Crashing Waves

3

I. Hate. Seagulls.

My head was banging, and as soon as I had remembered what had gone down last night, I turned over to find an empty left side of the bed. Checking to see I was still clothed, I sighed and turned off my alarm, not that I needed it.
Sitting up I saw a glass of water with a tablet on the far side of the bed, the stranger must've left it for me, knowing the hangover I was going to have.
"Thanks, stranger." I toasted to him before downing the tablet, wincing at the cool water before making my ass get out of bed. I should not have drunk last night, yet for some reason I got completely smashed.

"Morning. I heard you come in late last night, good night?" Becca teased at the front desk.

"Err, yeah. Feeling it today." I chuckled, wincing at my pounding head.

"I saw Alec leave your room this morning." So that was strangers name, Alec.

"Oh, yeah. He just helped me back." I said, not even bothering with trying to argue my case, she didn't believe me.

"Have a good day!" Becca cheerfully gleed.

"You too." I rolled my eyes. It was impossible to think how someone could be that cheery all the time.

Walking to the police station was nice, not too far a walk, but enough to clear my head. It was nice to see people wandering the highstreet and around the beach, even though there were few and far between as I approached the harbour.

"Hi. I'm Alice Walker, I'm here about my transferral?" I spoke to a man at the front desk, clearly busy.

"Ah, yes Miss Walker. Here to see Alec Hardy, right?" My mouth dropped, and I swear for a moment time stood still.

"Did you say Alec?" I had to hear that again.

"Yes, He's the DI here. Just to run a routine background check. Since we're quite quiet during this period we have uniform out and about." He explained, buzzing through. "Right through there and to the right, up the stairs." I nodded in thanks and proceeded up the stairs, my hangover getting increasingly worse. Please just be a coincidence.

"Oh, hi. Alice, am I right?" A woman slightly older than me greeted me at the staircase, her hand outstretched.

"Yes. DS Miller, I presume?" She nodded, laughing at the formality.

"Ellie, please. I'm on my way up, so I'll take you to DI Hardy." I was thankful that she didn't use his name, I was stressed enough as it is. "Where abouts in Devon were you based then?" She asked, making small talk as we ambled towards the main office.

"Plymouth. But things there got..." I thought about it, my story. I needed to get it straight before I started telling anyone. "I just needed a change of scenery. Luckily I only rented so I just ended my contract and decided to move here." Ellie seemed like a warm, compassionate person, someone that I could see myself becoming good friends with.

"Oh, don't know if I could do that. Did work in Exeter for a while a year or two back though. That was alright. Nothing like this place though. This is home." Her way of speaking made me chuckle, like a ramble you couldn't help but chat along with.

Ellie opened the door into a quiet office where various officers were stationed, some I recognised from the pub last night.
As we walked around the office I noticed glass panels, the blinds down.

"Sir? Alice Walker here to see you." Ellie knocked twice before opening the door, revealing to me what I had feared.

"Walker." His bluntness took me by surprise, Ellie scoffing and shaking her head.

"Good luck, he's a bit grumpy today. Looks like he didn't get any sleep. Oh and the last name thing is just one of his things." If only she knew why. Nodding she shut the door behind me, leaving us in the room alone.

"Well, this isn't the slightest bit awkward." I took a seat, shaking my head. "My apologies for last night." It was all I could say. After all he was now my boss, and it wasn't exactly common practice to have your boss sleep next to you before even starting work.

"I left as soon as I was sure you fell asleep." He answered, placing his paperwork down and lowering his glasses. Short sighted, then.

"Ah, didn't have to wait too long then." I commented, wanting to move on to the interview portion rather than lingering on the fact I slept in the same bed as my new boss last night.

"Right, so, Alice." He paused on my name, looking up and clearing his throat. "Ahem, so, you transferred from Plymouth." Scrolling through my record, I sat forward and nodded.

"Yeah. I, I just wanted a change of scenery." I lied, and I have a feeling that he knew. I knew it was a bad lie, but I couldn't tell him.

"Right." He nodded, leaning back in his chair briefly before standing up. "Everything looks in order." He began, but stopped before I went to shake my hand. "Apart from lying as to the reason you're here." I looked away, standing up.

"I came here to get away." I said, standing up. "I'm sorry, er, Alec."

"Sir." He corrected me, making me raise my eyebrow.

"Seriously? Sir?" I said, making him take off his glasses.

"Yes, Walker. Sir, or Hardy. I don't like Alec." He said. Obviously not one for casuals.

"Wow. Right, ok. Well, thank you, Hardy." He'd be damned if I was calling him sir. I held out my hand to shake, but before he reached out, Ellie came in.

"Sir? We have a break and enter to deal with. Just been called in. Uniform is already there, they've asked us to take a look." Ellie seemed to not care about Hardy's death stare.

"Right. Walker, you're coming too." I turned from Ellie to him, furrowing my eyebrows.

"They said I'd be put on the front desk." I said, Ellie nodding.

"Yes, the Sergeant said that we haven't got the budget-"

"She's more qualified than any of the officers here, come on you two!" Grabbing his coat he brushed past Ellie, she looked at me and shook her head.

"Is he always like this?" I asked, walking out the office.

"Oh, no. Sometimes he locks himself in his office for days at a time trying to solve all the little break ins we have. We don't tend to get many around here. Mainly drug deals and a few break ins. But if you mean grumpy, broody, outright rude?" Ellie paused, looking me in the eye. "Yes, he is."

"Huh." I grabbed my bag and caught up with her, walking down the stairs to catch up with Hardy. "So, what, why are we being called to this break in?" I asked.

"It just gives us something to do. Leave the paperwork to uniform on things like this. I doubt it's anything too bad." I nodded my head, seeing why that would work.

"Come on you two." Hardy sighed, ready to pull off.

"Alright, calm down grumpy." I said, making Ellie giggle. Their dynamic was, strange, but I liked it.