Chapter Three

"Your parents seem really nice," Jamie said as they walked from Heather's house on Oscar Road towards the sea front.

She nodded. "Yeah, they're alright," she chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you the bandstand and we can walk around towards Dumpton," Heather suggested and pointed towards where she meant. "You'll get to see Stone Bay tonight anyways," she added, which was the opposite way.

"Sure, you know your way around," he agreed as he took hold of her hand.

Heather told him some stories about what her and her friends had gotten up to around the bandstand, before she led the way down towards the beach, and followed the route along the cliff towards Dumpton. Heather always loved walking this way, along the sea. The sun caught the sea, shimmering away, and it was so enchanting. She could get completely lost here. Jamie listened to her stories and asked her questions about growing up around here. It seemed that even though it was a beautiful area to live, it could be pretty dull for a teenager to grow up. The pubs that were there didn't stay open late, there weren't many of them anyway, let alone a club, and the cinema was tiny. But it was a great little place. Heather tried to explain that there was still plenty to do, by going to Ramsgate or Margate for the clubs, or even Canterbury if you had a place to stay afterwards or someone to pick you up. She tried not to mention Kevin though; she didn't want him to think she wasn't over her ex yet, but it was hard because they'd done so much together over the years there was very little that they hadn't done in each other's company. Heather thought she'd done fairly well in doing so, until he asked, "So who's Kevin then?"

"Kevin?"

"Yeah you mentioned him a couple of times," Jamie nodded.

"Oh, well he was my best friend for years and then we dated for a few as well," she finally answered. She figured dating wouldn't sound as bad as ex-boyfriend.

"A few?"

"Three," she said honestly.

"How come you broke up?" Jamie asked curiously. He wanted to know if there was anything he needed to watch out for. She gave a soft snort.

"I moved to Cambridge and he moved to Cardiff. It was just too far away from each other," Heather answered, making him think that maybe it hadn't been her choice, but that she hadn't necessarily disagreed either. She now gave a shrug as she tightened her grip on his hand and stared out at the sea that was calm enough as the waves gently lapped against the wall.

"Guess it worked out though right?" he asked with a chuckle, as he swung her hand slightly. She smiled at him and gave a small nod, not daring to actually to say anything. Again, the feeling he was falling in love with her hit her hard, and she couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't a good thing that he was.

When Heather and Jamie walked onto the beach of Stone Bay, there was no way they could miss the group that had started to gather. She could tell that Bianca hadn't invited the whole of their class, but a good few more than their close-knit group counted. Heather had already spotted Bianca and Bailey fussing around one of the small disposable BBQs they'd brought with them, and from the other side of the beach she saw Diana, Chloe and Joanne walking towards the group with a few heavy bags. As she'd figured the night would involve some form of BBQ or meal, she'd brought some burger baps and cheddar cheese slices as well as the crisps and dips Bianca had told her to bring. Jamie was carrying their drinks.

"Having trouble there?" Heather asked teasingly when she reached her friend.

"Not at all," Bianca reacted and pulled her in for a big hug. "I've missed you," she told her, still hugging her tightly.

"I've missed you too," the brunette said with a squeal, returning the hug. "Hey Bailey," she said over her blonde friend's shoulder and gave him a hug once the girls had let go.

"Hey hun, good to see you again," Bailey grinned.

"You too. It's gonna be a good night, I reckon," she commented.

"Innit," he said with another big grin, making her laugh. Jamie just looked on, as his girl fell back into a slight Thanet accent with her friends. "Who's this then?"

"This is my date Jamie," Heather introduced him now, on purpose not saying boyfriend, because at this point she didn't consider them that serious. "Jamie, these are Bianca and her cousin Bailey, I grew up with them," she added, as Bailey already reached out to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Jamie nodded with a smile.

"You too," Bianca grinned. Obviously, Heather had told her a bit more about him this past week when they spoke on the phone.

"Hey guys," Diana's squeal interrupted them from saying anything. Heather returned the squeal to a certain extent as she hugged her three other friends at the same time. "I can't believe we're all back together again," she tried to stop herself from jumping up and down as she pulled Bianca in as well.

"I know! We need to make sure the next time isn't almost a year again," Chloe agreed, bouncing around in the same manner. Bailey and Jamie managed to exchange exasperated looks before chuckling at the girls.

"You guys, this is my date Jamie," Heather told her friends when they'd all disentangled themselves from the hug. Her three friends looked him over carefully as they shook his hand. "These are Diana, Chloe and Joanne," she pointed to the brunette, blonde and dark-haired girls next to her.

"Hi," Jamie smiled, getting three big smiles back as they not so subtly nodded their approval to their friend. Heather had to fight back a chuckle when he checked with her if that was normal.

"So, what did you guys bring?" she asked, pointing at the five big grocery bags they'd carried over together.

"Beer, wine, sausages, burgers, chicken skewers, that kinda thing," Joanne listed.

"Yum!" Bailey made, and finally managed to get the BBQ started.

As Bailey started putting stuff on the BBQ after about half an hour, the others started unfolding tables and chairs to put out all the food and drinks and create a circle for them to sit in.

"Who else are we still expecting?" Heather asked her friend. Bianca looked around the circle. Mikey and Andy had joined a few minutes ago, and there were a few other people they were kind of friends with.

"Just Kevin and his girlfriend, I think," she said, though she had to admit she wasn't entirely sure anymore who exactly she'd invited to tonight. "Oh, there he is," Bianca pointed out now when he got close to the group and she recognised him.

"Heaven," Kevin muttered when he spotted his former girlfriend, who'd turned towards him at the same time and heard his old nickname for her.

"What did you say?" Stephanie, his girlfriend, asked a little confused. She hadn't heard what he'd said, just that he'd said something.

"Heather. This is my girlfriend Heather," Kevin gestured. "Her name is Stephanie," he quickly added, when he realised what his previous sentence had sounded like. "Stephanie, this is my old friend, Heather," he then said, hoping his current girlfriend wouldn't have picked up on his grammatical error, which had meant an entirely different thing. Stephanie took him in for a few seconds, trying to figure out why he seemed nervous and why he sounded a little off.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Heather was the first to respond and held out her hand towards the new girl.

"Yeah, you too," Stephanie said, shaking her hand, still a little uncertain.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the others," Kevin quickly said and led his girlfriend towards the others away from his ex, glancing back at her. Heather gave him a hesitant smile and then headed over to sit next to Jamie.

"You alright?" she asked, stifling a sigh.

"Yeah…. Who was that?" Jamie asked, nodding towards Kevin.

"That's Kevin and his girlfriend Stephanie," Heather told him. He nodded again, a little nervously. "So, I think the food's almost ready, you hungry?" she asked before he could dwell on it.

"Starving," he answered.