*

Unlike the sleeper cart on the train where inches of walls separated us, we had an entire building ourselves. Detached from the main resort was a house that reminded me of our dorm back home. "Zietta has a couple of these around the resort. They're so that families can stay in them," Amia had explained, "She's set us up in one of the smaller ones."

Her description of 'smaller ones' surprised me. The first floor was made up of one large dining room decorated with pointless artefacts ranging from suits of armour to metal vases on the mantle of a fireplace. Unlike the main building, the décor was a more beachside cabin, with woods and sandy colours and utilising the beachside view more. There was also a kitchen on this floor, staffed with chefs and butlers who informed Ava and me that we weren't allowed in the kitchen.

Bonnie and Mia had a room on the ground floor and disappeared to set up their things almost immediately, while the rest of us went to the other levels in search of our rooms.

At first, I didn't know how we would tell our rooms apart, but getting to the hallway, we could see our bags placed in front of doors. Everyone was on the same floor. "The third floor doesn't get used," Amada stated as the twins opened their doors, "But we have this entire building to ourselves."

I eventually found my and Alexis' bags at the end of the hallway. I turned the k.n.o.b, feeling it give way, as I opened the door and gestured Alexis in, "Milady."

She reached a hand out to the doorframe and stepped in, me close behind her. At first, neither of us could see anything, with the curtains drawn and the lights out. I could see the outline of orange light seeping around the border of the windows on the opposite wall. Blindly, I made my way over and opened one of the curtains, allowing the morning sun to blind me in a completely different way.

Our room was ten times bigger than our little dorms back home. The walls were an auburn brown, allowing the use of warmer colours like reds, oranges, and deep greens. On one wall was a fireplace, unlit, made from dark grey bricks and decorated with fascinating little statuettes of wolves and cats. The green rug was a large circle, stretching to the edges of the room, and reaching the fireplace, the armchairs, the desk centred against the wall and barely managed to reach far enough to the bed. The bed was a double king, its sheets a gold and red diamond pattern and the bed frame a dark oak.

I whistled as I scanned the walls, following the wallpaper to the ceiling where a chandelier light hung from the centre, its gla.s.s gently swaying from an invisible draft. "This place smells funny," Alexis commented, despite this, she took off her shoes and ran her feet along the rug, "But kinda cosy. Like I'm visiting my Grandma."

I approached the bed and fell against it, sinking into the blankets with a smothered smack. Alexis followed the noise until her s.h.i.+ns. .h.i.t the bedframe, offering a whisper of pain, before copying and falling on the bed. Our heads were next to each other, and when I turned to face her, I took a moment to take her in; how her hair was somehow redder than the bedding, how her eyes seemed to examine the patterns of the overhead on the bed despite being unable to see. In a moment of sheer absentness, I reached out to touch her, but she sat up before my hand could.

"Now the important thing," she said standing, "Does this room come with a bathroom?"

I felt my cheeks heat up as I sat up and turned to face her, looking around the room for a door that didn't lead to a closet. Hidden in the corner of a room was a promising door, "About ten paces directly in front of you."

Alexis took this information into account as she hummed and walked forwards, falling silent when she found the door and disappeared inside. "c.r.a.p it's cold in here!" Her voice intensified by the acoustics.

I laughed as I stood up, getting my bag to start unpacking when I realised something; where was the other bed? There was only one bed.

I looked around the room, checking the dark corners for a single bed or even a mattress on the floor, just something, but there was nothing, not even the armchairs could be connected to make a bed.

Alexis emerged from the bathroom, rubbing her hands on the skirt of her dress. "They have a very modern feeling shower system," she remarked, "Nothing like in here."

"There's only one bed." I brought her bag into the room as well.

Alexis tilted her head, "Oh?"

"Yep. Nothing else is in here," I informed. I made a quick description of the room, triple checking everything to make sure I hadn't missed something, but there was only one bed.

Alexis hummed as she approached the bed again, running her fingers along the bed frame. "Well, we're adults, Landon. We can make this work," she a.s.sured kneeling down and running her hands along the underside of the frame.

The idea of deliberately sleeping with one of my dormmates left a heavy feeling in my stomach. "I just don't want things to get weird," I informed.

"So long as nothing pokes me in the night, I don't care." Before I could register the joke, there was a slight click, and Alexis pulled one of the panels from under the bed, pulling out a secondary mattress under the top one. "And looks like we won't have to worry anyway," she added falling against the new mattress and stretching out her arms, "Clever these things. But I find a better use is for storage."

I had a strange mixture of feelings upon seeing the sneaky under-mattress, I was relieved on one level but strangely disappointed on another.

I tossed her the backpack, listening to her yelp in surprise as I pushed her suitcase towards her. "There's a dresser over there. I don't have a lot, so I'm happy to live out of my bag," I informed unzipping the top. Alexis climbed onto the bed and sat on the edge facing me, listening as I rummaged through my things.

"What kinds of things does Landon Becks wear?" she asked. Alexis reached forwards and s.n.a.t.c.hed a s.h.i.+rt from the top of the pile. She ran her fingers over the logo, scratching at its peeling sticker.

"Just clothes," I replied taking it back.

"I didn't bring much stuff either. I'm sure there'll be enough room for both of us," Alexis cooed.

"It's no trouble."

She sighed, "Landon, your humbleness is refres.h.i.+ng for a guy, but there does come the point where it's annoying," she informed. "Be a.s.sertive," she made a strong gesture, "Demand for dresser s.p.a.ce."

I didn't know how to respond to that, forcing a long silence to form between us, only breaking when I shoved her, and she fell against the bed. I continued unpacking my things.

Alexis eventually did the same with her bags, pulling out some outfits and swimwear. "How do you know where everything is?" I asked, looking at her several neat piles in comparison to my messy bundles of trousers and s.h.i.+rts.

"How do you know where everything is?" she countered running her fingers down the length of a dress she had brought.

"Well I can see them," I said emptying my clothes onto the ground and going through them.

"And I can feel them," she answered, "If you close your eyes right now, you'll still be able to tell what's what."

She was right. I closed my eyes and picked up a s.h.i.+rt, knowing it was a s.h.i.+rt because I could feel the short sleeves. As I went through my clothes, my medication slipped from a bundle of underwear, making a clattering noise as it hit the ground. I scooped it up and placed the orange pill bottle on the side table.

Alexis had heard it. "You take medication?" she asked.

I was impressed, "How can you tell?" I asked. If I had heard that clattering noise, I would have a.s.sumed it was a tic-tac packet or some candy before I thought medication.

"Everyone in our dorm takes something," Alexis stated, making her way around the bed to sit on the edge closest to me.

"Everyone?" I asked.

She ignored my question, "I didn't know you needed to take something. What for?" Alexis reached aimlessly for the side table I had placed them on, her fingertips running into it and knocking it off the table.

I picked up the pill bottle, still unable to p.r.o.nounce the medication even mentally, as I read off the main t.i.tle; "Medication for Long OT syndrome."

Alexis considered this for a moment but, like most people, she didn't know what it was.

"It's a heart condition," I elaborated, "Uhh, it's kinda like when you get that rush of adrenaline that makes your heartbeat go fast when you're panicked or get surprised, only it happens to me without anything causing it." It was the most straightforward way it was explained to me last year when it first happened it terrified me. I was on my bicycle, almost finis.h.i.+ng a race, when my chest started hurting, my heartbeat throbbing in my ears to match my blurry vision. I was going down a hill quickly when it happened, one second, I was facing down the road, wind against my face, and an athlete high with the finish line in sight. The next I was cras.h.i.+ng face-first against the pavement after losing consciousness.

It was left undiagnosed for several months after that incident and when they finally found a label for it, the panic set in for me. Long QT syndrome could kill people.

"Since my heart goes too fast, this just helps manage it," I explained replacing the bottle on the table, "They're like a beta blocker."

This time, Alexis managed to grab the bottle, running her fingers along the sticker and plastic. "Does that mean you could have a heart attack?" Her voice sounded grave.

I considered it for a moment, recalling the evenings I had spent thinking too deeply about what was wrong with and what could happen to me, and forced myself to shrug, answering dismissively, "Worst case scenario, yes. But so long as I take those, nothing is wrong with me."

"That's what everyone thinks…" Alexis murmured under her breath as she placed the bottle down. "Have you told the others about this?"

I paused in my folding to consider this, "It hasn't come up."

Alexis scoffed, "You have a go at everyone for not being more open with each other, and here you are with some sort of heart defect?" There was a level of concern I hadn't heard in Alexis before; she seemed genuinely troubled, almost anxious.

I dropped my s.h.i.+rts and shuffled over to her, taking her hands in mine as I a.s.sured her I was okay. "There's nothing wrong with me," I said, "I'm perfectly fine."

Alexis' blind eyes were gla.s.sy; her breathing hitched as she bit down on the inside of her quivering lip. Her hands trembled slightly in mine as she slipped off the bed, leaning over me, as she wrapped an arm around me, pulling me in an embrace, while her other hand rested on my chest. I didn't think my heart condition opted for such a reaction, but I felt Alexis tremble against me, something beyond my accidentally hidden medication panicking her.

I slowly wrapped my arms around her and a.s.sured her I was okay with a whisper. I could hear her breathing by my ear, her breaths getting caught in her throat as if she was trying not to cry. "What's wrong?" I asked, my turn to be worried.

Alexis' body stopped shaking all at once, and the catch in her throat disappeared as she nuzzled her nose against my neck, "Just…" she pulled away from me, retracting her hand from my chest and fussing with her hair to distract both of us, "nothing. A little overreaction. I'm fine."

It bothered me how upset Alexis looked, watching her blink to get rid of the gla.s.sy look in her eyes and continued touching her hair. I went to grab her hand to stop her, but she stood up and returned to her clothes, changing the subject to something cheerier and philosophical like what had just happened never did.

*

"Let's go to the beach, beach, beach, beach," Estelle sang the next morning.

After spending a day familiarising ourselves with the area and organising to do some activities, we were all too tired by the afternoon to go to do anything else. After wolfing down breakfast, Estelle pestered everyone to have a beach day, exclaiming all the fun stuff we could do, from picnics to games to swimming and so on.

By midmorning, everyone had prepared themselves for the beach, none of us bothering to wear shoes since the beach was only a few meters away. I got the fun duty of being the pack horse, balancing two beach umbrellas on my shoulders as well as an esky and some bags filled with towels and other supplies.

Estelle was making a big deal about where we should set up our things, enlisting the help of Robyn as they scanned and kicked up some sand for 'optimal sun-tanning surfaces.'

I was always fascinated by the different outfits people would wear in different situations, at times reflecting them perfectly, and other times not being what I expected at all.

Overall, the girls dressed rather colourfully. Estelle excited to show off her yellow bikini and matching skirt, showing off her delicate frame as she teased me when I was carrying everything. Likewise, Robyn was in a red bikini, but unlike Estelle, seemed more self-conscious about it, hugging her stomach and standing hunched over with blushed cheeks if anyone tried to comment on how cute she looked. I was surprised to see the twins wearing different things, Amia wearing a brightly coloured one piece and matching board shorts while Amada wore actual boy's swimmer briefs, depicting surfing waves on them, and a blue s.h.i.+rt. It was a refres.h.i.+ng sight seeing them in such different outfits.

"Let me take something, Mandy," Ava jeered, taking the esky from my hanging fingertips when I started struggling. Ava sported a floral pink two-piece, her chest covered in frills, and a broad-brimmed straw hat, shading her face and shoulders from the sun.

"Mandy, that's a new one," I panted.

"Here is fine!" Estelle called.

With relief, I let the umbrella drop from my shoulder and groaned in pain, rolling out my shoulder to stretch it. "What are these umbrellas made of?"

"Hollowed out plastic," Alexis informed standing next to me. She pushed her large sungla.s.ses up the bridge of her nose, in the sun she seemed to glow from her Irish skin, her dark scarlet swimsuit only intensifying her paleness. "I'm starting to simmer," she hissed, making a face as she hunched over, "I require shade!"

After ten minutes of setting up, many towels were spread out, allowing places to put the esky and bags and games. The umbrellas barely offered much shade, but what little it did seemed to belong to Alexis, who sat in the centre of their shadows. "All good now, my Irish Queen?" I asked taking out a bottle of water.

Alexis smiled and nodded, "I am pleased."

"Oh dear." I looked at Ava, who s.h.i.+elded her eyes as she looked back at the resort. I followed her gaze and saw a small person waddling across the courtyard, overdressed for the beach with swimmers, ras.h.i.+es, board shorts, sungla.s.ses, hats and wearing snorkel fins. When they got to the beach's edge, they flicked up sand behind them, causing a moment of shock as they fell over.

Everyone was laughing.

"Oh Mia," Estelle giggled as they got back to their feet.

Under all the clothes, I was surprised to see it was Mia, her floaties squeaking whenever she dropped her arms as she approached the umbrella base we made. Ava managed to hide her amus.e.m.e.nt as she squatted down to her, "Umm… Mia, sweetie, I think you're wearing too much," Ava informed taking off some of Mia's sungla.s.ses, underneath four of them were a pair of goggles, "Seriously?"

Mia shrugged in response.

With my help, we managed to find Mia under all the protective gear, dressed in a black one piece and a purple ras.h.i.+e. After removing all the layers, Mia seemed tiny. "That better?" I asked.

Mia shrugged again, indifferent.

"I told you snorkel fins were a bit much," someone called. Bonnie was rolling to the edge of the beach, stopping where the sand met the path a few meters away from us. Unlike the rest of us, she dressed in ordinary clothes with denim shorts and a loose blue T-s.h.i.+rt.

"Can't your wheelchair go on the sand?" Estelle called.

Bonnie shook her head, "No it can." She didn't seem very sure as her hands made sure her wheelchair wouldn't roll.

Ava made a half smile as she folded her arms, "Well come on then."

I knew some wheelchairs could roll on the sand, but I always thought they needed help with it, and from the look on Ava's face I was correct. There was a sinister gleam in her eyes as if she knew Bonnie wouldn't be able to roll it on the sand by herself.

"I will," Bonnie spat and pushed off the final stable path. She came to a sudden halt, jerking forwards and barely catching herself from falling.

I was about to voice how mean Ava was before she burst into laughter and ran towards Bonnie to help her. Bonnie yelped in surprise when she tried again, and nearly capsized her fancy wheelchair, only being caught by Ava, who straightened both her and the chair and put all her weight on the back handles, throwing the wheelchair into a backwards angle and pushed it forwards. The strange method of moving proved effective as the two made it to the umbrella base, parking in the shade of the tree.

"Great. I'm trapped on an island," Bonnie muttered with a sigh.

"Yeah, but at least you've got company," Ava countered.

"Sandball fight!" Ava endured a ball of cold sand to the back from Estelle, who was too busy laughing to take in the scold Ava tried to give. She started to run away from Ava when she gave chase. Robyn began signing some things with a big smile on her face, at times forming unintelligible noises I a.s.sumed to be laughs.

Mia sat down at the end of a blanket, from somewhere producing a book that sat in her lap as she hunched over to read. Bonnie produced an iPod, sticking some earbuds in her ear before I could make conversation. I sighed as I sat next to Alexis, who was in the process of putting on sunscreen. A few meters away from us, the twins were making a sandcastle, apparently the most important part being the mote that goes around it.

"Mia, sunscreen?" Alexis offered.

Mia didn't move from her place, either not hearing or ignoring Alexis' offer. Alexis didn't take it to heart as she held the bottle out to me, "Do my back for me?" she asked.

I took the bottle from her, "Sure."

She laid down on her towel stomach down rested her head on her hands. I squirted some cream in my hand and started rubbing it along the exposed sections of her back and shoulders. Her skin was warm to touch and s.h.i.+vered when it felt the cold of the sunscreen. I lingered in my strokes along her back, something almost hypnotic about it, before breaking out of my trance and telling her I had finished. She thanked me and laid there in silence.

I started going through the bags, looking amongst the extra towels and ras.h.i.+es until I found a portable radio. When I started fiddling with the dial, I gained Mia's attention when she heard the static.

Just as she started crawling over to me, Bonnie interrupted her, "Mia, come on, not that again," she whined pulling one of her earbuds out. "Why don't you go play with the twins or go swimming or something? We're on a beach. You can fiddle with radios whenever you want."

Mia made a deep-throated grumble sound as she plonked herself on the ground, resting her head in my lap and scrunching handfuls of sand through the towels.

"Oh Mia, your tantrums know no bounds," Alexis stated when Mia quietened down.

Is that what that was? A tantrum?

My sisters had only had a handful of public tantrums, and they were all much worse than this little grunt of frustration.

"Is that your swimsuit?" Bonnie asked.

I turned my attention to her. "What?"

"You're not wearing beach clothes," she commented, "Aren't you going swimming or anything?"

She was right. I was wearing my swimmer briefs, but I wore a brown polo s.h.i.+rt, hardly what one would expect on a beach. "I don't see you in beachy clothes," I countered.

"I can't swim," Bonnie answered with an air of matter-of-fact mockery, "And regardless, I am." She pulled aside her s.h.i.+rt to show off her bikini strap.

I smirked but remained sitting on the towel watching Ava, Estelle and Robyn run along the sand trying to catch each other. "I'm wearing my bottoms," I informed.

Bonnie smirked, "So take off your s.h.i.+rt then."

Alexis rolled on her back, lifting her arms as she exclaimed, "Whoo-hoo peer pressure!" Even Mia was egging me on with clapping.

"I thought you were different, Mia," I said as I stood up and started lifting my s.h.i.+rt over my head, exposing my chest and back.

At first, no one said anything, but it occurred to me it was out of shock rather than indifference when Estelle stopped running and said, "What?!"

I was a toned guy; even I'm not naïve to that fact. While not a gym junkie with a solid six pack, my arms and pecks were solid muscles. As I went to drop my s.h.i.+rt, I looked at Bonnie, who seemed perplexed. "Happy?"

She laughed and nodded, taking extra care to ogle me, "Oh definitely."

I made an exasperated sigh, "I'm just some hunk of meat to you, aren't I?"

"Just give me a second, I'm about to drool," Bonnie replied.

I smiled through my gag, "Cla.s.sy, Bon."

"Since when has this been a thing?" Estelle asked. She ran up to me and immediately running her hands along my chest; her cold hands made me flinch. "Holy c.r.a.p, they're real!" she teased.

Robyn made a tuneless whistle as she signed, Ava translating, "Landon Becks; Dorm Guard, Karate Master, Eye-Candy."

I scoffed, "Alright, I'm putting my s.h.i.+rt back on." As I went to pick it up, everyone gave me a chorus of; No! Mia even going so far as to s.n.a.t.c.h it away from me before I could reach it. She hugged the fabric to her chest like a child hugs a teddy bear. "Mia, seriously. Give it back."

"No Mia, don't. Run," Estelle said, "I wanna stare at this."

Ava laughed, "Aww. Our Dorm Guard is shy," she heckled, putting an arm around me and giving me a playful side hug. "What do you think of this, Amia?"

Amia was the only one who had averted her gaze, staring down at the sand mound she had made, her cheeks flushed. "He looks fine," she snapped. Even Amada's eyes wandered up and down my body, absently looking down at himself in comparison. Perhaps taking my s.h.i.+rt off wasn't a good idea.

"Back off, you crows," Alexis called out to everyone, "You don't see Landon unsubtly ogling at all of you dressed in bikinis, do you?" She sat up, adjusting her sungla.s.ses as she brushed aside her hair, "You want to see more of Landon's abs? Be subtle, like he is with all of you."

What had started out as a helpful statement, turned into a jeer, "Hha everyone," I said taking back my s.h.i.+rt from Mia.

Ava grabbed the collar of my s.h.i.+rt, "Come on, we're teasing. You shouldn't have to cover up if we don't have to either," she remarked, "We're on a beach. Enjoy yourself." She gently slapped my chest like she usually did and stepped away from the refuge of the umbrellas, "I'm going swimming," she said and signed, "Who's coming with me?"

Robyn clapped and raised her hand, running up to her and grabbing her by the arm to hurry her along to the water. "Are you wearing your hearing aids?" she asked. Robyn blinked as she read Ava's lips and shook her head, showing off her ears to reveal she had taken them out and was safe to go in the water.

Estelle called she was coming, but quickly turned to me and said with a finger on my chest, "I'm only teasing, but seriously, where did those muscles come from?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I'm naturally muscular."

"Pft," she scoffed, "Bull." With that, she raced after Ava and Robyn, who had made it to the edge of the water and were flicking it at each other, Ava screeching how cold it was.