Rhys

"Hey, Del. Come help me with this."

Maddy rolls her eyes at me, and with a huff, she slumps off to Jason, fidgeting with her rented wetsuit.

"Ready guys?"

I turn my gaze to Luke as he drops his board in front of Beca, Liss, and me. I've enjoyed having Liss back in my life. She might be the only thing pulling me back to the city, but at the moment, with the way she can boost my mood with a single sentence, going home seems a lot less daunting.

Beca reaches up to pull the front of her chin length hair into small plaits and ponytail on the top of her head. I flick at it with my finger, and she slaps my hand away.

"Beca." Luke's growl makes all three of us jump.

"I know how to surf, you knob." Beca sweeps her foot into Luke's ankle, and he falls to the sand with a painful thud. Luke springs to his all fours as if the fall didn't hurt and lunges at Beca, who leaps behind Liss.

Liss pulls up a sparring guard, and Luke backs off, relaxing his stance.

"Calm down, Liss. No need to go all MMA on me."

"Yeah, no need. Because I would whoop your ass anyway," Beca fires back, peering over Liss’ shoulder, lessening her threat.

"Says the girl hiding behind someone else. Speaking of, stand that side of Rhys. Rhys, stand between those two."

"I am not getting in the middle of that." I jerk my head towards the two girls and notice their conjoined hands tucked behind Liss' back, out of Luke's sight.

Menna appears by Luke's side, and she turns for him to do up her wetsuit. While he's distracted, I step closer to Bec and Liss.

"I'm surprised you haven't knocked him out already."

Luke's always been funny about the way Beca and Liss are. I know Liss has just come out of a long, complicated relationship, but I think he's the only thing stopping these two doing anything serious beyond flirting.

"It's tempting," Liss mutters. "But not worth the hassle. Also, Bec would probably stop talking to me."

Beca nods, pinching her lips. She glances at Luke and wanders off to Josie as he approaches.

"Liss." Luke claps his hands inches from Liss' face. "Stop looking at my sister like that."

"Like what?"

“You know what,“ Luke grumbles as he turns to his board. "Let's just get on with it. I wanna surf.”

"Good. I'm fed up of looking at your face," Liss retaliates.

"Thought you'd like it. He looks a lot like Beca," I point out.

“Dude. Really?” Liss tilts her head as she studies Luke as if she's only just noticing the similarities between the siblings.

"Guys, come on. I wanna go surf. You have limited time."

"Okay. We'll stop," I say, and Liss nods, but Luke's eyes still narrow to slits.

“So first, you'll want to climb onto your board. Which is sometimes the hardest part, especially towards the end of the session when you're getting tired. But once you're on, you'll be belly down. Like this." Luke drops to his belly on his board and starts waving his hands through the air. "Come on, guys."

I give Liss a side glance, and we burst into simultaneous laughter at Luke's erratic movement.

"There is no way that works. You look like you're drowning."

"If you don't stop, I'm gonna leave you, and you can figure it out yourselves, and you'll have a shit time."

"He does look stupid.” Beca hovers over the three of us, her board tucked under her arm. “But it actually helps doing it on land first."

"Fine,” I say.

Liss and I drop to our boards and wave our arms in the air like we're drowning. Beca bursts into laughter, and Luke freezes.

"What is that?"

Liss props her head up on her elbows. "It's how you paddled."

"I wish I never invited you two to my birthday surf day."

"I don't," Beca mutters, and I catch Liss winking at her in response.

"Beca. Fuck off. This is already taking longer than it should.”

Beca's dimpled smile drops and she runs off into the sea.

"Then place your hands either side of the board like this,” Luke continues in a steady voice as if the interruption hadn't happened. I copy Luke's positioning of his hands. "And you can either go on one knee or push up completely onto your feet like this."

My attention is drawn away when I catch Maddy and Jason striding into the sea together a short distance away. I wonder what's made her seem calmer today. The last time I saw them together, she yelled at him.

"Rhys." Luke's sharp voice catches my attention back to what I'm meant to be doing and I grimace when Liss and Luke Are now standing on their boards.

"What?" I jump to my feet and grin proudly at Luke.

"What are you staring at?"

"Just glad those two are getting on."

Luke follows my lazy point. "Good.” He turns to glare at Liss. ”One less thing I need to worry about today."

"What did I do?"

“You know what you did.” Luke studies my feet and waves a finger at them. “Rhys, try your other foot forward. You're probably goofy."

I squint at Luke. "Was that meant to be an insult?"

"No. You're a lefty, you idiot. You'll probably prefer your left leg at the back. It's just what it's called in surfing."

I narrow my eyes at Luke not believing him, but switch legs anyway.

"Good, you both got it?"

"Yeah. Climb on the board. Jump on my feet. Cruise onto the shore." Liss strikes a pose and runs her hand over her hair, complete with a smoulder. "And all the girls flood their basements."

I snort and indicate to her wetsuit. "Not in that ugly thing, you're not.”

"I dunno..." Liss trails off as her eyes run up a body by the shoreline.

"Don't finish that sentence,” Luke growls and turns away from us, claiming his board.

Ignoring Luke, I flick my gaze out to where Maddy, Jason, Josie, Beca and Menna are huddled together in the sea. Liss has a point. Beca plays rugby and has some strong legs and a good ass and the wetsuit defines it all.

I pull my gaze back to Liss with a groan and punch her in the arm. "What the fuck, Liss. You just made me check out Beca. She's like my sister."

A smirk spreads over her face. "Told you."

"I feel a little bit sick."

"Not gonna lie,” Liss continues, still staring at the rest of the group. “Maddy looks pretty hot in hers."

Before I know it I'm checking Maddy out. I've worked the farm with her for weeks and the wetsuit defines a body I hadn't noticed before. Whereas Beca is athletic and all defined muscle, Maddy is built naturally strong.

She's broad, and my eyes follow the shape of her narrow waist and round hips. She's not as toned as Beca and carries a little more weight, but it doesn't take away from her beauty.

Right now she's sporting a smile that would have any guy falling for her.

Jason is a lucky guy.

"If you guys don't want any more help, I'm going." Without letting either of us comment, Luke runs into the sea.

Turns out, it's really fucking hard. And as much as me and Liss try, we pull no girls.

Liss gets to her feet before I do, but neither of us can stay standing for long. I claim I'm too tall, but Liss won't accept it.

But, despite its difficulties, it's the first time since arriving at Luke and Menna's I haven't thought about Hannah for an extended period of time. I can imagine her lounging on the beach with Josie and Menna, rather than joining us, but the thought is fleeting and doesn't haunt me.

I catch a wave, but don't even make it to my feet before I fall off my board and tumble with the wave. I'm drained.

"Rhys." Luke calls from the sand, having just surfed his way in. "Go take a break. You're getting worse. Your arms are tired. You'll be better when you come back in."

He points over to a figure laying back on the surfboard past the waves on the gentle sea.

I look around. Maddy and Beca have drifted off from the rest of us and I catch them both cruising easily into the beach on a wave.

Liss and Josie are sitting in the shallow water chatting. Jason is with me and Luke. Which leaves Menna out on her own.

I nod at Luke and push through the waves. I'm so wiped by the time I reach Menna, I can't get back on my board and just hang off the side, resting my head on my crossed arms.

"Alright, Men?"

"Yeah. I don't have the stamina Luke does. I'm glad he's got you lot to tire him out."

"Yeah. This has been fun."

She turns her head and shields her eyes from the sun. "You seem happy."

"I am."

"Good." She was more Hannah’s friend than either Liss or Luke and I’m glad I have someone to share that with. The conversation turns to Hannah, and unlike the last time we spoke about her, I enjoy the conversation.

I don't know how long we're out here, lying on my back with my fingers skimming the water, when the board tips on a wave and lurches from underneath me. I plunge into the cold water and yelp when I resurface to find Maddy laughing hysterically at me. She swims her board out of my reach, leading me back towards the waves.

"Good wave coming. You ready?"

I line up with her and get to my feet, but my board isn't straight and when I fall, I take Maddy with me.

"You ass. You couldn't have fallen into Menna?"

"Yeah, like I can control where I fall," I drawl.

Maddy jumps onto her board with ease and crawls off. She catches the next wave and sticks two fingers up at me as she passes and cruises in beside Jason.

"Nice one, Del."

Maddy grins in return to Jason’s praise, but doesn't say anything or stay with him. There seems to be a lightness about her today that I haven't seen in a while. I thought her telling me about their history would bring up old memories that would cause her to feel worse, but she seems better.

And there’s something about that I find unexpectedly pleasing.

She wades back out to me and together we crawl out beyond the waves. Frowning at the soft waves that are coming through, Maddy sits back, straddling her board.

"You enjoying this?"

"Yeah. More Than I thought.” I copy her movement and sit up. “I haven't quite got it yet. I keep falling."

"Which way?"

"Sort of forward and right.”

"You need to put more weight on your back leg then. You're probably leaning too heavily on your front leg."

I mumble out my gratitude as I think about her words. My focus settles on Luke and Jason sitting in similar positions, waiting for the waves to pick up.

"What's Del?" I ask.

Maddy rolls her eyes with a small huff, her eyes settle on Jason as she speaks.

"When we were kids at school, Jason found out that Del is Welsh for pretty and because it's part of my name, he thought it was perfect for me." She shrugs, turning back to her board as if the memory means nothing to her. And maybe it doesn't anymore.

I frown, but she answers before I ask my question.

"Ma-del-eine."

My frown turns to Jason. I'm still surprised when Maddy talks about him like this. This isn't the Jason I met years ago when he visited Luke at university. It never occurred to me there was a different side to him. The side Maddy fell for.

"Cute.” I turn back to Maddy with a cheeky grin. “Honestly though, I think Madd suits you better."

She lifts her gaze with a scowl so severe, I almost back off.

"Yeah. That's not helping your cause."

"Fuck off." She kicks my board with enough force, I fall into the sea. I resurface, spluttering out coughs to find her swimming away from me.

I spend too long trying to stay out of her reach that I get worse at surfing. When Liss brags about being better than me, I force myself to forget about Maddy so I can concentrate on what I'm doing. With the advice from Maddy, I finally manage to work out how to surf all the way into the shore.

When Luke informs us this will be our last surf, I line up my board beside Maddy's. But instead of catching the wave, I flip her board.

I hold onto her board for her as she finds her bearings and resurfaces, a string of angered curses tumbling in my direction.

"Hey, Madd."

"Is this it now? That's my name from now on?"

I grin proudly and nod. "Yep."

"Okay then." Her eyebrows shoot up and I'm not sure I want to hear what's coming next. My laughs sober to a stop. "Worst Man Rhys."

I cast a playful glare as she drops her forehead to the board laughing. As she hoists herself onto her board, I grab the zip chord at the back of her wetsuit and yank her backwards. Her arms flail as she flies backwards, landing in the water again. Her face is livid when she catches my eye.

I lean forward and grip her wrist to keep her in place.

“See,” I say in a low growl. “You are mad all of the time.”

“Because you infuriate me.” She peers up at me with water clinging to her eyelashes. “You really are the worst.”

Our gazes hold for a moment, until a smile splits both our lips.

If I got nothing out of this trip, at least I made friends with someone I share no memories of Hannah with.