The air was warm, a pleasant change from the receding autumn (fall (whatever I’m Aussie)) chill. The wind smelt like salt and there was the slightest sound of water lapping against the shore, the waves illuminated by the light of the full moon beaming down upon them. Most of this would have made for a pleasant, quiet night and other day of the year. However most of it was drowned out by the party going on not five hundred metre behind him. As it stood now music blared, its volume challenged only by the voices trying to speak over it and the crackle of fire.

The salt in the air was drowned out by the smell of smoke and burning wood. The light of the moon paled in comparison to the bonfire raging. The turnout looked about the same as last year. It was a tradition, every year they had a big party on the beach the night of the first full moon of spring. Chase remembered his father telling him it used to be a very sacred night amongst the original inhabitants of the land. Somewhere along the line it became a bit more… “Chase! Get your ass over here!” Commercialised.

The boy glanced over his shoulder and smiled slightly before he abandoned the quiet water’s edge and quickly ran back towards his friends waiting for him. “Dude! Best night ever or what?” Mason said as he threw a beer to him. The sacredness of the night may have changed slightly, but the descendants of the first people of this land were still in charge of organising the party. As it was, that meant him and his friends usually. They’d all known each other since birth virtually, so they were more like brothers than anything else.

Chase merely smirked and shrugged as he put the drink down. Sometimes it did feel like they were doing this wrong, disrespecting their ancestors or something like that. Never did that feeling overwhelm him more than when he looked at the moon. So he usually made a point of avoiding it as much as possible on the night. Having spaced out for a few moments he missed Mason’s next comment and the sudden shove he received caught him completely off guard and he stumbled before he collided into someone and the boy quickly turned, catching them before they feel.

"You're moping again, Zane."

Sitting on a set of jagged rocks upon the shore of the beach was a small woman. Her attention was taken from the empty thoughts she had before to her friend. Her friend was the one who really wanted to come to the party, she was more of an introvert and chose not to really socialize very much. Something about the atmosphere of parties she wasn't fond of. It wasn't just being at the party that had her down, it was for other reasons, ones she wasn't going to speak much about. Her friend proceeded to walk closer, the music thumping in the background. The waves crashed against the rocks, causing Zane to flinch a little.

"Not tonight, you promised you wouldn't be like this." Her friend pleaded, climbing up on the small mountain of stones. This was a yearly event and this was their first time coming, so she wanted her friend to experience this night. Especially since Zane never really got out much. This was an opportunity for her to mix and mingle and drink and live a little for once.

"Alright, Janette. I'll go..." She let out a sigh and pushed herself off of the rock and met up with her friend, walking back towards the party. The quietness soon disappeared as they drew closer to the commotion--well a commotion for her, and a party for the majority. It was civilized for a party. Not too many people were dancing, the vast majority of people were just talking and socializing.

Their intention was to go to the bar, except that didn't happen. A fairly large man was pushed into Zane, and somehow he managed to catch her. She was completely taken aback and let out a gasp, clutching onto the figure that had caught her. That was a miracle because they both fell. She quickly scrambled to her feet, her cheeks turning red.

"I'm so sorry, I'll have to watch were I'm going next time." She said gently with no ill manner. Now she would just have to hope he wasn't drunk and didn't curse her out, because of her clumsiness. She was naturally clumsy, so that was all the more excuse of why she probably shouldn't drink tonight. Janette had went off in a different direction, missing her friend's fall.

Chase shook his head and climbed slowly to his feet, attempting to brush the sand off him. It was then he heard a girl, most likely the person he’d just crashed into, apologising. He hadn't really gotten a chance to look at her before, it had happened too fast. Looking at her now he couldn’t really stop the goofy smile that crossed his face at her blush, blue eyes flickering across her features as he shook his head slightly. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault.” He assured her. And it hadn't been. “I ah… wasn’t looking where I was going. I’m sorry.”

Well, really it had been Mason’s fault for shoving him. But that could all be dealt with later. And Mason would pay later. “Are you alright?” As much as he wanted to run off Chase knew the polite thing to do would be to at least make sure she wasn’t hurt. “Are you here with anyone?” He then asked, looking around to see if anyone was coming over to see if she was alright, and probably tell him off for falling into her. However the only people coming over were the last ones he wanted to see.

“Smooth move Casanova!” Mason said as he practically jumped onto Chase, putting him in a head lock, which Chase quickly pulled himself out of and then shoved the other boy.

“Get out of here!” He growled with another smirk. “Seriously. I’ll come find you in a little bit okay?” He then turned back to the girl and smiled apologetically with a shrug. “Sorry about that…” He paused, unsure of where to proceed from here. Formality dictated one should probably introduce themselves right now, but he wasn’t even sure if this meeting was going to last much longer. She’d leave and then they’d probably never see each other again. Which was a shame… she seemed like a nice girl, if not a little shy.

Zane found herself brushing off as much sand as possible--on her clothes, her elbows and pants. He assured her it wasn't her fault and he wasn't watching where he was going. That didn't really do much to put her at ease, she still felt like she had a part in this "Don't worry about it."

While she dusted herself off, he asked if she was okay. "I'm fine thank you." He looked to be alright, so she didn't see fit to ask him if he was okay. "I'm here with my friend... She's around here somewhere. Probably flirting with someone." She murmured the last part under her breath. Though she wouldn't be lying, Janette was very promiscuous and hopped around from guy to guy a lot. Not that she had something agaisnt her friend, that was just the way she happens to be.

Her attention was brought back to the man when he was placed in a headlock by whom she assumed was his friend. She hadn't smiled or laughed much that night, but his friend's actions made her grin and giggle a little. He soon shooed his friend away which made her giggle again. She felt kind of childish before him. "No it's alright," she assured him as he apologized again. There was a short silence before she cleared her throat, and looked up at him. "I don't want to take you away from your fun, so go on... I guess I'll see you whenever--" if she got to see him again. "--I see you."

Whilst the conversation had been… brief to say the least, Chase found himself not wanting it to end. “Well you could come and hang out with us.” He blurted out before his mind had fully realised what his mouth was saying. Now it was working three times as hard playing catch up. “I mean… until you find your friend again…” Smooth Chase. So very smooth. “They’re a nice bunch of guys.” He assured her, and then realised how suspicious it probably sounded to a young girl that he’d just met inviting her to come and hang out with a group of guys at a party.

It wasn’t like he looked like a creepy guy. At least he liked to think so. He was tall… ish for his age, taller than other guys he knew anyway, he had a light amount of muscle but nothing impressive like those guys who went out of their way to buff up had, rather his was more natural development from doing a lot of outdoor activities. He was often picked on for his hair by his friends, they said it made him look like a girl but it wasn’t that long, just because he took a little bit of effort to style it.

This is why he didn’t hang out with girls often. He double guessed everything he said around them for fear he’d offend. Guys were just… easier he guessed. He hadn't seen her at these parties before, so it lead him to believe she was new to the area, a very long shot really. There was no reason to assume something like that, which is why he didn’t voice it. But if she was then maybe she’d be interested in making some new friends. “Or I could help you look for your friend? I wouldn’t feel right leaving you alone until you at least found someone you knew.”

Once again he silently hoped he wasn’t sounding creepy but it seemed to be a very fine line with girls. He’d never do something like that of course, but he was aware of how alert to that type of things girls were. He had a sister.

Zane smiled a little. He seemed a little concerned about her, which felt kind of good. Someone otjer than her mother and her best friend actually cared about her well-being. There was a part of her that wanted to just stay and hang with those guys, but hell, she didn't even know them. They could all be preying on women just for their own pleasure. The thought didn't sit right with her. The man before her seemed trustworthy, but that wasn't enough.

The other half of her told her to take the nice guy and go find Janette, which seemed like the wisest option since he didn't want to just leave her alone. Pondering for a moment she finally said, "Let's find my friend. Hopefully she hasn't seduced anyone yet."

Although Zane was mostly shy and quiet, she was quite the jokester. But her humor was pretty awful and dark, which was why she never spoke much aloud. They maneuvered through the mass of bodies, brushing past random people. Another reason why she wasn't fond of crowds. What if she bumped into the wrong person and they just wanted to pummel her?

Oh how negative she was. She was hardly the most optimistic person considering both her brother and father passed away within the last year--her father just a mere month ago. The official story surrounding her father's death was a car accident, but he worked for the CIA. So automatically she didn't trust anything they said as far as his death went.

They pushed passed the bodies, the thumping music growing louder as they drew closer to the stereo. At last they found her friend, who--just as Zane predicted--was talking to some guy. Zane walked over to her and pulled her arm. Okay it was more like a yank, but she got her friends attention nonetheless.

"Ouch!" Janette said, giving the man she was speaking to an apologetic stare.

"We were supposed to stick together. I could have stayed where I was before."

"What happened to you? It looks like you were making love to the sand." Her friend joked, causing Zane to smile and shake her head as her friend began to dust her off.

"Never mind that... I want you to meet someone." Dammit she didn't know his name. "We bumped into each other and he was kind enough to take me here."

"My my. He looks wonderful... I could just eat him up," Janette whispwred in her friend's ear. "You made a good choice, my friend. I'm so glad you got him before--"

"Hush. I don't even know his name." A scowl appeared on her face as she rolled her eyes and looked at Chase apologetically. "I'm Zane, this is my friend Janette."

Chase smiled a little at her decision and nodded slightly, even if the very last part did cause him to frown in concern, not sure if she was being serious or not. As they made their way through the party Chase made sure to stay close to her, wary of another incident like what had happened to them repeating itself. As it was being slightly above average height did help in situations like this and he was able to keep the path relatively clear for her. He wasn’t entirely sure who they were supposed to be looking for, so he couldn’t really help other than stay close.

However the girl quickly pulled away from him eventually when she spotted her friend and she pulled her away from the guy she was talking to, which made him smile slightly. He was just going to leave them, since she seemed to have forgotten him already until they both turned towards him; obviously something had been said he’d missed. So he simply smiled again, giving a small nod to both the ladies as they were introduced to him. “My name is Chase.” He said, struggling to find the right volume to be heard properly over the music. “I’m sorry for knocking your friend over.”

He paused again, realising this was the point where they’d separate. “My offer still stands.” He eventually voiced, figuring it was worth one last shot. “If you’d like to join me and my friends I think they’re over by the bonfire.” He gave them a small, curt nod before taking a few steps back. “I hope you enjoy the rest of the party, Zane.” He quickly turned and walked off after that, deciding it was like ripping off a bandaid. Which was a stupid thing to think because he’d only just met the girl and had like five minutes of conversation with her.

As predicted his friends were over by the fire, and they had food. Mason was the first to spot him. “Hey! Casanova’s back!” He said loudly, causing the other boy with him, Ryan, to look up and grin at him. Mason then turned his attention to behind Chase and his grin widened. “What happened? Struck out with your lady friend?” He teased as Chase sat down and promptly shoved him in the shoulder.

“Will you shut up? She was just some… random girl that you happened to push me into. I made sure she got back to her friend safely and that’s it okay?” He insisted.

Mason shrugged casually as if he didn’t really care anymore. “Smore?” He offered, holding out a chocolate dripping marshmallow sandwich. Chase grinned and took it eagerly, deciding to accept the peace offering.

Janette began to make supercilious and flirtatious comments that made Zane role her eyes over and over again. "Well mister Chase, I'd chase you any day." She made silly faces as well, most of them indicating some kind of sexual attraction towards the young man. Zane wanted to hit her terribly bad, but that wasn't apart of her character so she blushed and buried her head into her hand, covering her face in embarrassment.

"What kind of offer are you passing up, Zane?" Janette asks with wide eyes, shoving her friend by her shoulder. "Oh my God--did he--" she leaned and began whispering in her ear to which Zane replied with a violent shaking of her head.

"Janette calm down." She grinned at her friend who was simply--she hated putting it this way--a whore. She wasn't about to say it out loud but it was the brutal truth. Not to mention she made it more obvious than anything else. The way she dressed, the amount of makeup she put on--it was all to impress some male for a one night stand. Zane might have been old fashioned because she wanted to know the one... Not that she believed in that sort of thing, but someone who would qualify as a mate.

While she was trying to help her friend pull herself together, he went off without saying goodbye. Or she hadn't heard him say goodbye, it wounded her. Even though she had only stumbled into him--literally--she still wanted to get to know him more. Past his name, he seemed like an nice fellow. But now she wouldn't be able to know--

"Come on, let's follow him."

"But I don't know where he went." Zane protested, whilst being pulls by her friend.

"All you have to do is look for a bunch of dudes grouped together and--oh, what do we have here?" She said pointing to them, Zane's eyes immediately falling on him. The only thing she could do was smile. It was like they'd been away for years. That's what if felt like to her at least, which was peculiar because she never paid much attention to things like this before.

Right now was the time she could have used a drink to try and loosen up her nerves a bit and have a normal conversation with a normal guy. Problem was she didn't drink. She wasn't clinging onto any kind of religious values, she just didn't liek the way alcohol made her feel or even the taste of it it was too much. He was sitting near his friend which caused her to freeze for a moment, because she didn't know if she should sit next him or wait until he came to her and was standing. She traveled over to him, taking a seat near him, but not next to him. She didn't want to seem clingy but he did have her interest. She lifted a hand to wave, in hopes that he would see.

“Hey Chase?” He looked up to Ryan as he swallowed a mouth full of melted marshmallow. “That girl just waved at you.” He said pointing somewhere behind him. He turned quickly and was surprised to say the least to see Zane and her friend Janette sitting close to him. It was a nice surprise, but a surprise still. “You shouldn’t judge so quickly, Mase,” Ryan then taunted, turning to Mason.

“Chase, playing hard to get you dog!” Mason joked as he gently bumped shoulders with Chase. However Chase did his best to brush it off. He smiled and waved back before he moved to stand, taking a few steps over to her.

“Hey… again.” The boy said a little timidly. He hadn’t been expecting to see her so soon. Or at all for that matter, he felt a little bad for running off so quickly now. A wolf whistle from Mason caused him to cringe before he smiled again and shrugged. “Don’t worry, they’re harmless enough, you two can come sit with us if you want.” He informed her. “This is Mason and Ryan.” He introduced each boy, who waved back casually, each smiling with secret meaning.

They both appeared to be around the girl’s age, Mason was some inches taller than Chase, though had a fairly standard build, he was fit, lean athletic muscles was a nice balanced skin tone, he wasn’t tanned but it look like he got out too. He had short, spiked honey blonde hair and golden eyes. Ryan was a little shorter than both of the boys, but had a lot more muscle definition, a deeper tan and dark sandy blonde hair with dark brown eyes. A few tribal looking tattoos could be seen peeking out from beneath his shirt sleeves.

Behind the girl’s Chase caught a glimpse of a young blonde boy, who looked very lost but very familiar. “Hey Ryan? Isn’t that Seth?” He asked suddenly, nodding his head in the direction of the younger boy.

“What?!” Ryan shot up, searching the crowd before he too spotted the younger boy. “I’m gonna kill him.” He swore as he vaulted over the cooler near him and ran off into the crowd. Both Chase and Mason sat back slightly both laughing slightly and smiling at each other before they turned their attention to their guests.

Sitting back down Chase took another smore and took a bite out it, which was probably a mistake because Mason seized the opportunity. “So have either of you girls been to a new moon party? Are you enjoying yourselves?” He asked casually. None of the boys were the flirtatious kind, just friendly really though they would pounce on the chance to embarrass or poke fun at the other, Mason was usually the most social amongst them though. It was a good question, Chase though any way as he took another bite. A well put way of seeing how well it was being received by others, things they could do to improve it for next year.

A small smile spread over her lips when he greeted her again, she waved again, a little too nervous to speak. Although he wasn't very close to her, he was close enough to the point where she could make out his features almost perfectly. He was very attractive, which left her speechless. The only thing she could do was smile and wave for fear of saying something absolutely stupid. She heard his friend whistle off in the distance, which caused her cheeks to turn a crimson red.

Janette was in her own little world, looking around at the group of men. They should have come sooner in the day--since it was an all day event. She might have gotten lucky and been able to help them out with sunscreen. "Hello..." She said absent-minded, not sure who she was saying hello to. All of them were attractive, which made her grin. The one that stood out to her more than the rest was Mason. He was her type. He was a jokester and light-hearted guy. Chase introduced them all which had her grinning from ear-to-ear. "Did you pick your pick?" She leaned into her friend's ear, her smile unable to spread any further. "I know you've already picked him, you guys have been destined to be together."

"Relax, Jan. We're just having a good time. Nothing serious is happening tonight." She stood and moved closer to the bonfire where they stood, one of the boys running off into the crowd. Naturally, Zane stood at Chase's side, only really comfortable around him since she had been around him for a little while. He seemed to be nice. He then proceeded to ask them had they ever come and were they enjoying themselves. "Well I--"

"No, this is our first time here. It's wonderful!" Janette cut her friend off without even recognizing her rudeness. Zane only shook her head in disbelief that her best friend was so rude sometimes. She suppose she didn't have a good taste in friends. Janette pushed a hand through her dirty blonde hair, her blue eyes wandering over to the fire, a little mesmerized by its appearance.

"Yeah, I don't go out much, and Janette drug me along. To be honest, I didn't feel anything fun about this night before I bumped into you." She said to Chase, folding her arms over her chest. She was also staring at the fire, but she put her eyes there because she didn't want to stare at him for too long and create an awkward situation. "I take it you've gone here before?" She asked trying to delve a little into a conversation.

Chase smiled at her slightly, still unsure how he felt about the other girl. She seemed… eager, he supposed. However he was happy enough to return his attention to Zane when she spoke to him. “We’re the ones who organise it.” He said rather softly, since Mason seemed content talking to her friend. “Well… us and a couple of other guys who grew up around here. Either way it’s nice to know you ended up enjoying yourselves one way or another.” He figured he was starting to get a bit of an idea about the kind of girl Zane was.

Quiet, reserved, a little shy, someone a lot of people would view as ‘boring’ because she didn’t conform to the normal social conventions. Which led him to wonder how the friendship between her and Janette worked. Then again hadn't it always been the saying that opposites attract? He shrugged slightly. “You’re both more than to join us if you’d like?” What? Chase’s attention turned fully to Mason, who seemed to just have invited the girls to something. What he had no idea. The only plans they had for tomorrow were surfing but he didn’t think it was something either of these girls would enjoy.

Luckily Ryan chose this moment to return, dragging a younger boy behind him who bore such a resemblance that they could only be siblings. “Sorry guys, I gotta jet. I’ll see you tomorrow though.” He said in a low, grumbling tone as he glared at the younger boy as they both disappeared back into the party.

Chase and Mason glanced at each other before laughing loudly. “That’s Ryan’s younger brother, Seth.” Chase explained eventually. “Since this is technically public property I guess he’s legally allowed to be here but there’s kind of an unwritten rule that we don’t invite people underage because of the alcohol…”

“It’s not like we all didn’t sneak in when we were younger.” Mason interjected. “Ryan just doesn’t want Seth here because he doesn’t want to play babysitter.”

Chase shrugged slightly. “Maybe… he could also just be worried he might get into trouble. I mean if Ash was here I know I wouldn’t be able to have a good time. I’d be too worried about her.” He said, deciding to let the invitation situation drop for now. They could talk about it later, as he suspected the girl’s would. “So do you girls live around here? Or just visiting?” He decided to ask, brining the conversation back to a more neutral ground, rather than talking about people they didn’t know.