"No, Elena! I'm fine!" He yells, but I'm already at the long buffet table. I get a napkin for him and run back as fast as I can.
"Here," I huff, and kneel down next to him.
"Thanks, but you didn't need to do that."
"I know." I say as I begin wrapping his hand.
He just watches me, with curiosity in his beautiful ocean blue eyes, and some other emotion that I can't place.
"There. All done." I say.
"Thank you." He says, and we just stare at each other for a long time. But I break the silence.
"Uh, we should probably head back, I bet they're wondering where we are."
He looks down at the sand. "Yeah you're probably right."
He gets up, and offers me his other hand that isn't injured. I take his warm and soft hand as he pulls me up easily and we walk together back to my table.
When we get there, my mom talks first, but not with concern- with pleasure.
"So, did you kids have fun at the lake?" She smirks.
I look at Olly.
"Yeah we did." He says smiling down at me. "We are gonna be great friends." He adds.
I smile.
"Gross." Layla says.
"Oh Layla hush up." My mom says. "That's wonderful though. I'm glad you two hit it off." She smiles brightly.
"Yeah, well Olly hurt his hand. He picked up a crab the wrong way." I say, and I pick up Olly's hand to show them the blood through the napkin.
Olly playfully glares at me, and I do the same back.
"Oh my, go show your mom, I bet she will be worrying about you." My mom says.
"Okay." He says. "Can Elena come too?"
"Of course." She says.
I follow him to his mom.
"Oh my god, what did you do?" She asks with concern and a hint of annoyance.
"Well I was playing around and I picked up a crab and it pinched me and-" he says.
"See, this is what you get for playing around." A man behind his mom says.
"But I-" he starts.
"Just go clean it up." The man says. I stay very quite throughout the whole conversation, until the man points to me.
"Who is she?" The man asks Olly as if I'm not here.
Olly's mom clears her throat, and she whispers something in his ear. The man nods his head in frustration.
"Right." The man says to Olly's mom.
"Excuse me miss. My name is Robert, and this is my wife Alexia. And you are?"
"I'm Elena, Elena Johnson. My family is over there," I pointed to my table,"I am going to the camp too."
"That's great!" Olly's mom says. "Olly needs a friend."
"Mom." Oliver says and groans.
"Right okay. Now go fix your self up." she says.
"Sure, okay." he replies.
We walk away to the park restrooms beside the street.
"Can you help me wash it?" He asks.
"I, uh, I don't know. I'm not very good with that stuff." I say.
"You wrapped my hand. C'mon can you at least try?" He asks.
"Yeah, okay." I sigh.
I walk into the restroom with him. No stall, just one toilet and a sink, in a unisex bathroom. He turns around and locks the door, which makes me sightly uncomfortable. I hop up and sit on the counter next to the sink, then I turn on the water. I unwrap his wound without a word, and hold it as his hand runs under the cold water.
The blood runs down the drain, and he gulps.
"Just don't look at it." I mumble.
"Okay." he says, then a second later...
"Oww." He says." It stings."
"Sorry." I say bluntly.
I put some soap in my hand and scrub his cut, wash it under the cold water, and repeat 4 times until I'm satisfied with what I did. I dry off his hand.
"Okay that should be good. Now, just go put a big band-aid on it and it'll heal by its self." I say.
"Thank you, Elena." He says.
He is so close, I can feel his breath on my face. I lean back, trying not to get too close. I hop off the sink and begin to walk out the door.
"You're welcome." I say.
We walk back to the group.
"I'm going to go back to my table, I'll, uh, see you at camp tomorrow?" I say.
"Yeah, of course. Oh hey, I almost forgot." He takes out the napkin from his hand and a pen from his pocket, he writes down 10 numbers, and hands me the slip. I put it in my purse.
"Here, this is my number, text me when you get there tomorrow, we can meet up." He says.
"Yeah I will, thanks." I say.
We awkwardly stand there for a moment, then I back away and wave goodbye. He waves too, but he stood there smiling, watching me walk back to my table safely, then he goes to his mom. I'm so happy inside, I can't contain it.
***
