𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 | adam banks

forty one | scares

F O S T E R
G R A Y

-venice beach
-twelve o'clock am

Riding the wave of a lifetime, one of the biggest ones I've ever had the chance of seeing, I kept my eyes focused on the small opening at the end.

My arms were glued to my side as I glided through the wave like the queen of the ocean. It was peaceful.

Nearing the end of the wave, the gap began to close and I started to lose my strength. A strong gust of wind from the storm ahead suddenly knocked me over.

I fell off of my board landing in the water. The water hugged my body while I inhaled what felt like half of the ocean.

I opened my eyes and frantically looked around the sea. I couldn't breath. My board was holding me down. I was starting to suffocate.

I huffed to catch my breath, only breathing in more water. I heard my friends calling my name from above.

I hurriedly reached down to my ankle, removing the strap that was attached to the board. The board was split in half. I quickly grabbed both pieces before either one of them floated away.

I weakly swam back up to the surface. Moments later, which felt like minutes, my head popped out from underneath the water.

I inhaled loudly, gasping and almost choking on air. My eyes shot open. I saw the girls staring at me with shock and worry.

  "Foster, are you okay?" Connie asked out of breath. I nodded my head. I was scared. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I saw many scenarios before where people broke their neck when that happened to them.

   "You're so lucky, oh my gosh, you scared us," Julie spoke up. Both girls were on their boards. Connie suddenly stuck her hand out. I grabbed ahold of her hand and she pulled me closer to her. She held onto my arm tightly as I jumped up onto the board with her.

   I forced a smile on my face.

   I let out a heavy breath and coughed. I didn't want to seem scared. I didn't want them to worry, especially Adam who was halfway in the water looking at me with a scared expression.

   I forced a grin to form on my face, "salt water is not something I'd like to drink every day."

  I sat alone in the hotel lobby. My feet were propped up on the other chair beside me. My eyes were stuck on the floor below me. I couldn't stop thinking about my accident. My head pounded like crazy, and I was still sort of shaking.

   "Can I sit?" I heard. Looking up, I saw the curly haired Lucas standing there. I nodded my head as I removed my feet from the chair. He sat down in the now empty chair, "Where were you?"

    "The beach," I quietly said, "I went night surfing with Adam," I looked at him. He furrowed his eyebrows.

   "Adam has a sprained wrist, he can't surf. And with that storm out there? Are you crazy?" I sighed at his words. I definitely wasn't going to tell him what happened.

    "Come on, Lucas. You've done crazier things before," I told him with tiredness. He shrugged his shoulders.

    "Okay, that's fair," he said. I heard him sniffle out a laugh, "like that time there was a tornado during our Christmas dance," he brought up. I laughed. I remember that night clearly. The two of us went together. That was when the both of us had the biggest crush on each other.

  "Lucas!" I called loudly, standing at the front door in the school's lobby. The boy stood outside in the pouring rain, the hail hitting his head hard, "Kade! Come on guys, don't do this to poor Alexei. You guys can get hurt!"

   "No!" Lucas shouted back over the heavy wind. I groaned. The one night I really needed Grace, she was stuck at home babysitting her little sister. I brought my hand to my face, wiping away the rain that dripped from my face, and moving the hair that was flying in the wind to the side.

   "Alexei, please put down that golf club!" I shouted once more. Suddenly, Kade took it out of his hands and held it high in the air.

   "Ahh!" He laughed loudly with his usual dumb grin plastered on his face. I sighed at the stupid boy, "I'm Iron Man!" When no one laughed, his grin faded, "Come on, guys, that was funny!"

    I rolled my eyes and spit out a fake laugh. He started to smile again. The storm began to come closer and the wind picked up. I held onto the door handle tightly.

   "Please just come in-"

    "YOUCH!"

   After that, Kade ended up in the hospital. He was hardly even hurt. Surprisingly he's been through worse.

   It became silent for awhile. It was a comfortable silence like it usually was between us, and I didn't mind at all.

   "How are you and Banks anyways?" He asked me. I looked back over him a smiled.

   "Good, really good," I felt my cheeks heat up, "I'm really happy to be with him. I'm glad I decided not to go home. I literally.., I think about him all the time. This smile has barley left my face," I started to smile even more. However, Lucas didn't seem amused the slightest bit. I furrowed my eyebrows, "what's wrong?"

   He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but he quickly closed it. I nudged him so he would talk. He sighed.

   "I don't know.., how you're gonna react when I say this, and I don't want to, but you deserve to know," he spoke. I started to worry.

   "Is this about Adam?" I questioned. Was there something Adam was hiding from me?

   When Lucas shook his head, I felt relief wash over me.

   "Foster, I still like you. Those feelings never went away," he admitted. My heart started to race. I looked at him confused.

   "You like me?" I repeated. He nodded his head, "Lucas.., I'm sorry but.., I don't feel the same..," I trailed off. He stayed calm while looking at the floor in front of us.

   "...Do you ever think there's a chance we could be you know, a thing, in the future?" He asked me. Slowly, I shook my head. I bit my lip nervously.

   "I'm sorry, but I'm with Adam."

   "Come on, you probably won't see him after the trip," he snapped at me. I looked at him in shock. He then realized what he said and he sighed again.

   "Lucas," I said angrily. My eyes tore away from him and traveled down to my hands on my lap.

   "I'm sorry," he apologized. I stayed silent, gazing downwards. I started to become tired. It was at least 3 in the morning, and I had practice at 8.

   "Lucas," I yawned, standing up from my seat and stretching, "I'm gonna head up to bed. Goodnight."

    I started to walk away, but he called my name.

   "Fos, wait!" He shouted. Turning around, I saw him running towards me. He came to a stop, "this isn't going to change anything between us, is it?" He asked.

   I thought for a moment and then shook my head, "not at all."

   He started to smile, as did I. Nothing could ruin the bond we had. Not even that.

   "Goodnight."