessing you surf?" I ask, and a flash of hesitancy passes through her eyes. Her hand reaches up to play with her necklace that has a gold surfboard on it.

"A little," she shrugs, clearing her throat, and it's clear that's all she's offering on the subject.

"So, uh-" I begin, pointing up to where she's staying. "How do you know Easton? I didn't think he was renting his grandmother's place out?"

"The pro-circuit. I needed a break. He said this was the perfect place and offered for me to stay in the house while he's still in the season," she explains and some recognition flashes before my eyes.

"So, when you said you surf a little, what you mean is you're a professional surfer." I chuckle and she shrugs, her lips tilting up a little. "Easton is the friend I mentioned. We learned to surf together. He always wanted to go pro, though. I didn't."

"Do you talk much? I saw a picture in a café in town of you two and the girl who owns the café, Gabi," she mentions. "Seemed like a sore subject for her."

"It is," I say, not offering anything that isn't my story to tell. "Easton and I are like brothers; we talk as much as we can with him being so busy with training and competitions. Are you two close?"

She shakes her head, still fiddling with her necklace. "We signed at the same time, see each other at competitions, but we're not close or anything. It surprised me when he reached out to me and offered this place."

"He's got a hard exterior, but he has a good heart." I chuckle.

"Let me guess, you two balanced each other out. He controlled your whole positivity, sunshine rays and you made sure he wasn't the brooding asshole," she says, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"If this is you asking if I poop sunshine rays out of my ass. That's my superpower. Don't tell anyone." I gasp, placing my hand to my heart, and she shakes her head. "Some of us have got to be positive in this world. Cheer certain people up who are sad. I mean, what if there were ten sad people moping around on this beach?" I ask, throwing my free arm out to gesture to the beach.

"That would be bad for business, huh?" She scrunches her nose up and I nod my head.

We carry on walking for a few moments in silence until we reach the end of the beach, where my surf shack sits. I lean my board up against the outside, before turning to her, seeing her take in the shop, and I sigh. "This is where I must bid you ado, milady."

She snorts and shakes her head. "You're such a weirdo."

"Got you to smile, though." I wink at her, and she rolls her eyes. "Your eyes will get stuck like that, you know."

"Who are you? My mother?" She asks and I look down at myself.

"I don't know, I think I could pull off a dress," I say and do a courtesy as if I was wearing a dress.

Someone beeps their horn and we look over, seeing a car pulling over to the side of the road. A little kid waves through the window enthusiastically and I can't help but wave back at one kid who is here for their surfing lesson.

"You all really do know each other around here," she murmurs, and I nod.

"Yeah, that, and I teach the kids to surf. We usually get the regulars around here. I need to get sorted for their lesson," I say, before getting an idea. "Are you sticking around the beach? You're welcome to help. To make sure I'm not making them turn too early or anything."

As much as that amuses her, she looks hesitant, her eyes darting towards the water.

I reassure her. "They're still on basics. This is the beginner class, so they're on the sand today. Think about it."

A couple of regular surfers wave to me before they head into the water. I take one more look at the mystery girl, whose attention is now focused on the surfers, as she walks off. I head inside the surf shack, leaving her to decide what she's doing. Grabbing a towel, I dry off and run it through my hair.

"Hey, shaggy."

I roll my eyes and turn to see Gabi walk into the shack in her uniform, clearly on her way to the café. Throwing the towel under the counter, I ask, "Is there going to be a time in our lives where you won't call me that?"

"Get a haircut and I won't," she jokes, shrugging her shoulders, now standing in front of the counter.

I run my hand through my hair, messing it up a little. "I'll have you know some girls like this look."

She scoffs, raising her eyebrow. "Please, we both know you haven't found the Velma to your Shaggy yet."

"I regret you ever watching those movies with us," I say, pointing to her, before brushing past her and heading outside once more.

"Hey, is that Thalia?" Gabi asks, pointing over and I look seeing her sitting in the sand.

So that's the mystery girl's name. Grabbing smaller boards for the kids that are standing in a rack outside of the shack, I place them on the sand. "That's her name? She comes to the beach every morning, just sits there. She's staying at Easton's."

"She mentioned. She's on the circuit with him," Gabi explains, standing there with her arms crossed while I set up for the surf lesson.

"Yeah, she said. I haven't seen her surf since she's been here. You going to help or just stand there?" I ask, and she rolls her eyes before grabbing the boards and helping me put them in two rows.

"Really? I figured she would. That's why surfers come here in the first place. Maybe she was lying when she said her leg was healed," Gabi comments to herself as we finish and head back inside the shack.

"She was injured?" I question, grabbing a box from the storage room and stocking the empty shelves. Gabi throws her arms into the air.

"You know nothing, do you?" Gabi places her hands on her hips and huff.

"You know I don't pay attention to all that." I say, finishing stocking the shelves before ripping up the box to recycle it.

"She wiped out badly at the Huntington U.S Open six months ago. Broke her leg, severe concussion. Dropped off the map for a while, the media had lots of different rumors about where she went," Gabi fills me in.

"She might be physically healed, but you never know what's going on in someone's mind, Gabs," I say, sighing, knowing how it is.

"That's true. Hey, are you going to give me the spare key to the surf shack for the party tomorrow night?" Gabi wiggles her eyebrows. Talking about the beach party we locals throw from time to time and include the out of towners if there are any about.

"Why would I do that?" I ask.

"Oh, come on, you're not going to let me use those ratty public ones, are you?" Gabi asks, pouting.

"The last time I let you, you forgot to lock up behind you and I walked in on Jamie's naked ass as he fucked some out of towner," I remind her, and she cringes. "Yeah, I can never look at him the same."

"I won't forget this time." She holds her hands up in defense. Sighing, I reach under the counter to grab the spare key and hand it to her as she smiles. "See, what are friends for?"

"Apparently letting friends walk in on naked couples fucking."

✺✺✺

"Alright, that's it for today, guys!"

They all pick the boards up they were using before walking past as I high five each one, as they make their way to the shack to place their boards against the side. After they have, they make their way up the stairs to where their parents will be waiting. Out of the corner of my eye I see Thalia stand up, brushing the sand off her dress before walking over. She sat and watched the practice, never intervening, just watching, as if analyzing.

"How did you find it?" I ask her, as she gets close enough.

"It's nice to know there's a new generation of surfers out there and I guess you're not awful at surfing," she says, and I chuckle.

"It's more of a hobby, anyway. If I didn't teach the kids, they'd have to go to the next town over for lessons," I say with a shrug, and she nods. "Hey, so there's going to be a beach party tomorrow night here, locals and usually when we have out of towners they join too. So, you're more than welcome to come."

"Isn't it too close to the houses? For noise I mean?" She questions, raising her eyebrow and I shake my head.

"We keep it at a respectable level for the residents. Nothing too crazy. A few people go night surfing," I explain, and she nods her head. "Think about it."

She nods her head before walking up the beach to where the stairs lead.

Such a mystery.

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A U T H O R  N O T E

The relationship between Atlas and Gabi gives off such sibling vibes and I love it!!!

Q: Do you think he'll wear down Thalia's hard exterior?

I get the feeling Thalia will be one of those characters where she'll grow on people as time goes on, personally I love Thalia and she is such a different character for me to write, which if you have read my other books you'll know this is my first time writing a female character with a "grumpy" attitude.