Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 65 - Simple

"Did you catch her?" You ask, and Ari's head whips up instantly from where he had his eyes trained on the ground. He shields them from the sun and squints, perhaps trying to gather why on earth you'd come after him, especially after knowing he'd gone after Summer.

"Oh, err, yeah. She's still leaving." he mutters, and you both take a couple of steps forward tentatively, until you're face to face, standing just in front of the door labelled 'departures'.

"Oh," you reply. You knew Summer was leaving, but it's strange to think that she's actually gone. In a while, she'll be on the other side of the world again, and things will go back to how they were. "I'm sorry."

He scoffs. "Why are you sorry?"

You flinch at his aggressiveness, narrowing your eyes in a way which you hope makes you look indifferent. "Because you gave up your final to go after her? Because she was your friend?" You reply. And I hope she was nothing more, you want to say, but you keep your mouth shut. "I wanted to talk to you, but you left before I was awake this morning."

"Yeah," he replies, and you wait for him to say something else. Anything. Anything that won't make you have to start this conversation. "Yeah?" He repeats again impatiently, and you nearly jump at his sharp tone.

"I..." you begin, but you can't get the words out. You're stuck. You open your mouth again but you can't seem to get it around any words.

"I told my parents," Ari suddenly says, and your eyes dart up from the floor. When you don't say anything, he must assume that you don't know what he's talking about, but you do. "About my...anxiety." he says reluctantly.

"Wow. Ari, that's great." you reply, unable to contain your smile and trying to not sound supercilious - although you did tell him to let his parents know ages ago. And it feels like a weight's been lifted off your shoulders. You and Summer being the only ones who knew about it didn't exactly put you in the best situation. Especially when it came to his parents. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...yeah. Not sure I'll be doing much surfing next season now though."  he tries to laugh it off, but it lands flat - you both know how much it means to him.

"I'm sure your parents won't be that harsh. They only want what's best for you." you try and persuade him, but he doesn't seem convinced. In fact, he completely changed the subject.

"Yeah, and I've been thinking...I only want what's best for you too," he breathes in. "So, if you want to take a break, and be friends...i'll do it."

"Really?" you reply, not meaning to sound so disbelieving. But only last night Ari had been giving you the cold shoulder, and you weren't sure if things would ever go back to normal. But now, he's standing here giving you exactly what you want, right?

"Yeah, I mean if you still want to be...just friends." He adds.

You nod hurriedly, maybe a little too fast? "Sounds good. I mean, not good, but better than not being friends, right?" you fumble over your words, and it feels like you're right back where you started at the beginning of the Summer, when you could barely speak to him.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I was going to say." he replies rapidly. "You wanna get a ride back with us? We could hit the surf with the others when we get back?" He asks casually, friendly.

You nod. "Sure, I'll go let my mum know." You smile.

Your mum isn't too pleased that she's been waiting for you at the airport when she could have gotten back on the road, but you grab your board out the trunk of the car and throw it in the back of the Gibson's truck as she drives off.

They let you and Ari out at the beach, and you're surprised to see the others are there too: Poppy and Bodhi must have been dropped off too, as they're pulling on their wetsuits on the sand below.

"Hey!" Ari calls down to them, and their heads turn to gaze up at the top of the cliff where you're leaning over the fence. "Mind if we drop in?!"

After half an hour or so of flat conditions, you see another figure bounding into the shallows and jumping on their board.

"Room for one more?!" You brother shouts, but immediately is shoved off his board by Ari, preceding a outburst of laughs by you and the girls.

Maybe this year things will be simpler, you think, as you catch a wave all the way into shore.