Everyday Combat

Sarah

Staring out at the crystal clear sea of the Blanes coastline, I sighed softly, resting my head on my knees as I stared at the familiar Mediterranean Sea. Looking to my right, I saw the large rock formation that rose up from the Sea. It was reachable by the beach, which was soft and warm beneath my toes.

Looking up, I lowered my sunglasses over my eyes as I stared into the bright sunlight, the cloudless sky adding to the warmth and making it on overall, a very warm August in Catalonia, Spain. Smiling, I brought up my camera and took a snapshot of the ocean, then of the rocks to my right.

Holding the camera out in front of me, I grinned and snapped a shot of me on the beach, before flicking through the pictures I already had on here. I'd uploaded the England set to my laptop, and so these were just my Spain set.

The Barcelona Cathedral stood tall in one of my snaps, me in front of it, doing the typical Asian peace sign for some reason. My smile was bright, but to the trained eye, fake. It was like that in all my pictures.

Sighing, I looked out at the sea, there wasn't many people in it to be honest; a lot of the tourists had gone off to Tossa de Mar, or Lloret de Mar on the taxi boats. Plus, it was the Siesta moment of the day, and so all the locals were napping, so it was fairly quiet.

The beach and the sea reminded me of Zacky, even though the beach was in the opposite direction, but still, I could almost feel Zacky next to me if I closed my eyes, could almost smell him right there. But when I opened my eyes, it was just me. On my own.

I hope he will have gotten over his tantrum by the time we go back. I don't know what I'll do if he leaves me. My friends are his friends, and unfortunately, Faith doesn't like me either, and as Zack's my best friend..I'll be alone.

The thought of it made my stomach churn.

Looking back at the sea, I stood up and picked up my camera, leaving my bag on my towel. The locals here were friendly thankfully, and crime rate was low. Moving towards the ocean, I felt fine, until the water hit my feet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Come on Sarah, it's just some water, you'll be fine.

In my mind, I imagined Zack and the guys in the water, laughing and surfing. They were fine; they were always fine, nothing ever happened to them, so nothing will happen to me. Come on, I can do it, just get to my knees. I'll be fine.

Gulping, I moved forward, until I felt the current under the waves hit my knees. Looking across to my right, I saw children as young as 10, further ahead than me in the water. If they can do it, I can do it.

I kept going, until my mind had had enough, and screamed for me to stop. I felt unsteady, and unease was running through my veins, but I was here, I was in the ocean, up to my waist.

Smiling nervously, I took the camera and lifted it up, snapping the shot of me, in the sea. See Zacky, I can do it. I can.

Climbing out quickly, I moved over to my blanket as I felt tears rise. Zacky would've been proud of me for doing it, I know it. A shadow fell over me, and I looked up, seeing my dad stood there.

He sat down next to me, and silence consumed us. I quickly wiped my tears away, sniffing slightly as I did so, and I heard my dad sigh softly. His arm moved round my shoulders as he pulled me closer, kissing my head gently.

"What's wrong Sarah? You've been so quiet this whole trip; in fact, you didn't even want to go, what's brought this on? You normally love coming back here, but not even the Spanish weather in summer can make you happy" I looked at him and shrugged sadly, seeing the confusion and sadness in his emerald eyes, an exact replica of my own.

"I haven't seen you call Zack up either, has-has something happened between you two?" He asked hesitantly. My quietness gave him the answer he required.

"Oh Sarah, what's happened? You two never fight," He asked. I scoffed quietly.

"It seems like all we do lately is fight," I mumbled sadly. I could tell he was frowning at this. We were silent again; only the sound of the gentle waves on the beach interrupted our peaceful atmosphere.

"He's annoyed with me, I don't know why. He gets so jealous and he wraps me up in cotton, treats me like porcelain. When I'm with I don't feel like a normal person, I feel like I'm the only person in his world, yet his jealousy gets the better of him, and he accused me of going to cheat on him. I wouldn't ever, but he did, and it upset me, so it upset him as well, and we argued and now here we are," I cried, letting it all out properly.

It felt strange to be conversing with my dad of all people about my love life, but he let me get it all out of my system.

"He loves you Sarah, he's protective over you, and as much as your mum says she doesn't like him, she appreciates that. Even she knows that when he's around you won't get hurt. He's jealous of other people because, you really are beautiful Sarah. I've seen the way guys look at you, here, England, Germany and Spain. Zack feels he has to compete with all that to get your affection. You know he doesn't have to, I know he doesn't have to. But it's inbred into guys to think that"

I frowned softly.

"But he doesn’t have to, he should know that by now" I mumbled. My dad chuckled to himself softly.

"Don't worry Sarah, Zack's not stupid. He may be angry with you at the minute, but he loves you and values you too much to leave you. Accusing you of going to cheat on him shows the love he has for you. How many guys do you hear that from? It's work out sweetie, I know it will," He said quietly.

I contemplated his words. My dad had never been wrong before, hence why he was a Corporate Executive at Mercedes. He made fail-safe ideas. He would be right about this, just like he was always right.