The Crew

Chapter 3

The smell of petrol, rubber and hot food, mixed in with the loud rumble of engines, music and laughter echoed in the air that night when I arrived at The Spit, another local hangout spot for crews. Earlier on, I had told Cassie where I was heading, she was a bit worried until I had assured her that I would be with my boss the whole time. Now I parked my Lexus convertible next to a little blue Toyota Yaris with a wing on it, feeling nervous and somehow scared. I looked up and down the parking lot, trying to spot Josh's Honda Accord in the throng of parked souped up cars. There were a lot more people here than what I was expecting and I felt like a deer in headlights. My hands sweaty, I put down the new camera for a second and I wiped them on my new black skinny jeans and adjusted my black and purple plaid tank top I was wearing. Giving myself a last check in another car's side mirror, I headed through the sea of people clutching the new camera from work in my hands, looking for a tall guy with mousy auburn brown hair and blue eyes.

Finally I heard a familiar voice calling my name. "Hey Watson! Over here!" Josh called out cheerfully, waving me over to where he was standing with a guy with bleached blonde surfer hair and tanned skin. He looked different that night compared to work, wearing a black t-shirt with a Vans Off The Wall logo on it and dark denim jeans with converse shoes. He looked more younger, impish and cute. I blushed catching myself staring and instantly felt shy. "Umm hi," I greeted with a shy smile. Josh and his mates all had cans of Red Bull in their hands and he kindly offered me one, which I took. He started to introduce me to everyone, nodding to the guy with the bleach blonde hair and tanned skin. "This is my buddy, my wingman Tommy. He's actually the crew founder," Josh explained, as the boys high fived each other and laughed. I laughed along with them. That is, until a group of girls came past us. A few of them greeted the boys, giving them flirtatious smiles, before giving me a hostile glare. Suddenly I had a pain go through my head and I winced. A flashback in the back of my mind, about how this wasn't my scene anymore. I tried to hide the pain on my face, but Josh already noticed. He stopped talking to Tommy at that point and excused himself. He gestured at me. "How about we take a walk aye? Get some fresh seabreeze, yeah?" He suggested. I nodded, feeling somewhat claustrophobic now, amongst these people. Josh took my hand, mentioning to Tommy that we would be back later and off we went.

As we walked to the far side of the massive park, the view of the ocean looked in front of us, like a giant velvet carpet. I could see in the far distance little sailboats their lights shining like glass lanterns on a sea of silk. "You okay?" Josh asked, finally breaking the silence. I had noticed that he had not let go of my hand. His promise of making sure I'd feel safe really was working. I kept quiet, my face focused on the rolling waves of the ocean. Josh was aware of what Ella was feeling and squeezed her hand gently. "Does being here bring back memories?" He asked quietly. Josh vaguely knew about what happened to Ella last year. He was hoping she'd open up to him and tell him the full story one day, instead of finding out bits and pieces by everyone else. He was intrigued by her, since the very first day he had hired her. But it also wasn't since then. He had seen her, back when she was with Billy, and even then, he felt like he was falling for her even though he was afraid of admitting it. I looked out towards the sea and nodded sadly. "Vaguely. It's funny, I can remember some things, but then some things can be muddled up or fuzzy and I get frustrated. I wish I could fully remember what happened," I replied in a soft voice. Josh smiled a sympathetic smile and led me to a bench where we sat and watched the waves. In the distance you could still hear the laughter, chatter and music of the meet. "I know it's hard talking about.......stuff.......but I sort of knew your boyfriend........ex boyfriend.......Billy. He always liked to cause trouble for Tommy and I at our meets. I'm pretty sure him and his crew were up to no good, doing shady stuff too. No offence but he was a real douche," Josh remarked with a smirk. I snorted. "I guess I'd have to agree with you there," I said, pulling a face. Josh laughed. Although he never really knew Ella outside of the photography studio, he felt like he knew a few things since he'd seen her with Billy a few times. He didn't really know what a nice girl like her was doing with such a prick.