The Streets Higher Stakes

27. Beach Talks

"Cole," I felt a hand gently shaking my shoulder.  I opened my eyes to see Trish's faint outline above me. It was still dark out and I groaned wondering why she woke me up so early.

"Get dressed quietly and meet me at the beach," She whispered.

I groaned quietly and laid there a few minutes before I got up. I felt around for my clothes in the dark as I heard snores and grunts from my sleeping friends. I quickly got dressed and made my way to the beach. It was warm outside and I could see the beginning of colour change on the sky  as the sun started to rise. I saw Trish sitting in the sand and I plopped myself down beside her. She had shorts on and shirt, the light breeze lifted the ends of her hair. But she still looked exhausted.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," she began as she kept her eyes straight forward. I reached out and hooked my finger on her chin, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes were dull. Dead.

"You don't have to be sorry about anything." I was glad she told me what happened, I had started to go crazy.

"But I am. I'm not like that, I'm not that g-" She stopped as I kissed her. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt her lips on mine. But I had to do it because she was talking nonsense.

"Shut up," I said against her lips. I pulled away only to see her to start to protest. I cut her off again with a swift kiss.

"Trish you're human. You're allowed to feel this way. You're allowed to react this way." I echoed my words from months ago. "You've been through a lot so it's okay for you to break down and have bad days." I saw her swallow hardly and she didn't say anything for awhile. We sat there and watched as the sun started to slowly rise.

"Did you tell the others?" She question as she returned to looking straight ahead at the ocean. I nodded my head and she sighed heavily, making me apologize.

"It's fine. It's better that you all know now anyways." She said. We were silent before I started wondering allowed.

"What was your mom like?" I asked and watched her reaction. I could see her visibly tense and it was my turn to sigh. "Babe I believe talking about it will help. You've kept everything in for years and I know there's a part of you that's glad that you told me," I tried to reason with her.

She stayed tensed up and didn't look at me. I leaned back on the sand and closed my eyes. I wanted to know what was going on inside her head. After a few minutes of more silence she laid back beside me. "She was everything I'd always wanted to be. But since her death I know I won't be like her." She said quietly, over the sound of the gentle lapping waves. "She was a lawyer, one for kids. She was passionate about her work, I remembered her getting angry or emotional when cases didn't go her way," she spoke with a small wavering smile.

I smiled at her, seeing that my idea had started to work. I let her talk about her mother for awhile longer and I probed her for answers when she stopped talking.

"What about the baby?" I asked hesitantly and she swallowed. She hadn't looked at me the entire time we had been talking and continued to look at the now sunlit blue sky.

"It was supposed to be a girl. I would've named her Evelyn, after my mother," she replied thickly as I saw a small tear escape her eye. I leaned in and kissed it away before any more could go loose.

"That's a beautiful idea." I said as she finally looked at me. Her eyes looked watery but no tears had escaped besides the one. She smiled slightly and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"Do you want to go and get breakfast?" I asked, I didn't want to push her too much. She agreed and we walked hand in hand until we found a small restaurant. We talked about other things, The Raiders, Wiz and avoided the subject of her mom and baby.

"Dakotas wondering where we are." Trish said as she looked at her phone after we finished eating.

"Do you want to go back or stay out a little longer?" I wanted to make sure she was okay to handle the rest of the crew and their questions.

"We can head back." I grabbed her hand and we walked back towards our home.