The Beach House

Chapter 23: Apology More Than Accepted

"Let me get that," Soren says as he reaches to open the car door for me. I slip in awkwardly and click my seatbelt in place.

"Thanks," I respond. Soren stands at my door for a second, glancing back at Annika and Luke. Luke is sitting upright while Annika has her legs draped over his lap. They're foreheads are close together and I can hear a cloud of giggles rising from between them. I guess I missed another development last night. They seem very comfortable. I look back to Soren at the same time he looks back at me. He closes the door quickly and hurries to the front seat. I stare at a speck on the dashboard as his steady hand pushes the key into the ignition and the loud rumbling of the car starts. The hum drowns out the backseat giggling and fills my ears with ambience. The car stays at a standstill. I look to Soren to see why we haven't moved and find him looking at me, biting his cheek anxiously. He looks like he's trying to think his words through fully.

"Look, I'm really sorry about..." Soren trails off and we both glance back at Annika and Luke. They've barely moved and are far too distracted to notice Soren and me, but he lowers his voice anyways. "...about last night," he finishes in a hushed tone. I let it sit in the air for a moment, unsure of what to say. Soren takes my silence as an invitation to continue apologizing.

"I really didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he says. I raise my eyebrows at this. Does he mean he didn't really want to kiss me? Was he just caught up in a moment? Did i read into things too much again? Soren takes in my expression and starts to backtrack. "No, I mean, I wanted to kiss you. I'm not sorry you kissed me..." he trails off again. "I guess I'm just sorry you regr—" This time, I speak before he can continue.

"Soren, you didn't do anything wrong. It was my fault. I'm sorry about the way i reacted. I was overwhelmed. You know, draining day and all that. But really i don't feel regret. I mean, i kinda li—"

"Hey what's the hold up?"

Soren and I snap our heads to the backseat. Luke is looking at the two of us with Annika still practically on his lap. His face is flushed and his eyes are all lovey-dovey which at least assures me that he wasn't listening our conversation.

"Sorry, I just, uh..." Soren stutters.

"I was just telling him how to get to the market," I say. Soren meets my eyes with a silent 'thanks'.

"Just tell him as we go, Elle," Annika suggests.

"Yeah, right, definitely, that's a much better idea," I reply, shakily. I turn to face out the front window feeling quite flustered. Soren slowly pulls out of the driveway and slips on to the beachy roads. The humming continues to drown out Annika and Luke's hushed conversation while Soren and I sit in silence.

"Mind if I put on some music?" Soren says over the crunch of pavement.

"Yeah, that's fine," I reply. Soren plugs his phone into the AUX cord and selects a song without taking his eyes off the road. I glance down at the radio screen and see he's playing that same band from his tee-shirt the other day.

"Is this your favorite band?"

"Actually, it's just one guy, not a band," Soren replies, "but yeah, he's my favorite artist."

I sit and listen to the music and find myself really liking it. Soren has good taste in music.

"I like this," I say dumbly. "His voice is really good."

Soren smiles and I turn the volume up so the song hugs my every sense. The car glides easily forward while the music plays. We get through two and half songs before more instructions are needed.

"Turn left here and then we're there," I say. Soren carefully turns left and pulls us into a parking spot. He pulls the key out of the car which, to my disappointment, turns off the music.

"I'll show you more on the way back," Soren says at my disappointed face. I hop out of the Jeep as Annika and Luke do the same. Even standing, they stay close together and I can see that they could care less if Soren or I were here. I'll have to ask Annika what happened last night when we get a moment to chat. We make our way over to the market and Luke takes Annikas hand. I smile at their budding romance as we enter the store.