All In

5

Chapter 5

"You okay out here? It's pretty late to be out here," a voice laughed softly. I didn't say anything, I just kept plucking my chords. "I'm Bryce by the way, I'm not sure we met," the boy came and sat down next to me, clearing his throat as he looked at me, hugging his knees close to his chest. 

"Beau," I said softly, glancing at him quickly before returning my sight back to my ukelele. 

"What song are you playing?" He smiled as I laughed, shaking my head. 

"An old song my dad used to play," I smiled, stopping playing and looking up at Bryce who was smiling back at me. 

"What song?" He smirked. 

"Son of a Sailor, by Jimmy Buffet. My dad always said that was how he met my mom," I gulped, looking out at the view. 

"Was he a son of a sailor?" Bryce laughed softly as I nodded. 

"Yeah," I laughed softly, taking a sip of my bottle before looking back at Bryce. 

"He just passed, right?" Bryce gulped as I smiled softly, nodding my head. 

"Yeah," I smiled, looking down at my ukelele.

"Beau, let's head in. A storm's coming and the waves are getting rough," my dad yelled over the winds as I shook my head, squinting as I looked out of the horizon. 

"No, we're fine," I yelled back to him, sitting up on my board. I looked over at him. He was looking at me skeptically, clearly debating whether or not I was right, but I flashed him a smile and his look faded. He laughed softly, shrugging as he laid down on his board, paddling after a wave. 

"I know you trust the ocean, and I trust you," my dad smirked, laughing as he paddled past me, heading towards a wave. I smiled, sitting there as I watched him paddle out. I looked to my right, noticing how close we were to the rocks. 

"Dad," I called out, him too far to hear me. I shrugged it off. My father taught me everything I knew about surfing, so I trusted that he knew we were close to the rocks and would drop to his right when he caught the wave, heading away from the rocks. 

I watch my dad paddle after a wave. It was a nasty wave. It was the kind of wave the had no mercy. It didn't care who you were or where you came from, it wanted to destroy you limb by limb. I laughed softly, preparing myself to witness one of the few times in my father's life that he'd get owned by a wave, being kicked off similarly to the way a bull rider gets kicked off an angry bull. However, my heart raced as I watched my dad drop left, heading towards the rocks. 

"DAD!" I yelled, paddling after him as I watched him get thrown off his board by the wave. I paddled to the rocks. 

Blood. So much blood. 

"Dad, everything's going to be okay," I cried as paddled up to him, his head split open from hitting the rocks, I pulled him onto my board, paddling back to shore as quickly as I could. "HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could the entire way back to the beach, a few of the other surfers on the sand running out to meet me in the white waters. 

"I'm sorry,"

"You okay?" Bryce placed his hand on my shoulder making me jump. 

"What?" I mumbled, looking into his dark eyes. 

"I said I'm sorry, for your loss," he smiled softly as I nodded, clearing my throat. 

"Thanks," I smiled softly.

"You're probably exhausted from moving in, let's get you to bed," Bryce smiled as I shook my head. 

"No, I'm okay," I gulped, looking down at my ukelele, returning to plucking the strings. 

"Just so you know, Josh really cares about you. He's been my boy for a while now, so that means that I care about you too. He wants to see you get better. He wants to see you happy again! Hell, he'd probably murder someone for you to be happy again! We may not really know each other, but I'm here for you if you ever need to talk," Bryce gulped. I never took my eyes off the strings. Bryce got up quietly, scuffing his feet as he walked back inside, leaving me alone.