Lights Will Guide You Home

Raelynn

"Isn't this absolutely relaxing?" Claire said, stretching.

"Yeah, this is the break I needed," I murmured in response.

Aiden, who was lounging nearby, grunted.

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift away. Just sitting there on the beach under the palm trees without a care in the world. There was nothing else I'd rather be doing.

"Rae?" Claire called.

"Hmm?"

"Rae!" she called again, sounding really concerned.

My eyes snapped open. "What's the matter?"

She was looking around frantically.

"Claire?"

"Michael's missing! I can't see him around anywhere!"

I looked around too. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen him.

"He was there!" Claire pointed at a spot by the shore, a little ahead of us. "Right there! Building a sandcastle!"

I could see the half-finished sand castle, but Michael was nowhere around.

We jumped off our sunbeds and looked around.

"Oh my god...Rae..."

I turned to Claire, she sounded terrified. She was staring out to the sea n horror. I turned to see what she was staring at.

It happened so fast, but we saw it all. Michael was there, far out in the sea when a huge wave came from behind him and knocked him down. I could see his head bobbing up and down as he called out, thrashing around in the water helplessly, and flailing his arms around.

"MICHAEL!" Claire shouted.

Aiden started forward to get to Michael, but then out of a nowhere, a guy who was surfing nearby jumped in. Within no time, he came out with Michael in his arms, unconscious. He was very tall, with an amazingly muscly, toned body. He was shirtless so I could see his bare chest that had just the right amount of muscle. He had dog tags slung around his neck, and his hair was jet black.

He came over to the shore quickly and lay Michael down on the sand. Claire ran over and knelt down beside Michael. "Michael!" She was on the verge of tears.

Just then Michael coughed out all the water and regained consciousness.

"Oh, Michael!" Claire bent over and kissed him on his head.

"You his mum?" the guy asked Claire in a distinctly American accent.

"You could say that," Claire responded, looked up at him briefly then directing her attention back to Michael. I was randomly impressed by Claire because she wasn't drooling over the guy's body.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, helping him sit up.

"What happened?" he coughed.

Aiden and I had run up by then. "A huge wave hit you and you went down under," I answered.

"But this guy here," Claire looked up at Michael's saviour again, "he saved you." She gave him a grateful smile.

Michael looked at his rescuer. "Thank you," he said, giving him a relieved smile.

"Really, thank you." Claire went on. "If you hadn't been around..."she shuddered.

"Nah, it's cool." The guy smiled. On closer look, I noticed he had really dark grey eyes.

"No, seriously...thank you." Claire just couldn't stop. "I...I owe you one."

He laughed good-naturedly. "It's alright, no worries."

"Well..." she looked at him for a bit, not knowing what to say and then began, "I'm Claire, and this is Michael," she hands on Michael's shoulders. Then pointing to us, she said, "that's Aiden, and that's Rae." We all exchanged "hey"s with him.

"Liam." He said, turning to Claire and holding out his hand.

Claire shook it. "Liam." She repeated.

"Where are you guys staying?" he asked.

"Nixe Palace," Claire said, pointing it out behind us.

"Hey, what a coincidence! That's where I'm staying too!"

"Really? Oh, awesome! Well...then, I guess you won't mind joining us for dinner tonight?" Claire asked him, a little shyly.

"Uh..." he paused.

"Please," she insisted. "It's the least I can do to thank you for saving Mikey."

"Okay," he smiled warmly.

"Great!" Claire smiled back. "So...eight o'clock? Caleta del Pescadores?"

"Sounds cool. I'll meet y'all at the reception, yeah?"

"Alright!"

"See ya!" He waved and jogged away.

Michael turned to Claire once Liam was gone. "Claire, I'm really sorry! I went to get some water but the pail got carried away by the waves and – "

"Sshh," Claire said softly. "It's okay." She hugged him tight.