Under the Water

After the movie, with Toby feeling like it was too early in the night to just drop Chelsea back off at the motel, Toby brought Chelsea to a park a few blocks away from the motel. Chelsea was surprised that his suddenly touchy-feely attitude seemed only valid in the theater. He was suddenly back to being friendly, something that would help ease her guilt later.

At the park, Chelsea found Toby surprisingly easy to talk to, easier than she had thought when talking to him before, but still managed to avoid talking about herself. This was especially easy when Toby was so occupied with talking about himself and what he does on YouTube.

After a few rounds of the small park, Toby offered to walk Chelsea back to her motel, seeing that it was near nine thirty at night. She accepted graciously, and didn't realize what they were doing until they were over halfway back to her motel.

“Hey, Toby,” Chelsea said, still laughing from their conversation, which was currently focusing on his latest trip to Comic-Con 2013.

“What?” Toby asked, looking over to her as they stopped at a cross walk, waiting for the light to turn green.

“I just realized something,” Chelsea noted, “We drove to that park you took us to.”

The realization suddenly his Toby's face, noticing that they had walked nearly all the way to Chelsea's motel and had left his car at the park. “Oh fuck me,” he half sighed half laughed, turning to look back the way they had came. It was obvious he was upset but still kept good humor about the situation.

“Did you want me to call you a taxi?” Chelsea laughed, noticing that her motel was already in sight.

“No, it's fine, it's just like a fifteen minute walk. Whatever if I left my BMW at a dark abandoned park, unattended and with the roof down,” Toby joked, making Chelsea laugh again. He was suddenly realizing that it was his new favorite sound. As the light turned green and the walk sign flashed on, they started across the crosswalk, moving towards Chelsea's motel. She felt his hand lightly brush against hers as they walked, and she jumped away sightly, trying to fight the sudden reaction. This time, however, Toby noticed it, and now she didn't have an explanation.

He looked over at her, watching as she stared straight ahead of them, trying not to make eye contact after the sudden odd behavior she had. He put his hand against hers again, noticing that she was now stiff, before gently moving her fingers between his as they walked. The were silent for the next five minutes, walking in unison up to Chelsea's motel room. She stopped them in front of her motel door, finally looking back over to Toby.

“This is me,” she told him, nodding towards the door.

“Spiffy,” Toby said, looking from the door to her, mentally remembering her room number.

“Um, thanks for everything tonight, Toby,” Chelsea said, feeling his hand slip out of hers.

“No, thank you. I had to get away from life for a while,” Toby laughed, scratching the back of his head. “I guess I should go get my car though,” Toby added after standing in silence with her, that awkward end of the date moment setting in fast.

“Okay...” Chelsea agreed, before forcing herself to step forward into him so she could hug him. She was afraid that she would jump away from him again if he tried anything first.

“Thanks again,” she said to him, feeling his arms wrap around her as they hugged. He lingered there a bit longer than she normally would have, before gently pulling back though his arms stayed wrapped around her back. Suddenly she felt her heart begin to race, signaling that she was about to panic while he puled away slightly, both of them staring at each other and just waiting.

Chelsea stopped breathing, afraid she would begin to hyperventilate and tried to fight the immediate trembling she felt. She was suddenly afraid that Toby would notice, possibly he already had. Panicking, Chelsea did the only thing she could think of, which happened to also be the one thing she was afraid of.

She pushed herself back into him, Toby complying quickly as their lips connected. The simple movement caused a spark, sending something like adrenaline between the pair. The sudden rush left Chelsea completely shaking, and she couldn't tell if she was still on the verge of having a panic attack or not. Surprisingly, she wasn't the first to pull away with Toby moving back and noticing the shock in Chelsea's blue eyes. He wasn't sure what to think of the situation until he also noticed the smile spread quickly on her lips as he let her free to step back from him.

“Good night, Toby,” Chelsea spoke, stepping all the way back until she backed into her door.

“Night Chels,” Toby said, a smile of his own spreading onto his lips. Only his was genuine, Chelsea's was just a means for escape.

She quickly turned around, unlocking her door before stepping in and immediately closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door, flipping on the light before dropping her key on the table near the door. Immediately her hands covered her face, feeling her eyes water.

“Just ignore it,” she willed herself, trying not to focus on anything, though her sudden guilt overcame her and dropped her to the floor. “Caleb isn't here anymore,” she told herself, trying to talk herself down from a coming hysteria. It only reminded her of the reasons why she had left her home in the first place, running away from horrific events that led to her not even being able to set foot in her own house, let alone sleep alone in her own bed.

“Caleb's gone and you aren't getting him back,” she breathed in deeply, feeling her own words hit her like knives to her chest. No matter how many times she told herself, the reality never seemed to sink in, and she always went back to hiding and avoiding life while drifting from state to state just throwing her life and money away.

Chelsea didn't sleep that night, feeling like her heart would explode any moment from her panic, although she chose to suffer through it instead of trying to get help for herself. Eventually, still panicking into the early hours of the morning, she had made herself sick and couldn't leave the bathroom for hours at a time. Eventually she had fallen asleep just before noon, curled up on the hotel bed, wondering why she had let herself go on that date with Toby, and what had made her think that it would be such a good idea.

She didn't sleep very well that day, but didn't have the energy to do much else besides sulk and lay in bed, passing in and out of sleep. That night she finally pulled herself out of bed, making herself a cup of coffee and walking over to the manager's to yet again steal WiFi with her laptop. For reasons unknown, she couldn't manage to stay away from Toby on the internet, especially drawn to his lazy vlog from the night of their date. He had filmed while he was half walking half Heely-ing back to his car (so the quality wasn't very good), and in which he briefly mentioned the date (without directly calling it such), and titled the video “One Happy Moe'Suckra.”