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Eli had been reading for the past twenty minutes. No, she wasn't shirking her lifeguard responsibilities, it was just that there were about 4 people on the beach and even fewer waves. And although she certainly found it a bit boring to just sit around and wait for her six-hour shift with the volunteer agency to end, it was relaxing to know that nothing bad was going to happen. There would be no absolute terror that she would try and fail to save someone. She sighed in the relief that no one was going to be in trouble today.
"Help me!"
When Eli heard the scream in the distance, she had thrown her book down and was in the water before she could even think. She blew her whistle to signal that she was coming. Desperately, she dove into the water past the weak, foaming breakers, pushing and kicking with all her strength. The girl who called for help wasn't too far out, but Eli knew how deep the ocean could get all of a sudden.
"H-help! Someone save me!" The drowning girl called again. As Eli swam, she looked up. The girl was keeping her head above the water well enough, but she was splashing and coughing like there was no tomorrow.
"I'm coming!" Eli yelled. She was closing the distance between them quickly.
"Help!" She cried out.
"I'm here!" Eli yelled, grabbing the girl's arms and pulling her to her body, holding her head above the water while she coughed. "It's okay, try to calm down miss," Eli consoled, a weight lifted off her shoulders as she saw that the girl wasn't in mortal peril. When her coughing had subsided a bit, Eli asked, "What happened?"
The girl opened her eyes, red from the saltwater, blinking heavily. When she focused on Eli, she blushed, suddenly seeming very interested in looking back down at the water that had given her so much trouble. "W-well, I was... I mean I wasn't... I-I really-"
While she had been coughing, and then stuttering trying to talk, Eli had been slowly maneuvering back towards the shallower waters. As she had done so, she realized the problem - there had been quite a steep drop, the water went from about four feet deep to much deeper than Eli could reach. Once she was standing comfortably, not hopping around on her toes and trying to tread water while keeping the other girl steady, she finally put her attention back on the the flustered girl as she stuttered, "...what I was... I-I just-"
"Please calm down, miss. It's okay, you're safe now," Eli interrupted her stammering. She had to admit, when she got a good look at her now that she had calmed down a bit, she wanted to blush herself. The girl had the most beautiful eyes Eli had ever seen, framed by light hair that looked to Eli like it might as well be strands of gold. Eli really did blush when she thought about how soft her body felt compared to Eli's own muscular swimmer's figure. She glanced away quickly as the other girl stared at her, breathing through her mouth.
"I...I was collecting sand dollars,” She finally managed to whisper. “But I lost them all," The girl laughed quietly as she spoke. Everything seemed very quiet all of a sudden, with the deserted beach, with the calm, sparkling sea, drowned out merely by the sound of their heavy breaths. Eli could feel her eyes on her, and in that moment she couldn't think of anything else to say but one thing, whispered so quietly she almost couldn't hear it herself.
"It's okay."
Eli looked back at the girl, met her eyes, as hard as it was. "What's your name, miss?" She asked softly, hardly daring to break the quiet that had descended upon them like the graceful hands of Venus.
"Hanayo," she whispered, eyes growing wider the longer they stared at each other.
"I’m Eli," Eli whispered in turn, her vision glazing over, the shock of panic and then sudden absolute quiet not lost on her.
Eli lost count of how long they stood there. It was probably a while, considering how long it took her to realize that they weren't standing there; Eli was still holding Hanayo. What's worse, she really didn't want to put her down. She swallowed, blinking her vision back into focus. "M-my shift is over, pretty much. Do you wanna, maybe, get something to drink, or something?" She asked, smiling and laughing a bit, crudely forcing herself to act casual. The situation really didn't call for it, but with any luck, Hanayo would ignore it.
"Y-yeah, sure! I'd love to," she smiled back, to Eli's relief either oblivious or equally as willing to ignore the circumstances. Her voice rang out, and as it faded back into silence, the ever-present sound of the sea, Eli realized that once again, she had nothing to say. But when she looked at Hanayo, at her gentle, encouraging smile and golden hair and round, sparkling eyes, she thought that maybe she didn't need to say anything at all.