Hollywood Beach
The sun was out for once.
Which, in Port Angeles, meant the beach was packed. Families with screaming kids, couples sprawled out on blankets, teenagers trying to impress each other by running into the freezing waves—it was all a little much.
But Ashur had missed this.
The “normalcy” of it.
They sat cross-legged on the sand, the ocean stretching wide before them, waves rolling in with an easy rhythm. Blair was beside them, lighting the joint with practiced ease, their black-painted nails flashing in the sunlight.
“God, I hate people,” Blair muttered, exhaling the first hit, eyes flicking to a group of college bros playing frisbee too close to their blanket. “Why do they have to yell everything?”
Ashur snorted, taking the joint when Blair passed it. “You chose to meet at the most popular beach in town.”
“Yeah, well,” Blair shrugged, leaning back on their hands. “It’s been forever since we hung out. Figured we could people-watch and talk shit like the old days.”
Ashur took a slow drag, feeling the tension in their shoulders start to ease. “Mm. You just wanted to get me high so I’d spill all my secrets.”
Blair grinned. “Duh.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, the salty breeze tangling through Ashur’s dreads, making the gold rings in them clink softly.
Blair nudged them with their knee. “So. That weird rich lady come back yet?”
Ashur let out a breath of smoke, eyes narrowing at the waves. “Yup.”
Blair sat up. “And?”
“She flirted.”
Blair blinked. “What?”
Ashur smirked. “You heard me.”
Blair grabbed the joint back like they needed it more than Ashur. “So let me get this straight. She shows up again, while you’re working, in full EMT uniform—”
“She’s a paramedic.”
“—and instead of being weird and cryptic, she flirts?”
Ashur shrugged, but the memory of Victoria’s voice—low and deliberate, “Since I suspect you’ll be seeing me again”—lingered like an imprint.
Blair squinted at them. “And you’re not freaking out?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Ashur pulled at the sand between their fingers. “It’s just… I don’t know. There’s something about her.”
Blair exhaled, shaking their head. “Ash. I swear—if this turns into some Twilight-ass shit—”
Ashur laughed. “Relax. I’d be the first one to dip if anything weird happened.”
Blair didn’t look convinced. “Alright. But if she starts watching you sleep, I’m driving down there and we’re staging an intervention.”
Ashur snorted, tossing a handful of sand at them.
They sat there for a while, passing the joint back and forth, watching the sky shift into the hazy colors of early evening.
For the first time in a long time, Ashur felt steady.
But in the back of their mind, that golden-eyed gaze still lingered.
Like a storm waiting just beyond the horizon.