Three Floors Down (W2S)

life's a beach

I wake up, noticing Delilah isn't beside me. I sigh, getting up. I walk out of my room and in to the kitchen.

"Morning." A voice says, I turn to see Delilah sitting at the dining table, her phone in her hand and a cup of coffee in front of her.

"I-I thought you'd left." I mumble, sitting next to her.

"Aw, think I'd ditch you? I'm not that bad." She chuckles and I notice she's on Instagram.

"No, I just thought you had college." I smile.

"Nope, free until Tuesday." She replies, and I realise it's Saturday.

"We should do something." I mumble in to her shoulder, as I lay my head on it.

"Like?" She asks.

"I dunno, anything." I shrug.

"We could go to the beach." She suggests, quietly.

"The beach it is." I reply, not even questioning it.

The drive is fairly silent, the radio filling up most of the empty noise. She sits happily, a pair of rolled-up, denim jeans sitting on her legs and a white vest with a green and black plaid flannel covering her arms. I notice it's the one she wore the first day I saw her and smile at the memory. Almost four months has passed since then. It's hard to imagine the time before Delilah; she seems to inject her presence in to every earlier memory. She is like an unimaginably wanted-infection. She slowly comes at you and then full on takes over you; but it's a welcomed take-over, there is nothing I would rather experience than Delilah. She is like nothing else in this entire world. 

"What are you thinking about?" She randomly asks, looking down at her low, black Converse.

"You." I answer honestly, keeping my eyes on the road.

"That's weird." She exhales.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because I was thinking about you." She mumbles.

I smile, my hand finding hers as my eyes stay straight. However, they do falter; I can't go a long space of time without looking at her. I don't know a single person who could. She is a wonder.

"It's cold, here, take this." I hand her my hoodie from the backseat as we get out.

She accepts and slips it over her, taking the flannel off before. She walks around the car and I hold my hand out for her to take, she also accepts this and we walk down a concrete staircase, leading to the sand. It's slightly dark and it looks like it's about to rain, meaning the only inhabitants of the beach are dog-walkers. She cuddles in to my side as we walk along the sand, my trainers sinking in to the soft grains. 

"Why the beach?" I ask, as we sit down, the shoreline being visible despite how far back we are.

She shrugs, "I remember going as a kid."

"I can't imagine you as a kid." I chuckle slightly.

"Why?" She laughs.

"You just always seem so grown up." I reply.

"I was a really fun kid, I loved going on adventures and was always getting myself in to trouble." She stares out to the sea as she says this.

"What changed?" I whisper, it being barely audible over the sound of waves crashing and birds squawking. 

"I grew up." She sighs.

"How come?" I question.

"Stuff changed." She mumbles.

"Important stuff?" I ask.

"Yeah." She nods.

"We don't have to talk about this." I slide my fingers in to the slits in hers, our warmth enveloping each others palms.

"It's not a big deal; stuff changes for everyone." She sighs, her eyes glazing over slightly.

"Okay." I whisper.

She doesn't reply for a while, her eyes following the waves in the ocean and the split-second calmness that takes over them before they begin swaying and hitting each other with such aggression that I flinch at it slightly. 

"My mum died." She says so quietly that it almost becomes background noise to the waves.

"Were you close?" I match her pitch; quiet but audible.

She shrugs, "I was never one for pretty dresses or make-up, but she was my mum and we were as close as a twelve year old could be with her mum."

"I know you probably don't want me to say sorry since people say that all the time." I say.

She nods, "like you wouldn't believe."

"Is-is that why you struggle, with stuff?" I find myself mentally face-palming at my question.

"I was a really scared twelve year old, who came to understand that school does not make things go away and people are mean and no matter how much you try, fitting in isn't what you are made to do." She seems slightly angry as she keeps staring out to sea.

"You were bullied?" I ask.

"I was ignored, which is worse-I was just the girl whose mum died and who everyone had to tip-toe around and so no-one ever really spoke to me, I just moulded in to this anti-social lifestyle." She replies.

"You know, I think you're probably the most interesting person I've ever spoken to." I nudge her shoulder slightly and she looks to me.

"And you're probably the only person who has ever stuck around long enough to make me feel like I matter a little more than most." She mumbles.

"You matter to me Del, more than anything." I place my forehead against hers.

"Thank you." She quietly says.

"Always." I whisper back, before placing a kiss on to her cold lips.

We drive back, after taking some photos and getting some food, we end up in her apartment tonight and everything feels much more homelier here than upstairs. I think it's probably because photos litter the walls and books line the shelves and pillows cover the sofa and shoes create an odd-sort of pathway on the floor. A film plays on her TV as we cuddle in her bed, a bowl of strawberries in-between us. 

"I eat strawberries because my mum used to grow them and I remember picking them with her and they remind me of her." She suddenly says, shocking me a little.

"Makes more sense." I mumble back, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I'm not like a strawberry addict." She laughs.

"I know, you're just naturally weird." I laugh with her.

"Shut up." She grins, pushing me slightly.

The push is harder than I think she intended and my unsuspecting body falls from the bed, taking her with me as our hands are still attached. Her giggles are music to my ears as she lays on top of me, placing a kiss on my nose with a smirk.

"You're the best thing ever." I mumble against her lips.

"Funny, I was gonna say the exact same thing to you." She smiles, before placing her lips on to mine.