Lifeguard On Duty

Her Return

- Owen's POV -

It's been a few days since I helped Aurora after her jellyfish sting, and I haven't seen her since then.

Before you ask how I know her name, I promise I'm not a creepy stalker, but her friend had said it when I was cleaning her sting.

It was such a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. 

Plus, I'm not dumb. I've seen her at the beach during the summer for the past six years. I'd always thought she was pretty, but as I saw her growing older over the years, she's no longer pretty, instead, she's beautiful.

It was her bright blue eyes that had first caught my attention all those years ago, and they still do to this day.

Right now, I was standing on the tower looking out at the water for any signs of trouble when two figures came to stand on either side of me.

Lance and Miles.

"You good, Owen?" Miles asked me.

"Mhm," I hummed, not taking my eyes off of the beach as I scoured the shore for any sight of her but I came up empty.

"Ever since you helped that girl a few days ago, you've been a little out of it," Lance said.

"I know," I said.

"Did something happen while you helped her to her car?" Miles asked and I let out a sigh.

"No. Nothing happened," I said.

"Oh, so that's the problem," Lance said with a smirk.

"There is no problem, Lance. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey, isn't that that girl over there?" Miles asked.

I perked up and began to look around madly for her.

"Where? Where is she?"

They both laughed and I realized that they'd just played me and I fell for it.

"You like her," Lance said.

There was no question. It was a statement of fact, and I couldn't argue because it was true.

"Yeah, I do," I admitted.

"Does she like you?" Miles asked.

"I have no idea. I flirted with her but she didn't respond to it."

"Maybe she didn't know you were flirting with her," Lance said.

"I don't know, maybe," I sighed as I leaned on the railing and looked out at the ocean.

"Why don't you go ahead and take your lunch break? Go hit up one of the beachside cafes, okay?" Miles said.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, we got this," Lance said.

"Alright, I'll see you guys in an hour," I said as I grabbed my shirt and put my arms through the sleeves but left it unbuttoned as I walked up the beach to the cafe that was there.

As I approached, I saw Aurora sat there staring out at the ocean.

My heart sped up at seeing her and I decided I would see if she'd let me join her.

Here goes nothing.

- Aurora's POV -

Today was the first day I had been to the beach since I had been stung by the stinging demon.

I decided to hang at the cafe on the beach instead of actually walking and setting foot on the beach. I will soon, but I kind of don't want to run into or see Owen yet.

"Hey, I thought I recognized you when I was walking up."

I snapped my head around so fast that I felt my neck crack.

"Oh! Uh, hi," I said as I gave him a soft smile.

"Hi. Would you mind if I joined you?" He asked as he motioned to the empty chair in front of me.

"Oh, of course not! Have a seat, please."

He smiled as he sat down across from me.

"I haven't seen you in a few days. I was looking for you."

To say I was surprised by what he said would be an understatement.

"You were looking for me?"

"Yeah, I was. But I found you now, didn't I?"

My cheeks went a little red and I heard him laugh softly.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to check up on my patient. You know, see how you were doing."

Of course he was. He just wanted to make sure that I was okay, not anything else.

I tried to not show how disappointed I was that he just didn't want to see me by giving him another soft smile.

"I'm doing good. There's no more swelling or pain, but I know for a fact that I've been favoring it the last few days so I'll have to get used to not favoring it."

"Yeah, that may take a little longer. So, when do you plan on coming back to the beach?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't really decided yet, why?"

He looked away from me to look at the waves and shrugged.

I don't even know why I bothered to ask because it just makes me feel a little worse the more I talk with him.

At the sound of my car keys jingling as I picked them up, he snapped his head back around to face me.

"Are you leaving already?" He asked as he watched me intently with a look I couldn't quite understand.

"Yeah, I am. I don't want to keep you during your lunch break. Have a nice day," I said as I smiled at him, placing my hands on the table to push myself up when his hand shot out and he took my hand in his, freezing me in my tracks.

That familiar searing heat was radiating from his palm and was moving into me making my body tremble slightly from his touch.

"Please don't go. Not yet."