Disclaimer: I do not own GS.

Hello my lovely readers,

If you're still reading this right now, thank you for being a faithful reader, I really appreciate it. I want to take this time to apologize for not updating in so long, it's been a year since I've last updated I think and I'm so so sorry. I guess I just kind of lost my inspiration and I didn't really know if I wanted to continue this fiction or not, but since it's summer now, I decided to try to continue it and see where it goes. I hope you'll like this chapter and I promise to update the next chapter soon! I pinky promise :)

Chapter 4

She drove and drove.

To where?

Heck, she never really knew. But that was Cagalli, always unpredictable.

Though to be honest, she liked it that way because it made her feel free, free from reality.

As she drove down an empty road with the windows down, the warm breeze lingered on her skin and the crisp smell of summer air felt so refreshing.

She didn't even care if there were paparazzi. That's how much she enjoyed herself.

Whenever she needed a break from her hectic life, she just drove.

She remembered back in the days when her and Lacus would go on little road trips together. They stopped at the most random places. Sometimes they would talk but for most of the time, they just sat in silence. Though, it wasn't because they had nothing to say, it was because they had too much on their mind. They could drive for days and never get tired of it.

But now, Cagalli barely had time for anything other than work.

Ugh work, don't remind me, she thought as she turned on the radio and blasted whatever song that sounded pleasant to her ear.

She tried to avoid thinking about everything that has happened this week, especially what happened yesterday but that didn't quite work.

She didn't know why she stormed out of Lacus' without saying a word.

She thought maybe she overreacted, but at that moment, she didn't really know how to react.

Seeing him stunned her and she was speechless. Cagalli has never been the best at handling her emotions.

She wanted to be happy for her best friend, but a part of her didn't allow that to happen. She felt bad, really bad. Lacus had been calling and texting her non-stop but she failed to answer because she didn't quite know how to give her a proper explanation yet.

Why did it have to be him anyway? Why him out of all people?

But the big question was: Why did she even bother to care?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the ocean. She smiled because she loved nothing more than the beach.

She looked around to see if there was anyone following her. To her surprise, barely anyone was even at the beach. So she casually parked her car and got out.

"Weird, usually there would be tons of people here," Cagalli said in a quiet voice as she put on her favourite pair of Ray-Bans.

She liked it this way though.

As she walked down the beautiful beach covered with soft golden brown sand, hearing nothing but the sound of seagulls and waves, it reminded her of how much she loved summer and how much she missed the beach.

"If only I can just stay here forever," Cagalli shouted not caring if anyone heard.

"I don't think that would be possible," She heard someone say from behind and that voice felt familiar to her.

She quickly turned around like a ninja, thinking it was some creepy paparazzi, but she was wrong.

She felt butterflies appear in her stomach once again. She felt her face turn red and she let herself believe it was the cause of heat.

"Why the hell are you here?" Cagalli tried to sound as angry as possible, hiding away the nervousness in her voice. Did he follow her or something?

She could feel his eyes on her so she tried to avoid making any sort of eye contact with him.

Truth be told, she had no idea why she was acting like this.

Stop it Cagalli; don't let him get to you, just act normal...she thought.

"Haha well hello to you too, princess," He said, making his way closer to her.

"Answer my question and I told you not to call me that!"

She saw him smirk. It was kind of cute she had to admit, but she was in no mood for that kind of attitude.

"Did you follow me or something?"

"Woah there Miss Atha, don't flatter yourself," He smirked again. This time it made Cagalli feel uncomfortable. "This is a public beach the last time I checked."

"Whatever."

They both stood in silence for a moment both waiting for the other to speak.

"I like it here, it's relaxing," He said, finally breaking the silence. "I guess I came here to just think and get away from everything."

"Me too," She said. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"That's kind of hard to believe."

"What do you mean?" Cagalli questioned curiously.

"I mean, I never thought you'd be the kind to come to the beach," He said as if he had known her for years. "You're so serious with your work and everything; it's just a little weird to see the Princess of Orb here that's all."

Cagalli grinned. "You don't know anything about me."

Another silence.

"You know...Lacus is really worried about you." He broke the silence once again.

Oh great, he has to bring up the topic she didn't want to talk about, she thought. She wasn't even ready to explain to Lacus why she left so suddenly yesterday, so how in the world was she going to explain to him.

What was she going to say anyway? Oh I was so excited to see who the mystery man Lacus always talked about until I found out it was you. So I panicked for god knows why and ran the hell out of there as fast as I could to avoid saying something stupid. Yeah right she was going to say that...

"Yeah about that...I owe her an apology, I know."

"I didn't know you hated me that much to just run off like that," He teased.

"No, I was just..." She found it hard to find the right words. "I was just..."

"What?"

"Gosh, it's one thing you're now my so called bodyguard, but to be my best friend's boyfriend too..."She finally blurted out.

"Why, are you jealous?" He teased with a playful grin on his face.

"Don't flatter yourself buddy, I hardly even know you."

Cagalli felt her heart slowly beat faster and faster.

"Then what's the problem?" He turned his head to ask her.

"It's...complicated"

He just stared at her for a second as if he knew what she was actually thinking.

"How'd you guys meet anyway?" She asked trying the change the subject. Plus, she was actually kind of curious.

"Her parents and my parents are really close, so we always saw one another and eventually became really close friends," he explained.

Cagalli thought it was kind of weird how Lacus never bothered to mention anything about him to her until last week. But then again, she never really asked Lacus about her love life in general.

"But the thing is, our parents always wanted us to be more than just friends," He continued. "They would try to set us up on dates all the time but we never agreed to go on them because we are such good friends and we didn't want to ruin our friendship by dating on another."

"You guys are dating now, aren't you?"

"Well yeah, we eventually gave in and decided to give it a shot because we were tired of our parents nagging us all the time."

"Oh."

"Are you jealous now?"

"Oh shut up, treat her right you hear me?" Cagalli warned him. "Don't you dare hurt her or else you'll be sorry!"

"Yes, princess."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

He had no idea how much Cagalli hated being called princess.

"Oops sorry, bad habit." He laughed.

"Well you better fix that habit because you'll be working for me tomorrow," Cagalli said as she sat down on the sandy beach and looked up into the sky. The sky was no long blue but instead, it was a mixed colour between orange and red.

She saw him check his watch as if he had something urgent to go to. To be honest, she wanted him to stay but she was obviously too afraid and stubborn to admit it. Maybe she just liked his company. She hasn't talked to someone normally like this in a while, it felt refreshing to talk about things other than work.

"It's getting late, I better head back and you should too," He suddenly said.

"I think I'll stay for a little bit longer."

And once again, Cagalli did the unexpected.

"Athrun?"

"Yeah?" He turned around to look at her with his emerald eyes.

"Can you sit with me for a while longer?" Cagalli said gently. She could feel her cheeks turn red once again and she found it even more difficult to look at him straight in the eye now.

Without saying a word, he sat down beside her. They talked until the sun disappeared and the moon and the stars came out.

Maybe working with him wouldn't be that bad after all, she thought.