Maddie's POV
Pulling up to Elias's house, I see his car parked in the driveway which means he's probably home.
I park behind him, get out of the car, and ring the doorbell.
I wait and wait, but there's no answer, even after I ring the doorbell again.
A pit forms in my stomach and for no apparent reason I'm more worried than before.
Maybe he's at the beach...
I take the wooden stairs next to the house to get to the beach and, not much to my surprise, there he is, sitting in the sand and staring out at the ocean.
I approach him, slipping my hands into my pockets as I walk.
As I get closer I see he's still wearing the same clothes he wore two days ago. His hair is also very greasy and he's sporting a stubble again.
"Elias?" I say softly.
Elias' turns slowly, looking at me as if he's seeing me for the first time.
"Maddie," he says groggily. He looks tired and there's a certain frown on his face that I've never seen before.
I take a seat next to him in the cold sand, careful so as to not sit too close to him in case he doesn't want me to touch him.
"What are you doing?" I ask quietly. "You haven't been answering your phone and Bri called me and said you didn't show up to brunch this morning."
Elias keeps his eyes trained on the ocean when he says, "Oh, I forgot about brunch..." totally ignoring my question.
"Well, maybe call Bri and tell her that," I press. "Her and Michael are worried about you... I'm worried about you."
Elias glances at me for a moment, clenching his jaw, before staring straight ahead again. "My phone isn't charged."
I want to say, "Charge it then," but something about the way he said it makes me hesitate.
What is going on? He's never acted like this before.
"I-I'm sorry for snapping at you," I say after a moment of silence.
"It's fine," he mumbles.
I watch him run his hands through the sand, his hair shifting in the wind a bit while his lips are slowly but steadily turning blue.
"Hey, are you alright?" I ask, closing the space between us and taking his hand in mine.
"I'm fine," he says, closing his eyes.
I watch him closely, knowing he just lied. "Are you sure?"
"I'm fine!" he snaps before apologizing.
"How's April?" I say, not wanting to push him any further.
The question, however, must have hit a sore spot because he tenses up and takes a shaky breath.
"She-" he starts, "She's..."
His bottom lip starts quivering and when he looks up at the sky, I see tears in his eyes.
No...
Even without him finishing the sentence I know what he's trying to say.
"She's gone," he finally chokes out, tears now streaming down his face.
"Oh my God- I'm- I'm so sorry," I say around the growing lump in my throat. "What happened?"
Elias uses his free hand to wipe away the tears on his face. "The doctors- they overlooked an aneurysm in her brain," he stammers. "It burst and- and they had to perform surgery on her...but it w-was too l-late."
"No..." I whimper, tears burning in my eyes.
I didn't know April that well, but she was always so sweet and I know, even though Elias would never admit it, how much she meant to him.
She was bubbly and kind and thoughtful, a little like Hailey, and you just couldn't help but like her the moment you met her.
"She's gone," Elias sobs as he squeezes his eyes shut.
I let the tears fall down my face and get up, pulling Elias to his feet too.
He's surprised for a moment, but then, when I pull him in for a hug he relaxes, letting himself cry again.
His sobs cause the sting I felt when I found out about my parents' deaths to return.
I almost forgot how it felt to lose a loved one, and even though April wasn't my sister, it still hurts to know she's in heaven now.
"I'm so sorry," I whisper after some time, feeling his hot breath on my neck.
"I love you..."
I freeze as the words register in my brain.
"I l-love you too," I say truthfully. I've loved him since the night he found me on the floor of my apartment. I've just not realized it until he just said those three words.
"Come on, let's go inside. You're freezing and you need to take a shower," I say, breaking our hug.
"Okay..."
I take Elias hand and lead him inside, the news of April's passing weighing heavily on me.
Inside, in Elias' room I hand him a stack of clothes. "Here, put these on after you shower and then come downstairs, I'll make us some lunch."
I turn to leave, but Elias grabs my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.
"Thank you," he mumbles, his tired and red eyes fixed on me.
I brush some stray hairs out of his face and say, "Of course... now go shower."
I wait outside the bathroom until I hear the shower running before going downstairs.
On my way to the kitchen I come across a picture that causes me to tear up again.
It's the selfie April took of herself, Chris, Elias and me when we went to the fair.
We're all smiling and holding up hotdogs. Chris is sticking out his tongue and Elias is giving me bunny ears.
I smile, remembering how much fun that night was until I look at April again.
She's actually gone.
I can't believe the last thing she saw of me was me giving Elias hell for paying Bri.
Shaking my head and taking one last look at the picture, I go to the kitchen where I decided on making a quick vegetable stir fry.
By the time I'm done cooking, Elias shuffles into the kitchen, wearing the loose jeans and white sweatshirt I picked out for him earlier.
He looks way better now that he's showered and shaved, but the frown from earlier and the dark circles under his eyes are still present on his face.
"Here, eat this," I order as I slide a bowl of the stir fry in front of him.
He thanks me for cooking before digging in, eating quickly.
I take a seat next to him at the counter, but by the time I'm only halfway done with my portion, he's already done.
He waits for me to finish before picking up the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.
"How are your parents?" I ask once we're cuddled up on the couch.
Elias sighs and stops running his hand over my back for a second. "I don't know and I don't care... all I know is that my dad is suing the hospital for overlooking the aneurysm in April's brain."
"That's not going to bring her back," I mumble to myself.
Elias nods and sniffles. "I know, and he knows it, too. I think he's doing it to keep himself busy."
Even though I lost my parents I can't imagine what it must be like to lose your kid, so I'm not judging him for what he's doing.
Everyone has different ways of coping with the death of a loved one.
Elias and I stay on the couch for the rest of the evening, finding comfort in each other's company.
Then, when it's time to go to bed, Elias hesitates.
"I- I can't sleep," he admits. "I get nightmares..."
"Since when?" I ask softly sitting down on the edge of the bed, now wearing some of Elias' comfortable clothes.
"Well, they started occurring when I came back from Afghanistan and then- after seeing a- a therapist, they slowly stopped, but since April...since she-" he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a moment, "They started occurring again two days ago."
I take his hands and pull him onto the bed next to me. "Let's just cuddle and talk and maybe you'll fall asleep then."
"Okay."
We slip under the covers and turn off the light, our breathing being the only sound in the room for a few minutes until Elias says, "I totally forgot about Thanksgiving this year."
"Me too," I admit. "But it's just a holiday."
"Yeah..."
It doesn't take long after that for both Elias and me to fall asleep with a heavy heart.