Cinders

~50~ Beach Fight

The next morning as Taylor predicted, mom was up by 6:30 am and dragging him out of bed.

Their talking woke me up, much too my annoyance. This is vacation, people!

Taylor is still half asleep, and his voice is muffled by his pillow. "Eleanor, did you know that you're actually allowed to sleep in while you're on vacation?"

"Ok, fine—Suit yourself. I'll walk on the beach by myself," she says, unfazed with his lack of enthusiasm.

"Oh no you're not," he says. I can hear the bed creaking and his feet hitting the floor as he yawns.

"I'm up, ya tyrant."

"You have an issue with me going to the beach by myself? Actually, I was thinking about going for a run."

"So not only do you wake up early on vacation, you also workout? Are you even human?" Taylor asks, his voice still thick with sleep.

After a second of silence, I hear him sigh. "Fine, I'll grab some shorts."

"Answer me, mister—You have a problem with me going to the beach by myself?"

"Yup"

"And why's that?"

"I wouldn't even want my sister walking by herself on the beach—There's a lotta freaks out there. However, looking the way that you do is just a recipe for disaster. Plus, Ellie Jane, you're kinda clumsy. My luck, you would fall into the ocean and drown."

I don't actually think he's teasing—He sounds serious.

"Ok, I'm ready. Let's go run, ya little freak," he chuckles.

"Think we should see if the boys wanna join us?"

If she thinks I'm getting out of bed to run, she IS a freak.

"Don't you dare," he says in mock horror. "You've already got your victim, come on."

I hear them leave the room, and I thank the heavens for Taylor. The man just saved me from cardiovascular crap on vacation—They don't call him a hero for nothin'.

~*~

I wake up to the sound of the door opening, and I look at my phone. They were only gone for an hour.

Duncan is still snoring logs, but I'm not—I seriously can't catch a break.

"Running on the sand is so much different," Taylor says, grabbing something out of the fridge.

"I know! It was amazing though. Can we move here?"

"Sure," Taylor says, and I can hear him opening something.

I decide to get up now. I'm already awake, and they're done running—Officially no danger of me gettin' sucked into that. Point one, Liam!

"Morning bud," mom says, coming over and kissing my cheek.

"She hooked ya, huh?" I ask Taylor with a smile.

"Yup! I never had a chance," he smirks, taking a drink of his water.

"You act like I'm this controlling dictator," mom says, taking the water out of his hand and taking a drink.

"I'm not acting," Taylor says, trying not to smile.

"Funny!"

Mom dumps some water on his head as she turns to their bedroom to take a shower.

Taylor goes to the sink and runs his hand through his hair, getting the water out and cackling like a fool.