She goes inside and everyone is awake.
"Hi." she said, quite startled.
"Elena. Your hair, your top. Your pants! You're soaked!" said Nicole.
"What happened?" asked Kristina.
"I went to the beach to watch the sun set."
Kristina raised her eyes.
"With Dr. Melendez?" said Nicole.
She sighs.
"I went with Neil."
"I thought you said you had no plans with him." said Kristina.
"I said I have no plans with Dr. Melendez."
"Ahh. So you see Neil and Dr. Melendez as two different people?" said Kristina.
John laughed. "She doesn't call him that outside the hospital."
Nicole and Kristina looked at him.
"You knew she went out with him?" Kristina said.
"You never told them?" said Elena. She high-fives her grandfather. "Nice one, Grandpa."
He smiles.
They shake their heads.
"Well, never mind that. Why are you soaked?" said Kristina.
"We fell in the water. It was my fault. I tripped over a rock and he tried to stop me, but both of us fell."
They look at her jacket.
"It's Neil's. I got cold and forgot mine here at home."
Nicole looks at her mom and they raise their eyebrows and smile.
"I guess you did that, quite conveniently."
Elena sighed. "No, I didn't. Anyways, I am going to go shower, get changed and go sleep. Good night." She makes her way upstairs.
They look at her, astonished. Nicole and Kristina scold at John for not telling them that she had plans with Neil.
She gets changed and looks at a phone. A text from Neil pops up.
"Did they ask questions?"
"Yeah. They were mostly mad at my grandfather cause he knew I was going out on a date with you."
He laughs.
"What were you expecting?"
"Maybe more questions, but kind of glad I decided to come up to my room. It sounds awfully quiet. I just need to check if everyone's alive."
Neil laughed.
"🤣. Okay."
She runs down and finds that everyone went to their rooms.
"Thank goodness. They're all asleep."
"Are you warmed up?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yep. Look, I never knew you were going trip over the rock. Had I known, I would have just walked along the shore with you."
"Neil, it is okay. I had fun. Even though I was so soaked. I don't regret falling over."
He smiles.
"Well, then. I think you need some sleep."
"You too. Good night."
"Good night."
As happy as he is in this moment, he dreads the day that she leaves. He tosses and turns almost all night.
The next morning, Elena heads downstairs after getting changed and washing up and sees everybody already at the table.
"Morning." she greeted.
"Morning. Did you sleep well?" asked Nicole and Kristina.
"Yeah."
John rolled his eyes.
"How are you, Grandpa? After yesterday."
"I am okay. But these two, never gonna change."
Elena smiles and nods in agreement.
They start eating.
"Mom, I was wondering if we could leave San Jose soon."
Nicole looks up at her. "Okay. How soon is soon?"
"Friday."
Nicole gasps. "No ways. Grams needs us here."
"No, I don't. Dad will take care of me. Thanks for being here, but you need to go back to work soon. You can't stay here forever."
"But..."
"She's right." John said.
Nicole sighs. "Okay. We'll leave, then. The morning?"
Elena nods.
Deep down, she regretted that she ever said anything about leaving because now... She was having second thoughts. About leaving San Jose. And about leaving Neil. It was as if she was living some fairytale dream and now... She was about to wake up and come back to reality.