Chapter Four

Once the food was ready, everyone took their seats as they ate and caught up. Kevin and Stephanie somehow ended up sitting close to Heather and Jamie, so they had no choice but to talk together. At first it was a bit uncomfortable, with mainly Jamie and Stephanie filling the silence as Heather and Kevin only answered the odd question directed at them. But eventually they started telling stories from high school, about the whole group and the things they'd gotten up to at the beach, among other places.

"Do you remember when we jumped off of the harbour arm?" Kevin asked with a chuckle, making Heather laugh as well.

"We got into so much trouble, I thought my mum was going to have a heart attack and then come back to kill me," she said, struggling to breathe. "See, the harbour arm is actually not safe to jump off. I can show you tomorrow or when we go near it, and we were so lucky we didn't get hurt," she explained to the other two.

"Yeah, coz we took a running leap," Kevin exclaimed. "Though Heather did break her arm when we jumped off the swings in a dare," he added, making the other two laugh nervously as the girl in question blushed.

"How old were you when that happened?" Jamie asked, wondering how long they'd actually known each other.

"Fifteen, I think," Heather hated to admit it. "We should've known better really," she added, getting two nods in response. "Besides, you're the one who ended up running straight into that post and looking like you got your ass kicked," she said now, giving Kevin a shove. He gave her an indignant look.

"Did not."

"Did too, it was on that night out in the winter, when the high street in Ramsgate was like an ice rink. You were trying to run towards the post, to grab onto it and swing round it, but it went really wrong," Heather insisted, getting two unimpressed looks as well as a look of realisation.

"Oh yeah…." Kevin said with a chuckle, remembering now. "So, how did you two meet?" he asked, noticing Jamie and Stephanie were getting a little bored.

"In the library café a few weeks ago. Even though we do know a few mutual people, we just never properly met," Jamie answered, giving Heather a smile. She gave a hesitant smile back as he took hold of her hand. "How about you?"

"We met in class in our first year," Kevin answered.

"So you've been together for nearly three years?" Jamie asked.

"No. We started getting to know each other first before Kevin asked me out in our second year," Stephanie said, as they smiled at each other sweetly.

"Cool," he nodded, as his date had to do her best not to knock back her drink, unable to fight back a twinge of jealousy. "Oh hey, they got music," he pointed out when he saw some guys setting up a boombox. "I'm going to get another drink. Do you want anything?" Jamie now asked as he got up, looking at Heather. They'd left their bags under the table when they'd first gotten there.

"Yeah, but just bring the whole bag over. Then we can keep an eye on it," she told him with a nod.

"Sure thing, babe," he nodded and headed over to their bag.

Come on, yeah. Well it's been 7 years since that summer. Why d'you call me at all?

Coz I'm with her now, you know you were hard to get over. But I finally forgot all those times somehow.

Heather looked up when she heard the first song they put on, and involuntarily glanced over at her ex-boyfriend. She gave a small smile when Stephanie looked up at her and started playing with a thread at the bottom of her skirt.

You know, it's only because we were young, and we promised to always remember, that we'd wind up together forever. Looking back, we sure had some fun. A summer lost in the sun.

Kevin glanced up at Heather for a second as well, before continuing his conversation with his girlfriend. The song and sitting here at the beach definitely brought back some memories, for both of them.

"Well, well, Miss Fawcett, Mr Locklear, Miss Jones, see you're back from university," they heard a rather serious and familiar voice say. They looked up over their shoulders guiltily and saw one of the local police officers stood there with one of his Police Community Support Officers.

"Hey Danny," Heather smiled when she recognised him. "We're not in trouble, right?" she asked, just in case. The music wasn't playing that loud, but she supposed that the combination of the music and their voices might have disturbed the surrounding residences.

"Not yet," he told them with a smile. "Just, don't keep it up too late alright. I'd hate to have to take you to the station again. And on your first night back as well," he said now with a teasing wink, "welcome back," and started walking away from the group, calling out the occasional warnings to some individuals.

"Wait, the station again? You guys have been arrested?" Stephanie asked Kevin, shocked that he may have been in trouble with the law. He looked rather uncomfortable; he hadn't told her because it had actually not been a big deal and he didn't think she'd ever find out.

"You never told me that," Jamie now rounded on Heather as well.

"We didn't get arrested," Kevin quickly defended them.

"But he said…" his girlfriend started.

"It was more of a warning," Heather tried to make it less serious.

"A warning?" her date asked confused.

"What did you do that warranted a warning?" Stephanie asked. She wasn't liking this part of the reminiscing.

"Nothing bad. We'd just been on a night out in Ramsgate and got back here…" Kevin started.

"And…?" his girlfriend pressed him.

"We were just a bit drunk and loud, so to scare us and warn us for next time they took us to the station. Gave us coffee to sober up and stuff," Heather backed him up. "That's probably why he mentioned it now, just to remind us," she added with a shrug. Jamie seemed satisfied with her explanation, but Stephanie didn't seem entirely convinced yet.

"I can't believe he came by like that," Bianca said as she sat down next to Heather, getting a hug from her. Kevin gave her a look to tell her to drop it when he saw his girlfriend's face; she'd heard enough for one night. "We're not even being that loud, do you remember that one party we had…?" she continued, either not knowing what the look was about or deciding to ignore it.

"Yes, we remember," Kevin cut her short. "Steph, do you wanna go for a walk to stretch our legs?" he asked as he shot up. He just wanted to get away from the whole police thing and the stories that could possibly top that. His girlfriend nodded and took the hand he offered her. She waited with questioning him until they were a little way away from his old friends.

"Did I do something wrong?" Bianca asked a little confused, looking at Heather and Jamie for answers. Her friend rubbed her arm in a comforting manner.

"No, it's just Stephanie wasn't too happy to hear about the warning from officer Danny," she answered with a chuckle, trying to shrug it off. "This is a good night hun," Heather told her friend fondly.

"Uh huh, yeah, thanks for inviting me along," Jamie quickly added, making Bianca smile happily.

"Thanks, and you're more than welcome Jamie," she told him, resisting the urge to wink at him. "So, tell me about where you grew up, and your friends there. Did you used to do this kind of stuff?" she asked him now as she sat down properly in the chair next to him. As Jamie started telling Bianca about the Medway area where he grew up, Heather sat back in her chair and looked out over the beach. The waves were just about still crashing onto the beach, and the sound soothed her. She sighed as she stared at the water some more for a few minutes. She suddenly realised two figures had walked into her field of vision. The one on the left was hard not to recognise; 6ft 1, with a muscular physique and broad shoulders. Heather didn't need to imagine what the muscles in his back, or his six pack, or his athletic thighs and tight ass looked like, because she'd seen them in the flesh before. Kevin and Stephanie had stopped walking as they talked and, judging by the gestures, Heather guessed that it wasn't a friendly conversation. She didn't entirely understand why Stephanie was making such a big deal out of something that wasn't, but then she supposed they'd been together for well over a year now and Stephanie probably thought she knew everything about him by now.

"She alright?" Heather asked when she noticed Kevin next to her by the bonfire to warm up. He glanced up as if he only just realised it was her.

"Yeah, she is now. I managed to explain everything properly," he answered with a sigh, getting a sympathetic smile. "You and Jamie having fun?" Kevin asked.

"Uh huh, yeah. I think he's made a new friend in Bianca," Heather said with a chuckle. He followed her look where they were still sat talking and chuckled as well.

"Good, suppose that's not hard with Bianca," he said now, getting a nod in response. "How long is he staying?" he asked curiously.

"Only until Monday morning. He's got a job interview that afternoon, so he needs to get back to Medway," Heather answered. "How about Stephanie?"

"Wednesday."

"Cool," she slowly nodded. "So, I take it she'll be around for a few more of Bianca's welcome home activities?" she asked, making him snort.

"A few maybe. I don't think she'll want to spend all of her time here with the group, but I'm sure we'll come to a few things," Kevin explained.

"Great," she smiled, glancing up at him. He smiled back, noticing she was slightly fluttering her eyelashes at him, and he had to wonder if she was doing it on purpose. He decided she probably wasn't aware she was doing it; they'd had their share of arguments because he thought she was flirting with someone and she'd had no idea what he'd been talking about. "It's good to see you again Kev," Heather said now, feeling very conscious that she probably should stay away from this topic.

"Yeah you too," Kevin nodded, briefly touching the top of her arm. She gave him a small smile. "I'd better get back to Steph. I'll talk to you later," he said now, giving her a smile before he headed back towards the chairs. Heather looked after him and took a deep sigh.