I would just like to say a quick thank you to all my reviews, everything that shows me how much you care. You guys are all what inspires, and motivates me to keep writing! Thank you!

And a special thanks to Super8-Lover. I had a terrible day today… Your message was perfect, thank you. I sat down to write because of that message, and my day got better (slightly) from there. I thank you so much for that. This chapter is for you xoxo

- Chapter three –

Bryon had a few hours to mentally prepare himself to see Bethany for a second time. He took that time to do very productive things… Like sitting in the corner of his room, going over every detail of how Bethany looked, moved, talked, breathed. He analysed everything he had seen to the point that his head was splitting in pain.

As Bryon sat there, he was aware of how useless he was; that very fact was something he pushed to the furthest point of his mind and spent the majority of the time pretending like it wasn't the truth. But Bryon had to think everything through. Seeing her had been huge for him. Actually speaking to her was simply monumental. Of course, speaking to her would be an accurate description of what happened, if the fact that he lacked in saying the right words, stringing sentences together, or even managing to say goodbye, was completely ignored.

He could see that she was okay. In his mind, he had somehow figured that she wasn't ever truly going to be okay. Bryon knew it could easily be some big act, that she could be completely broken inside, just like him. But none the less, she was alive... And knowing that, seeing that, changed everything.

.
She had stood there, right in front of him, and asked if he was okay.

Bethany Hamilton had lost her arm in a shark attack! Her entire life had been upended, every dream she wished for, ripped away in the teeth of an animal. And yet, she had stood there and had asked him how he was feeling. It felt surreal, to have that question come from her. And then, he ran away.

Bryon's head sunk, until he had his eyes rested closed against his knees, and his arms enclosed the little space he had formed, blocking out as much light as he could. Because, deep down, he was so ashamed of how he felt, of how he couldn't sleep with nightmares, of how he would reach a point of hysteria where he couldn't even manage to breathe. But more than anything else, he was ashamed of the way she looked at him.

He knew he was weak, that's why he was unable to deal with the attack. Everyone else was shocked, but they accepted what happened and moved on, but he was stuck, unable to break away from the cage he had created for himself. Bethany could see that he was damaged. She had no possible way of knowing that it was her that had pushed him into this spiralling state. When she looked at him, so sad for his pain, every bit of his own self respect vanished. The strongest girl he had ever met, was sad for how weak he was.

It had cemented how he viewed himself. Pathetic.

He could hear his mum's shoes hit the floor as she came closer and closer to his room. His head snapped up, and he searched for the closest item he could use to give him a legitimate excuse to be curled up on the floor. A book was lying under some clothes a little reach away. Pulling it out and making sure he was actually reading it the right way around, a mistake far to many movie actors had been caught out on, before flipping a decent way through the book.

"Well, are you coming?"
"I have a choice?" Bryon's mind whirled: maybe he should stay home? Avoid a repeat of earlier today?
"Actually… I don't think you did. Mrs Hamilton called saying that she is expecting all of us, in particular you. Do you want to grab your things? Your dad is almost ready, and seriously, you don't want to take longer than your father to get ready. That would be just embarrassing."

She left him to change. He struggled to find some clothes that said sorry-for-running-out-on-you-Bethany. So he looked for clothes that said you-seem-to-be-plaguing-my-thoughts-rather-permanently. That seemed even harder to find. He was forced to settle for I-hope-these-make-me-look-alittle-normal. He wasn't particularly happy at the compromise, but he had run out of time.

The trip there was uneventful, and if felt like mare minuets before Bryon was outside Bethany's place once more. This time, his family was there, and gave him no opportunity to procrastinate by sitting in the car waiting. The Blanchard's knocked on the door, and Mr Hamilton was there in seconds, greeting Bryon's parents with beaming smiles.
"Can I get you guys a drink?" He asked, the moment they had all stepped inside.
"I'll take a beer," Bryon's dad said as he made his way over to kitchen, and started sneaking bites of the food that had already been prepared for dinner. Bryon's mother was quick to follow her husband, and squat his wayward hand from the food, before helping with the food.
"You want anything Bryon?" Mr Hamilton asked.
"Nah. I'm great, thanks."

Bryon leant on the back of the couch, watching his mum and dad as they laughed with Bethany's own parents, the men teasing their wives, who retorted with threats of not cooking for them again.
"Our parents are so mature, aren't they?" Bethany was suddenly beside him, and he had absolutely no clue how she managed to sneak up on him without him foreseeing it. He pretended as though his heart beating had to do with the surprise, rather than her close proximity.
"I am so proud of them." The sarcasm laced through his voice made her laugh.

She lent back on the chair too, so they were standing side by side.
"Did you get the chance to send your sister's phone?"
"Yeah, I am expecting her to get it by the morning. Sent it by express mail."
"That's good. I can't believe she forgot it!"
"I know. My sis can be a little like that. Too focused on surfing to remember things like phones."
"True." Bryon could see her smiling at this, all too familiar with that kind of situation. He had heard Alana raving about how enthusiastic Bethany was to get back into the water after her attack. She too, could become rather focused on the surf. He use to be, but with everything that had happened, no longer has to worry about that.

"Dinner is ready!" Bethany's mother declared, and there is a rush for everyone to get the first plates.
"Grab me some food, will ya?" Bethany asked as she disappeared. She seemed to give him no choice in the getting food for two mouths, so the need to get infront of his parents in the food queue became so much more important. A few shoves, and he was able to pile up two plates full of a little bit of everything. He noticed that Mrs Hamilton kept on piling spoonfuls of food onto his plate, refusing to listen when he had said that he had enough. She seemed to think she knew what was best.

Dinner was to be outside, on the deck. At a little past 7pm, the sun had just set, welcoming the cool night air with its departure. Bryon wondered out, to find Bethany waiting patiently at the table holding a can of coke out for him. He placed her plate down, and took the coke from her, before sitting beside her.
"Thanks for this. Did I get everything you liked?" He nodded towards her plate, and she inspected it for a bit.
"You did wonderfully! Except… I'm sorry, is that cucumber? Really?" Honestly, he had no idea she didn't like cucumber. Mortified that he had put it on her plate, he hastily picked up his fork, skewered the ones he could see, and slid them onto his own plate.
"I would never give you cucumber! How could you suggest such an adversity!"
"I don't know." She was teasing him now, pretending like she didn't notice him stealing her food. "I must have imagined it. Sorry to accuse you!" They were both quietly chuckling, as their family took their seats. Bethany's brothers managed to make it just in time to join them, after Tim was picked up from work by Noah. They unfortunately didn't get home quickly enough to get the good food, but they were able to scrounge around and find something to half decent to eat. As they pulled up chairs to join everyone on the deck, Noah watched his little sister closely as she giggled with Bryon. Bryon notice that they had gained someone's attention, and the smile disappeared from his face.

He wasn't particularly interested in encouraging people ask questions about the two of them; things were already so complicated for him.

It took a mare 2 minuets for the conversation to turn to surfing, which really was no surprised, considering how much their families loved to surf. But it was unfortunate for Byron, who was the only one at the table who wasn't currently in the surfing phase. The really unlucky part was that he had yet to tell anyone about it. Nobody, not even his parents, or his sister, knew he had stopped surfing. So when everyone talks about catching waves, Bryon has to pretend like he loves it to.
"Bryon, mate, haven't seen you out in the surf for a while!" Noah eventually pointed out the truth. Bethany looked at Bryon, her face showing how she had just realised her brother was correct.
"That's so true! Where have you been?" He could see his parents stopping their conversation, to listen to their son.
"Oh, you know. I surf down at the cove a bit. Whenever I get the chance." Despite his words, his shrug with uncomittal.
"Yeah, he goes down there a couple times a week," his mother piped in from end of the table, "With Peter, the Eve's boy."
"Oh yeah. Good kid." Mr Hamilton said, as he remembered Bryon's friend. Despite what Bryon claimed, him and Peter never go surfing. They have a deal. But he could hardly admit that, so he chucked on a hasty,
"Yeah, not a bad surfer."
"We will have to keep an eye out for the two of you," Bethany told him with a smile, "See if you're telling the truth!"

Bryon knew she was referring to Peter being a good surfer, but to him, it felt like she knew he was lying. Hiding the truth about how damaged he was from everyone, especially her, was hard. But lying to her face was disgusting. Desperate to get off the topic, he thought of the very first conversation he could think of, and turned to Bethany.
"Why did your mumma want me here for diner so much?"
"You haven't noticed the amount of food on your plate? Yeah, she is trying to stuff you."
"Oh…She is fattening me up? She must be planning on eating me." She was taking a sip at that, and coughed a little as she laughed. It was both her brothers this time, whose eye's snapped suspiciously over to their little sister. "Yeah. Definitely!" She agreed. Bryon glanced over at her. Bethany smiled, and shrugged. "She just… worries about you. We all do, you know? You're practically family."
"You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine."
"So you've been saying. Bryon, if your wanting to people to believe that, maybe you should eat your food, instead of just pushing it all around your plate?"

His eyes sunk down, as he halved wished she wasn't being honest. Ofcourse, she was telling the truth: he had barely eaten anything, just rearranged everything a bit. So he focused on eating, and letting the conversations pass him bye.

Bryon actually felt a little, accomplished almost, by the situation they were in. He was sitting beside Bethany. Bethany Hamilton. Eating dinner, and acting like he was totally normal. Not only that, but everything was going fine!

He just has to make sure he keeps calm, for the rest of the evening. Shouldn't be too hard.