Swell (Complete)

Chapter Forty-Five (Part One)

"I am swollen, and this has stolen my sanity,
Well it's hard to see beyond this when it's fighting against me."

....

Adora's laughter had broken the quiet waves around them as Will had pulled back from their kiss and started to make a sand angel.
"Didn't you tell me you would never lay in the sand?" Adora smirked as she looked at him.
He smiled back at her. "Call me inspired."
She bit her bottom lip and he saw the colour darken in her cheeks.
"Want to hear something sad?" He asked, sitting up and trying to shake the sand out of his hair.
"Sad, as in actually sad? Or sad as in I'm going to laugh at it sad?"
"The second one."
"Sure." She turned her backside around so she was facing him and reached out to take his hands.
"I asked Marti and Tom for help last night." Will started, the confused frown on her face made him smile. "For what to wear on Friday."
Adora chuckled a little. "Why?"
"I don't want to wear the only suit I own, considering it was the funeral I last wore it. So, Tom is letting me borrow a jacket that will match some pants."
"That's really cute, not sad."
"The fact I can't dress myself isn't sad?" He gave her a half grin.
"Well, OK, maybe that is a bit sad." She scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Marti asked me a question I wasn't sure about, and I want to ask you what you prefer."
Her lightness left as she tilted her head. "What's that?"
"I haven't had to think about it before, Liss made sure I knew what she preferred." He lifted one set of their hands to his jaw line and gently rubbed her skin against his short whiskers. "Liss preferred me clean shaven. I stopped when she left." He bit his lip and look down at their hands. "Do you want me to shave for Friday?"
"I-I don't know. I've never really thought about that. What do you prefer though?" Adora took her hand from his and put it against his whiskers and gently ran her skin over them.
He closed his eyes at the caress and smiled. "I don't mind, I feel more myself with some whiskers around, but I will shave if you like."
"Keep them." She cupped his cheeks in her hands and gave him a kiss. "I don't mind either, but I do like how you look older than 12 with some growth. Tom reminds me every time I see him how young your face is."
Will laughed lightly and nodded. "Alright. Hairy face it is." He returned her kiss. "We should probably get you home. Your family are going to go nuts."
Her shoulders sagged in his arms and she nodded. "Yea, I should probably go."
"We can go back to the bakery and stick the bike in the Pajero, there's no way I'm letting you go home alone."
Adora leaned back and he watched her top teeth put pressure on her plump bottom lip. "Would you come in for a little bit?"
"I don't think your Mum would appreciate that." He looked beyond her beautiful face to the ocean between the cliffs behind her.
"I'm going to talk to them. You're the person who has the least amount of reason to be any type of stalker. I already like you, you don't need to be jealous or angry, you have no reason to hurt my friends, they aren't competition." Adora moved her face to meet his eyes.
Hers seemed to take on the colour of the ocean, becoming more blue green than the usual blue-gray.
His heart sank at her words. Honestly, he wouldn't have tried to compete for her if the need arose. He wasn't the sort to assert himself into someone's life if they were already happy.
"I'll take you home, but I think that's a talk I'd rather not be around for." He didn't want to hear fighting between family about how she wanted to be with him, despite the fact his last girlfriend had been murdered, despite the fact that their lives had been turned into dangerous games since his family moved.
She looked down at their hands between their laps; his legs spread either side of her crossed legs.
"Alright." She nodded in resignation and her quiet tone made his chest hurt.
"I'll call you later and check in on you, but for now, let's go." He leaned over and kissed her forehead before he stood up and held a hand out to help her out of the sand piles his movements had made around her legs.

Will rode with Adora on the front handlebars this time. She wasn't sure which felt more secure but by the time they reached the bakery, the handlebars were hurting her behind.
She jumped off with a little laugh and looked over to Will as he put her kickstand down. "Pegs are definitely more comfortable, let's remember that." She smirked.
"You're the boss." He shrugged as he held open the door to the bakery and she stepped inside.
Tom and Marti looked up from a table and Tom jerked his head to the kitchen of the bakery.
"Where have you been?" Anne's voice rose from the kitchen as she turned the corner into view. "I've been trying to call you for the last hour!"
Mrs Taylor came out behind her, grimacing at Will as he let the door close behind him.
Adora froze and looked from Marti and Tom at the table to her mother. She knew her mother had caught her lie. She "At the cove." Her voice was quiet and she backed up against Will and reached for a hand. "I needed to breathe."
"I've been worried sick! How dare you lie to me!" Anne came out from behind the counter and wrapped her arms around Adora. Will stepped back and pulled his hand from Adora's as he watched the Dodgers embrace.
"I'm sorry, I should have answered..." Adora mumbled.
"I sent you a text..." Tom's voice whispered in Will's ear and Will's hand reached into his pocket instinctively for his mobile.
They both should have answered their phones at the cove.
"We're going home." Anne pulled herself off her daughter, her hands sitting securely on Adora's shoulders. "You're grounded."
"Mum..." Adora's voice was higher than Will was used to and he felt Marti's hand close around his as they watched Anne walked Adora out of the bakery.
"What were you thinking?" Mrs Taylor looked at Will with a pained expression.
"I was thinking about Adora." Will muttered.
"And if her stalker had come upon you both?"
Will watched out of the front window as Anne and Adora walked Adora's bike out of view.
"I don't know." Will felt his shoulder's sag as Marti moved closer to him.
"Sorry, Will." His sister whispered.
Mrs Taylor went back into the kitchen and left the three Taylor teens standing in the front of the bakery.
"You alright?" Tom asked with a frown.
Will forced himself to look away from the window to his brother. "How badly do you think we fucked up?"
"Anne's pretty furious." Tom responded. "She called Rae and Kurt before she came here looking for Adora."
"Do you think the grounding means she won't be allowed to go to the dance?" Marti spoke up quietly.
"After a new dress?" Tom frowned.
"If it comes down to safety versus money spent, I'm pretty sure Anne will keep her under lock and key." Will swallowed a lump.
"But that's not fair. It's not Adora's fault." Marti whined, squeezing Will's hand.
"Well, running away and ignoring her phone kind of is." Will admitted.
"Well, if I was being guarded and watched like a child, I'd do much more than that, and a lot sooner than she did." Marti let go of Will's hand and went into the kitchen, leaving the twins alone in the warm bakery.
"It was a really stupid idea, Will. Mum's right, what would you have done if Adora's stalker had seen you? I mean... Brett, and Gus... You're probably in more strife than Adora is." Tom raised an eyebrow and Will let go of a deep breath.
"I wasn't thinking about that much." He admitted. "I don't know what I would have done, I don't know what I am going to do. It just felt... easier than I thought it would." He frowned and looked to Tom's face.
He could see the worry in his brother's brow and guilt slashed through his stomach. "I think worrying about Liss masked how much I liked her. Now Liss is..." Will bit his bottom lip. "Now I know she's gone, I don't feel like I'd be cheating on her with Adora."
"Will, Liss was murdered, Brett was almost murdered, and the last guy that kissed Adora was buried yesterday."
The fear on Tom's face surprised Will. His words struck sharply and Will just nodded.
"I can't just let her deal alone." Will said quietly.
"Will..." Tom's head tilted as Will walked past him and out into the cool breeze.
He could smell rain in the air, mixing with the breeze and he took a deep, calming breath before he pulled his phone from his pocket.