The concept of a town wide family was…well, Carys didn’t have any real basis for comparison. There’d been her mother’s sailing team; they were practically her aunties, but neither Reagan nor Leialoha had their own families. She had a cousin, which seemed like a close thing, but they had only met twice when Carys was very small. And while she’d always had friends, they’d never been quite like family. The Philharmonic had been close knit, but she’d been one of their youngest members, and had little in common with them beyond their shared love of music. She found herself strangely fascinated by this simple thing. It didn’t even seem [i]real[/i].

“I see,” she’d said, even though she knew she truly didn’t. 

Audrey seemed to assess her company for a moment, although Carys couldn’t guess at what she’d concluded. Regardless, her expression had turned to a relieved smile, and Carys found herself grinning. They hadn’t known each other very long—only six months, and all but forty eight hours had been over the internet—but that protective streak warmed Carys’ heart. Audrey renting out the house she’d inherited had been a wonderful stroke of good fortune. Moving thousands of miles would have been terribly lonely if she’d arrived to an empty house.

How noble of you,” Carys joked to Mason, eyes glittering with mirth as she arched a brow. Perhaps she was being too comfortable, but she’d always been quick to find her place among people. It came with the territory with moving a dozen times in her life. As soon as she settled in, work or competition demanded that her family uproot. It hadn’t always been fun, but Carys was nothing if not resilient. She’d made the best of it.

“Thanks, then,” Audrey remarked, the skepticism in her voice no longer quite so unfriendly, if not entirely dissipated. She turned to Carys, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “It’s time to put your money where your mouth is; beer pong’s open, and I must defend my title.”

It was like a fire sparked in Carys’ grey eyes fueled by her competitive streak. “Try not to cry when I [i]utterly[/i] annihilate you,” she practically purred, chin jut out in defiance. Audrey laughed at that, the sound bright as she began to walk backwards.

“Oh, darling, that’s cute.”

Carys turned to Mason and Chase, smiling rather apologetically.

“Sorry—duty calls. It was really nice meeting you,” she looked between them, her cheek dimpling.

“You’re stalling,” Audrey sang song, and Carys laughed, looking over her shoulder and flapping her hand dismissively.

“You’re just eager to lose,” she returned, before turning back to Chase. “Thanks for putting up with me. Um, I’ll see you around? I mean, I’ll [i]try[/i] not to spill beer on you again, but I can’t make any promises.”

Lord, she sounded over eager, didn’t she? Carys opted instead to twitch her fingers in a parting wave, turning with a bounce of her braid, skipping over a piece of drift wood to practically pounce on Audrey, arms linking as she opened her mouth to unleash a tidal wave of trash talk.