𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕣 * ˚ ✦JJ OBX

1.2

The bus squeaked as the teens shuffled onto it. "Let's get a move on people its 7:15!" Mr. Christiansen announced clapping his hands together. Sami, Anna, and Ellie were in a circle grabbing their suitcases to bring on the bus. "How you doing, Ellie," Topper smiled, "Crazy early, right?" 

"Alright, Topper onto the bus!" Called Mr. Christiansen.

Sami smirked, "That was two sentences. He's upped his game. You are so going to fuck." 

"No, we are not!" Ellie stated firmly. She wasn't like that. She didn't like hooking up with guys. She barely even dated any. There was one boy, Zach, who she talked to over the summer between Freshman and sophomore year when he was visiting his grandmas house. He was a sweet boy. He would talk and she would listen, nodding along. She liked the way his hand felt in hers but most importantly she liked his freedom. He wasn't rich, he had family issues, and he understood Ellie. He knew her only two friends were her twin cousins. He knew how Kie, Sarah, and Ellie had split off around Sarah's birthday that year. Truth be told, Ellie didn't now if he was more than just a friend. Quite honestly, that summer, a friend that wasn't family was all she really needed especially after what happened the summer before. 

When they arrived on the Island Ellie's eyes spotted the horizon. She was mesmerized by the rhythmic sounds of the waves hitting the shore. 

"Hey El, we're going to go find out bags." Sami said grabbing Anna's hand.

"Okay," Ellie started, "I'll be there in a bit." eyes drifting back to the sea.

She wished she could be sat steadily on a board right now watching the waves flatten onto the sand. The waves here felt brighter and that sunshine hug felt stronger. She wondered if it was because of the location to the equator or the distance between her and her father that made her feel so great. Ellie tore her eyes away and looked around. Tourists her flocking to the bar, kids splashing each other near the coastline and parents gossiping on the beach. 

Ellie was so busy analyzing everything she almost didn't notice a figure stand beside her. "I told guys I'd come up in a second." When she heard no response she turned her smile dropped. 

"Miss the surf wax and sunburns don't you?" JJ asked. He didn't say it in a mean way but more as a genuine question. 

Ellie continued to stare directly at him, and thought for a minute "No, I don't." He hadn't spoke to her since the summer before freshman year and he decided to talk to her now? 

"You don't miss finding the perfect wave to hang with all summer, or the when the sunset would turn from orange to red?" 

Ellie has a haunch he wasn't talking about surfing anymore. Struggling she let out a small, "No." They were almost 17 now for God's sake.

The screech of a megaphone dissipated the conversation, "We have a few hours today to get settled in and hang by the pool. Then we will all go have dinner." All of the students cheered breaking off into their respective groups.

"What'd I tell you, El? Fuck your schedule." Sami yelled. Stripping off her T-shirt beside the pool scooping our the boys, "Hm. No locals. Damn. Oh, well."

"Don't worry, El. I wouldn't steal your precious Topper." Sami confirmed. 

Setting her towel down, "Or JJ." Anna added. "I just saw them talking by the from gate!"

"No, way!" Sami screamed "What happened? Stooping this low, remember what happened last time?" The twins laughed again. 

Ellie was getting tired of the twin's company. In an effort to get away from the conversation, Ellie jumped into the pool. She could swim forever, dive forever, be here in this underwater world forever. There is something about the motion of it that becomes natural after a while. 

Ellie has always needed the air and the sunlight, to feel the saline water wash over her skin and through her eye lashes, but there's a reason I was sent here. To help people, she couldn't be so blinded by the temporary bliss of this vacation away from her father.  So when she surfaced she spotted blue eyes and a ratty cutoff t-shirt on the second floor. 

Maybe Ellie did miss the waves.

Maybe she did miss when she learned to surf three years ago, on an empty beach south of the boneyard. Just before sunset, the best time for surfing, she could feel the inner spirit rise with the waves, riding so freely upon their crest. She could feel their bodies, the ocean and herself, move in synchrony with their minds, in that way they think with no words. 

It's when she would reach the wave and stand up. There's a joy in it, feeling waves of serenity as steady as the ocean. It's being there in the sunlight, existing in each sweet moment as if it were just one, the past falling away with a gentle acceptance of the future we create.

Yes, Ellie though breaking her eyes away as Topper picked her body up and dropping it back into the pool, she did miss the surf wax, or maybe she just missed his. Either way she wouldn't let him know. Not after what he did to her. Not after what they all did to her.