Ella's pov:

"What do I do??!" I stress as I hold the phone away from my body like it was going to attack me at any second.

"Answer it!!" Julie says pointing to the phone as it keeps ringing.

But I shake my head, "Are you sure? Julie you were so upset..."

But before I could stop her, she walks over and pushed the answer button.

"No!! Don't-... Hey..." I quickly change my tone of voice, hopefully he didn't hear me freaking out at the last second."

"Ella!!! Are you okay? Where are you??" Luke's frantic voice shouts into the phone, making me wince.

"What are you talking about-..."

"You! My mom just told me that you went missing right around the time that someone broke in!! Are you hurt-.."

"Luke I'm fine, I promise."

Even though I am the one who 'broke in' to my own house, I felt like that was a conversation.... I wouldn't want to have over the phone.

"Where are you?"

I instantly look at Julie and she shakes her head, pretty much telling me not to say I'm at her house.

"I'm... at a friends."

"What friend?"

Crap.. what do I say now...

"My.... face doctor... friend."

Face doctor?

...

Why.

"Ella..." there was a long pause, "can we talk?"

I watch as Julie nods her head at me from across the room.

I mouth an 'are you sure?' And she nods her head again.

"Okay... where would you like to meet?"

"I can come to your friends-.."

"No!!" I shout on instinct.

His voice pauses over the phone, and all I hear is his breathing, matching the steady of my own.

"Ella.. is there something you're not telling me?" It scared me to think that Luke wasn't joking around... his voice mimicked, well, the total opposite.

"My friend.. she is.. afraid of.. people."

I watch as Julie tries to hold in a laugh, even holding her stomach in the process to not make any sort of noise.

Meanwhile I am mentally face palming myself many, many times.

"...Would you just like to meet at the supermarket?"

"Yeah... that seems best." Without saying anything else, I end the call straight away.

"Face doctor? Afraid of people?" Julie laughs.

I pick up a pillow and throw it at her face, but that doesn't stop her laughter one bit.

"Shut up." I say covering my face with my hands.

After a couple of seconds, I remove my hands, "Why didn't you want Luke to know I was staying here?"

Julie just shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know, I guess..." she says rubbing her bare arms.

"It's okay, you don't have to answer that." I smile.

She nods to my phone with her head, "You better get going, don't want to keep a certain boy waiting now do we?" She smiles.

"I guess not."

~~~~~~~~~~~

As I pull into the supermarket parking lot, I couldn't help the nervous butterflies in my stomach.

I haven't seen him since... well, you know.

One side of me is so excited just to see him again...

While the other side...

Is completely terrified.

I try to dismiss the thought as I get out and close the door to Julie's car.

Yeah the car I used before wasn't in the... greatest condition.

What did you expect?

I ran over the freakin fence.

I look around at my surroundings, trying to look over each and every car and person until I saw him.

Just as I was about to lose hope, I see a familiar set of black hair styled upwards.

But in that 'I'm too cool for you' sorta way.

You know, I have come to conclude that in highschool, Luke is known as one of those 'popular guys'

I mean, by the stories he tells me of some of the parties he went to, he sure knows a lot of people.

Though he said that he normally stays with Julie and the guys I met.

Like he was being summoned, Luke looks up from his phone and makes direct eye contact with me.

Before I knew it, he was making his way towards me, fast.

I was unsure by the sudden movement, but not until I was being pulled into a hug.

My breath reaches my throat as I feel his hands wrapped around my waist to support my shocked state.

I could feel his breath on my shoulder, which helps me to realize that this wasn't some weird dream.

As if all the memories of the last couple days decide to slap me in the face, I hug Luke back, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I missed you." I hear Luke mutter under his breath.

I am at a new loss of words as I hear his voice like I haven't heard it in years.

It wasn't until now that I realized how much I actually missed him.

"I missed you too Luke, so much." I say, though it didn't come out as clear because of the angle my head was at, but I'm pretty sure he heard it.

He pulls away slowly as I look up at his face, to see his eyes on mine.

Was Luke.. always this attractive?

...

Who am I kidding? I said it before, you cannot say that he isn't good looking...

But why do I feel different?

We laughed, we joked, we talked, for hours when he was able to sneak me out of the place I can't even call home anymore.

But, why do those times... feel almost foreign.

Like it's being replaced by something with a greater power.

"Ella, I am so, so sorry. I should have explained why I acted that way, and I never wanted you to think I was upset with you-.."

Luke starts to say, but I interrupt him before he had the chance to finish, "It's okay Luke, I'm just happy to see you again." I smile.

He smiles back.. but instead of smiling an even wider smile like I usually would, I freeze.

His smile.. made my heart beat quicker, made me feel like I was on some cloud.

It made me wonder two things.

One, Julie poisoned those waffles we ate this morning..

Or two, I might be...

No, I can't..

Can I?

"Hello, Earth to Ella?" Luke says waving a hand in front of my face.

I laugh as I push his hand away from my face, "I hate when you do that."

"What? Be extremely attractive, because hate to tell you.. I can't fix that." He winks, which causes me to shake my head at his words.

"You wish." But I knew I didn't have to wish, because this god damn genie didn't hesitate one bit.

He chuckles at my answer, "I'm happy that things are just like they used to be." He sighs.

"Me too." I smile back.

But, the smile... didn't feel like a real smile.

My mind was saying one thing, but my heart was saying something completely different.

Deep down, I didn't want things to go back to normal.

Going back to how things were... scares me.

Because now I have this new feeling.

But why all of a sudden?

Why didn't I feel this way before the whole incident.

Why now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Race you!!" Luke yells as he runs towards the beach.

"No fair!!" I yell back as I run up the dune, my feet becoming instantly sandy.

"What can I say? Snooze you lose Sanders." His voice calls from over the dune.

I roll my eyes, but of course he wasn't able to see it because he was so far ahead.

It takes me awhile until I finally make my way down the dune, and I see his cheerful face as he sticks his tongue out at me.

Once I finally reach him, I poke my finger in his chest, "You are a cheater."

"Why because you are slow? Or was it because of your non existent skill to climb a sand dune?" He says smugly, which makes me glare at him.

"You know, one day, someone is going to slap you for being annoying, and I'm going to let it happen."

"Oh are you now?"

"Yes." I say pretty confidently.

"Are you sure.."

But the sound in his voice causes me to hesitate a little bit.

"Yes-...." suddenly, I feel a fist full of sand being thrown at me before I could react or move the slightest bit out of the way.

I stare down at one of my favorite t-shirts in shock to see the once baby blue color, now covered in sand.

But the next thing I do... starts to scare myself.

Instead of saying something, I feel myself start to laugh.

It wasn't the cute, girl laugh either... it sounded a little more on the... murderous side.

I look up to see Luke taking a step back away from me.

"Ella... I'm sorry." Luke says trying to hold back laughter.

But this only causes me to take baby steps towards him, "Luke..." I draw out.

I see him gulp, "Yes Ella who has... fabulous hair....."

"Run." As soon as I say that, I take off towards him.

"Oh shit!!" Luke yells as he runs away.

I laugh, happy laughs this time, as I chase him down the beach.

It was like a dream.

The sound of our laughter fills the air, our feet hitting the sand one foot at a time.

The waves crashing one after another, moving up and down the shore. Each wave a little bigger or a little smaller than the previous one.

No wave was ever the same.

Luke stops suddenly, and looks out into the ocean, and without thinking, I find myself looking out into the ocean with him.

"Pretty, isn't it?" He says, which causes me to nod my head.

It was nice, quiet, and peaceful, with no disturbance what so ever-...

"Are you stripping??!" I almost squeal as Luke completely removes his shirt, revealing no other than his six pack.

But I wasn't surprised, Luke boxes for his school, it takes a lot of training to be that good.

"Going for a swim." He says nonchalantly as he starts to make his way closer to the water.

"Well, have fun with that." I laugh as I take a seat on the sand.

"Uhm.. aren't you coming with?" He says in confusion facing towards me.

Don't look at his six pack...

Don't look at his six pack...

Don't look at his.... dang it.

"Mhhhm no.." I say, trying to act as causal as I can.

On my defense, I don't feel like getting my clothes all wet, I'll probably regret it later when I am freezing my butt off.

"Your loss." He says and starts running towards the water, diving straight into a wave.

I laugh as his head pops up from the water, and he had a big goofy smile on his face.

This causes me to giggle, but that was until my eyes drifted a little ahead of him.

I watched an horror as a big wave came his way.

I think Luke saw my facial expression because he looks ahead of him to see it approaching fast his way.

I watch as he goes under the water as soon as the wave was about to crash.

That was close...

But, it wasn't until the wave was gone until I realized...

His head never came back up.

Next thing I know, I am sprinting at full speed into the water.

Because of my diving lessons when I was young, I was able to dive right in.

I feel tears in my eyes as I search the water for any sign of him.

This can't be happening.

"Luke!!" I shout.

"L-.." but before I knew it, I am being pulled underwater into something.... warm?

Whatever it is, it takes me back up to the surface to see...

"You jerk!!" I whack Luke's chest as he laughs, trying to shield himself from my wrath.

"I'm sorry, I'm-.. ow!! You hit hard!" He says grabbing both my hands.

"Why did you do that?"

"Look around you." He smirks, I stare at him in confusion to see...

Oh god..

I'm in the ocean.

...

Oh god..

I'm scared of the ocean.

"Don't freak out!" His voice says quickly, as he moves into my line of vision.

"I never faced a wave before! What do I do? What do I-..." but Luke shushes me before I could finish.

"Don't worry, you will be okay. Plus I am here with you, and I have been doing this for years." He smiles.

"Okay-... Oh crap." I look behind him to see yet another wave, almost identical to the wave I thought Luke pretty much drowned on.

"I can't do this!" I say and attempt to run towards shore, but a hand shoots out to stop me.

"You won't make it, trust me Ella, you got this." He says.

Without any further options, I nod my head.

I feel his hand slide down from my wrist, to my hand, holding it tightly.

I would blush if I wasn't so terrified of this wave.

"Luke I-.."

"Look at me Ella." He says, I look at his eyes, to see he was closer than I thought he was.

"On three, go under the water, I'll be there with you."

I nod my head as he starts to count.

"One."

I'm going to die.

"Two."

I'm going to die.

"Three."

Before I could think that I was going to die, I hold my breath and go under water.

I feel two arms wrap around my waist as I feel the wave crash above our heads.

Then, I feel a tug and next thing I know, I am back up, breathing again.

"I didn't die!" I say excitedly, I look up at Luke...

To see he was even closer than before.

I could feel his breath fanning over my face as his arms were still wrapped around me.

We stare at each other for a little while, neither of us saying anything.

Until I broke the silence.

"Uhm... so." I say awkwardly, almost like he was in a trance, Luke moves back, along with the heat he was providing.

But now.. I really felt different.

It made me think, was Julie...

Was Julie right?