Crashing Waves

40

Hey guys! Happy New Year, I hope you all had a lovely festive period!

Recently I haven't been updating this story much, although I'm hoping to change that and get at least 2 updates a month. Working crazy hours doesn't give me much time, but here's hoping!!

This chapter is going to have a time skip, to the summer, just before the start of Season 3 of Broadchurch. I hope you all enjoy it!!

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7 months later

"Come on, Ali!" Ellie yelled at me, grabbing my coat for me as I folded the last of the nights paperwork over. It was the start of the summer holidays, and Broadchurch seemed like it never had a moment of peace.

"We shall see you later, Sir." Ellie waved, causing him to look up and peer at us. He looked me dead in the eye, then popped a hand up before silently nodding goodbye.

"See ya." I mumbled, putting my hands in my pockets as Ellie and I finished our shift, headed out for our weekly girls night. Ever since Alec's daughter had moved in with him, his distance from me had gotten greater, until we were no longer anything but colleagues again. I respected this distance, I knew he needed to sort out his relationship with his daughter before focusing on himself, but it had been long enough now. Now, it was starting to hurt.

"Shall we go to the pub?" Ellie suggested, throwing her coat over her arms, after all it was a summer evening, a nice warm, breezy one.

"How about a couple of bottles at mine beforehand?" I suggested, grabbing my purse out of my coat pocket to grab some cash for the bottles.

"Does someone need to rant?" Ellie knew me too well. I nodded, rolling my eyes. I knew what she was thinking, but until he approached me, I wasn't making a move.

***

"Are you really just going to keep your distance?" Ellie took another sip from her glass, as I downed mine. The buzz had well and truly hit.

"Yeah, fuck him, you know? I've given him enough time to try and patch things up with Daisy. Hell, enough time for him to even introduce me to her." I sighed, looking at the now two empty bottles on my coffee table.  I had been in my new place for a few months now, right near the town centre. It was a small one bedroom apartment, but it was large enough for what I needed. "Shall we head to the pub?" I chuckled, knowing that it was locals night. "Need to get a few more down you, after all neither of us is working tomorrow." I laughed.

"Yes, but you also don't get hangovers like I do." Ellie retorted, chuckling with me as I turned the background music up.

"Come on, Miller." I teased, impersonating Hardy.

"You did not!" She exclaimed, grabbing her wine and chucking it back, "go on then."

Grabbing my keys, I chucked on my heels and grabbed my clutch, knowing that I'd escort Ellie home before grabbing a few more drinks at the late license. I wouldn't say it had become a problem, but alcohol certainly helped keep the nightmares away these days.

***

"Ellie!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowded pub, letting her hand me my drink. "Thank you for tonight." I raised my glass, raising a toast to friendship.

"Right, I think I'm gonna head off." Ellie said, sipping the last of her drink. "Let's drop you home first." I shook my head, standing up. "No no, you're closest I'll walk you home and cut through the field." Ellie looked cautious, but agreed reluctantly. It was lucky, because my plan was not to go back home quite yet. Another pub closer to Ellie's was open until later, so I would spend the rest of my evening there.

"Such a good night, thank you Ali." I loved my nickname that Ellie had given me, it was something only she used too, which meant it couldn't be tainted by the current mood Hardy appeared to be in.

"Thank you Ellie, I woulda been drinking alone otherwise!" I joked, seeing the hint of concern flash in her eyes. "Go on, I'll let you know when I'm home." I smiled, hugging her before letting her shut the door. Turning away, I followed the path to the field, where I continued down a footpath to the late license'd bar, the only one around here.

"Alice! Alone again tonight?" The batman asked, and I nodded.

"Aren't I always? I just love keeping you company." I said to security, walking in and immediately pushing through to the front of the bar to grab a drink, my first free one of the night.

4 hours later...

"Come on Alice, you know you've gotta go." Security told me, not knowing anything about me.

"Ok ok, I'm gone." I was gone. As I stood up the room span, making me waiver as I walked.

"Jesus Christ, you can't walk home like this. Is there anyone we can call?" He asked, I think his name was Mike.

"Alec Hardy." I said before I could even think. I immediately went to retract that but Mike stopped me, telling me to shush. Since when did he have my phone?

"Is this Alec Hardy? Yes, hi. Yes, she's right here. This is Mike, from the Star and Garter. Yeah, if you could. Ok, will do, bye." I blinked slowly, proud that I remembered his name.

"You're gonna get me into trouble." I said, pointing a finger at him.

"I think you can do that all on your own." I smiled at his response, and suddenly I was practically lifted off the floor. "Come on, he's coming to pick you up."

"Who?" I asked, hiccuping. I clung tightly to my bag, closing my eyes slightly as I felt my feet become heavier.

"That Alex Hardy you mentioned." Mike responded "sounded old enough to be your dad."

"He's my ex. And it's Alec." I said, making Mike look at me. It felt strange to call Alec that, but I guess since we announced that we were dating in court, we were no longer seeing each other and therefore exes.

"Well, he certainly seemed concerned about you." I patted mikes back with my free arm, seeing headlights come into view.

"That'll be a first." I pulled my arm away from Mike, seeing the car pull to a stop. "I'll be ok from here. Sorry, Michelle." I teased, feeling a glare approach me as I walked away from Mike and stumbled towards the car.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're-" Hardy stormed out, thankfully I was expecting it, so I just opened his passenger door and sat down, closing it before noticing him storm back around in the rear view mirror. "Really, Walker?"

"Mike picked up my phone and called the first person on my contacts. It was you." I said, staring straight ahead at the headlights reaching deep into the dark car park. "Can you please drop me home?" I didn't hear him say anything response, except a long, drawn out sigh.

The drive was silent, not seeming like only a few minutes had passed before he pulled up outside my apartment entrance. "Thanks." I didn't want to apologise to him, not whilst I was still annoyed at him for blanking me.

"I thought you were going out with Miller tonight?" He locked the car door as I reached for the handle, preventing me from leaving.

"I did. I dropped her home and decided to go for a few after." I refused to look at him, but due to the interior car light on, I could see him run a hand down his face. "You can unlock the door now, Hardy." I almost spat his name, wanting nothing more than to leave his car. I didn't want to fight with him, I wanted quite the opposite but right now I was incredibly emotional and hurt at how he had treated me.

"There. Go." He flicked the unlock button, his phone vibrating as I shut the door. I felt him pause, but then drive off as I was left in the dark to get into my home. My phone buzzed, but I refused to look at it, knowing full well that it would be Hardy getting a quip in there. I left it on the side, crawled into bed and let the alcohol sing me to sleep.