The Lifeguard

Chapter 7

"Dad," I called him before he opens the car door to leave. He's leaving to fly back home to take care of the other businesses.

He turned around to face me. "What is it?"

I paused for a moment. "Nothing," I cleared my throat. I was having second thoughts if I should bring it up or forget about it. He glared at me, and opened the car door. "Dad," called him again. This time, there's no turning back. He turned around. The look of his face already tells how irritated he is.

"What is it, Zoe?"

I cleared my throat again before talking. "What happened to Chloe?" I finally blurted.

He closed the door and looked at me. Now, he seems more upset and mad at the same time. He walked closer to where I am. "How many times did we tell you not to mention her name? Did you not understand us when we told you?"

"I kept quiet for such a long time. You told me she was sick, but you never mentioned what caused her sickness. You didn't even allow me to visit her nor asked her to come home. Yet, you waited for her death before you bothered telling me. I deserve to know, Dad. I'm not a kid anymore."

"She's gone." He placed both of his hands on my shoulders. "I have to go." Dad let go of me, as he walked back to the car. "I don't wanna hear her name again," he demanded before going inside the car.

When he left, tears started falling down on my cheeks. I couldn't control myself. I remember begging my parents to let me see her. The last time we saw each other in person was when she went away for college. Since then, we only talked through text and calls. I wiped my tears, and turned around to go back inside. As I was walking in the lobby, I spotted Connor walking. He looked at me, but he didn't do anything. I wanted to approach him. I was craving for his comfort. He saw me wiping my tears, but he didn't care. He didn't ask what was wrong, or what happened. He didn't bother to ask if I'm okay. I wanted him to ask. I wanted him to show that he cares about me. But instead, he continued walking, ignoring me like I don't even exist.

I spent the rest of the day in my room, ignoring everyone who tried to talk to me. I didn't feel like talking to anyone, or dealing with anything at all. I just wanted to have my alone time, my me time. The sun has come down, and I finally decided to go down for supper. I went out in the open area near the pool, while waiting for my dinner. When my food arrived, someone then sat infront of me.

"Sean," I said, surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too," he grinned.

"Sorry."

"Thats fine." He smiled at me. "I drove Ava here. She wanted to drop off something for Jace. I saw you here so I figured that I should at least say hi."

I managed to smile. "Right. Are you hungry?" I asked Sean, trying to be civil.

"No. I'm fine," he answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Sean and I started talking about Ava and Jace. Turns out they're planning to hang out again, and they're trying to bring us with them. I told Sean that I wouldn't go and that he shouldn't go with them too. I mean, if they wanted to go out, they shouldn't use us as their excuse.

"There you are," says Ava as she approached us. Jace was beside her. "Hey, Zoe," she greeted me. Jace pulled out a chair from the other table, and gave it to Ava to sit on. "You know, Sean will be performing at the Kergs tomorrow night. You should totally come! Oh! He loves playing the piano, he never gets tired of it." I looked down on my food, and remembered my sister again. I couldn't focus on what she was saying, but I knew she went on bragging about Sean and his love for music.

"Zoe... Zoe... Hey."

I snapped out, and realized that Jace has been trying to get my attention. "I'm sorry. What's that?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" Jace asked.

I looked at Sean, who was staring at me. I saw through his eyes that he was little curious of what was going through my head. I wish Connor would at least feel the same.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm fine."

"So will you be joining us tomorrow night?" asked Ava.

"Ava." Sean sighed.

"What?" she asked.

"Yeah. For sure, I'll be there." I faked my smile.

Sean sighed again, but he didn't say anything afterwards. I called the waiter to order more food. I didn't wanna sit in the table with them, while I'm the only one eating. Talk about awkward.

Another hour passed, and they decided it's time to go. Jace and I walked them out in the front entrance. Jace opened the door for Ava, and they talked a little bit more.

Sean approached me. "I'm guessing Jace doesn't know," he started saying. I gave a short nod. "You don't have to go tomorrow night. I'll take care of Ava and Jace."

"It's fine." I tried to smile at him.

"Sorry about Ava," he apologized.

"Don't be."

Jace approached us, and Sean finally said his goodbye. When they left, Jace and I talked for few more minutes until he said his goodnight and went up to his room first.

I headed in the beach to get some fresh air. I saw Connor. He walked to my direction, but when he got closer I looked down on the sand. I knew already that he would just walk passed me. I was mistaken. "I heard," he started saying. I looked up, and there he was looking at me. "I heard people talking about your argument with Mr. Anderson this morning. I should have asked if you were okay."

I nodded.

"I'm sorry about your sister." Connor walked closer to me. He walked closer, and closer until he wrapped his arms around me.

I put my arms around him. "Thank you."