mamma mia | jeremy jordan

17. burning sand

Ana shoved her sunglasses up onto her head, pushing her the brown strands of her hair back. She stared out over the vast brown lake ahead of her, glimmering almost a dark blue as the sun shined down on them.

Laura, who was lugging a large beach bag on one shoulder and two lounging chairs in on her other, stumbled up onto the dock where Ana was standing. She set everything down, placed her hands on her hips, and sighed deeply.

"Thanks for the help." Laura sarcastically told the younger girl as she opened up her chair and plopped down onto it.

"You're so welcome."

Ana jumped off the dock and onto the sand, a few feet from where the water lapped up onto the burning texture. She slid her Keds off her feet, jumping slightly at the temperature of the sand.

Her toes soon got used to the burn as she freaked through the sand towards the cement wall which separated the yard of their cottage and the beach. There were many names and anonymous quotes carved into the man-made wall.

Ana picked up a flat rock which was sharp at the end and signed her initials next to someone else's heart.

A.N.

"Oh, I am totally jumping into that water!"

Ana turned her head to watch as Ashley trotted down the steps carved into the cement wall. Her pink flip flops hit the sand, which spilled underneath her toes and feet. The huge floppy hot she wore on her head blocked the sun from her pale face which wondered at the beautiful beach before it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Ana moved to stand next to Ashley and they stepped up onto the dock.

"Absolutely stunning. I'm in love." Ashley nodded, placing her own lounge chair and bag besides Ana and Laura's.

"I feel like we're in Mamma Mia or something." Laura added to their conversation, flipping through the latest edition of Vogue.

"Me, too," Ana nodded, stuck in a trance as she stared back out at the water.

Looking at the water hit the sand made her nostalgic for her childhood home back in New Jersey. She grew up on the beach, which was freezing during the winter but burning in the summer, such as this one.

She set her shoes down onto the dock and plopped back down into the sand. With her phone in her back pocket and her camera around her neck, Ana took off on a stroll down the beach.

She trekked lightly on the shore, her feet sinking into the wet sand which filed with water as the small waves came in. Ana peered back eventually to see how far she'd gotten and discovered that she'd walked a couple hundred feet away from the other two girls. 

Ana found herself contemplating life as she found a rock to sit on.  It was cheesy: sitting on a beach, staring at the sun beginning to set on the beautiful Friday day, thinking about all the great things she'd been given over the past few months.

But her entire life was cheesy, and she was okay with it because she was happy.

Though she was untroubled, there was one reoccurring thought she'd been thinking for as long as she could remember: Jeremy.

She wanted him in every way possible. She wanted him as a friend, as a lover, as someone who she could take to Friday night karaoke at the bar next to her apartment and hold hands with in the same booth at the Chinese restaurant she adored.

She had done the one thing she promised herself she wouldn't do. The one thing which fueled the list she'd created for them.

She went and fell in love with him.

And Ashley wasn't the only thing holding her back anymore.

Of course, she still felt guilty for loving her friends ex-husband, but it became deeper than that.

Ana didn't know if Jeremy's reputation preceded him. If him cheating on Ashley was a one time occurrence or if it were something he would do again. If his drinking and temper would revive itself and effect her in some way.

If he even felt the same way.

Ana snapped a few photos of the sun before she heard Laura call her name.

It was time to walk the strip right outside their cottage and get dinner.

—

In New York City, Jeremy and Ben were putting away the dishes they'd washed when Ben finally found the courage to ask.

"Who is she?"

Ben set down the rag he was using to wipe away the water droplets on one of Jeremy's wine glasses. Jeremy glanced back at him with a confused expression before reaching up to put away a plate.

"Who?"

Ben sighed, "You know who. This girl you've been sleeping with for God-knows-how-long."

"Ben," Jeremy set down his one rag, huffing slightly as he turned to face his friend. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Please elaborate."

"Jeremy," Ben mocked his friends tone, "I saw her bra a few months ago. I saw her sock last week. You had a hickey just last month. And you haven't boughten nor drank a single drop of beer in four months. Who is she?"

Jeremy's head dropped, his chin hitting his flannel-clad chest lightly. "I can't tell you. She doesn't want to tell people, mostly because it's just a friends with benefits thing."

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit excuse just so you can hide her from me, Jer. Based on the way you've been acting, it is most definitely not a friends with benefits thing." Ben crosses his arms in response.

Jeremy lifted his head and met eyes with him. He nodded once, biting his lip in contemplation. "Okay. Sit down. It's a long ass story."

Ben sat at the bar stool pulled out from Jeremy's island as Jeremy began.

"Remember when we went to that cafe awhile back? When we saw Ashley?"

Ben automatically knew that his suspicions were correct because he remembered Ana Devit being in that very same cafe on that day.

"I remember clear as day. Go on."

Ben sat through Jeremy's half-hour-long story. He made little to no noise, his brows furrowed in concentration and arms crossed as he took in the information. When Jeremy finished, Ben had one thing to say:

"I know she's worried about Ashley finding out because she doesn't want to hurt her feelings, but if I were you I'd be worried, too."

"Why's that?" Jeremy straightened up against his kitchen counter.

"Because you and Ashley are still legally married and if she finds out she can legally sue you for cheating- again."