Days of Summer

Chapter 5 - Words better left unspoken

The house is quiet as the sun shines in thru the window. Gwen is sitting in her bed while she watches the birds fly around the tree outside the window. She hears Julia sleep in the room next to hers. Julia came home kind of late, but Gwen doesn't feel like taking that fight now. Instead she gets up from the bed and grabs her sneakers before she leaves the room. When she passes thru the kitchen she writes a quick note to Julia if she should wake up, and then she walks out to the beach.

It's Sunday morning and everything is quiet. Everyone is probably still sleeping due to the early hour. The sun is warm on her skin, and the light breeze makes her hair dance behind her as she walks along the empty beach. After a while she takes of her sneakers and let the waves caress her feet as she walks on the shore. She has missed this, to take walks along the beach with the sea as her only company, it has been something of a tradition thru the years. Previous summers had barely a day has passed without her taking this walk, no matter the weather.

"Gwen?"

The sudden call makes her jump, she didn't hear anyone approach. When she slowly turns around she sees Will. He is jogging along the beach, but he slows down as he reaches her.

"Hi."

"Hi, Will."

Gwen is still trying to catch her breath after his sudden appearance. They walk in silence until Will speaks up.

"No camera?"

"No, I'm just out for a walk." She looks over the empty shore before she turns towards Will again. "I like the beach times like this."

"Yeah, it's just you and me." He smiles before he suddenly becomes serious again. "I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"No, it's nice with company too sometimes." She can't help but to smile, he seems to be a gentleman. "What brings you here so early?"

"I run. It helps me think."

She nods. They keep walking while they small talk until the sun has risen pretty high and different sounds travel down towards them from the neighbourhood closest to the beach. Gwen knows she probably should go back, even if Julia likes to sleep in the morning, she is undoubtedly awake now.

"Gwen." Will says slowly, almost hesitant. 

He stops walking and she turns around to face him.

"Yes."

"You know, Luke told me something, but that's not true."

Gwen can't help but to laugh.

"That sounds like Luke."

Not that Luke is a liar, but he usually likes to exaggerate. She can see the laugh in Wills' eyes too, before a calmer and more sincere look replaces it.

"He told me you looked good, but that's not true." Gwen nearly loses her breath, not knowing what to say, but he continues before she is able to say annythingat all. "That's a lie, because I don't even know if you know it yourself, but you are very beautiful Gwen."

She looks at him while her inside starts to break apart. She doesn't know what to think or what to say.

"I'm sorry." The words leave her lips. 

With one last look at his more and more confused face, she starts to walk away from him. She doesn't give him a chance to say anything, or if he does she can't hear him. It's probably wrong to just leave him, but she can't face him or rather what his words might mean. She just can't.

Gwen sinks down on the steps to the terrace when she comes back to the house. She buries her face in her hands, trying to keep herself together. This is not what she expected of the morning walk. This is not what she expected of Will. Sure, she though he was kind and friendly, and he is undeniable good looking with his ocean eyes and smiling face, but the perk with him was that he was just that, friendly. And now? She had promised herself not to make the same mistake again.