Always Okay | (Adopted By Elizabeth Olsen)

Chapter 16

Word Count: 2267

Alexis's POV

'Hey sleepyhead," Lizzie whispers as she runs her fingers through my hair, "how was your nap?"

"Good," I mumble out as I stretch my arms out.

"You look better," Lizzie comments moving the hair out of my eyes.

"That was rude Liz," Scarlett scolds her before I can answer.

"I didn't mean it like that, I meant it like it is good that you're sleeping," she quickly corrects herself as I try to hide my grin. It's always amusing to see everyone pick on each other. It's hard for me to truly get it because I obviously don't know a ton, but their bickering is always funny.

"That's better, no wonder you're moving down the favorite list," Scarlett teases.

"Excuse me?" Lizzie shoots back as she glares at Scarlett.

"What I built a bomb-ass sandcastle with her, we make a great team! So I have to be pretty high on that list now," Scarlett smiles smugly before turning to grab a drink out of the cooler.

"Hey swear jar!" Lizzie shouts pointing a tattling finger towards Scarlett who sticks her tongue out in retaliation.

"Do you want to eat some lunch then we can go play in the water?" Lizzie asks looking down at me since I'm still laying on her lap.

"Sure," I agree to try to delay the inevitable. I sit up and stretch out my limbs as Lizzie goes to the cooler to grab my sandwich. It is peanut butter and honey sandwich. I'm proud to say that I made it all by myself, now that I have full use of both hands I can more easily do things like making myself food.

I nibble on my sandwich slowly as the adults make conversation. Apparently, Romain took Rose home while I was napping and I was pretty glad about that. I didn't tell anyone because they really like her but I just think that babies are so weird and scary. Who wants to be 100% reliable on someone for everything that happens in their life. That means surrendering a terrifying amount of control. Also, I do not like the way that Lizzie looks at her. She's Scarlett's daughter so Lizzie cannot look at her like that.

I only made half a sandwich so it wasn't too long before I was done and Lizzie was pulling me down towards the beach with Clay and Scarlett in tow. Once we reached the shoreline I froze looking at the endless waves that seemed to go on forever.

"What's wrong?" Lizzie frowns looking back at me.

"I uh, I," I try to formulate a sentence but I'm too nervous about her reaction to this simple fear.

"You can tell me anything," Lizzie whispers as I keep my eyes trained on my feet.

"I-i, when I was with Josh, he tried to drown me a few times," I blurt out as I feel tears sting my eyes and Lizzie gasps softly, "He was drunk so it's okay......I guess, but uh now I- uh- I..."

"You're afraid of the water?" Lizzie confirms as she lifts my chin so my brown eyes can meet her emerald green ones. I nod as a tear runs down my cheek and my fear transforms into a mix of anger and sadness. I'm mad I'm crying and I'm mad at Josh for trying to waterboard me, but I'm also sad because in some messed up way I kind of miss Josh and I's trips to the beach. They rarely happened but they were always my favorite.

"It's okay, we can take it slow," Lizzie says pulling me into a tight hug as she rubs my back. I quickly wrap my arms around her waist and bury my face in her chest trying to suppress my cries. I'm sure Scarlett and Clay are giving Lizzie concerned looks like always but I can't focus on that right now because it only makes me cry harder.