Dear Addiction

Chapter twenty three

"Again! Again! Again!" Ellie screamed.

Dean laughed. He swam so he was behind her, then grabbed her from her waist, lifting her up until most of her was out of the pool. The sky above them was dark blue, the only light coming from Dean's pool. "Three," he began, counting down slowly.

"Two," Ellie said with Dean.

"One!"

Dean threw her into the air, the young girl screaming at the top of her lungs as she was thrown up, then came tumbling down back into the pool. When her head broke back out of the water, she spit some water out, a grin wide across her face. "Again!" she cried.

She swam over to Dean, wrapping her arms around his neck to stay above the water. Her smile widened as she raised her arm, pressing the tip of her finger to Dean's nose. "Boop."

Dean smiled, keeping one arm wrapped around her as he raised his own, pressing his finger to her noise.

"What happened to your arm?"

Dean's smile quickly faded, instead becoming a confused frown. "What do you mean?"

With one arm staying tightly around Dean, her other hand grabbed Dean's left arm, pulling it back above the water. She pointed with her index finger to the bruises that scattered Dean's inner arm; though most had faded, the ones from Lee's house, and the night previous were bright purple, fading out into green and yellow.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She touched the tip of her index finger to the brightest bruise, the touch so light that it almost didn't cause pain. She trailed her finger from the one bruise to the next, then the next, connecting them with imaginary lines.

"I um..." Dean glanced across the young girl's face, which was scrunched in concentration, her wet hair sticking to her face. "I scratch my arm a lot," he finally mustered, hoping the shaking in his voice wasn't noticeable.

"Oh," she nodded. Her finger stopped for a second before beginning to trail again, the touch so light that if it wasn't for the slight pain it would've been ticklish. "I have some, too!"

"You- you do?"

"Yep," Ellie cried. She lifted her hand from Dean's arm, showing her forearm the same way Dean had his own. "See?" She lifted her arm closer to Dean's face, though no bruises could be seen, only smooth skin.

"No, I don't."

For a second Ellie looked from her one arm to the other, before she raised her arm closer to Dean's face. "Now do you see?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, yeah, now I see them!" Dean cried in a fake realization, he adjusted his grip around the girl, beginning to walk towards the pool's stairs.  "We should probably get out now, we don't want to miss the fireworks."

Ellie shook her head, "No!" she cried, she pressed her hands against Dean's chest trying to push him away. "I want to swim! Let me swim!"

"Come on, Ellie, your dad said we could only swim for a bit."

"Fine." Ellie mumbled, pressing her face into Dean's shoulder. Without another argument, she let Dean swim them to the ladder, then carry her out, and wrap a towel around her body. He grabbed a second, using it to dry her hair enough so it at least wouldn't drip as she walked through his house.

He then wrapped the towel around his waist. "Are you excited for the fireworks?" Dean asked, as they walked around his pool, turning off the pool lights before they made their way into the house.

"Yeah!" Ellie exclaimed, as she followed Dean around. She used one arm to keep her towel held up, while she used her other hand to push away the strands of hair that had fallen into her face. "Is Anna going to be there? She's my favorite!"