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CHAPTER 3
Annie
AMENDS
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"ANNIE WAIT!" I HEAR FROM BEHIND ME AS I EXIT THE PLANE. I turn around to see Julian running up to me. "I'm sorry for the fight on the plane." He says.
"It's alright. Let's just pretend that it never happened." I say, fixing the strap on my backpack. "Where are you going to be staying?" Julian asks as we walk out the airport together after getting our baggage from baggage claim. "Ginny and her boyfriend agreed to let me stay at the beach house again. Where are you going to be staying?" I ask.
"Hotel. Mum pre-checked me in so that when I arrived I wouldn't have to spend any money." We walk the rest of the way until we get outside where I see my rental car waiting for me. "Well this is my car." I say motioning to the car.
"Well I guess I'll see you around then Annie Grace." Julian smiles. "Oh! And before you go, here's the number to my hotel and hotel room in case you wanted to hang out." He says, handing me a slip of paper with his hotel room number on it.

☆

The beachouse looks exactly how it was since the last time I was here. The only difference is Julian isn't with me this time. I stand in the hallway looking at everything, it all feels the same but looks so different at the same time. Every room has either white painted or grey painted walls, this place was my hrid home, aside from the hospital and my real home. It's the one place I can escape to and just live. No oxygen tank. No medication. No doctors. Just myself. It felt good to finally have that freedom. I finally finished unpacking all my clothes when I get a text from Julian. I hesitate for a moment deciding whether or not I should text him back or not.

Julian
Hey Grace, wanna hang out later?

Annie
Sure, where?

Julain
The beach. You know the spot 😉

Annie
Yeah I remember 😂

Julian
Great! See you there 🙂

I put my phone down and change into something more beach appropriate. I found a nice light blue swimsuit and light blue dress that I found in my suitcase and decided to wear that. I put on my white sneakers since we were just going for a walk on the beach and grabbed my phone and sunglasses.

Thankfully the beach house sits on top of the hill so you can overlook the beach so I didn't have to walk very far. As soon as my feet touched the sand, it all came back- It was windy, but refreshing because of the nice, cool, yet refreshing, breeze running against my body and through my hair. The sounds of the waves crashing against the shore was relaxing. The view is always nice and sometimes unsurreal when I look into the distance. At night, the stars and moon create a perfectly illuminated image against the waves that always puts me at ease.
I walk along the shore, the cool waves crashing against my feet and ankles. I look up towards the sky, watching as the seagulls sore through the air. That's what I love about birds, they're careless, free to do what they want. Without a care in the world. I put my sunglasses over my eyes and continued walking, waiting for Julian. "Annie!" I hear. Speak of the devil. I look behind me to see Julian waving in my direction.
As soon as he catches up to me, that familiar feeling I get every time he's around-warmth. "Took you long enough to get here, lazy." I joke. "I'm sorry, couldn't decide which shirt to wear." He smiles. "Diva." I say and look at him.
"Strong choice of words there Annie Grace. Considering it literally took you 2 hours to get ready for the luau party last time we were here." Julian says, putting his sunglasses on.
"Not far! It was my first time going to a luau, I wanted to look nice," I defend myself. "You always look nice, Annie." Julian says. I don't say anything. I just look down at the sand. I don't say anything after that. After all that time apart, it still felt like it was only moments ago that I saw him in that hallway, staring down at his phone wearing that grey sweater that smelt like him, tan khaki jeans and the same black sneakers that he's wearing now.
"I can tell when something's wrong Annie, I know you." Julian says, breaking me out of my train of thought. I hated that about him- how well he knows me, like an open book. But then again, it was one of the things that I love about him too. "I think it would be best to just be friends. Less complicated that way." I say. "I agree, why rush into things when we can spend the next two weeks getting to know each other?" Julian says, moving some of his hair away from his eyes.
"Exactly! We'll just take it day by day and see how it goes from there." I say. Julian nods his head before turning to look out towards the ocean. "Want to go swimming?" He asks, looking back at me. "No" I say, looking back at him and then at the ocean.
"Why not?" Julian says, stopping me from walking further. "Because I don't want to and I'm not wearing a swimsuit." I lie. "Excuses, Excuses." He says, shaking his head and continues walking. I watch as Julian makes his way towards the water, slipping his navy blue shirt off in the process. "Julian!" I call after him. "You coming or what?!" He shouts, tuning back towards me, he's only wearing his swim trunks, so I can see the lean smooth muscles of his chest and stomach. The wind was blowing vigorously, making his hair blow in different directions. Julian gives me a toothy grin and motions for me to join. I sigh before starting to untying my dress and tossing it on the sand along with my sneakers, sunglasses and jewelry.
Julian is already in the water by the time I reach him.We swam for a while until stop and swim back to shore. "Where are you going?!" Julian yells out to me. "Getting a surfboard!" I call back as I run to one of the surf shops near the beach. After renting the surfboard, I run back to the beach with it in my arms, I put it in the water and paddle out to Julian. "Oh no. No, No. I'm not going through that again." Julian says, referring to the time I taught him how to surf. "Shut up, It's not for you." I say, sitting on the board looking up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight, just the clear blue sky.