Getting back home

"I found how to get back!" Emily said, panting as she ran up the pier. "Shit, you wouldn't believe how long of a run it was to get back here. We are so far away!"

"Far away?" I asked, worried. "How far did you run?"

"Way too long. I must've run for like 8 minutes straight to get back to the pier, so we're probably like a mile away," Emily said, between breaths. "What did you do while I was gone?"

"Eh, not much," Mary said nonchalantly. "Just watched the waves come in."

"Alright, let's head back," Emily said.

We walked back down the beach, Emily leading the way. Mary walked right next to me. I saw her nervously reach her hand out to mine a couple times before jerking it back, and then she appeared to be chastising herself after each occurrence. I brought my hand out, took hers in mine, and then shot her a reassuring glance. She returned a nervous smile, but leaned into it a little more as our walk continued.

Luckily, Emily never saw us, or, if she did, didn't let on that she saw us. Her naïvety about everything would've likely not paired well with this very complex situation that Mary and I found ourselves in, especially before I went and talked to Becca about this.

When we got within sight of the beach house, we stopped holding hands. Emily knocked on the door. I heard shuffling from inside the house, and then Kylie opened it.

"Oh, thank heavens you all are back," she said. "We were starting to get worried about you."

"Yeah, we decided to go for a morning walk down the beach and then nobody remembered to bring their keys or phone," I said.

"Well, come in! We're having breakfast if you wanna join!"

We all came inside, kicked our sandy shoes off at the door, and ascended two flights of stairs. Nobody was any the wiser to what me and Mary had talked about earlier that day. I filled my plate up with pancakes and bacon, then sat between Becca and Paige.

"So, what'd you all do while you were out there?" Becca asked.

"We just walked on the beach for a while. Emily ran back to figure out where the house was, so Mary and I just sat on the pier for awhile," I answered.

Paige shot both Mary and I a look after that statement, but didn't say anything about it.

"Yeah, these two knuckleheads forgot where our house was. I figured it was supposed to be John's job, because he has like a crazy memory, but no, he was probably thinking like an idiot again," Emily said.

"He's always acting like an idiot," Mary answered.

Wow.

"Hey, I'm not always acting like an idiot," I said, defending myself. "I managed to get into a lucrative field in college."

"Yeah, cut him some slack here," Grace said. This was the first time you had heard her defend you.

You all had lively discussion throughout the rest of breakfast.