(no subject)

She almost doesn't realize it, when the date approaches. With everything that's been going on, and all the time she put into helping Neil organize Steve's surprise party, Lucy hasn't paid much attention to her own approaching birthday. It's only glancing at the date when she checks her phone after waking up in the morning that alerts her to it. After that, it's still difficult to think much of it. It's been a long time since she really celebrated her birthday, and there's no reason why this year should be any different. She wouldn't be surprised if Steve had something planned for later, but as far as she's concerned, it's just a day like any other.

Maybe turning twenty-five would have been a big deal, once. If there's anything it means now, though, it's just further proof of how far removed she is from the life she had back home, which Lucy will at least allow has been relevant lately in a way it wasn't for a long time. She's older than the brother who was born before she was. She's nearly seven years removed from the train wreck of a relationship she had in New York, back when she was fresh out of high school, a girl still figuring out who and what she wanted to be, having her whole life turned on its head. These days, that girl feels like someone else entirely. It's more than just in age that she's come a long way since then, anyway. She's practically lived lives. At least this one, lately, has been better than anything she's experienced in a long time.

Without any real destination in mind, she gets dressed, pulling on jeans and a t-shirt and walking the short distance out to the boardwalk. It's nice out here in the morning, probably more so than it will be a few hours from now, and it feels right, anyway. She's about as far from the years she spent on the island as anything else, but with as long as she lived there, there's something comforting about being near a beach.