A Collection of Odds & Ends

When the Clock Strikes 12 (Dan Feuerriegel)

A warm breeze, a pack of beer, and a secluded spot on the top of the beach were going to be the best place to spend New Year's Eve. From here Dan could watch the fireworks, hear the music playing on the beach, and still wallow in his self pity. It was perfect.

Plopped down in the warm sand, he sighed and pulled out a bottle of beer, cracking it open and taking a long drink. Drinking alone, on New Year's, surely made him look more pathetic than he would ever want, but right now he didn't much care. Right now, he wanted to be alone. To sit in the sand and forget about the week he'd just endured.

Christmas morning, of all the mornings, he'd got a text from his girlfriend back in LA. She had decided to move out, move on, and she was doing it all while he was away for the holidays. He'd asked her, make that begged her, to come with him. Work, family, friends, the dog, which they didn't even have, needed a hair cut....whatever excuse she could use, she had managed to give him. Now he knew why she was so desperate to stay, bitch.

No, she wasn't a bitch. Calling her a bitch was too nice, she was not nice. A nice person didn't text you on Christmas and tell you that they'd been fucking their personal trainer for the last six months. Taking another long drink of beer, Dan sighed and licked his lips.

Worst. Holiday. Ever.

Toes in the sand, Dan sat watching as the people on the beach seemed to drift and gather, each person gearing up to properly say farewell to the year, while drinking too much, eating more than they were designed to, and all to bring in another year.

Maybe this year he wouldn't be so constricted and tied down? Yeah, this year Dan was going to say fuck it and do what he wanted, when he wanted. No answering to someone, no being told what to do and when by some woman who had no real interest in him. This was a year to do whatever he wanted, to find the things that made him happy.

Finishing his beer, he dropped the empty in the sand with a heavy sigh. Who was he kidding? Once he was back in LA it would be back to the same habits, with or without her dictating his life.

From the corner of his eye, a long movement caught Dan's attention. Behind his sunglasses, which he soon wouldn't need, he glared at the strange woman shuffling through the sand. A blanket under her arm, she carried a bright blue bag over her shoulder, a large yellow sun hat perched on top of her head and a multi coloured wrap around dress flowed in the evening breeze.

Whoever she was, Dan wasn't interested.

Huffing, the stranger stopped a few feet away. Her brow furrowed for a tick, being replaced by a wide toothy smile. She had been scouring the beach for almost an hour and nowhere seemed to be suited to her taste. This looked like a perfect spot, despite the tall, dark haired stranger occupying it. Ah hell, Anna wasn't walking another foot.

"This spot taken?" The blonde woman asked, dropping her blanket and sitting down before Dan had a chance to answer. "I'm Anna." she stuck her hand out.

"Dan."

"Nice to meet you, Dan." She replied sifting through the bag she'd let fall to the ground. Producing a bottle of wine, she grinned, twisting off the top. "Come here often?"

"Uh...No?" Dan shook his head. Who was she and what was she doing?

"Cool." Anna, the stranger, replied. Stretching her legs out, she sighed happily. "Me either."

"Course not." Dan countered. Her American accent was a bit of a give away on that front.

"You from around here?" Was the next question the stranger came out with. For somebody who had just sat down, Anna was rather curious and talkative. Dan wanted to excuse himself, to get up and move down the beach, but it wasn't in him to be rude.