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Three weeks.
That was all the time it had been since Trinity and Bryce had walked out of the Love Island villa hand in hand and somehow convinced millions of strangers that what they’d found in Fiji was worth believing in.
Three weeks.
And somehow, Trinity had already learned that dating Bryce came with an unofficial orientation to Los Angeles.
It started with coffee.
Or, more accurately, matcha.
“Why does it taste like grass?” Trinity smacks her lips a bit, as she stares at the iced green drink in her hand with genuine suspicion.
Bryce looked offended, “It does not taste like grass.”
“It literally tastes like you’re drinking a lawn.” She replies unapologetically, handing out her drink for him to try.
Taking the cup from her, he tries a sip.
He frowns a bit, sipping it again before sighing,
“Okay, maybe you just got a bad one.”
“You picked the place.” Trinity states.
“Yeah, but this is one of the best matcha spots in LA.” Bryce replies, adjusting the light pink and white boards in his arm as they cross the street.
Trinity stared at him, “Bryce.”
“What?”
“You’re proving my point.”
He rolled his eyes, taking another sip as they continued walking down the sidewalk.
This was Bryce’s Los Angeles.
The city he’d spent his adult life navigating.
The place where he somehow knew a guy for everything.
Where every coffee shop had an oat milk option, every restaurant had a patio, and every third person they passed looked suspiciously familiar from Instagram.
He knew which beaches were crowded on Saturdays. Which restaurants were impossible to get into without a reservation. Which grocery store had the good avocados. Which rooftop had the best sunset. Which smoothie shop celebrities actually went to and which ones simply paid influencers to pretend they did.
He knew all of it.
And he took an almost embarrassing amount of pride in showing it to her.
“You’re going to like the beach today,” he said, reaching over to steal another sip of her matcha.
Trinity immediately pulled it away whining, “You’ve been drinking mine this entire time.”
“Because yours is better.” He responds cheekily, taking an obnoxious sip of her drink.
“You said mine tasted like grass.” Trinity argues for the sake of it, even while pushing her straw closer so he could get a better sip.
“I changed my mind.” He grins boyishly.
Trinity rolls her eyes playfully, “You’re annoying.”
“You love me.” He says, briefly pausing to give her a quick kiss.
She sighed, kissing him back two more times,
“Unfortunately.”
His grin widened,
“Fortunately.”
Trinity rolled her eyes again, but the smile tugging at her lips betrayed her.
Bryce laughed, reaching down to lace their fingers together as they continued walking.
She glanced down at their hands.
It was still something she hadn’t completely gotten used to.
Being able to hold his hand without worrying about a camera catching it.
To kiss him without wondering which angle the producers would use.
To just be able walk beside him simply because they wanted to.
No challenge. No recoupling. No microphones hidden somewhere nearby.
Just them.
Three weeks outside the villa and they were still learning what it meant to be a normal couple.
Or, at least, as normal as two people could be when millions of strangers had opinions about their relationship.
Trinity squeezed his hand.
Bryce glanced down,
“What?”
“Nothing.” She replies simply.
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion,
“That was definitely a something squeeze.”
She smiled.
“I just like holding your hand.” She smiles.
His expression softened immediately, “Come here.”
He tugged her closer until her shoulder bumped against his arm.
“You’re clingy” Trinity teases but nonetheless, moves her body even closer than they already were, “You’re literally already holding my hand.”
“Don’t pretend you’re not the most clingy between the two of us.” Bryce muses.
She scoffed, “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
He leaned down, pressing a kiss against her temple,
“I love you.”
She looked up at him, appreciating how the sun brightens up his face as the wind blows through his dirty blond hair,
“I love you too.”
He smiled.
And for a few seconds, neither of them said anything.
They just walked.
Dating Bryce was strange.
Three weeks ago, she had been living in a villa in Fiji with cameras following her every move.
Now she was walking down a Los Angeles street with her boyfriend, arguing about matcha while he carried two surfboards under one arm.
And apparently, this was her life now.
She still wasn’t sure how she’d gotten here.
But she liked it.
A lot.
Especially when Bryce looked this happy.
*~*~*
The beach was already alive when they arrived.
Surfers dotted the water in the distance, paddling out beyond the glassy surface where the ocean swelled and folded in slow, powerful rhythm. From shore, the waves looked almost gentle, like rolling hills of blue-green glass, until they broke, crashing into white foam that hissed against the sand.
Children chased each other along the shoreline, their laughter carried off by the wind. A couple of seagulls circled overhead, crying out as they dove toward forgotten fries. The California sun beat down over everything, warm but softened by a cool ocean breeze that smelled like salt and sunscreen.
Trinity stepped out of her sandals and immediately sank ankle-deep into the sand.
She looked down, “Okay.”
Bryce glanced over,
“What’s wrong?”
“This is already harder than it looks.” She grimaced, watching a wave curl and collapse in the distance like it was mocking her personally.
He laughed.
“You haven’t even gotten on the board yet.”
“I don’t like where this is going.” She pouted.
He dropped the surfboards onto the sand with a soft thud, the waxed surfaces catching the sunlight,
“Come here.”
Trinity narrowed her eyes in suspicion,
“Why do you sound like you’re about to make me do something humiliating?”
Bryce laughed, already reaching for her wrist,
“Maybe because I’m about to make you do something humiliating.”
She slaps his arm lightly,
“Bryce!”
He grinned, catching her hand this time and pulling her closer until she was standing right in front of him, the ocean wind tangling through both of their hair,
“You trust me?”
She stared at him, “That question has gotten you into trouble before.”
He grinned wider, “Still trust me?”
A wave rolled in front of them, the sound of it growing louder, like the ocean itself was leaning in to listen.
“Yes, of course I do.” She sighed dramatically.
“Good.” He kisses her forehead before grabbing her pink board, “Today, I’m turning you into a California girl.”
“I’m from Virginia,” she corrected.
“Not anymore.” He responds back.
She laughed. “That’s not really how geography works.”
“Well I’m changing the rules,” he quips, bending down to reach for his duffle bag, to find his sunscreen.
Once found, he comes back up and uncaps it, silently moving as he carefully applies a thin layer of protection on her arms and legs.
The ocean behind them kept moving, pulling back, rushing forward, never still as he worked the cream into her skin.
“Of course you’d say that,” Trinity says, a little breathless as he leaned in to lightly apply sunscreen to the apples of her cheeks.
“I’m basically the mayor.” He hums, with a smug grin.
“You’re so full of shit.” Trinity huffs.
“I run LA, actually.”
“You do not run LA,” Trinity said, trying and failing to hide her smile.
Before he could respond, a familiar voice called from behind them,
“Don’t encourage him!”
Bryce froze. Trinity turned and immediately smiled.
Grandma Anne was making her way down the beach in oversized sunglasses, a wide-brimmed sun hat, and a beach bag that looked like it contained enough supplies to survive a natural disaster.
“Grandma!” Bryce immediately jogged toward her.
Anne opened her arms,
“There’s my baby!”
Bryce hugged her tightly, lifting her slightly off the ground.
“Jesus Christ, put me down before you throw your back out,” Grandma Anne laughed as he finally set her down carefully.
“You always love hugs from me” Bryce shrugged innocently, clearly thrilled to see her.
“I wanted a hug, not a chiropractic appointment.” She waved him off, already moving toward Trinity,
“And there’s my girl!”
Trinity smiled, stepping into her embrace. They swayed slightly, holding on like they hadn’t seen each other in years instead of weeks.
“Hi, Grandma Anne it’s been too long!” Trinity states.
Anne pulled back, holding Trinity by the shoulders as she inspected her.
“You look even skinnier since I saw you!”
“Thank you?” Trinity replies, laughing awkwardly.
“That wasn’t a compliment, hun. Are you eating?” Anne questions, lifting her chin up as lightly pinches Trinity’s cheeks in concern.
Bryce groaned,
“Grandma, please stop harassing her.”
“What? She needs to eat.”
“She eats,” he said, gently removing Anne’s hands from Trinity’s squished cheeks.
“Good. Because if you’re going to marry into this family, you’re gonna need some meat on your bones.”
Trinity’s eyes widened.
Bryce’s face immediately turned red.
“Grandma.”
Anne shrugged, “What?”
“We’ve only been dating for a couple weeks.” Bryce reminds her.
“And?” Grandma Anne disregards.
“Don’t scare her off! We’re not getting married just yet.”
“Well what’re you waiting for? You’re thirty and I’m gonna be eighty soon. I’d like to see my grandbabies before they put me in the ground.”
Trinity covered her mouth to hide her laugh.
“Jesus Christ, Anne,” Bryce stutters, looking up at the sky.
Anne turned toward Trinity conspiratorially.
“He gets embarrassed so easily, isn’t it just so cute?”
“I know right! He just gets so red, I try and make it a game sometimes,” Trinity said, grinning at her flustered boyfriend.
“I can give you some tips. I raised him so I know exactly how to push his buttons,” Anne added proudly.
“Grandma, please,” Bryce groaned, covering his face.
She ignores him again.
Grandma Anne turns to ask Trinity,
“So when are y’all having kids?”
“Anne!” Bryce whisper-shouted. The color of his skin turning a deeper shade of red that wasn’t a consequence of the beating sun.
Trinity bursts into another fit of laughter.
Anne laughed too, already walking toward the shaded umbrella.
“See, it’s just so easy!”
Bryce froze for a second, blinking as he looked at the old lady shaking the sand off her sandals.
He pointed vaguely toward the beach,
“I love you grandma, but how and why are you even here right now. Last time I checked, you hated the beach?”
Trinity laughs harder.
Anne waved a dismissive hand,
“I was bored so I texted your agent. Said I was coming to the beach. Don’t act surprised.”
“My agent?” Bryce asks, stunned.
“Yes.” Anne replied simply.
“You have my agent’s number?”
“Of course I do.” Anne quips.
Bryce stared at her. Then at Trinity. Then back at Anne.
“I’m not even going to ask.” He finalizes.
“Good,” Anne said, already settling into her chair.
“Can we at least get through the surfing lesson first?” Bryce asks, watching his grandma settle into her chair as if this was a normal activity to share with his girlfriend and seventy-one year old grandmother.
“Fine” she waves a hand, “But just so you know, I want two grandkids.”
“What?” Bryce stared at her, “You don’t really get to order our children.” He states seriously, as if he’s already thought about that kind of future with Trinity.
Trinity silently melts.
“I’m your grandma. I absolutely get a vote.” Anne argues.
“No, you don’t grandma” Bryce rolls his eyes, adjusting the beach umbrella over her so it covers her legs too.
“Fine. Three.” Anne negotiates.
“That’s worse!” Bryce exasperates.
Trinity laughs so hard she grabs Bryce’s arm for support.
Bryce shakes his head in disbelief of his crazy but loving Grandma, as he takes Trinity’s hand and leads her to the endless highway of salt and shifting current.
Anne smiled proudly, watching them as they walk hand-in-hand.
She loved Trinity and couldn’t be more happy that her grandson had finally found his lady.
*~*~*
“Okay,” Bryce says, placing the surfboard flat against the sand. “Lesson one.”
Trinity looks at him, “What’s lesson one?”
“Don’t die.” He states, with utter most seriousness.
She stares,
“That’s your first lesson?”
“Yup.” He states plainly, nodding to himself like he actually said something useful.
“Very reassuring.” She mutters, suddenly feeling like it was a mistake to step onto the sand.
He laughs, “No, seriously. You need to know how to fall.”
She watches him demonstrate, immediately bursting into laughter when he intentionally throws himself sideways into the sand,
“Was that really necessary?” She giggles, watching as her thirty-year-old boyfriend flounder around like a fish out of water, simply for her entertainment.
“Absolutely.” He stops, grinning boyishly.
“You’re an idiot.” She grins back.
“Yeah, but you love me.”
She smiles, “Unfortunately.”
He crawls toward her on the sand.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.” She teases, adjusting her gaze as he now hovers over her.
He leans closer, “You don’t sound very unfortunate.” He muses.
She giggles as he kisses her cheek. Then her other cheek. Then the tip of her nose.
“Bryce.”
“What?” He murmurs, as he trails a line of kisses from her jaw to her neck, focusing on his favorite spot between her neck and shoulder.
“You’re distracting me.” She sighs, tilting her neck him to give him more room for his ministrations.
“I’m motivating you.” He mumbles against her skin, placing a longer kiss on her shoulder.
“You’re just using this as an excuse to kiss me.” She smiles softly, reaching to fiddle with the hair curling at his nape.
“Exactly.” He replies, unbothered.
She shakes her head, but she’s smiling even wider now.
He leans up to place one last kiss against her forehead before standing,
“Come on, California girl.”
She groans,
“Stop calling me that.”
“Never.”
*~*~*
An hour later, Trinity had learned three things.
One, surfing was significantly harder than Bryce had made it sound.
Two, sand somehow got into places she wasn’t aware she had.
And three, Bryce was lowkey a terrible teacher.
“Okay, paddle!” Bryce shouts.
Trinity frantically paddled against the water, the ocean rocking her board beneath her like it had a mind of its own.
“I’m paddling!” She yells, already overwhelmed.
“More!” He yells back, his eyes already on the incoming wave.
The water shifted under her chest, lifting her slightly before dropping her again. Every time she thought she had a rhythm, the ocean changed it.
“I’m literally using my entire body!” Trinity shouts.
“Get ready!” Bryce yells over the sound of rushing water.
“For what?!” Trinity asks, naively unaware.
“The wave!”
“What wave?!” she yells, slightly frustrated, trying to keep her balance as the board wobbles beneath her.
Bryce pointed in front her,
“That one!”
Trinity looked up and her eyes widened.
The wave wasn’t just a wave anymore. It was a moving wall of water, rising higher than she expected, curling at the top like it was about to fold the sky into itself.
“Oh, hell no” she whispers to herself.
The wave approached.
Bryce pushed the back of her board,
“Stand!” He instructs.
Trinity scrambled upright.
The ocean roared beneath her feet now, the board slicing through water that felt suddenly alive, unpredictable, powerful.
For approximately one and a half seconds, she stood.
“I’m doing it!” She shouts in hysteric glee.
Bryce’s face lit up,
“You’re doing it baby!”
The wind hit her harder now, salt spraying across her face, the world tilting slightly as the board skimmed along the face of the wave. She could feel it, really feel it. The pull of the ocean beneath her, like it was carrying her forward on its own breath.
“I’M DOING IT!” she laughs, arms out, legs shaking as she tries to stay centered.
She resembled a deer on water.
The world around her blurred into motion. Blue water, white foam, sunlight flashing off the surface like broken glass.
Then the board tipped and the ocean swallowed her in an instant.
Cold.
Loud.
Weightless.
Trinity disappeared beneath the surface.
Bryce’s heart drops, immediately diving in after her. Moments pass by as he searches for her beneath the moving water.
When they finally resurface, Trinity coughs, hair plastered to her face, but she’s laughing.
“Are you okay?” Bryce panics, wrapping one arm around her slender body before tugging her close as he treads water for the both of them.
The ocean lifts and lowers them gently now, like it’s decided to calm down just for a moment.
“You said this was easy!” Trinity pouts, laughing at how bad she truly was at this.
“I never said easy.” He softens, shifting her closer, more to comfort himself than anything else.
“You absolutely implied easy!” She states, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, hugging him from the front as the water rocks them slowly.
“I said you’d get it… eventually,” he hums, rubbing her back and kissing her cheek every so often as he gathers their boards closer and starts to move them toward shore.
The ocean around them sparkles now, sunlight breaking across the surface in shifting gold.
“Eventually?!” Trinity huffs.
“That’s still technically getting it.” He smirks, pausing to kiss her shoulder.
She splashed him.
He laughs, continuing his trek to shore.
From the beach, Grandma Anne shouted,
“YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU BETTER NOT LET MY GRANDDAUGHTER-IN-LAW DROWN! I DON’T CARE IF I RAISED YOU, I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!”
Bryce yelled back,
“She’s not your granddaughter-in-law!”
Anne cupped a hand around her mouth.
“YET!”
Trinity dissolved into laughter again.
Bryce shook his head,
“I swear she gets worse every year.”
“You love her,” Trinity sighs contently, using her fingers to fiddle with his wet curls at the base of his neck.
He looked toward his grandmother.
His expression softened,
“Yeah…I love that lady a lot.”
Trinity noticed immediately.
The teasing disappeared from his face whenever he looked at Anne. There was something almost boyish about him then.
A tenderness he only reserved for only a few people in his life.
She sighs happily, feeling lucky to be apart of that few.
Bryce tilts his head to look at her,
“What?” He muses
“Nothing.” She replies, masking innocence.
He narrowed his eyes,
“You’re doing that thing again.”
“What thing?”
“Looking at me like you’re thinking something.” He states, slightly distracted as he looks at his glowing girlfriend in the California sun.
She smiled,
“I was just thinking you’re cute.” She shrugs.
He laughed, “I’m soaking wet.”
“Still cute.” She reaches to kiss the underside of his jaw.
His expression softened,
“No, you’re cute.”
She rolled her eyes,
“You’re supposed to just thank me.”
“Thank you.” He grins, looking at her lips.
He leans forward and kisses her. The kiss was soft and brief, tasting faintly of saltwater.
When he pulled away, Trinity smiled,
“You know what?”
“What?” He asks, a blissful grin plastered on his face.
“I’m kinda craving that matcha now.”
He laughed, his head tilting back to the sky,
“I knew you liked it!”
They laughed and talked as they made their way back to the sand.
*~*~*
By late afternoon, the three of them were sitting on towels in the sand.
Bryce had given up on surfing lessons. Trinity had given up on pretending she wasn’t exhausted.
And Grandma Anne had apparently decided she was done secretly taking pictures of them and was ready to start another interrogation.
“So…” Anne began casually, putting her phone away.
Bryce immediately looked suspicious,
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.” Anne argues.
“Yes, I do.” Bryce argues back.
Ignoring him, Anne looks at Trinity,
“Does he snore?”
Trinity laughed.
“Grandma!” Bryce groans, once again.
“What? I was wondering if you ever got that in control. Your snores used to terrorize the whole house when you were younger.”
Bryce dropped his head into his hands in defeat.
Trinity leaned closer to Anne,
“He does.” she giggles.
Bryce looked up, betrayed,
“Trinity!”
Trinity ignores him.
“And he steals the blankets.” Trinity continues.
“Wow.” Bryce remarks.
Anne nodded approvingly,
“Sounds just like when he was twelve.”
Bryce shook his head,
“This is only your second time meeting and you’re already teaming up against me.” Bryce frowns dramatically.
Trinity leaned against his shoulder.
“You’re outnumbered.” She teases as she absentmindedly plays with the sparse hairs on his chest.
He looked down at her. Then at Anne. Then back at Trinity.
A smile slowly spread across his face,
“Yeah.” He wrapped an arm around Trinity’s shoulders pulling her even closer.
“I think I like it.” He whispers into the skin of her neck, inhaling the scent of ocean and cocoa butter that still clung to it.
Anne smiled quietly as she watched them. For once, she didn’t make a joke.
She simply watched.
Her grandson had always loved hard.
Even as a little boy, Bryce had been the type to become completely absorbed in the things and people he cared about. He had loved music. Loved modeling. Loved his friends. Loved his family.
But she had never seen him quite like this.
He looked peaceful. Happy.
Like he had finally stopped searching for something he hadn’t known he was missing.
Anne reached over and squeezed Trinity’s knee,
“You know,” she said quietly, “I’m glad you’re here.”
Trinity looked over at her,
“Me too.”
Anne nodded,
“Good.”
Bryce looked between them,
“What are you two whispering about?”
“Nothing,” Anne and Trinity said simultaneously.
He squinted, “I don’t trust either of you.”
Trinity laughed and leaned closer to him,
“Come here.”
He immediately lowered his head.
She kissed his cheek.Then his jaw. Then the corner of his mouth.He smiled against her next kiss,
“Are you trying to butter me up?”
“Maybe.” She grins teasingly.
“What did you do?” He murmurs, already leaning for another kiss.
She complies, leaning back on his shoulder,
“Nothing.”
“That’s suspicious.”
She just kisses him again.
He finally laughed, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her into his chest,
“Okay. I’m letting it slide.”
“Good.” She murmurs tiredly, cuddling into the warmth radiating from his body as the wind picks up.
He kissed the top of her head.
For a while, they simply sat there.
The sun slowly descended toward the horizon, painting the sky in warm shades of orange and pink. The crowds had thinned. The waves rolled onto shore with a quieter rhythm than they had earlier, the sound almost soothing after hours of laughter.
Trinity rested her head against Bryce’s chest. His fingers traced lazy patterns along her arm. She could hear his heartbeat.
Steady.
Warm.
Real.
It struck her again how different this was from Fiji. There, everything had felt heightened.
Every conversation mattered.
Every kiss could change the course of their relationship.
Every day brought some new challenge designed to test whether what they had was real.
Here, there was no challenge. No bombshells. No cameras. No producers.
Just Bryce.
His grandmother.
The ocean.
And her.
She tilted her head up,
Bryce was already looking down at her, “What?”
“Nothing.” She smiles shyly.
“You keep doing that.” He whispers.
She smiled,
“I like looking at you.”
His cheeks immediately turned pink,
“You’re making me blush.”
“Good.”
He laughed quietly.
Then leaned down and kissed her.
Slowly.
Softly.
Not because either of them needed anything from the other.
Just because they could.
When they pulled apart, their foreheads remained pressed together,
“I really like this,” Trinity whispered.
“Me too.”
She glanced toward Anne who already dozed off a while ago.
“Your grandma is kinda crazy.”
Bryce laughed, “Yeah she most definitely is.”
“But I love her.” She muses.
His smile softened,
“She loves you too.”
“I’m so glad.” She smiles.
He squeezed her closer,
“And she’s probably already planned our wedding.”
Trinity laughed, “That seems like something she’d do.”
“She might even have a Pinterest board.”
“Bryce.”
“What?” He asks incredulously.
“You know she has one.” She smirks.
He thought about it.
“…Yeah… she definetly has one.”
They both laughed.
Anne slowly wakes up from beside them,
“I might be turning senile, but I can still hear you!”
Bryce laughs back, “We know!”
“GOOD!” She huffs, flipping him the bird before turning over, already falling asleep again.
Trinity buried her face against Bryce’s chest, to hide her laugh.
He kissed the top of her head,
“Well, welcome to the family.”
She looked up at him,
“Already?”
He shrugged,
“You’ve survived Grandma Anne. That’s basically the final exam.”
She smiled,
“Then I guess I passed.”
Bryce looked at her for a moment. Something warm settled in his chest,
“Yeah.” He kisses her forehead once again, “You did.”
As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, Trinity realized that this was what being in love was supposed to feel like.
Not the cameras. Not the headlines. Not the millions of people watching.
Just this.
Sun on her skin. Sand beneath her feet. Bryce’s arm around her.
And a woman who had loved him long before Trinity ever knew his name, now making room for her beside him.
For the first time since leaving Fiji, Trinity didn’t feel like she was adjusting to a new life. She simply felt like she was living it.
And when Bryce reached down to intertwine their fingers, she squeezed his hand.
He squeezed back.
Three weeks, it wasn’t very long.
But somehow, sitting there beside him, with the California sunset stretching endlessly across the horizon, Trinity couldn’t help feeling like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.