Sierra pulled Skye's denim jacket off of one of the kitchen chairs and flung it at her older cousin.
"What are you doing?" Skye asked.
"What is sitting here going to achieve? Let's go and stalk this 'somebody' to see what we can find out." Skye could tell that Sierra must have already been extremely bored and maybe a little fed up of Skye interrogating her.
It couldn't be a bad idea though, could it? As long as they were careful and didn't get spotted. Skye didn't need Cassandra adding stalking to the list of things she hated Skye for.
The swimmer took a deep breath and nodded.
With her leg feeling a little better today, the cousins walked around the village until they reached Freddie's house.
Skye had only been there before to drop Cassandra off. Despite his house being walking distance from hers, Cass had often used Skye as a taxi service.
"You think fit Freddie did it?!" Sierra exclaimed, a little too loudly when they reached his road. Skye quickly put her hand over her cousin's mouth to quieten her words.
She gave her cousin a roll of the eyes and replied, "Cassandra would eat you alive, you don't want to be saying things like that." If anybody mentioned Freddie and attractive in the same sentence, Cassandra would try and fight them. Mind you, she'd do the same if anybody mentioned unattractive and Freddie in the same sentence, so it was best to avoid the name Freddie all together. He was her property and she was his, that was the kind of relationship they had.
"I doubt it." Sierra was too confident for her own good. She resembled those small dogs that ran around barking a lot, they had to be loud because they were so little. Just like Sierra.
"You wouldn't want to risk it."
Sierra shrugged. "I'm quick on my feet, she wouldn't be able to keep up with me
Skye crept around the corner of his house, hoping nobody was in. She couldn't exactly tiptoe so it was a bit of a risk. Sierra followed, despite it being her idea. At least she was light on her feet, even if she wasn't nearly as confident as she made out she was.
"So what exactly are we looking for?"
"I don't know, this was your suggestion." Skye exhaled. "We just need to find his car. If we can see it, we can rule it out."
The houses in the small beach village didn't often come with the luxury of a garage on the side of the house. Most of the parking was on-road, unless you were rich enough to own one of the larger houses in the area. Freddie's family had only been able to afford a house in the area because of the bar he owned and it wasn't a very big house either.
The blondes looked up at the off-yellow coloured house. There were no green cars on the street.
"Are we going to wait here all day to see what happens? If so, I really should have brought a picnic," complained Sierra. "My legs are starting to hurt already."
Skye gave her cousin a look of disbelief. She heightened her body, pushing her shoulders back and her chest out. She ran her hands down the back of her blonde bun and sighed. What was she doing?
Skye spun around on her feet slowly to face her cousin and said, "We should just go home. The car could just be at a garage if there's something wrong with it."
"What's wrong with it?"
"I don't know," Skye sighed. "His sister said something had happened to it. It doesn't mean anything though, does it? Things happen to cars all the time. I just wanted to see if it was here so that I could rule it out but it not being here doesn't prove anything."
Just as she was about to retrace her steps and head home, she heard the sound of her voice being called from the distance.
Cassandra.
The woman was covered in a purple tracksuit with her blonde locks up in a ponytail, jogging her way to Freddie's. So that was how she got there now that Skye wasn't driving her.
"I don't even want to know what the hell you're doing here, Skye," Cassandra snapped as she grew closer. She kept her distance, arms wrapped around her chest just as they had when she and Skye had their argument.
Whilst she felt terrible guilt for her recent behaviour, Skye slowly turned around to look at the other woman. She was about to stand up for herself, when another voice did it for her.
"She's here to see me." Freddie had pulled up outside and Louisa had hopped out of it just in time.
A green car, but certainly not the make that had run Skye off the road.
"You two?" questioned Cassandra with widened eyes. "I have no words. No words." She scowled towards Skye and then walked into the house with Freddie, who was just oblivious Skye was even there at all.
"Freddie got his car fixed then?" Skye asked Lydia, softly.
"Yeah, we were just bringing it back from the repair man. It's supposed to be a shared car but he acts like it's his." Louisa put her hand to her hip and said, "I didn't know you knew where I lived."
"Everyone knows everyone around here," Sierra chirped in. It was true.
"Yeah, I've dropped Cass off here before," Skye said with a nod. She paused for a moment before saying, "I've got a couple of friends who could use a trip out, I was hoping they could join us for our drinkies? They don't get out much."
Since she'd started arguing with Cassandra, Skye hadn't heard from Niamh either so she needed a new friendship group of support. She planned on bringing along Craig and Jake. If Craig was happy to speak to her again, anyway.
"The more the merrier. As long as they ain't like her," Lydia said with a smile, gesturing to the door that Cassandra has previously stepped into. "Text me details."
"See you soon."
As Lydia stepped into her house, Skye pulled her cousin behind the conifer trees so that they were out of sight. There she let out a pant of breaths.
"So Freddie's car is all well and good then?" Sierra asked with wide eyes.
"What was I thinking?" Skye shut her eyes for a second before opening them again. "I must be going mad." The swimmer took another deep breath and then added, "I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head, I'll see you later."
Sierra skipped off and Skye pushed her hand to her forehead. Part of her wanted to go straight home and furiously cross Freddie's name off of her list, but whilst she was out in the village she figured now would be as good a time as any to pop in on Craig.
Skye hadn't seen the man since the morning after they'd slept together. She'd been speechless and overall quite useless that day. There were so many things she wanted to say, but none of them had managed their way out of her mouth.
"Skye. Hiya," Craig said softly after opening the door. The tone of his voice felt like the ocean on a calm summer's day. It was comforting. He did seem a little surprised to see her though.
"I...just came to see how you are."
"Thanks. I'm...doing okay. How are you?"
"Yeah...I'm...I'm okay," Skye lied. Her fingers tangled in each other nervously as she spoke. "I met this girl called Lydia the other night and she's invited me out for drinks. I wondered if you might want to come along? I'll be taking another friend too." She paused and scraped back some of her fallen blonde locks behind her ear. "Would be cool to have you there with us." She paused, showing a more vulnerable side of herself. "I could use the distraction, to be honest with you," she gulped.
"Has something happened?" Craig asked with worry.
It took a few moments for Skye to gain the courage to reply. "Cass found out about us sleeping together."
"Gosh. It's none of her business. I don't think she should be allowed an opinion on the matter," he mumbled, trying to hide his surprise. He didn't ask how it had come out.
"She's grieving so I can understand. I think it's best I just stay away from her for a while."
Craig gave a faint laugh. "I always wondered how you two were best friends, you're so different."
"Different isn't always bad." Skye smiled. Her legs swayed and her lashes looked up at the man. Skye was sure their eye contact wasn't supposed to be so intense. "Seeing you always makes me feel that little bit better," she said, cheerfully.
"Same with you." He paused. "But after what happened, I think we should keep our distance for a while. We don't want it to happen again." There was guilt in his voice. Was he sensing the same sexual tension that Skye was? Is that why he was pulling away?
The blonde nodded and took a small step back; her eyes pulling away from him and looking to the corner of his door.
"I'll text you details for the night out anyway, just in case you change your mind." Skye slowly looked up at him. "I'd really like it if we could fight our problems together. I know they're different kinds of hell but...that doesn't mean..." What was she trying to say? It wasn't making any sense. "Don't worry, I understand. Take care of yourself for me?"
"For you," Craig replied with a small not. The two smiled at each other and lingered for a moment before Skye turned to walk away.
She kept a forced smile as she walked out of the apartment block, but she could feel it start to crack when Craig was out of sight.
The disappointment stung, even if she wasn't surprised. He was one of the only people whose presence made her feel better. She longed to be in his company.
Maybe for a moment Skye had thought that Craig was the one thing, one person who was going to save her. He'd look into her eyes and her face would light up. The ball of worry over her head would subside and her shoulders would feel as light as a feather. He'd be the sun and she'd be the rain. Together, creating their own perfect rainbow.
But life didn't work like that and a man wasn't going to save her from her own mind.
Forcing herself to forget the conversation they'd just had, Skye went home. She drew a light line through Freddie's name. He was still a suspect, but it was unlikely to be him. He had an alibi, if Cassandra was telling the truth, and no good reason to be a suspect either.
The time was passing so slowly and her eyes had gravitated to Lalia's bottles of wine on the kitchen counter. Before she could even think to stop herself this time, the bottle was on her lips allowing the liquid to drizzle down her throat.
An hour passed by and her confidence grew. Her mind had shaken away all thoughts of Craig, all thoughts of Cassandra, all thoughts of the car crash. Freedom.
As she walked to her room, she felt like she was floating. Her feet danced the few short metres until she propped herself against the bed to get changed. The pain in her leg had subsided entirely and she could easily stroll around without her crutches.
Skye wasn't too drunk, only a little tipsy. Her mind was still aware of her surroundings and in control.
The swimmer pulled a bikini over her slim frame and looked in the mirror, then she threw some clothes over the top of it.
The beach was quiet again today. A couple of dog walkers and children. The blonde admired the dogs as they passed and took no notice of the human's curious expressions upon seeing her pull off her clothes and leave them on the ground.
Skye kicked off her shoes, pressing her feet into the sinking, wet shore. As she took her steps forward, her prints were left in the sand behind her.
After wading through the water and reaching a deep enough spot, she allowed her body to stretch out, her back floating on the cold, Welsh sea.
There was a breeze in the air, but it wasn't too cold. The sky was grey, with small amounts of blue sky poking out between the clouds. The waves brushed over Skye's body and she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so refreshed. The swimmer shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly closed. She enjoyed the sensation of feeling relaxed for the first time in ages.
Everything about water filled Skye with peace. There were no worries here. The tranquillity of the sound of waves against her body and the rocks beside her felt like the most beautiful thing in the world.
She felt calm.
Skye stayed motionless for some time, unaware that her body had been drifting and the waves around her had become sharper, louder, rougher.
She opened her eyes and took a panicked breath, realising that she was further from the shoreline than she had planned to go. She was a strong swimmer, so it didn't matter.
Skye turned onto her stomach and began to chase the waves back to shore. It worked fine until her leg decided enough was enough and with only one working leg, she was left unable to push herself forward.
The waves crashed around her from every direction, sending her backwards. She tried to yell for help, but nobody was going to hear her from such a distance.
The last thing she could recall was her body fighting for every tiny, last piece of air possible.
Until there was no way left to fight it.