A keen observer

After some time, they finally finished the Mount Everest and went to digest the content with a walk along the shore. Jenny doesn't let the walk go by peacefully and instead surprises Jason with a splash of cold water. He in turn grabs her by her legs and throws her over his shoulder as he rushes into the water. Accompanied by Jenny's laugh filled squeals, Jason pretends to lower her into the cold sea water. Jenny holds onto him with all her might to save herself, copying the clasps of koala to it's caregiver or a tree branch. Not being able to lower her into the water without getting himself wet, Jason grabs a bit of washed up seaweed he spots and uses that to tease her instead. Despite Jenny's threats and words of protest, Jason doesn't hold back and slides the slippery and wet sea-plant onto her legs, making chills go up and down her spine. Neither of them took things too far as they would be departing later today. So to prevent them needing to shower and change, all attacks were directed at already exposed parts. In Jason's case, he needed to remain in Jenny's good graces as he still hadn't asked her that he wanted to move to one room after their return to England. This could be considered their version of asking your significant other to move in, so he was feeling a bit nervous. Not necessarily for the "moving in", but more for Jenny's reaction. So far these big things hadn't gone very smoothly for Jason.

After some much needed refreshing fun into the water, they returned to the shopping street and started looking for their souvenirs for Susan and Stephen. There wasn't much time left, because they had made plans to have dinner together as a group for the last day before they needed to head to the airport. The saying goes that "time flies by when you are having fun" and so did today's time. So they walked past the different shops and they chose some native delicacies as Jason's parents liked good food and exotic dishes. Once the gifts were picked, Jason ordered a car to take them back up the hill to the villa. The walk down and the walk around the shore had been enough activity for one day. Walking back up in this heat would be asking for a heat stroke.

They didn't have to wait long for the car to come and pick them up. They arrived back to where the others were around five-thirty, giving them an hour and a half to prepare dinner as a group and eat it. At seven sharp the car taking them to the airport would arrive. They walked in with the bags carrying their souvenirs. The moment they opened the door, four heads popped up from behind the patio doors. Clearly not the ones they were expecting and waiting for, they sighed and returned to their seats. This behavior earned the curiosity of Jenny and Jason, who with a look of surprise joined the others outside. Jason was the first to ask "What's up with you guys? Are we not good enough to be greeted or are you acting up because Jenny and I left you guys behind today." Jenny chuckled at his way of questioning and held his arm as they waited for a response. "Don't joke around. We are worried about Elizabeth and Nick. Since leaving yesterday, they still haven't returned. No one knows where they are and no one seems to be able to reach them."

Jenny and Jason, almost simultaneously, turned to look around and saw that they had indeed yet to return. Judging by how their room looked yesterday, they also had yet to start packing. If they were to catch their flight as a group, they had to return soon. Otherwise they would never be able to finish packing and eating as well. Jason grabbed his phone to call Nick, as he had been the last to be able to contact them, and pressed the call button when the door could be heard once more. Speak of the devil and he shall appear and so had been true for Nick and Elizabeth, as they opened the door and walked in as if nothing was the matter. Harry rushed to Nick and put an arm around his neck as he said "Where have you been man? You are taking the word 'date' to a whole other level. Not answering your phones, even after being with each other for more than 24 hours straight." "Ha ha ha. Yeah, what can I say? Elizabeth proved too charming. We were in our little bubble and didn't notice the time I guess."

Though Nick's answer was a bit evasive, no one seemed to notice that he was hiding something. No one except for Jason. Jason had always been a keen observer and saw Nick's odd expression as he was saying those words. Combined with the more rare, shy expression on Elizabeth's face, made him suspect that something had happened between them that had caused them to come back so late. Seeing them clearly not wanting to talk about it, Jason said nothing and joined Jenny in walking to the kitchen with the others. Nick was telling the story of his date with Elizabeth, at least the parts he was willing to share, and Elizabeth was sitting at the table quietly cutting the vegetables in a daze. The girls started noticing something odd about Elizabeth's behavior, she was never this quiet nor complacent. Whenever she was asked to do something, they would get nothing but rejection and complaining. This time however, she had said nothing and had simply grabbed the cutting board and knife that Julia held out for her. Even now that she was doing what they had asked, she hadn't spoken a single word of complaint. They glanced back and forth between the overly happy Nick and the quiet Elizabeth. What could have happened in those few hours apart that had caused this change in their behavior?