Part of your world

I Could Be

That morning was quieter than any other one Seb had experienced in the beach house. Perhaps Ricky had uncharacteristically slept through his usual 7am hunger surge, or perhaps he had simply managed to creep downstairs without waking anyone that morning, but when Seb woke up, still curled up by the door on the floor where he had collapsed the night before, the house was still.

Seb, for their part had woken up at 10am, not overly late, but certainly a lot later than he had done on every other day in the house, he quickly changed out of his clothes from the night before, ignoring the hint of sadness he felt as he lay Carlos' hoodie over a chair, into a fresh pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. He would have to change later for the boat party EJ was insisting on, everyone was dressing up nice for it, but at that moment they barely had the energy to drag himself over to the window seat in the corner of the room to look out at the still sea below.

He strained his ears slightly, hoping to catch the sound of a smashing plate or Gina shouting at Ricky that he was going to choke on whatever breakfast food he was trying to eat whole that day. Nothing came.

A silent sigh escaped their lips, fogging up a small patch of the window, on impulse Seb reached out and traced a sad face in the condensation.

It felt somewhat typical, or at least fitting, that Sebs final day in the beach house was like this. The sky outside was sunny and the sea was still, reflecting a peaceful crystal blue colour and Seb, sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest on the hard window seat, felt miserable.

At least he didn't seem to be alone in that, it was the quietest Seb had ever known their friends to be, usually by this time the house would be abuzz with everyone flurrying about discussing plans for the day and ideas for activities to do at some point in the summer. Today the only activity was the small dust particles dancing around in the sun beams peaking through the windows of Sebs room.

Maybe, in part, it made sense, everyone was almost a week into the vacation and it made sense that the novelty was beginning to wear off for everyone else, this day was only significant to Seb so why shouldn't everyone else sleep through it?

A soft knock sounded on the door as it was gently pushed open, slow enough for Seb to run and close it if they didn't want company, that was the system they had come up with in the end, after a few moments of the door awkwardly hovering slightly ajar, Ninis head poked around.

Seb felt bad at the slight wave of disappointment that struck them upon realising that it wasn't Carlos.

"Morning sleepy head"

Seb just offered her a tired smile, trying to discreetly wipe away the sad face that was still doodled on the window.

If Nini noticed she didn't say anything.

She settled herself beside them on the window seat, following his gaze out to the still sea.

"The forecast said sunny skies and calm seas all day, nothings going to go wrong this time" she said, followed by a small laugh, "famous last words" she added, knocking twice on the wooden window frame.

Seb laughed along with her, hoping she wouldn't see how much he wished she was right, how much he wished he would at least be able to explain himself before just disappearing from their lives.

"You ok?" Nini asked, concern twinging in her voice as she turned her gaze from the window to Seb.

They could only offer an unconvincing nod in return, unable to meet her eyes in favour of following the flight of a seagull as it landed on one of the rock clusters Seb used to hide behind.

Nini just sighed, "everything just feels weirdly off this morning" she admitted, "I think maybe its this Vanessa girl Carlos found, maybe he expected her to slot in as easily as you did but the vibes are just way off"