left below in the waves

            Thoughts were running a mile a minute, leaving the brunette easily distracted. Even with her company, it was hard to truly focus on her surroundings, and it wasn’t until his words jostled her out of her mindset that she fully allowed her gaze to land upon the male. “Huh?” She questioned, head shaking slightly as she came-to. “Oh, crap.” She began, licking her lips as a hand rose to rustle against her brunette locks, scratching gently as she realised she’d dove off into day-dreams. “Sorry.” She proceeded to add as a smile then crossed her features, doing her best to recover. “Work’s just been busy.” A lie. Well, partly. It had been busier than usual, but that wasn’t what had her mind clouded. “What were you saying?” She’d clearly missed whatever it was he was trying to say, in a world of her own as he tried to make conversation. Not only that, but he was doing her a favour in tending to the kitchen door.

              “Mhm.” Ted sounded, completely unconvinced as he continued to fiddle around. Saint Vincents was minuscule, and the rumor mill spun out gossip at record speeds. While the blonde was fairly certain that a returning prodigal son was responsible for her distractedness, Ted had to consider the best way to bring it up — if he even should. It’d always been a weird concept, measuring up to Brennan Walsh. He’d given up on that in the early days of their relationship, knowing full well there was always going to be a part of Noemi’s heart that couldn’t be reached. “I was just sayin’ I can take Jackson to soccer this Thursday if you still needed. I know that’s when ya got inventory goin’.” Ted hadn’t ever minded hanging around in Jackson’s life, he was already kept busy enough with nieces and nephews afoot, so one more kid to the mix didn’t make any difference in his mind. That’d been the one thing they’d been sure not to sever with their romantic relationship before anything else. And, with a little time, they’d become easy friends once again. “We can talk about it, y’know. Him. Bein’ back.”

This was by far the worst possible conversation she’d ever had while hangover and it really wasn’t helping her feel any less irritable. She squeezed the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes as she inhaled sharply. “If I have known this is what I would’ve had to put up with, I would’ve ordered in,” she muttered before putting another fry in her mouth and stopping herself from saying something harsher. “Are you my father now? Did dad pass the torch to you or something? Is there a family group chat I’m not a part of?”

               “Whaddya mean? This ain’t what you signed up for?” Ted asked rhetorically with a roll of his eyes. As the baby of the family Kendall had gotten away with plenty, more than Ted thought was good for her, apparently. He’d never meant to be a third parent, but he also equally had a hard time keeping his mouth shut where her antics were concerned. While they weren’t friends, he’d love his sister regardless. And, sure, he was more than a bit precautious after Caleb, and Caleb was actually careful. Kendall, on the other hand, was far more care-free and reckless. “I talk to mom and dad about as much as you do.” He added with a shrug of his shoulders. He’d never been particularly close to his father, and their mother was equally as distant. It seemed to be a rarity within the family, as each child seemed to have had their own unique closeness to one or the other, but not Ted. It wasn’t anything deliberate. He supposed they just didn’t have much in common. “You know I just give a shit about you, Kenny. Sue me.”

“Yeah, I hear that a lot. I mean, any career that was good enough for Jesus is probably good enough for me, too” Ben said, lip upturning into a grin at the thought. Truth be told, any career would be good enough for him at this point in his life. “Not gonna lie, vaping is pretty dope. There’s just a lot of flavors” Ben admitted through a fit of laughter before shaking his head. Despite the fact that Ben’s mother had passed a year prior, he had a feeling she would have the same sentiment as Ted’s mother which was enough to keep him away from it. “I don’t think you should use Kenny as a scale, girl’s gonna drink you under the damn table” He added, if only because it was true. She’d probably drink himself under the table as well if she kept it up.

“Never was book smart but I’ve always been good with my hands.” Which wasn’t necessarily true, perhaps if Ted had applied himself more to his studies, but he’d always had a mind beyond high school, beyond what a textbook had to offer. He’d been more free spirited, more salt of the earth than regimented. He was a hard worker, his crew could attest for that, but he’d wanted to earn a living his own way. “Shoulda known you’d vouch for that shit.” Rolling his eyes, Ted would simply shake his head before he brought his beer to his lips. “Unfortunately I don’t think closet alcoholism is a marketable skill, but damn if she ain’t givin’ it her best shot anyway.”

“Uh huh,” she muttered, eyeing him skeptically. In her eyes, Ted was the perfect child and she was the disappointment. It wasn’t all his fault, she made it pretty easy for him to look like the golden boy. “Yeah, in front of Skip. I don’t like to advertise how broke I am. I do have pride, you massive asshole.” She slapped his hand away as he reached for her food, glaring at him in a way only an annoyed little sister could. “I’m taking a year off college, you know that. I’ll go back. Eventually.”

             There was no winning with Kendall, as Ted has learned long ago. But somehow losing Caleb had made her more impossible. While the rest had softened with his death she’d hardened to an unreachable point, and he wasn’t sure she’d be able to walk herself back from some of the choices she’d made. “Well, maybe if you weren’t such an embarrassment it wouldn’t be so damn easy to embarrass you.” Ted waggled his brows, giving up on being able to pick off any of her food, even if he was paying for it. “Yeah, well your year off is comin’ up on two. D’ya really think everyone is jus’ gonna put up with you being a freeloader ‘til Kingdom come? Commit to somethin’ besides bein’ hungover for a change.”

               “What’s with the thousand yard stare, Noemi? You’ve been distracted all night.” Ted asked casually as he busied himself with a screwdriver and a busted lock on the kitchen door. 

     A bit of company and a fully stocked cooler of beer — in what world wouldn’t she say yes? Fifteen minutes after receiving the text Whittaker strode down the pier, announcing herself with the unhurried thwack of leather sandals on weathered boards.“You just knew, did you?” Crouching at Ted’s back she let her arms tangle around his neck, then grinned. “I guess that means I need to reconsider a few things. I loathe to think I’m becoming predictable.” How boring. 

     Subtle laughter trapped in her throat, Whit bent in to press a chapstick kiss to his cheek. “All that aside, I don’t hate that you reached out tonight.” In fact, she was glad for it. If there was one thing she detested more than routine it was wasting an entire evening sank into the cushions of her couch. Netflix and chill? For Whittaker? Not likely. She eased off to claim the spot directly to his side, then promptly helped herself to a chilled bottle. “So go on. Out with it,”She teasingly demanded though it’d only been a few days. “Tell me how much you’ve missed me.”

               “I know you like the back of my hand at this point, woman. You rarely surprise me,” Ted teased, leaning briefly into her warm welcome before readjusting his perch at the edge of the dock. “Self-loathing is natural, y’know. Jus’ give in, you’ll be in for one hell of a ride otherwise.” It was only natural to blush as she kissed his cheek, but under cover of darkness Ted was saved the embarrassment of it. 

               “You know I’ve got a policy about drinkin’ alone.” He mused with a cheeky smile, free hand reaching into his pocket to offer over the bottle opener that hung from his keychain. “I leave that to Kenny and the bum that sits outside the church. ‘Course if you didn’t show up you know I’d be drinking against the statue of St. Vincent right about now.” A subtle roll of the eyes and Ted would look over at the woman and offer an overstated nod. “Yeah, yeah. I missed you, like I always do. Why do you think I sprung for the good stuff?” He snorted, knowing the Miller was just a step above swill, but he loved the taste anyway.

Kenny rolled her eyes in annoyance, looking down at her fries as if they were the most interesting things in the world. “Mom and dad aren’t around, there’s no one here you need to impress,” she said bitterly, as if having a job was such an impressive thing to begin with. “Thanks, just what a girl likes to hear. Lookin’ at your stupid face isn’t a walk in the park either.” He wasn’t wrong about her having very little money. Her parents gave her a small allowance, probably because she was the baby and they were soft on her, but she spent most of it on rent and on alcohol. Food usually came last. She waited for Skip to be out of hearing range and turned to glare at her brother. “Really had to embarrass me like that, huh?” Apart from her parents’, Kenny found it hard to accept help from anyone. Most of all Ted. While her entire family reminded her of Caleb constantly, looking at Ted was like looking at her late brother and she couldn’t stand it. “I went out with some friends and had a little too much to drink, no biggie. You would understand if you knew how to have any fun.”

“Not tryin’ to impress anyone.” Ted retorted with a roll of his eyes at the easily anticipated retort that left his sister’s lips. She’d only grown more difficult since Caleb’s death, and while his parents still carried patient hearts around, he’d grown weary of her antics. He loved her, cared for her deeply, but he feared for her in a way only a brother knew how. “In front of Skip? You know he doesn’t give a rat’s ass how the money comes his way. Don’t act like you’ve got pride all of a sudden.” Head shaking, he reached over to snatch a fry, he’d paid for them, after all. “Yeah, sounds like every fuckin’ night of your life. I have plenty of fun, Ken, I also work and afford to live my life my way.”

Despite the cloudy sky and it being almost dinner, Kendall was sporting her most expensive sunglasses and nursing herself one hell of a hangover. She had just woken up a few hours ago, but had somehow managed to drag herself to Crab & Claw for a greasy meal that she hoped would have her feeling better in no time. She was enjoying her basket of fries when she heard a familiar voice coming from the other end of the bar. With a groan, she turned to look at her brother. “If you only knew,” she said with a scoff, glancing at her own glass of gin and tonic. “What are you doing here?”

“Y’know, workin’ for a living, kid.” Ted tsk’d, chugging from his beer if only to steel himself to deal with his kid sister. “You look like shit, by th’way.” Only then did he smile. “You can add her to my tab, Skip. You already know she’ll end up washin’ dishes if she tries to order more than celery.” It wasn’t animosity, far from it. In his own obstinent way, Ted would always look out for Kenny, whether she liked it or not. So if it meant making sure she got a hot meal and didn’t drink alone, he’d stick by her side. Begrudgingly, of course. “What the hell didja get up to last night that you’re crawling in here lookin’ like this past noon?”

Ben rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes and huffed out a sigh before his beer finally came along, initiating a smile upon his worn features. Ever since he arrived in Maryland it was hard to hold down a stable job with little experience and no proper education or GED, so he found himself working odd jobs here and there. This morning one of the residents hired him to help them with a catch by the docks and it was safe to say Ben wasn’t a fan of the work day starting at three am. Ted’s presence shouldn’t have been too surprising, but they hardly hung out this early and if the guy wasn’t going to judge him for the early beer, then he’d happily join in, “Gonna need that on a sign at home just to remind everyone” Ben said with a smirk as he made the short walk over and joined Ted’s table. Taking a much needed sip from his beer, Ben reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette and slipped one between his lips, “You got a sayin’ to justify this sin too or nah?” He asked with the raise of his brow, still very much amused. Given Ted’s words, Ben couldn’t help but feel it was a bit ironic considering he had just spent the other night with Kenny and it was safe to say the girl was beginning to worry Ben with her bad habits. However, it wasn’t his place to police her, after all, she wasn’t one of his sisters, although she was becoming more and more like one.

“I’ll even teach you to make the sign yourself. Carpentry’s useful, man.” Ted grinned, nodding towards Ben as he moved to sit with him. In similar fashion he’d brandish a package of Parliament’s, plucking a cigarette betwixt his lips and thumbing around for his lighter before finally igniting it. “Nah. The drinkin’ my ma can get past, but I just tell her at least I don’t vape. No popcorn lung and I don’t look like a fuckin’ asshole. She says it’s fine as long I’ve got a little dignity in the act.” Winking, a billow of smoke would pour from Ted’s nostrils as he exhaled, then lifting his beer to his lips. “Figure long as I’m a drink or two behind my baby sister then I’m not a total useless shit.”