Another Wave of You ✓

43 • Anchor Up To Me

     Never again.

     She steeled herself and didn't waste a breath before running.

     The sand underneath her sank at her feet, and what started as dry, hot sand began to slowly transition to moist, and the next thing she knew, her feet was splashing on water. El didn't even flinch. Not even as the waves soaked her shorts. Then her elbow. Then her entire tank-top.

    "THEO!"  She flailed her arms a the waves, like that made anything better, but she was paranoid because there he was again and there he wasn't. "THEO!"

     And then she was suddenly pulled back, her body jerking backwards and hitting somebody's warm chest. Strong arms immediately circled her shoulders and held her on lockdown, their grip so tight that her arms turned almost immobile.

    "Let me go!" Those arms were around her torso now, and despite it being surprisingly familiar, she had the urge to bite them off. "Let me go!"

     El was thrashing and screaming, tears bubbling up in her eyes, and she tried to blink it away because then she wouldn't be able to see where Theo was and oh god the waves were massive where was he —

    "Len!" Travis's voice at her ear. She was too panicked to even get shocked. "Get the fuck away from there! Come on, we have to go!"

    "We can't just leave him!"

    "Who?"

    "Theo!"

    "What?!" She didn't imagine the change in his tone, the way it spiked into a pitch of unadulterated fear. "Why the fuck is he out there?!"

    "I don't know! We were talking with Julian and then he just suddenly ran off — let go of me, damn it! Help me!"

    "I can't do that!"

    "Fuck you!" she spat, angry tears spilling onto her cheeks.

    "Snap at me all you want!" Travis pressed his arms harder around her, almost lifting her up back to shore. "You're going to thank me later when you're not fucking drowning!"

    "And who's to say he's not going to drown?!" 

     Travis's grip loosened for a moment, as if just contemplating this fact. "Coach Banks!" he roared, his voice so loud it was ringing in her ears. "Anyone! There's still someone out there! Get a fucking lifeguard now!"

    "Hey! I see him!" One of them called back, already sprinting in their direction, passing them in an instant. "He hasn't gone far!"

     She didn't let Travis take her away, instead staying in her position. Travis's arms didn't loosen his grip, as if he was expecting her to sprint at any moment. The two only watched in dread and silence as the lifeguard dove into the rip current, saving the blue-eyed boy, with El praying to the stars and the universe that he wouldn't be just that —

     — a boy with cold, blue eyes.

***

     Theo was not moving when they found him.

    "Move over!" The lifeguard was carrying him on the elbows, and another one rushed in and got hold of his legs, lifting him up quickly until they found a spot by a tree to provide some cover from the heat. El had jerked her arms away from Travis and ran after them, the latter frantically trailing her footsteps.