drowning | ruel van dijk

fifteen

RUEL

maybe i'm too distracted about everything i'm going to tell kate, because i've lost track of time; surprisingly, i'm already at the beach.

i rest my old bike against a post before i kick off my shoes and step into the soft, warm sand. the feeling instantly reminds me of when kate and i tried burying ourselves in it.

turns out, it's really hard to bury someone in sand who's my height. i managed to cover kate fairly easily though.

when i don't see kate at first, i get a little worried; she had texted me earlier that she already made it, and she should be here waiting for me.

i continue down through the sand, traveling a little farther than normal, hoping kate just decided to take a little walk.

thankfully, after a few more minutes, i see kate standing in the middle of the beach.

she looks awfully lonely, since no one else is around.

but she also looks stunning... i don't know why i'm only noticing this now, but she looks stunning.

that's when my thoughts are confirmed: i like kate.

with her hair flowing behind her and the sunlight beaming down against her body, i know that i like her.

and i want her to know that too.

—————

KATE

"hey, sorry i'm late. my bike kinda broke down," i hear ruel say from behind me.

i turn around and meet his gaze. "it's ok... you're ok," i reply, although it's probably meant more for myself.

the next few moments, i'm frozen in place and staring at ruel, not sure what to next. he smiles lightly, looking at me too.

in any situation this would be awkward, but not with ruel.

"come on," ruel states, breaking the silence. "i brought a blanket we can sit on".

he gently holds my wrist, as he guides me through the sand and to a little blanket he set up, not far from the water.

ruel's hand is warm and comforting; a stark contrast from when owen's hand had grabbed my shoulder.

when we make it to the beach blanket, ruel lets go of my wrist and sits me down only maybe a foot away from himself.

although we are already sitting pretty close together on the small blanket, i find myself longing for ruel's touch again.

during the time it takes for ruel to rummage through a bag he brought, i mentally evaluate my emotions.

am i catching feelings? yes

do i like these feelings? yes

do i like ruel? yes!

i like ruel, but i don't know how he feels...

"here you go," ruel says, while handing me a chocolate bar. "it seems like this is a tradition now", he adds with a small laugh.

maybe it's the heat, or maybe it's his nerves, but ruel seems on edge.

i grab the bar from ruel, but my fingers graze over the palm of his hand when i do.

"sorry", i say for no reason. "i mean, thanks. it's good chocolate. i ate the last one you gave me in almost 3 bites," i ramble.

ruel nods. "so do you want to talk about what happened during your sociology class?"

"well, more like everything that happened after that", i reply, thinking about my encounter with owen at the beach.

should i tell ruel about it?

fuck it.

after moving to lie down on my stomach, i tell ruel about what happened; i tell him that i saw owen, an ex who i didn't want to see anymore, and that he followed me to the beach and tried to talk to me again.

"damn, what a creep", ruel says aloud after i share my story.

"you don't even know... that's not all," i state, a little anxiously.

ruel intentivily looks towards me, as he has been the whole time.

"to make a long story short... the girl meg —who i'm not friends with anymore— invited me to a big party last year. owen was there, which i didn't know about."

i glance at ruel and notice a flicker of concern in his eyes, but i don't stop.

i need to get this off my chest, so i continue. "meg probably poured me a little too much to drink, and next thing i knew, owen was pulling me aside into another room..." i pause, looking down at my hands.

"next thing i knew, owen took advantage of me," i finally say. 

——————

hey sorry abt the short chapter this week! i contemplated writing one looooong one but i ended up splitting it into two chapters. hope that's ok :) i love you all! thanks for reading my work!