A New Beginning

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

I woke up in his arms. Dammit, I had to stop doing this. I needed to stop acting like we were a couple when we weren't. He would get used to this, and then he would never ask me out.

I stepped out of his arms, and I promised myself that I wouldn't do anything "boyfriend and girlfriendey". I looked outside, and decided it was time to go surfing.

My mom was in the kitchen, so I quickly asked if she could rub sunscreen on my back. She did, and then I went to get dressed. I woke the boys up, and told them that we were going surfing. They hurriedly got dressed, and we all went to the beach, and by all, I mean Mom and Carol included.

Being mothers, they had to take pictures. They took a group photo of us kids, and then one of Elliot and me. He had his arm draped around my shoulder, and I decided that this did not count. After the picture, I shrugged him off and grabbed my board.

I went into the water and waited for the wave. I pushed myself up and stood. I laughed as Alex and Elliot fell their first time up.

"And who said I couldn't surf?" I said as we finished for the day.

"I take it back." Alex said.

"Good." I stated.

We went to the hotel and I showered, got dressed, and sat in the living room. Alex was on one couch, and Elliot was on the other one. I decided to sit next to Alex. I grabbed my mom's laptop and plugged the camera in. All the pictures that my mom and Carol had taken popped up on the screen.

I scrolled through all the pictures. I laughed at Alex and Elliot's surfing. My eyes stopped on the picture of Elliot and me.

His arm was draped around me, and I had my hand on my hip. My hair was blowing in the breeze and, my eyes were glowing. I wasn't taken aback by my appearance though, it was Elliot.

His abdomen was glistening with sweat, and he was laughing. His looks weren't wait caught my attention either though. It was how he was staring at me. His icy-blue eyes were gazing at me. He looked genuinely happy. I smiled at the picture, closed the laptop, and walked into the lobby. The boys gave me confused looks as I walked out.

"Do you have a printer that I can borrow?" I asked the man at the front desk. He smiled at me.

"Why yes, we do. Regular paper is $0.02 per pager, and photo paper is $0.50 per page." I handed him my laptop and he plugged it in. He printed a full-sized copy on photo paper. "Is he your boyfriend?" he asked as I handed him five bucks.

"Keep the change, and no." I said. "Thank you."

I walked back to the room, and I hid the paper. I walked into my mom's room to tell her my idea.

"Mom, can you do me a favor?" I asked.

"Anything, what is it?" she asked.

"Can you bring me to a frame store tomorrow? It's for a Christmas present." I pleaded.

"Of course. I'll take you around ten tomorrow." She said.

I walked out of the room with a smile on my face. This was going to be a great Christmas. I walked into my room and went to bed without talking to Elliot.

I woke up the next morning, and my mom took me to the store. I showed her the picture.

"He really likes you. I can tell." She stated.

"Well, I want him to ask me out already." I mumbled.

We walked into the store; I bought a navy blue frame to put it in. The lady at the counter put the picture in it, but not before I wrote the date, our names, and the place on it.

When we got to the hotel room, the boys and Carol asked where I had gone. I told them that I had to run a few errands. The rest of the day, I just sat inside watching TV. Christmas was on Friday and it was already Wednesday.

Elliot tried to talk to me, but I felt very tired for some reason. I heard my mother tell Carol it was sun exhaustion. She was probably right.

"Hey honey, you should get some rest." My mom said. I nodded and went into my room.