Getting back to "Normal" | Rhekker

Chpater 16-Swimming

Ava had been awake for a few hours but had yet to venture out of bed, not having the will to leave. Her face was slightly covered with the blanket Connor had brought her, having long since discarded the thin hospital one.
A knocked came over Ava's door but she ignored it, hoping her visitor would think she was asleep.

Hearing a paper bag land on the nightstand next to her head Ava looked up, expoing her face.
"Get dressed" Connor said nodding to the bag.
Ava scowled up at him, "How did you know I was awake?"
"You move around in your sleep Ava, I've never seen you that stationary unless you were awake" he said as Ava sat up in bed, taking the bag, a lounge set and towel and heads into the bathroom.

Ava goes to pull off her shirt when she catches Connors eye.
"Turn around" she tells him, pulling her shirt back down.
"Sorry, sorry" Connor panics, forgetting the bathroom doesn't have a full door. Connor sits at Ava's desk with his back to the bathroom. He studies some of Ava's drawings as he hears clothes hit the ground behind him and water start running.
Connor blushes slightly, realising that Ava was naked behind him, he tries to hide his face more so she knows he isn't looking.
Opening one if Ava's annotated books, he read through it not really following the story, but reading her thoughts and jokes about certain lines.
Connor smiled to himself, it was like stepping into Ava's mind, seeing how she saw the world.

Connor hears the water shut off and a knock on the wall behind him.
"What is this exactly?" Ava asked, leaning against the door frame in her towel, holding the bottom half of a black bikini out with a finger.
"Dr. Chalres thought it would be good for you to get out of the hospital for a few hours, boost your mood" Connor told her.
"I thought we could go for a swim?"
Ava pursed her lips slightly, nodding and turning back into the bathroom. Before Connor could turn back around in his chair Ava dropped her towel, causing Connor to spring around in his chair to face the wall.

"Can you swim?" Ava called over her shoulder, as she pulled her bikini top into place and spitting out some toothpaste.
"Eh, yeah. It was compulsory at school" he called back awkwardly.
Ava walked out of the bathroom smoothing out her hoodie over herself.
"Okey"
Connor turned to face Ava, smiling to himself, she looked like she was getting back to normal. "Okey' Connor replied, getting up from her desk.
"What about this?" Ava asked, holding up her wrist.
"Hospital band stays on" he told her as she followed him out of her room.
"Of course" Ava smiled slightly, tucking her bracelet into the sleeve of her hoodie.

Ava was anxious about going through the main part of the hospital and being seen by her colleagues, so Connor took her out the back into the overflow car park.
Ava slipped into the passenger side of Connors car, crossing her arms protectively over herself.
As they drove Connor flicked on the radio to break the awkward silence in the car. Ava sat gazing intently out the window, her knees together positioned away from Connor. When the pair arrived to the lake front they walked down to the shore, the only sound around was the light waves of lake water and their footsteps.
They walked out onto a small rotting dock and look over the lake. Connor sets his bag down and looks to Ava. She ties her noticeably grown hair into a bun and pulls her hoodie over her head, folding it over the railing of the dock. Connor starts undressing himself while Ava drops her joggers. In the second it took Connor to bend down and place his shirt on his bag, he watched Ava walk off the edge of the dock without a second thought.

"Ava!" Connor shouted after her, running to the edge of the plank. Just before he throws himself in, still half dressed, Ava's blonde head resurfaces. She gasps brushing loose strands of  hair off her face.
"Don't scare me like that!" he scolded her, pulling off his trousers. Connor hears a light chuckled from the water before he throws himself in after her.