Waves

o n e

~PRESENT~

Amelia stood along the shore of the ocean, her feet buried deep into the hot sand as her brown hair blew around her face from the light breeze. She watched as dozens of boats cruised over the water, causing the waves to crash calmly around her legs. She had missed the roar of the ocean and the sand between her toes.

She couldn't believe that she was back in the Outer Banks. When she left a year ago, she swore to herself that she would never come back. She swore that her heart couldn't take it, no matter how much she missed it. No matter how much it felt like home. And it absolutely felt like home.

She didn't think that she would ever be able to face that blonde boy that she had left heartbroken, crying on his doorstep, ever again. When she left, she planned on never setting foot over the state line again.

But here she was.

As she looked out over the ocean, she thought about the phone call from Sarah just a few short weeks ago asking her to please come back to Outer Banks and stay with her for the summer. Flashbacks flooded her mind of that past summer, which made it so hard to say no.

Although she longed for another summer here, a summer by the ocean soaking up the sun with her friends, that blonde boy crossed her mind over and over again as a solid reason not to come back. She was more nervous than she could ever admit to see JJ.

She secretly wished that he hadn't forgotten about her now, no matter how much she had hoped that he did over the last year.

Thinking like that was crossing over into extremely dangerous territory.

She had debated for days, her mind switching back and forth, trying to decide if going back to the place that owned her heart was really the best thing for her to do. She knew the circumstances she was in, and she knew that as soon as JJ found out that she was back, he would be begging on his knees for her to take him back.

And she knew that she would have a lot of explaining to do. She was already aware that she broke his heart. How could she pack up and leave suddenly, leaving him behind and never looking back, and everything be okay?

When she came back home to Massachusetts, for the first month, she thought about JJ nonstop. She cried almost every single day over him, missing him more than she had ever missed anybody in her entire life, besides her mom. And every single day when she talked to Sarah, she asked how JJ was. She hated herself for asking about him. She knew that she shouldn't, but she couldn't help herself. She still loved him, still cared about him, and always would. Knowing that JJ was okay made being away from him just a little bit easier.

After those first few weeks, she knew that she had to force herself to get over him. And so she did.

At least she tried to convince herself that she did.

Amelia smiled to herself as the clouds moved from in front of the sun, beaming down on her, the heat warming her skin.

"I thought I'd find you here." The voice sounded behind her, and Amelia turned her body, coming face to face with Rafe. She felt her heartbeat quicken and her stomach turn as she laid eyes on him. When she arrived at the Cameron's a little bit ago, he wasn't home yet, so she hadn't even gotten to see him yet. She had been nervous to see him, but standing there looking at him now, she felt good that maybe this summer they could have a genuine friendship.

"Hey." She smiled, taking a step closer to him and wrapping her arms around his body. After everything that had happened between them, all she wanted to do was put everything from their past behind them.

She pulled back from him, looking up to meet his gaze. His brown eyes looked darker than they had the previous summer. Maybe it was because they didn't have that same lust in them when he looked at her like they had before. "It's good to see you, Rafe. It feels so good to be back, even though I really thought I never would be."