Music And Silence- A Reylo AU

Chapter 14- End of the Weekend.

Monday and their last day of the long weekend came too soon. A somewhat more chilled approach was planned with a drive to the local tourist favourite Durdle Door, followed by a long stroll. They jumped in the cars en mass, and twenty minutes later they arrived. The walk wasn't far to the main point of attraction, and despite the crowds of other tourists, it was beautiful. The sun was shining, meaning the water around the cliff face was that unbelievable aqua. Rae had always wanted to explore the famous site a bit more thoroughly, and no one else was against it, so they went down to the beach for a closer look.

Rae was not a huge fan of sand; no matter what kind of shoe you wore, it would get in and get in your socks and in-between your toes, and then it would feel like grating sandpaper. The best solution was to get rid of the shoes and deal with sand on bare feet afterwards. As the others walked towards the famous rock feature, Rae sat on one of the steps and removed her shoes and socks, chucking them in her backpack for later. Rose and Finn, who'd been bringing up the rear, stopped at her side.

"Planning on paddling?" Finn asked.

"I don't like sand in my shoes, but I may dip my toes in."

"Good idea," Rose said, plonking down beside Rae and removing her shoes.

They strolled across sand and pebbles towards where the others stood at the base of the cliff face. Ben and Hux were removing their shoes, having decided that a rock climbing race was a good idea. Rae watched with the others as Hux climbed higher and higher, too high to comfortably jump back down, and Ben was fast on his heels.

"What are you two doing? That's really high! How are you going to get down?" Paige shouted.

"Paige, it's fine; they rock climb all the time," Phoebe said as the boys climbed higher and higher.

"Jesus, Hux is like fucking Spiderman!" Rae announced as she looked up to see Hux in a very odd position as he turned slightly to face them, having reached the invisible finish line before Ben, who was similarly leaning back far too casually, gripping the cliff with just one arm.

"Yeah, and that makes Ben the Beast," Wesley countered. Everyone turned to Wesley, a tad confused. "From X-men."

"Ahhhh," proceeded from most of those on the ground and nods that Wesley's assessment was fair. Above them, Hux shook his hand in victory, then turned back around and started to come back down the cliff.

"Thank god we have medical professionals with us," Rae said, gesturing to Paige and Wesley. "I can't watch anymore; my nerves can't take it. I'm gonna paddle," she said, walking towards the water's edge.

Rae stood in the shallows, letting the waves roll over her feet. The water here was warm-ish, but she knew just that little bit further in, and it would be cold. She heard racing feet behind her and turned to see Phoebe and Paige charging for her.

"Oh, no fair she heard us coming," Paige yelled, slowing down as Phoebe rushed Rae in a hug.

"That's cos you sound like a herd of charging elephants," Rae answered, being muffled by Phoebe's embrace.

Once everyone was together again, Hux demanded food in the form of local Dorset ice cream, and no one objected, so they all huddled on a step, dried their feet, donned shoes and headed back towards the village.

.....................................................................................................

The evening back at the farmhouse was a quiet one. Hux wanted to take Phoebe out for a romantic meal, and Finn and Rose were heading back into Weymouth to catch a film. Paige and Wesley wanted a quiet evening alone as they were back on shift Tuesday evening, so they'd grabbed food and retired to bed, leaving Rae and Ben alone and awkward. After some awkwardness that Rae couldn't stand, she excused herself, stating she was going to read in bed. However, an hour later, Rae was struggling with her book. Outside, it was twilight; not too late to do something. She pondered about playing the piano but decided doing some lengths would be the perfect way to spend the evening before heading to bed. She changed and headed down in her bikini and hoodie with a towel under her arms.