Deep as the Ocean || An OC x Ben Drowned story || Discontinued

Good Morning

The sun shone through the curtains around him. Everything was bright, fresh and clear. The sea air was so different from what Ben was used to. He had grown up in a city deep inland and filled with the permanent smog that cities tend to have surrounding them. He laid on his back just breathing the air in. Letting it fill his lungs and clear the awful air from there. Cleanse him.

He slowly sat up and peeked through the thin white linen curtains out at the cove below. The morning sun shone directly across the ocean, reflecting off the constant waves that crashed against the white sanded beach. It was so breathtakingly beautiful he almost just stayed there, his eyes on the surf forever. Something flashed at him from the dark blue and green waves. Something red. He squinted at it. Grabbing his glasses and shoving them onto his face to see better. There it was again, a bright red thing flashing from the waves. He was startled out of focus when someone shouted up at him from the floor below.

"BEN, GET UP, WE'RE GOING FISHING." It was his father yelling up at him from the condos first floor. He jerked his eyes away from the strange thing for just a second, "COMING!!" When he looked back thought the thing had disappeared. He kept looking for it but to no avail. Giving up temporarily he let the curtain go and stood.

The room was small, the second floor less of a floor and more of a loft with a bed. At the foot of his bed was his unopened suitcase. His family was visiting the ocean for vacation. Honestly he doesn't know where his father got the money to book the airplane tickets and rent out this tiny condo, especially since it was almost directly on the beach. He wasn't going to question it though, as long as his mother was smiling. As he thought about this he unzipped his ratty suitcase and yanked out his swim suit and a shirt. He had never been fishing before but he assumed he would need to wear clothes that could get wet. He hoped they wouldn't be going out in a boat, he doesn't think he'd be able to stomach it.

Shrugging the shirt over his head he glanced at the tiny ass mirror hanging just across the small space from him. His dirty blond hair was sleep mussed and his glasses hung lopsided. He straightened them and ran a hand through his messy blond hair to make it more presentable; his father disliked disorder. He noticed his swim trunks tie was loose so he tightened it just in time for another explosive yell to echo up the ladder. "BEN!!!" His father screamed. Shit. He stopped looking in the mirror and grabbed a pair of shoes, they weren't really shoes. Flip flops, he pulled them on and then started down the ladder. "Coming!" He reached the bottom and dashed to the small kitchen where his father, uncle and mother were.

His father was smiling at him when he entered and he almost smiled back. He then straightened his face and nodded instead. His mother was making sandwiches as his father and his uncle talked boisterously about the best fish they had ever caught. For the second time he hoped they weren't going on a boat. "There he is, my boy!" His father exclaimed and strode over to Ben, clapping him on the shoulder.

Ben struggled not to flinch at the contact, taking a slight step forward instead. His uncle laughed at the slight stumble and then his father was back to the table chatting away. He edged into the room and smiled a little at his mom when she looked up.

She smiled back and whispered as she put mustard on a piece of bread, "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

He shrugged, glancing at his two loud male family members. "Do you know if we are going on a boat?"

His mother shook her head and finished a third sandwich. "Most likely not," She responded quietly so as to not draw attention to their conversation.

"Where would Dave get the money for that?" She said the last bit as if to herself.

Ben pretended to not have heard her as he took the carefully wrapped lunch from her and thanked her. He turned to his father and uncle as they moved across the room towards them.

"Boy, we're going now." His father addressed him as the two older men moved past and then down the hall.

Ben turned to his mother one last time and gave her a hug. "Have fun sweetheart."

She smiled softly and startled to clean up the kitchen. Ben followed quickly after the fishermen.