Stay | Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

Seventeen- All These Secrets That I Can't Keep

Alex's voice was the first thing that I heard when I came to.

"Dav," he said, his tone distraught.  "Look at me.  Look at me."

Everything was still a messy haze.  There was a pressure on my chest and I couldn't breathe.  I struggled to open my eyes.

"Emilia," he said.  "Please."

I opened them then, seeing Alex materialize into my view.  He was wet from head to toe and his hair was sticking to his face.  He had his hands on my chest, and I realized then what the pressure had been.

He was giving me chest compressions.

But there was no water inside of me to choke up.  Not anymore, at least.

Had... had I just fucking drowned?

"Stop trying to get to second base with me, Turner," I croaked, trying to push him away and unsuccessfully attempting to sit up.

He didn't laugh.  He just stared at me, his brown eyes wide with fear.  They looked relieved and perplexed all at once. 

"You scared the shit out of me," he said.

I tried to sit up again and this time Alex looped his arm around my back and pulled me upright, not stopping until he had me against his chest.  He wrapped his arms around my entire body (which at this point I realized was very wet and very naked) and held me close to him.

"I thought you-" he stopped, his grip on me tightening.

I coughed against his wet t-shirt.  "You thought what?"

"I thought you were dead," he said finally, pulling back to look at me.  "I tried to yell at you and tell you to watch out for the piece of drift wood, but you didn't hear me.  I think it hit you in the head."

I reached back through the knots of my wet hair, wincing when my fingers fell on a bump that was already beginning to form.

"Yeah," I said.  "Safe to say it did."

Miles came stumbling back onto the beach then, apparently too drunk to realize what had just happened, because he just kept yelling "C'mon, Em, let's swim!"

Alex kept his eyes on me for a long time.  "Are you okay?  Can you breathe alright?"

That was a complicated question.  The answer was no, but only because Alex still had his arms around me.  But for his sake, I told him yes.

He let me go then, rolling over onto his back in the sand.  It was only then that I realized how hard he'd been breathing.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

He looked over at me, laughing incredulously.  "My best mate almost just drowned, so I've been better."

"Right."

The both of us laid there in the sand, chests heaving as the lads kept singing into the night, completely unaware of what had just happened.

"You called me Emilia," I said, glancing over to him in the darkness.  "You never call me that."

"I thought you were dying," he replied, keeping his eyes on the sky for a moment before looking at me. 

We stayed there like that for a moment before he sat up, pushing his wet hair off of his forehead. 

"Right," he said, standing.  "We better get you up to the cabin."

"I'm fine, Al."

He bent slightly over me, holding his hands out for me to take.