06: in which he is sure

          
We'd up to their room, only to discover that she didn't have the card to theirs, so I suggested we go to ours instead. Of course, Summer only agreed when I'd called my parents to ask them if it was okay. Luckily, they didn't question it, which promptly made me do a little happy dance in my head.

   So here we were, sitting on the couch as the kids watched Disney and ate their meals. Summer didn't really order anything no matter how much I insisted, so I didn't order any food as well because I would've felt guilty if she just sat there with nothing.

   We were talking about the incident two years prior and how I thought of bringing home a souvenir from it. "You know, I still have those spikes," she told me, shifting her position to face me more. "If you want, I can give them to you. Or just one of them. I'm only offering one."

   I let out a laugh, shaking my head. "I would like at least one."

   She took a pillow and held it close to her. "I'll be sure to get you one tomorrow. That would be a bit selfish, though, since you already have a shark tooth..."

   "What�"� that's unfair!" I retaliated. "You gave it to me as a gift without me asking, I'm asking for the sea urchin."

   She scrunched up her face. "Hmm... I don't know, I'm considering taking back the shark tooth now, since you didn't ask for it, after all."

   "Well, it's in my room now so it's already mine. You can't take it."

   "Which one's your room again?"

   "The one parallel to the bathroom�"�"

   She was already running to my room. Once I realized this, I chased after, a smile making its way onto my face. By the time I got to the room she was standing there, pointing at the open laptop that was on my bed. My smiling face morphed into one of pure embarrassment.

   "'I got her up to my room, suck it'?" she repeated, tapping a finger against her chin. "Now, just to be sure, you are familiar with the term consent, right? If it's not present then I have the right to set you on fire."

   I rubbed my neck, my cheeks burning. "I'm sorry about that. He was giving me all of this crap and I just wanted to shut him up. I promise I don't have any ill intentions."

   She quirked an eyebrow. "Well, just in case, I would have to warn you that I am capable of doing some damage." Her eyes went back to the laptop. "Hey, while we have this here, why don't I show you something?"

   I told her that it was okay for her to use it and she climbed onto the bed, pulling the laptop onto her lap. I sat next to her and peered over her shoulder as she typed in a link. "Crocosaurus cove? What's that?"

   "It's a reptilian educational park," she told me. "The main attractions are crocodiles. I would love to go here some day."

   My eyes wandered over to the list of attractions. "Cage of death, huh? Sounds safe."

   "What?" she said, turning to look at me with disbelief. "You just swam with sharks."

   "Yeah, but it isn't called 'Aquarium of Blood'. I mean, what if something goes wrong and it eats you?"

   "Then I would die pretty awesomely," she said with a laugh, running a hand through her hair as she focused on the screen again. "It would be worth it to see them up close."

   "Have you told your parents?"

   "They wouldn't stop me," she answered. "They know how much I love animals, no matter how dangerous they could be. I'm more spontaneous when it comes to them."

   I had stopped to stare at her just to see that sparkle in her eyes, something I learned only happened when she was presented with and-or was talking about the things she loved. On the way up I had also learned that she was a bookworm, how she loved dancing but would never do it in front of people; I was so engrossed in learning these things that being cool about it all was the last thing on my mind.

   "We should go there some time." Bold move. I was okay with it.

   She faced me, jumping slightly when she realized how close we were. "It's in Australia."

   "Then we better start saving up."

   I don't remember who moved first, but then the lips that I had been staring at before were on mine, and those sparkling eyes were out of sight as I close my eyes and ran my hand through her hair just like she did moments before, and in a blur, we'd both fallen back into the bed.

�-

      When I woke up, I was alone. I couldn't hear the kids in the next room, nor were there any sounds of water running in the bathroom. The best scenario I could come up with was that the kids were asleep, and she was out there, making breakfast or lunch or dinner, depending on what time it was, and that she was being extremely quiet because she didn't want to wake the kids nor I.

   I threw the covers off of me and walked out of the room, staying there for a moment longer just in case I heard anything else. After nothing, I padded into the living room, which was parallel to the kitchen so if anyone was there, you'd know immediately.

   Unfortunately for me, no one was there.

   Neither Ethan nor Esme were on the floor, playing with each other or watching TV. No one was in the mini kitchen, eating let alone making anything �" though it was kind of impossible to cook anything since there was no stove or oven.

   I rubbed a hand against my face, irritation and anger bubbling inside of me. I knew something had happened between us, since all I had on were my boxers, and she just left. As if I was a piece of candy she just unwrapped and threw away.

   Begrudgingly, I stormed back to my room to put on some clothes to go down and meet with mom and dad. A million thoughts were running through my mind while I did all of this, and I still had a scowl on my face when I went down to the restaurant mom told me to meet them at.

   "Are you okay?" mom asked when she saw my disgruntled expression.

   "Perfect," I mumbled, slumping in my seat. "Did you get Esme when you came up?"

   "Actually, we didn't," she replied, cutting through her fish. "She was with this nice young girl when we saw her and she told us that she kept you guys company for a while." She gave me a disapproving look. "How could you fall asleep and leave your sister alone?"

   "She wasn't," I answered, picking at what was on my plate. I think it was shrimp. "Did that girl say anything when you bumped into her?"

   Mom shook her head, sipping on her four seasons. "Not really. She just told us that you were sleeping." She paused and gave me a suspicious look. "Did you... do anything?"

   My leg was bouncing. "What?" I answered, faking a disgusted look. "Of course not."

   Esme began to speak, confusion written all over her face. "But you two�"�"

   I shot up, lifting Esme up from her seat. "Hey, look, there's an aquarium!" I told her, pulling her towards the tank. It had a number of small, orange jellyfish with white dots on the head and tentacles that looked like broccoli.

   "Pretty," Esme murmured, hands pressed against the glass. I wonder how they fed them. "Summer said they don't sting."

   "It depends on the species. Now, under no circumstances are you to ever tell mom or dad about Summer and I, okay?" She turned to look at me and nodded, focusing on the aquarium again. "Good. Did Summer say anything about me?"

   Esme shook her head. "Summer said you bumped your head and went to sleep. There was a loud noise."

   Damn. The headboard must've been hitting the wall. "Nothing else?"

   She shook her head no again. "Ethan's mom was here so they had to go!"

   I was aware of myself being a bit overdramatic when it comes to her just disappearing without leaving a note or something, but I really thought that we were connecting. In fact, we had agreed �" before it all happened �" to meet with each other to see the penguins tomorrow.

   I sighed, leaning against the glass and letting my head thump it. That hurt, of course, but I was too bummed out to notice. I'd been thinking about this girl �" I admit that sounds a bit lame �" for two years straight, no matter how hard I tried to just wash her away, and then when I finally meet her again I'm left out in the dust.

   I was so pathetic. Chris was probably going to laugh at me again.

   "Esme!" I heard a familiar voice shout. I turned my head but the figure had already ran past me, stopping in front of my sister. Ethan was back. "Mommy said I could stay longer, can we play again?"

   "Ethan?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed. I looked around the restaurant before turning back to him. "Who are you with?"

   "My mommy," he answered with a big smile.

   "Where's Summer?" It was stupid to keep asking the kids questions, but they were the only ones who knew of her so far.

   "Her mommy took her," he replied before turning back to Esme and grabbing her hand. "Come on! Mommy wants to meet you!"

   At least Esme was already meeting the parents.

�-

   The next day the whole family went throughout the park and visited as much exhibits as we could. I hung around a bit longer than them at each one, hoping for the small chance of Summer appearing once again and I wouldn't be so damn cranky.

   Of course, that never happened.

   Mom had told me off a few times because of my attitude but it only made my mood even worse. We were in front of the sea lion habitat, and Esme was jumping with joy as one of them swam over and waved at her.

   I pressed the palm of my hand against my pocket. The bump from the shark tooth being in my pocket reassured me �" not that I actually needed it �" that yesterday, when we had gone into that tank together and she held my hand, was real and not just part of my imagination.

   That I was in deeper than ever before.

   It was different now. I knew who she was, what she liked, what she dreamed of doing. I couldn't say that this was just some random girl now, even though she technically still was, but I got to know her. She got to know me. Something was there.

   I knew I was definitely going to see her again.

Author's Note

Are these chapters too short for you guys? I noticed while I was proofreading the document that the first chapters were barely 2K words. But there are times where my chapters are long as hell and times where they're short - this has been a struggle of mine for so long until I decided that it didn't matter. So what if a chap isn't over 2.5K? As long as you enjoyed writing it, the length shouldn't matter too much - a little piece of advice from a long-time struggler. You'll be a lot happier (and you'll be typing out more words than you'll realize!) once you let go of your subconscious word quota :)
Consider leaving a comment or two, yeah? Seeing your feedback brings me little tears of joy :')
Elle xx