Thomas and John showed up on breakfast the following morning. Nana was her usual self, happy and at the same time secretly trying to fish for information about what had happened with John and Hannah. Why hadn’t he come to her? Was he more aware of the ways of the world than they had thought? She included Thomas in her curiosity, this young and cute guy that seemed to be in many ways more experienced than John, but whom John still seemed to treat as a little brother.

   “So where do you guys know each other?” she asked, while they were eating their toasts.

   “We met on a plane here, I mean to Los Angeles. I stayed there a while longer than John”

   “What did you see? Did you go to the mountains?”

   “Haha, no. We were supposed to, but we were both too hangover to actually go. Had quite an exciting night on a beach on our first day there”

   “Oh, how?”

   “I’ll tell you later, I need to get more coffee” Thomas left the table. Nana gestured to John who answered quietly.

   “Girl problems. Sensitive thing.”

   “Ah. Okay”

   “So, what are you guys doing today? The beach?”

   “We might actually go downtown. Hannah is meeting Karl to discuss the gallery plan”

   “Oh, so she is seriously going with that old…” John was interrupted by Hannah, who was walking towards their table.

   “Morning, Nana, John” Hannah had given a lot of thought on how she would act towards John. For a while she had thought about ignoring him, but that felt too much like attention, even if negative. Instead she had decided to act as if they were nothing special, if the night had never happened and if she really didn’t care whether he was there or not.

   “Morning. We were just talking about you going to see Karl. Are you excited?”

   “Actually I am. It’s the opportunity of my life, after all”, she lied. He wouldn’t be given the right to see her inner struggle about this whole Karl thing.

   “That’s good, then. Where are you meeting?”

   “In a café, downtown. You won’t know the place”

   Meanwhile, Thomas had come back with his coffee. After briefly introducing each other Hannah asked Thomas what they were going to do after breakfast.

   “I think we thought we’d go downtown. I got enough of beaches for a while in Los Angeles. What about you?”

   She couldn’t change her story at this point, so Hannah had to admit that was their plan as well. Thomas was happy about it, because now they could go together, Hannah and Nana could show them at least the way if not also accompany them during the shopping. There was no turning down Thomas’s plan, so they agreed to meet in about half an hour in front of the hostel.

   They left, a loud group of people, on a bus towards the city centre. Thomas was on fire, talking with both of the girls, making them laugh with his funny remarks and his childlike enthusiasm. John was more quiet – next to Thomas he felt like he was an awkward chatter, and since he couldn’t talk to Hannah alone which was actually all he wanted, he decided to say nothing. He looked out of the window and tried to enjoy the landscape.

   They left the bus in front of a big shopping centre. Hannah headed immediately up with a hasty goodbye saying she was already late. The others started from the bottom floors, going through the various shops that interested each of their taste. Nana soon decided to go by herself, telling them she didn’t want to bore them with all the girl shops she wanted to visit. They decided to meet downstairs after a while.

   Thomas and John were soon done. Because there was still time before they were to meet Nana, and because John wanted to see how Hannah’s discussion was progressing, they decided to go for a coffee in one of the cafés upstairs. They sat at a table where John had clear sight to Hannah, who was facing away from him. They were too far to hear, but it was clear from their body language that Karl was persuading Hannah to do something and Hannah seemed reluctant but slowly giving up. John didn’t like what he saw – he was still pretty sure that what Karl wanted in the first place was Hannah, not her art, and that Hannah would break if he would get his mind. He didn’t actually know why he felt that way; from all he had seen, Hannah could be the strongest person he knew. But there was something vulnerable in her as well, had to be, and he had seen a tiny glimpse of that when she had fallen asleep in his arms on that beach. He didn’t want her to get hurt.

   Thomas looked at the time and realised it was already late and that they should get down to meet Nana. John left with a long glance towards Hannah and Karl. While he was looking, Hannah seemed to sense something and turned around to see them leave. John cursed himself for letting her see him looking at her. She must think he was not able of being casual. He hoped it would not affect the way she acted with him.

   They all agreed they had had enough of shopping. Nana suggested they’d go grab some lunch before returning to the hostel and the suggestion was met with happy acceptance as the boys realised just how hungry they were. While they were deciding the best lunch restaurant, Hannah sent Nana a message asking where they were. She joined them for the lunch, though she barely ate anything, she had eaten at the café.

   “How was your discussion? Did you decide on something?” Nana interrogated.

   “Well, he said he’d call a friend of his in St. Louis and send pictures of my paintings, and if he’s even slightly interested we’ll start driving there tomorrow with the real ones to see what he says”

   “To St. Louis? With that guy?” John said before he could help himself. Nana and Thomas saved him from being heard by bursting out at the same time.

   “Congratulations!” Thomas said smiling genuinely.

   “I’ll come with you, you can’t go with only him. Who knows what can happen”, Nana said.

   “Thanks for your offer, we’ll have to see what the guy with the gallery says first though”

   “I’m sure he can’t resist your paintings once he sees even a photo of them, and if he can for some reason, I’m pretty sure Karl can persuade him”

   “Especially when his chance to conquer you on the way there depends on it”, John thought.

   They left the centre together to go back to the hostel. They all agreed it was time for some afternoon beach, and went to change to their rooms before heading over. They finally managed to play beach volley, and to everyone’s surprise pretty evenly, it was found out that Thomas was actually pretty good in it which compensated with John’s being pathetic. Afterwards Hannah, John and Thomas headed for a swim, while Nana stayed reading at the beach. Thomas left soon as well, leaving John and Hannah splashing and laughing together. John had given up his social restraint – it was hard to keep that up with someone constantly splashing water and laughing at you – and Hannah had forgotten how complicated this relationship had been just a few hours ago. This was a new side of John, this playful, funny and also athletic person in front of her, and she liked him more than she had so far.

   The splashing stopped at some point and they started floating in the still, warm water. John was the first to talk.

   “I know I promised not to interfere to your business again, but are you sure about what you are doing with that Karl? I trust you, and if you know what you’re doing, I’ll believe that”

   “I am sure. Or to be honest, no, I’m not sure, I’m not sure whether I want a gallery at all, whether I want to have an old Swedish guy as my patron, whether he actually only wants my art as he always assures me. I’m not sure. But I guess I want to find out. That’s what life is, right? Taking your chances”

   “I guess”

   “I mean, I like my life, but I’ve started to think whether there should be something more. Some goals or something. Right now I’m just floating. I’m happy, but is that enough? I think I want to try this to find out if I could actually make art for living”

   “I just hope you will be fine”

   “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine, I’m always fine” Suddenly Hannah’s defences had got back on, leaving John amazed by the little break in the wall around her vulnerability he had seen. She laughed. “So what’s going on with you and Thomas, are you dating him?”

   “No! No, we’re just friends, I met him on the plane here, he’s such a small boy, I feel I have to take care of him”

   “Remember you don’t have to take care of all the world. It survives without you. However much it enjoys your company”

   “It does? Enough to take me with to St. Louis? I feel I should move on soon”

   “Who knows? Ask again when I know whether I’m actually going and when you’ve proved yourself worthy”

   “Yes, Your Majesty. Does Your Majesty need more sunscreen on her back?”

   “She might. We can go back to the beach to find out”, she moved towards the beach. Suddenly John grabbed her arm as if planning to pull her closer, but gave it up then just as fast. She had no idea what that was about.

   Thomas watched as John and Hannah were playing in the water, seeing the spark John thought he had managed to hide from the younger boy. He turned to Nana, who was reading a book, something on business, which surprised him.

   “What’s that?”

   Nana took one of her headphones off and looked at Thomas, who repeated the question.

   “Oh, it’s one of the pre-readings I should do for one of my next year courses. I want to find out whether I want to take that course or not”

   “What do you study?”

   “Business. Third year”

   “You don’t look like that”

   “I take that as a compliment”

   “It is”, Thomas laughed. “Do you know if John and Hannah are, you know, a thing?”

   “I know nothing more than what you can see here. He hasn’t talked to you?”

   “No, I guess he thinks I’m too sensitive. I had this one girl in Los Angeles, didn’t work out, it was a blow”

   “Ah, I’m sorry”

   “Don’t worry. We knew each other for two days or so, I guess it shouldn’t be that bad”

   “It’s not always about that. I don’t think I’ve ever worried about Hannah falling in love this bad, and they’ve known each other for what? Two and a half days?”

   “Really? Is it that bad? How can you say?”

   “I don’t know, to be honest. It’s just that it would be just Hannah’s thing to completely fall in love with someone so much not her type. And your John seems to be a serious person. Maybe he’ll find the serious side of Hannah, make her become serious, seriously attached to him”

   “I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m sure it won’t be long before we’ll head to separate directions and they will never see each other again”

   “Yeah. If Hannah is going to St. Louis tomorrow, that’ll be it”

   “Exactly”

   John and Hannah came out of the ocean chatting and completely at ease. The afternoon became an evening, Wayne and Greg joined them at some point. They were all in the middle of a conversation about vegetarianism, when suddenly Hannah’s phone rang.

   “It’s Karl!” she hushed everyone else to be quiet. “Hi… Yeah. That’s really cool. For how many? Sounds good, I’ll ask. Yes. Ten-ish? Great. See you then! Bye!”

   Hannah put down the phone and was quiet for a while. Everyone else stared at her, expecting her to explain.

   “So?” Nana was finally the one who broke the silence.

   “So I’m heading to St. Louis tomorrow at ten in a car that fits Karl, me and three others, who feels like moving on? I want you guys with me there”

   “Haha! I’m coming, enough of the coast for me!” Nana laughed and hugged Hannah.

   “Thomas? I could go, do you want to come?” John looked at his friend.

   “Hey! You can’t decide this stuff before I’ve answered, I know her more than either of you boys!” Greg said, but he was smiling.

   “Aren’t you stuck here?” Nana asked, “In the hostel? Both of you, right?”

   “Well, technically not, but I guess if all of you want to go we should let Nana and the foreigners first. We can go by ourselves some other time”

   “St. Louis would be so cool! Let’s go!” Thomas got excited.

   “It’s decided then. Tomorrow at ten, he’ll pick us up. To be honest“, she grinned, “I think he meant I could take Nana with me and won’t be happy if I’m bringing boys. But, it’s his problem”

   Nana and Thomas shared a worried look as John and Hannah were poking each other with some inside joke. Wayne and Greg shrugged at each other. These new boys, they had messed up the girls’ minds in the past two days, they couldn’t keep up anymore. Wayne planned to find out something during the following night, as well as say such a goodbye to Nana she would never forget, and keeping that in mind he suggested a party for the night.

   “It’s your last night here, Hannah and Nana, we’ve got so used to you! We need to celebrate that and a good hangover for tomorrow to make us forget the fact that you’re going away”

   “Of course! We need to go shopping! Alcohol! And food! It’s going to be the night of the year!” Nana said, jumping up.

   “The night we’ll never forget!” Thomas followed Nana.

   “Or will forget before tomorrow morning”, Wayne laughed, making everyone else laugh heartily.