Back to Normal

The rest of the afternoon went by smoothly. Adam returned the contract to Marcus, noting some of the changes he suggested. Afterwards Elle and Adam returned to the beach behind the villa and stayed there until dinner. After they finished eating they returned to their room,

While Adam showered Elle stood on the deck, admiring the stars and the silence. When Adam had finished he came out into the bedroom only to find it empty. The glass door leading out to the deck was propped open.

He went out and found Elle there, leaning against the banister with her head tilted upwards to the sky. He gently walked up behind her and wrapped both arms around her slender waist.

"I don't want to go." Elle whispered. "How nice would it be if we could stay here forever. With not a care in the world. But tomorrow everything will go back to normal."

"Nothing is normal when I'm with you." Adam murmured.

"That's right. I'm abnormal aren't I?" Elle asked with a laugh.

"That's right." Adam said with conviction. "It's impossible for anyone to be as beautiful as you are and yet you do it."

"You're just flattering me." Elle teased.

"Is it working?"

Elle's smile was her only response. After a moment she felt a drop of water on her shoulder. She looked back and realized that Adam's hair was still wet.

"Come on, let's go back inside. The nights are still cold."

~~

The next morning the two stayed in bed for a while longer then usual. Neither of them felt the same level of urgency to return home as they had felt when coming here.

Adam was the first to get up. After washing up he quietly moved around the room, packing their things up, while being careful not to rouse Elle.

It didn't matter, even if he had tried she would have refused to get up. The softness of the bed with the warm sea breeze blowing against her back was too addictive, she couldn't bring herself to leave it. It was only when her stomach demanded breakfast that she finally dragged herself out of bed.

They had a nice breakfast together, and even stayed long enough to have a quick lunch. It was early in the afternoon; Adam was lounging in the living room. His long body lay on the sofa with one leg bent and his arm covering his eyes to block out the light. He wore a button up shirt, which was usually meticulously buttoned up to the top, but now had the top two buttons undone. An aura of lethargy surrounded him.

"Come on." Elle said as she gently nudged him. "Let's go."

By the time they arrived home the sun was already setting. Adam would have to leave for work the next morning but Elle still had one more day off so she insisted she would unpack the next day.

They were about to go to bed when Elle suddenly remembered her phone which was still switched off and stored away in her purse. She turned it back on and waited a moment before she was bombarded with missed messages from the past two days.

Most of them were either anxious messages from Abby, wondering when she would return from her trip and asking if they could meet up when she did, or from her father who would switch in and out of being gentle and wishing her a relaxing trip and irritably demanding her to return back to the family house.

Upon entering the bedroom Adam found Elle sitting on the edge of the bed staring down at her phone with her face scrunched up.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Everything's fine." Elle said, putting her phone away with a sigh. "Just back to normal."

~~

The next morning Elle woke up quite early but Adam was already gone. Elle looked around the empty room with disappointment. Adam's condo was nice, the room was quite large, the air conditioning cooled the room, and a window on one side let in some natural light but Elle couldn't deny that she missed the villa.

She missed the vast expanse of the bedroom, the humid sea breeze that often wafted through the room, and the blaring sunlight that demanded to be noticed as the sun rose in the morning.

But then again, she suspected she would soon be missing this room, and all the quiet comforts it provided. Because, although she hadn't spoken about it with Adam yet, the truth was that Elle intended to move out of his condo.

After breakfast Elle's first task was to unpack their things, which didn't take nearly as long as Elle had suspected.

Afterwards Elle opened her laptop and began browsing through relator listings. A new chapter of her life was beginning, and she wasn't going to spend this one passively, she was determined not to rely on anyone. Not even Adam.