Bondi Rescue

Healing

By the end of my story, I was in tears, and Harrison just hugged me, and let me cry all of my pain and hurt out. He muttered comforting things into my ear while I tried to pull myself together. 

"I kind of cried all over your shirt, I'm sorry," I mumbled, going to get up off of him, but Harrison wasn't having it. 

"Em, what you went through was horrific, and what happened today is only going to make things worse if you don't let your emotions out. I don't care about my shirt, I care about if you're ok," Harrison stated firmly, and I gave up on trying to get out of his arms.

"Just lay here alright? It's perfectly acceptable to have someone comfort you when you're hurting Em, you don't have to go through this alone." 

I sighed, grateful for his support. I laid back down, resting my head on his chest, as his hands rubbed small circles on my back. I felt the tension leave my body, and I relaxed, worn out from the terror of today, and reliving the pain from the death of the man I considered my father. 

We laid there on the couch for what felt like forever. My eyes started drooping, but I kept forcing myself to stay awake, afraid that when I closed my eyes, more nightmares would come. Harrison must've noticed my struggling because he chuckled softly.

"Em, it's alright for you to go to sleep, you must be exhausted," I shook my head tiredly, and tried to explain.

"I'm afraid if I go to sleep I'll have the nightmares again, and I don't want," I trailed off as Harrison shushed me. 

"Tell you what, I'll wake you up if I notice you're starting to have nightmares, alright? You need to get some rest love," he told me, and I was too tired to argue with him. I closed my eyes, and let Harrison's comforting presence lull me to sleep.

~The Next Morning~

I woke slowly, feeling more relaxed than I had felt in a long time. I shifted slightly and suddenly became aware of the heavy arm draped over my waist. I froze, and my mind immediately flashed back to the night before trying to remember what had happened.

I relaxed as I remembered that Harrison had come over and comforted me when I told him about what happened to Hau. 

As I slowly became more aware of my surroundings, I realized that Harrison and I had shifted during the night. Instead of us lying facing each other, I had somehow rolled over, and Harrison had wrapped his arm around me, pulling me so that my back was firmly against his chest. Our legs were tangled together, and one of my arms rested on top of his. 

I felt my face begin to flush with embarrassment. Despite having such an emotional conversation the night before, this was an extremely intimate position to wake up in. Especially since I didn't even know if he had a girlfriend! 

I resolved to get up and try to put some distance between us, but as I went to move, Harrison mumbled something in his sleep, and his arm tightened around my waist, keeping me pinned against him.

I lay there, slightly annoyed with Harrison and his ridiculously strong arms, but that annoyance quickly gave way to even more embarrassment when he buried his face into my neck, his lips brushing my skin. 

I could feel my cheeks burning as I laid there, wondering what to do. I must've laid there for nearly half an hour when finally, I felt Harrison start to stir.

"Ugh, Emilie, what time is it?" He groaned, and I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore how attractive his morning voice was. 

"Well, Harrison, I'd love to tell you, but I seem to be a bit trapped here on the couch," I said, deciding that sarcasm was the best route to get around what embarrassment had happened earlier. 

I felt, rather than heard, Harrison cough slightly, and he quickly let me go so that I could get up. I sat up, and stretched slightly, grabbing my phone to check the time.

"It's 9 in the morning," I told him, scooting back slightly so that he could sit up as well. I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. "I can't believe I managed to get through the night without any nightmares."

I turned so I was sitting normally on the couch, my hands in my lap in front of me. I felt a sense of relief, that I had told Harrison what had happened, and he hadn't judged me for it, he didn't mock me for my fear. 

Harrison turned and put his hand on top of mine. "I'm glad you told me what happened. What happened was horrible and no one should have to experience that, but I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me."

I grinned slightly. "Thank you for listening," I told him, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, giving me a hug. "Man, I am starving though, I didn't have lunch or dinner yesterday."

Harrison smirked at me. "How many different places have you tried for food here?" I looked at him strangely.

"Only the one coffee shop right in front of the beach, why?"

"Well, there's this one restaurant I and the boys always go to, I think you'll like it. They serve meals all day, so they'll have something for brekky." 

I snorted and looked at him incredulously. "Brekky? What the heck is brekky Harrison?" He looked at me, hurt, as I laughed. 

"Brekky is Aussie slang for Breakfast Emilie," he informed me matter-of-factly. "And if you're gonna be spending any length of time here, then you need to learn these types of things."

I nodded but was unable to speak as I continued laughing,  so hard that my stomach and sides started to ache. Harrison continued to pout as I felt tears roll down my cheeks."I... I'm so... I'm sorry Harrison... it's ju... it's just so funny..." I told him as I continued to laugh.

I heard Harrison mumble, "I'll give you something to laugh at," but before I could ask him what he meant, he turned and tackled me, pinning me to the couch, holding my hands over my head, using his other hand to attack my sides, tickling me.

I started to laugh harder, screaming and trying to push him away with my hips and legs, "Harrison... Harrison... stop it... Harrison stop it... please..!" I shouted at him, more tears rolling down my face. 

"Never!" He shouted, continuing his assault. "Unless you apologize for laughing at me?" He asked, pausing his attack but I shook my head, refusing to give in. "Very well then," I screamed again, as he started to tickle more.

"Fine! Fine! I give in!" I shouted, gasping for breath. "I'm sorry for laughing! I'm sorry!" Harrison stopped tickling me, and I lay there, my chest heaving, trying to catch my breath. I suddenly realized just how compromising our position was, with Harrison still straddling my waist, holding my hands above my head. 

I stared into his eyes, as I could see the realization hit him as well, and a blush bloomed over his cheeks as well as mine. We stared at each other, neither of us moving, our faces inches from each other. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Harrison slowly let go of my wrists and sat up, climbing off of me. 

He stood up and offered a hand silently, and I took it, letting him pull me to my feet. He coughed slightly, before asking, "So, do you still want to go get some brekky?" I snorted, but stopped myself from collapsing into a fit of giggles again, and nodded.

"Well then, let's go," Harrison said with a smile and pulled me out the door.

Hello my lovely readers, and let me just say, I AM SO SO SO VERY SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT SO LONG. I am currently a senior in high school, and these past couple of weeks, I have been using every single last minute of my free time to apply for scholarships. In this last week alone, I have probably only had maybe 7 hours of actual, restful sleep. But that is no excuse to keep you, my dear readers, left in suspense of the next chapter. So, here it is, and I made sure to add a little bit more interaction between Emilie and Harrison that I had originally planned, to try and make up a little bit for how long you had to wait. I currently do not have any more full chapters written, but I have the outline for a lot of them, so I can *fingers crossed* hopefully publish the next chapter tomorrow and get back on schedule. Again, I am so very sorry, and I hope you guys enjoy!

~_mindless_ramblings_