About an hour later, the two adults were out of breath and sitting on the lounger soaking wet. Adam had found some other kids to continue his water war with so they could catch a much-needed break. Aziraphale really wasn’t used to trying to keep up with children and it showed. Crowley appeared to be only slightly less bothered by running around through the water.

The whole thing seemed to have relieved some of the awkwardness between them as they were joking back and forth, which also made sure that Aziraphale didn’t focus too much on how the wet clothes were sticking to Crowley’s body.

“Did you know that sailors cut into a sperm whale’s head and it released a milky white fluid so that’s why they called them sperm whales?” Aziraphale chuckled, remembering a conversation that happened a long time ago.

Crowley scrunched his nose, but Aziraphale saw the smile tugging on the corners of his lips. “Really? That’s just immature.”

“Oh, you’re the one to talk with your vagina whales!”

“I was sixteen! Of course, I was immature,” Crowley grinned and swatted vaguely in Aziraphale’s direction.

“Tony?”

The high pitched voice made Aziraphale look up. A woman he had never seen before was standing behind Crowley, looking a little exasperated and impatient. Her dark brown hair was styled neatly in wavy curls and she was wearing a lilac dress made out of some lacy material which looked very expensive. Her high heeled sandals made her look like she walked out from some fancy party and definitely not like she belonged on a random beach in France.

Aziraphale was about to ask who Tony was when he noticed that Crowley’s face seemed to have drained of all colour and he turned around slowly.

“Sandy! What are you doing here?”

Crowley got up quickly and the woman named Sandy grimaced at him. Aziraphale noticed the shift in his attitude, his demeanour seemed to change and he quickly adapted a more American accent.

“You’re all wet,” she noted with a hint of something that sounded like disgust, her accent was very obviously American.

“Yeah, I was just… in the sea.” Crowley waved his hands around in the direction of the water. “With my friend. Aziraphale.”

That made Sandy’s gaze shift to him and she gave him a critical once over. Her expression didn’t change at all and Aziraphale felt like he’d rather get swallowed by the sand. Instead of doing just that, he stepped next to Crowley and smiled his best smile at her.

“Hello! I’m Aziraphale,” he introduced himself.

“Our families used to vacation here every year. Aziraphale, this is Sandy, my-” He seemed to hesitate. “girlfriend.” He seemed nervous somehow, dragging his hand through his wet hair.

Sandy smiled back at him, a smile consisting of teeth that were too white and didn’t seem genuine at all. Suddenly, Aziraphale felt very nauseous, as if someone punched the air out of his lungs. 

His girlfriend? They had talked a lot the past few days and he hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend even once. The way Crowley left him the previous night made a lot more sense, but a girlfriend left him with more questions than answers.

“Don’t look so shocked babe, I thought it would be nice to visit you before we fly to London, spend a few days together, you know. My suitcases are in the lobby, let’s go.”

“Er- Yeah. Sure, babe.” Crowley looked apologetic at Aziraphale. “Say bye to Adam for me.”

Aziraphale could only nod and watch how they both walked back to the hotel, Sandy struggling to walk in the sand in her high heels while chattering.

“Why did you have to go to the French coast? Couldn’t you pick a more exciting place?”

He sank down on the lounger and gripped the edges tightly like he had to hold on to something to ground himself. Maybe he was just stupid assuming he would still be the same person as before. Sandy calling him ‘babe’ and ‘Tony’ made him reevaluate everything he knew about Crowley and what he had told him about himself.

“Who was that woman with Anthony?”

A familiar voice pulled Aziraphale out and he looked up to Michael and Arthur. Adam came back running when he saw his parents appear. Aziraphale cleared his throat before speaking.

“Sandy, his girlfriend.”

“I didn’t know he had a girlfriend,” Michael frowned.

“Neither did I.”

“Gabriel is gonna have a field day with this one,” his sister remarked, before kneeling down towards Adam and greeting the young boy.

Aziraphale could only nod.