Stepbrothers

Beside The Sea

Brian's P.O.V

I walked out of the room. Part of me was angry for walking out of the room, I wanted to stay in there and convince her to go out of with. At the same time I knew she needed to think this through without me in the room.

I decided to watch some mind numbing TV to take my mind off of the beautiful girl only 100 feet away from me. As I sat watching the TV my mind went to all possibilities of what she could be thinking.

After an hour and a half, I decided to check on her and make sure she was okay. I knocked on the door softly, and got no response. I knocked once more and still got no response. I slowly opened up the door to reveal her lying on the bed facing away from me.

"Hey Dani?" I asked while slowly approaching her bed. I don't why she's ignoring me.

Whether or not she was angry with me. The thought of that made my heart race. "Dani?" I said a little louder as I crept up closer. I was so close to her I could touch her, I could see her face now. She wasn't doing anything not reading a book, on her phone, or even sleeping.

She was simply existing, I called her name once more and still got no response. I slowly tapped her shoulder and her whole body shot up. She ripped some ear buds out that I hadn't previously seen, and while doing that she let out a small shriek no doubt from surprise.

I was relieved to see that she wasn't ignoring me, she simply hadn't heard me. At the same time I felt awful for scaring her. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you, I knocked and you didn't answer then I tried calling your name and-" I let my voice drop I mean it's pretty obvious what happened.

"It's f-fine" she said catching her breath. Her eyes were big with fear but slowly I saw her dilated pupils go away and a smile form on her face.

"I was wondering what you wanted to do, if you wanted to stay here today, or go home?" I asked

"Oh um whatever you want" She said shyly.

"I don't mind either way." I said, she opened her mouth to reply but I cut her off, "And before you ask Yes I'm sure." I said with a laugh and she joined because that had been what she was going to ask.

"Can we do one more thing before we leave?" She asked looking at me with big eyes. I nodded and left the room to go get changed.

I put on my Black basketball shorts and a random t shirt, grabbing my hoodie as I left the room. I no longer wore my hoodie in case I get cold but in case she did.

I came into the living room to find her in her standard black tank top and black leggings. I mean I understand what she meant about color but it made me sad that she only felt up to wearing something with such a negative connotation.

She grabbed my hand and walked out the door, she didnt speak as we walked down the vacant boardwalk. Mid day Sunday, everyone is in church or sleeping so almost no one is here. She took me to the vacant beach we were at yesterday.

She sat on the sand and looked at the ocean, I followed her lead sitting down next to her. "There's something special about the ocean, its constantly changing yet it's always the same." She stated staring as the waves crashed onto the beach.

I thought about what she said and she was right, we paint a picture of what the ocean looks like in our mind and 99% of the time it's right. It's always the same yet with constant movement and organisms inhibiting it, it constantly changes.

"It's like life, On the top it's beautiful, the water is gorgous and the shells are pretty. But when you go to the bottom of the ocean it has depri, pollution, and damage caused by an outside force. We're all broken on the inside at least a little, but we keep our outer shell as pretty and perfect as possible because thats what we're supposed to do. How about instead of being told how to look like you have everything under control we try and stop the people causing you to have lost it. I have never cryed in my life as much as I have in the past three weeks. For some reason that makes me feel guilty I have a new family and a fresh start yet I am the most sad I've been in a very long time." She said choking up a bit at the end.

"I understand what your saying, by society's standards we have to look, act, and be a certain way. So we put on a mask to hide our real lives. Also you can't control emotions they just happen. The people who care about you will be there when you fall." I said hoping she didn't laugh at me.

I often thought about things like this but everyone would always laugh or say I'm stupid. She gave me a funny look.

"You really are different Brian." Was all she said before bringing her attention back to the waves.

"I feel like I should start taking that as an insult" I teased.

"Maybe" she said but there was a smile tugging at her lips.

"We can leave whenever, I just wanted to feel the beach on a Sunday morning." She said looking satisfied. I slowly stood and she followed, I would have loved to stay at the beach all day but we had school tomorrow and I knew we should start heading back.

We walked back to the house, and started packing our bags. I threw my dirty clothes in my bag, and went to the living room to wait for Dani. She came out only seconds later with another large hoodie on and leggings. Man that girl loves her big hoodies.

"What's with you and hoodies?" I said laughing.

"I don't know they're comfortable." She replied

"Alright, alright fair enough. You ready to get going?"

She nodded and started walking towards the front door I unlocked the car and she got in putting her bag in the back. I followed shortly after I had to lock up the house.

As I turned the key and the engine roared to life Dani quietly said "Thank you." I didn't know what she was thanking me for but at the same time I did. She was thanking me for believing her, and understanding. What I didn't understand is why she felt the need to thank me for that.

I started driving home, but there was only one thought on my mind and it didn't help that she was less than a foot away from me. How was I supposed to focus on the road?

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