Riven Lomax never really got along with the eldest Fisher brother, Conrad, he'd always teased her, annoyed her and spent most of his time with the boys and Belly. When she arrives at Cousins for the summer, as she always had, the atmosphere is diffe...
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Riven reached Conrad, not a care in the world that her shoes were being swallowed by the edge of the sea. Her left hand held onto his arm, trying to hold his body upwards and her right hand found the middle of his chest.
She could feel his heart racing. His eyes flew up and met hers. There was so much fear behind the blue.
"Hey, hey." She tried to calm him, "It's okay. Breathe. Take a deep breath."
Riven started to inhale a deep breath, then exhaled, getting him to copy her. She did it several times, her hand remaining on his chest as his hand rested on top of hers. She could feel his heart beginning to return to normal.
"Remember that time when you were around eleven and you and Jer came home from some fancy surfing camp?" Riven said, trying to calm him with talking about something else, "You knew all these cool tricks. Steven and I were the most jealous, I think."
"Yeah." Steven was now standing beside them, "I felt like such a little kid. But you stayed and paddled with me till we caught a wave together."
Riven's eyebrows shifted inwards, a nostalgic feeling washing over her. She let a small smile appear on her lips, "I thought you were the coolest person in the world."
"I guess you were wrong about that one." Conrad replied.
"No." She said, her eyes lifting to meet his, "I still think you're pretty great."
The simple connection felt so natural, the way they could look right at one another and feel everything all at once. All those memories rushed through their minds and ran through their veins. A permanent fixture.
Riven had to drop her gaze and move her hand away from his chest when she felt that pull in her stomach. She took a couple of steps backwards on the sand, putting some distance between her and Conrad.
Steven felt a need to step in, seeing the two exes awkwardly standing there in silence, "Do you have these a lot?"
"Yeah." Conrad said, glancing to the water. Riven felt bewildered, why had he never told her this? "More since my mom died."
It was silent for a moment before Steven spoke, "So, you wanna tell us what got you all worked up, or just pretend this never happened?"
"Found out I got into Stanford." Conrad told them.
Riven wasn't sure how it was possible to feel so many emotions in just a couple of seconds. She felt proud, but also concerned, upset, and above all guilty, for not knowing that he suffered from panic attacks. How hadn't she known?
