California Dreaming

Chapter Nine

   I squeezed Gabriel’s hand in mine, swinging our arms between us. My feet sank deep into the warm, powdery sand and I could feel it in between my toes, tickling my skin. The cool breeze blew past and lifted my fine, wispy hair from my shoulders. Gabes coiled his arm around me and smoothed my hair back down. 

   “Have you had a nice time?” Gabriel asked, clasping hold of my right hand with his left and positioning my other palm across his shoulder, smoothing his down to my waist. We started moving slowly from side to side, as Gabriel began to hum my favourite song. 

   “Of course,” I grinned bashfully, feeling myself blush, and suddenly, Gabes twirled me around twice, before returning his hand to the back of my waist, continuing to sway. “Wow, how suave of you,” I giggled, looking up into his twinkling eyes. His arm was wrapped around my body so tight, we were close enough to feel each other’s racing hearts. 

   “You ready to go?” He asked. 

   “No!” I protested, letting go of him and starting to jog down the beach, in the opposite direction to where the car was parked. Gabes followed after me, sprinting and throwing me over his shoulder. “Gabes!” I laughed manically. “Put me down!” 

   “Nope!” He chuckled, swinging me around so he was holding me in his arms, like a child. He stopped walking and a shy smile rose at the edge of his lips. “You look so beautiful, Ji,” I just looked down modestly, unsure of how to react. 

   “Even though I’m Asian?” I wondered with a mischievous smile, knowing my comment would make him laugh. 

   I may joke about it, but in a way, I was self conscious about it, about my heritage. My mother came from Hong Kong, she was small and slim, with dark hair and bone structure to kill for; my father was American. He was tall and muscular, tanned, with chiseled features and my green eyes. I missed them sometimes, because they were hardly ever around. 

   “Especially because you’re Asian,” Gabes grinned, “you know, you remind me of one of those Bone girls. You know the ones, the ones who run across the beach in their gold bikinis and come from exotic lands.” 

   “I’m flattered,” I giggled, “but, I think you,” I stroked my finger down the bridge of his nose and he scrunched up his face in response, “are bias.” My phone started vibrating in the pocket of my jeans and Gabriel put me down on the ground to give me a chance of answering it. 

   “Is it your boyfriend?” He whispered, grimacing. “You better now tell him I’m here.” I rolled my eyes and looked at the screen of my phone, beginning to frown in confusion. “What?” 

   “It’s just,” I paused, trying to get round what was on my screen, “it’s a friend, from England I mean.” I had missed the call but she had left me a voice message instead. 

   “Do you want some time alone?” Gabriel asked, starting to move away from me, kissing my hand. 

   “Umm, yes, thanks,” I smiled, “I’ll meet you by the car.”

   I waited until Gabriel was a fair distance away before sitting down in the sand and holding the phone to my ear, playing the voicemail. I glanced over my shoulder, at Gabriel, where he was seated in his Jeep, keeping an eye on me. There was the brief noise of my phone’s dial tone before I heard the familiar voice of one of my best friends back home. I guess I hand’t really had time to think about how much I missed her and the others, things had been moving so fast here. 

   “JiJi,” I smiled hearing her use my pet name, “how’s everything going in Beverly Hills? I know we haven’t spoken much, but I really do understand that you are just trying to move on from what happened.” I felt bad, because she wasn’t expecting me to feel guilty. I missed seeing her optimistic expression, her long, strawberry blonde hair and porcelain skin. Her tone seemed off. “Okay,” she took a deep breath and I think she swore to herself under her breath. “I need to tell you something, I need to,” she paused again, “oh shit,” she muttered. “Look, just call me back.” 

   I had no idea what was going on, but there was a familiar fear deep down in my stomach, something I hadn’t felt for a while now. I was anxious that what she was going to tell me would bring my whole world crumbling down. Her phone was ringing and I was worried she would not pick up the call. 

   “Jia,” Millie said happily, when the line was finally connected. 

   “Hi,” I laughed, watching the waves crashing along the shore, “how are you?” 

   “I’m good, I’m good,” she replied, “how about you, how is your new California life?” 

   “Umm, well, I bumped into this guy I used to know as a child,” I started to explain, “he was my old neighbor and we go to the same school and now, we’re kind of, I suppose, dating.” 

   “Oh my God,” Millie cooed, “I’m happy for you, Jia, I really am.” 

   “Thank you,” I giggled, touching my fingers lightly to my lips, my smile faded quickly, because I knew something else was coming. “You wanted to tell me something?” I asked cautiously, unsure if I wanted to know. 

   “Umm, yes,” she paused and took a deep breath. “Harry’s trial was yesterday.” I could not believe I had forgotten that.  

   “And?” I prompted, my heart pounding against my ribs. 

   “I’m sorry, Jia.” 

   “What do you mean?” I said numbly, “Why are you apologizing?” I ran my fingers through my hair in agitation. 

   “I was so sure, I thought,” she stopped again. “Jia, he got off, he wasn’t charged.” It’s hard to explain the terror that surged through my body then, because although I knew he wasn’t here, he was in England, he could still get to me, he could still kill me. 

   “How did this happen?” I was finding it hard to produce any words from my mouth. 

   “He pleaded not guilty, he gave a good testimony, he did that puppy dog thing with his eyes which made all of us fall for him. The fact that you weren’t there to testify, I mean, they thought it was all a scam.” 

   “I couldn’t stand and look at him, send him to jail myself,” I felt as though I had to justify my actions. 

   “I’m not blaming you, Ji, I’m really not,” she assured me. 

   “But you were there, weren’t you? Cassie and Sam too?” I said franticly. Surely seeing Harry’s best friend testify against him would have some affect on the jury, would have been some indication of the things he was capable of. 

   “Of course I was there,” Millie sighed, “it just wasn’t enough, I’m sorry.” 

   All I was focussing on was the steady sound of the ocean, the tide moving in and out over the sand; I couldn’t really think of anything to say. 

   “Jia, are you there?” Millie asked cautiously. 

   “Yes,” I nodded slowly, biting my bottom lip. 

   “I’m so sorry, I am.” 

   “I know, it’s not your fault,” I shut my eyes, trying to get rid of the tears about to spill over, “it’s no-one’s fault, he’s just a fucking manipulative bastard.” I tensed my shoulders and shivered, it felt as if the sun had been sucked right out of the sky. “I’ll call you soon, okay?” 

   “Yeah, okay, I’m sorry, Jia. Bye,” she blew me a kiss down the phone and I hung up, standing up and letting my arms hang down at my sides, trying to get a grasp on the situation. 

   I should have been there, I knew that, but how was I supposed to stand in front of jury and explain the effect he had on me. He may have stabbed me, but I didn’t want to be the one responsible for sending him to prison. But, now he was out there again, he was free to do whatever the hell he wanted. He was free to take a plane over here and do it all over again.