tidal wave

~ chapter 2 ~

"I thought you were gonna surf?" Bre asked Conrad when he came up for air between swimming.

"You running in just looked fun" Conrad replied.

"Fun, I don't know what that is any more" Bre said laughing. Bre caught Conrad's eyes and for the first time, she saw some sort of sadness. Like he related to what she was saying.

"How was Graduation?" Conrad asked, he wanted to be there but he didn't want to cause Bre any pain after he ignored her for the best part of a year.

"Fine, Laurel does this thing where she goes from cheering like a normal person to absolutely heckling you within a few seconds," Bre said laughing, she went to push her hair back but after having her hair cut to look more 'mature' as laurel said she realised there wasn't much to move back.

"I like it," Conrad said with a smirk.

"What?" Bre questioned.

"Your hair, it looks good short" Conrad smiled.

"Do I look more mature? That's what Laurel said I look like?" Bre asked him, she thought she looked like an idiot.

"Mmm I think it makes you look like you" Conrad said, he said it in a way that sounded like he knew the girl forever which he did.

Bre looked at the boy standing in front of her, he wasn't the same Conrad she left last year. He was hurting. But why?

"Laurel told me you have a girlfriend? Am I gonna get to meet her?" Bre asked trying to cover the silence.

Conrad's face went from being happy to looking pissed off.

"Had" He whispered.

Bre looked at him confused.

"We broke up" Conrad said louder this time.

"Oh" Bre whispered, she whispered it so he could hear it yet it wasn't like a shocked 'Oh'.

"Have you got a boyfriend?" Conrad asked, he never asked Bre questions like that. Normally they both knew but the obvious distance throughout the year was showing.

"Haha, nope just boring old me" Bre laughed, of course, she didn't have a boyfriend.

Bre always knew she liked Conrad as more than her best friend but Belly always had a crush on him so hid her crush for her sister.

"You not Boring" Conrad said standing closer to Bre, he pushed some of her hair behind her ear. It was long enough that she could tuck it behind her ear but she couldn't necessarily tie it up.

"When do you leave for football camp?" Bre asked looking into Conrad's eyes. They were hard to read but he was hiding something.

"I quit" Conrad responded.

"Bet your dad was happy with that," Bre said like it was second nature.

"You could say that," Conrad said with a smile, the first time Bre had seen a genuine smile.

"Why did you stop responding to my texts?" Bre blurted out, she wanted to know.

Conrad took a step back after the Older Conklin spoke.

"I was busy, and I knew I'd see you here so didn't see much point in responding" Conrad said bluntly.

"So you didn't miss me or anything?" Bre asked annoyed. She was sad all year not being able to update Conrad or have late-night conversations about finals or anything.

"Not really, I had other things on my mind that were more important," Conrad said bluntly again, his tone sounded more genuine. Like he knew what he was saying and it was gonna upset Bre but he didn't care.

Bre didn't even let him finish his sentence before she started swimming back to shore.

"Ana" Conrad called out.

"My name is Bre" She shouted before swimming faster.

When Bre reached the shore she grabbed her towel and headed inside. Every conversation she'd made up in her head and what he would say but she never thought she'd say that.

Bre stormed upstairs to shower and change, she was annoyed. She didn't even want to see Conrad for the rest of the summer. How dare he.

"Sussanah where are the towels?" Bre shouted walking into Sussanahs bedroom.

Sussanah wasn't in there, but her room was gorgeous it was minimal decoration but it was effortlessly beautiful. She looked out the window seeing the view of Cousins. It was amazing.

Looking down at the drawers she saw a letter. It was open and spread over the surface.

Susannah's cancer was back. It looked like from the letters she had gotten it was worse than before and she was refusing treatment. Bre's heart broke then and there like she was out of her body experiencing it. 

"Hey, Bre were you calling me?" Susannah said walking into her bedroom. Her voice bought Bre back into her reality. 

Bre stood back looking out the window again. Trying to not look like she was nearly crying. 

"I never knew the view was so nice," Bre said looking at Susannah.

"Everywhere here has a good view" Susannah responded.

"I was looking for some towels, mine is sandy," Bre said looking down at the water dripping down herself.

"There are some in here," Susannah said going into her bathroom and coming out with some.

"Thank you, I'm gonna go shower," Bre said leaving the bedroom.

This was the last summer. And nobody knew.