Shardy Island was a quaint little summer town.
A lovely beach that drew in many people during the summer months, enough to let the citizens live reasonably comfortably during the other months. But it is during the summer the event took place that would change this town forever. The person who experienced this all from beginning to end was the surfer Cameron Conners. He visited that beach every single summer with his girlfriend and local from town Lacey Brinn, ever since they got together. They always stayed at the Shaw Inn, right by the beach.
Did that have any influence on what was to come? Could it have been related to the beach somehow? Nobody knows.
Cameron as usual that morning swaggered out to the beach with his girlfriend not far behind, his surfboard in hand. Cameron was 24 years old and had been surfing since he was seventeen. Bushy blond hair on his head and bright blue eyes, Cameron was a tall, athletic figure that cut a very impressive figure on the beach. More muscular and strong than most surfers, owing to personal preference - his girlfriend liked him with more muscle on him - Cameron enjoyed wearing a tight wetsuit that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
"Hey babe, looks like the waves are pretty nice this morning, I'm gonna head out 'n' try my luck." He leaned in and kissed her as she caught up.
"I'm just gonna be catching some rays on the beach, have fun!" She kissed him back, every bit the passionate girlfriend eager to see her beau exerting himself out there. She did love seeing how strong and flexible Cameron was. Lacey was 23, and about as athletic, but in a more slim, tight and beautiful way that accentuated her appeal.
Which was not to say there weren't some troubles in paradise.
Owing to her father, the head lifeguard on the beach, the fifty five year old Owen Brinn, Lacey was left with some issues when it came out that Cameron was bisexual. He never even once cheated on her, and was nothing if not faithful...but her father was overprotective, paranoid, and kept bringing up random tidbits that he - in his tendencies toward overanalyzing EVERYTHING - claimed was evidence of cheating. Thus, Lacey was put into quite a bad situation, made all the worse by how her dad was always there for her when she was growing up and could usually count on him.
Cameron's conflict came in the form of Luis Sanchez. The 22 year old flirty and supposedly "straight" hispanic that seemed intent on pushing things to the most homoerotic they could go, and only then suddenly going full on "no homo" with him. Cameron had no intent of ever cheating on Lacey, least of all with the provocative and sneering Luis, who had a reputation around the beach for his inappropriate behavior. Sure, he was objectively a hunk as far as appearances went, his curly black hair always combed back and his muscular build displayed in full, but the attitude and weird straight bait behavior was a definite turn off even if Cameron was interested. No speedo could make Luis amenable to him.
These things intertwined in a certain way - Owen was convinced Cameron and Luis were involved, and Luis wanted to get a job there as a lifeguard - which would mean even more involvement with the lovers.
As Cameron caught a wave, enjoying the moment, he rolled his eyes when he heard the tell tale voice. There he was... As usual, Luis tried to upstage him on the beach, catching a bigger wave and showing off in a tiny speedo. "Hey hey, big boy~! You looking my way for once?" Cameron ignored him this time and went to go paddle a bit and enjoy the sun.
And for a time that seemed to work. He was just glad that he could get some time away from the sex pest. There was only one person for Cameron. And that was Lacey. Hopefully he'd be able to make it up to her later. He knew all this drama was not her cup of tea.
Then Cameron found himself looking at Luis as he approached yet again...
And something seemed different about the guy. Cameron cleared his eyes in case sea water was doing something. Once, but then when that did absolutely nothing, Cameron cleared his eyes again and took another look. Luis seemed to be enthused by this as he came by closer, "What? You can't believe I'm this good looking? Better clear your eyes again, hombre!"
Cameron realized he wasn't seeing things. This wasn't the water playing some tricks on his eyes or the way the sun was beating down. Luis really was...