Haunt You x Conrad Fisher

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Conrad

"The wave is going to try to consume you, okay. It's a big one! You'll need to fight back!" I yelled as I sat on my board in the water watching Elena get ready to ride the wave as it was approaching. I caught the look of terror in her face flashed for a quick second before the wave came crashing on top of her. "Elena!"

~~~

I helped her back onto shore as I watched her collapse on the sand, closing her eyes. I sat beside her bringing my legs to my chest laying my forearms against my knees. Her first lesson went as I expected. She was rusty and we had to go back to step one on teaching her the basics of surfing again since she hadn't been on a board in years.

"I saw his face," I heard Elena say no louder than a whisper. My body stiffened and I quickly turned my head to look down at her. Her eyes were still closed but I could hear her release small shaky breaths. "You know, when you yelled fight back- I saw his face and my entire body froze. It's all I wished I would have been able to do that night, fight back," she said.

It hurt hearing her speak like this. She sounded so fragile when I'm used to her strong, loud, confident voice. That explains the look of terror I saw on her face before the wave came crashing down. I clear my throat, "Elena-"

"You don't have to say anything," she said, finally opening her eyes and looking up at me. Her eyes carried a sort of sadness that I don't know if it'll ever go away. "If I were you, I wouldn't know what to say either. And in all honesty, I don't need to hear another 'I'm sorry for what happened to you'. Sometimes I just need to talk out loud, you know."

I nodded, feeling a rough gulp go down my throat. I felt so useless because she was right. What words do I have to offer her in this situation I know nothing about? There's really nothing I can do other than listen. "You know, I'll listen- no pressure obviously, whenever you do just want to talk, out loud," I quickly added.

Her soft hand covered mine as I slowly turned to look down at our hands. She gave it a small squeeze and that small gesture was my answer. She's not ready to open up entirely to me and that's okay. I'll wait. When she's ready, I'll still be here.

I turned back to stare at her. I was surprised her wetsuit had gold on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I saw her run down the dock towards me with her surfboard.

"What?" She added with a small laugh.

I bit my lower lip. "It's nice seeing you with a little color other than just black."

Shock crossed her face as she looked down at her wetsuit. She ran her hand down the golden stripe and smiled. Elena turned to look at me. "I wore your sweater for a bit that night of the bonfire remember," she teased. Like I could forget. She looked good in it.

That night replayed for a quick second. The bonfire was two weeks ago but it felt so much longer. So much has changed. The me from two weeks ago hated Elena and now, I have a stupid operation with my brother on how to make Elena mine. Funny how things work out. I rolled my eyes, "yeah for like five seconds."

"Yeah well within those five seconds, I got disgusted," she said, scrunching up her nose.

Then the image of Nicole and what she said crossed my mind. I flinched. Even I got second hand embarrassment from what she said. Sexting. Who even says that out loud in public? "You know, there's nothing going on between me and Nicole," I paused. "Anymore."

"I don't remember asking?" Elena said, tilting her head challenging me. She's so annoying. I turned away from her trying to hide the smile forming on my face from her.