Phenomenal

29 ~ Song of The Sea

                  

"WHY do we do this every year?! Wasn't bonfire night enough?" Charlotte snarled from the passenger seat of Adam's car, bundled like a fat penguin with layers upon layers of clothing, the heater set to Tropical as she, Adam, Clarissa and Jason raced up the motorway, part of a long procession of cars who were all making their way to the beach.

It certainly was a tad chilly - to put it mildly - it was almost certain they'd have the beach to themselves. Which was great, but also proved that really they were the only people stupid enough to be out on the beach in November. And of course it wasn't just a few people, there were thirty people - a hoard of stupid people.

Bonfire night had only just passed a few days ago and everyone agreed that it was so horribly cold this year - and it had become so horribly cold so very quickly. One day, autumn had been clinging onto warmth, the next and winter was looming up on them.

It was only two hours to the beach, parking wasn't hard and everyone quickly got to work unpacking everything, dragging it all down the sand, setting up the wind breakers, building up campfire, preparing food and drink and propping up tents.

In less then half an hour, they had created their own mini city and everyone was gathered around fires, lounging in chairs, sipping tea, coffee and hot chocolate, chatting and laughing.

Of course, unsurprisingly, there were a few brave (idiotic) souls who went in the sea. Shoes off and trousers rolled up; there was a lot of screaming from the water and laughing from the shore.

Violet wanted to go in and try it but Darcy flat out refused, wrapping her up in another scarf and slowly turning her into a Christmas present. Instead, she was allowed to make sand castles and that soon led to a group of the guys getting involved which resulted into a sand competition - which was more of a 'who could build the tallest mound?' competition - apart from Barry. Barry made an actual castle that stood a meter tall and a meter wide with details and even a small princess in a long dress out front. He instantly became Violet's favourite person for the evening.

A few hours in and hot (hot) food was passed out before everyone settled back to wait for the sunset. It was, at the very least, a clear day; even if the sun did absolutely nothing to help warm them, they couldn't complain seeing as they perhaps wouldn't see it again until March.

Everything was accomplished with military precision as usual and Sasha was satisfied with the outcome, which meant no stress for anyone else.

Apart from Clarissa.

Since they'd left London to that moment, she'd received a call once every fifteen minutes from Brett, in which he had complained about something pointless or checked in on her day or ask who she was with or told her about his day - he'd done nothing with his day when he'd usually be working.

She'd turned her phone off for an hour, just an hour, to shut it up and when she'd turned it back on again, Brett had deafened her saying he'd think she was up to something.

Charlotte had intervened, getting into a snarling match over the phone with Brett who didn't back off for once and Clarissa left them to it, enjoying the sunset instead at the edge of the shore, being sure to keep her boots dry.

"Sounds lively," Damien said, stopping beside her and folding his arms.

"Charlotte verses Brett, it's always lively," Clarissa said, tilting her head to the side, watching the sun slowly sink.

"What's wound him up this time?"

"Oh who knows," she sighed, "My being here? Your existence? He ran out of corn flakes? If it was going to make him so damn stressed, he should have just bloody joined us. It's not like it's residence only, outsiders can come, they just usually don't." She let out another irritated sigh, shaking her head and straightened up.