Chapter Seven #2
She quickly snapped her head back just as Vivian said, “This challenge is called Between You. In your pairs, you’ll make your way to the beams.” She pointed toward seven colored wooden poles jutting out of the water.
Each one held two beams fixed to a central post. The beams narrowed in three staggered levels, while moving slightly farther from their partner beam.
Sabine didn’t like the look of it.
No one did.
There were grunts and soft moans, and Connie muttered ouch over and over again. She wasn’t wrong. Everything about the challenge looked ouchy.
“Each pair will stand on matching beams, with your backs facing each other. You’ll place a ball between your shoulder blades. You may not use your hands to hold the ball. You may, however, hold hands with your partner to help with balance.”
Sabine swallowed. That wasn’t going to happen.
She wasn’t the hand-holding type of person.
Not even if it meant nothing or was purely platonic.
Not even in a competition. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy human connection like any other person; it was more that her form of touch was a quickie inside a bathroom.
Or in the back seat of her Lexus. Sometimes she’d even bring a woman into the call room and lock the doors.
Then she’d say her goodbyes and promise to call when they locked their number into her phone. But she never did.
Never.
“The aim is to keep the ball in the air the longest,” Vivian explained. “As time passes, you’ll move up a level. Each beam not only gets further apart, which means you’ll have to lean against each other more, but also narrower.”
There was a collective groan.
Sabine’s feet ached just thinking about it. She wondered if going barefoot or with sneakers would be best, and then she settled on shoes. Always shoes. She’d seen far too many emergencies that would’ve been less catastrophic if the patient had only worn sensible shoes.
Vivian smiled, and Sabine wanted to wipe that smile off her face. “If the ball drops, you’re out. If either of you steps off the platform, you’re out. Last pair standing wins a reward.”
“Reward?” Isla muttered softly beside Sabine. “I thought someone was going home.”
“Why did we have to pack our bags?” Hanna seconded.
Once again Vivian ignored their muttering and pointed to a rope basket holding different colored leather balls. “Collect your balls, swim out and get into position. Today’s reward is a surprise, but I promise you’ll love it.”
Sabine didn’t doubt that. Any excuse to get out of camp to eat real food, to be surrounded by something soft and indulgent, maybe even a bed that didn’t smell like leaves, would be irresistible.
But there would be a trade-off. While you were gone, warm and distracted, feeling vaguely human again, the people left behind would talk, possibly even conspire against you. Which made Sabine’s stomach queasy.
“Positions!” Vivian called.
Talia was already swimming out to the post. She looked entirely natural in the water. Sabine, on the other hand, preferred dry land. She always had. She followed, climbed the short ladder up to the beam, and gasped, “You’ve got to be joking!”
“I know,” Talia said, smiling at her. “It looked way more manageable from shore.”
Sabine had to agree. The beam was narrow, barely wider than a rolling pin, and slick with seawater. If they lost their footing even by an inch, they’d plummet into the ocean.
“Ready?” Sabine asked, even though she wasn’t.
“Let’s do it.”
They backed toward each other in tiny increments until their shoulder blades met.
Talia then maneuvered the blue ball between them, and they leaned against each other.
Sabine was extremely aware of just how close they were.
Too close. She could smell Talia’s sweet sweat and hear her breathing despite the rumble of the ocean.
“Everyone ready?” Vivian called. “I’ll do a countdown and then we’ll start the—”
But she had barely had the words out before Connie squeaked and vanished with a splash. Charlize lasted exactly half a heartbeat longer before she too fell into the sea.
Vivian laughed, delighted. “Well, that’s officially our shortest attempt ever. Take a seat, ladies,” she said, pointing to a bench in the sand.
“One pair down. Another four to go,” Sabine muttered.
Talia chuckled, and Sabine could feel the vibration right into her bones. The awareness was maddening. She focused on her calves instead. Nope. Bad idea. They were already screaming. Ten-hour surgeries, while standing hunched over an operating table, were easier than this.
Time ticked. At one point, Sabine had thought Shakira and Amy were going to win this challenge, but then Amy yelped and the next minute the pair were swimming back to shore.
Talia suddenly shifted.
“What are you doing?” Sabine hissed, frowning. The shift was so unexpected, she’d nearly snapped her head back to look, but thankfully didn’t. The ball budged dangerously.
“Sorry,” Talia said, pressing against Sabine to keep it from slipping any further. “I feel like I’ve got a cramp coming in my back. I don’t know what muscle it is, but it’s a big one.”
“Can you manage it?”
“Yes. I just need to round out my spine a little, do you think—”
They wobbled. But just for a second. Without even thinking about it, Sabine found Talia’s hands. She laced her fingers with hers like she’d done it a hundred times before. There wasn’t even any awkward fumbling. They just fit. Like two puzzle pieces.
“I’ll keep us together while you stretch out your back,” Sabine said, feeling a flush of heat creep up her neck. She told herself it was just the panic from nearly losing, but was that really true? Yes. No. Sabine didn’t feel like sifting through her thoughts right now.
Once Talia had stretched out her back, they were back to being unstoppable.
Twenty minutes passed.
Right after Vivian had declared that everyone move to the next beam, Isla and Taye lost their balance.
The ball had landed in the water before they did.
Then forty minutes went by, and then fifty.
None of the contestants were talking. Not even Talia.
Sabine was concentrating so hard on keeping her knees bent that they were beginning to look distorted.
She hadn’t even heard Lucia and Marloe hit the water until Vivian announced it, and then she’d taken at least a minute to realize there were only two pairs left.
It was between them and Hanna and Monique.
“We can do this,” Talia muttered. Her voice was strained.
Her body was shaking like a leaf in a storm.
No wait. That wasn’t Talia. It was Sabine.
She was shaking. Her body was in the middle of giving up.
She couldn’t hold the squat anymore. Her small toe was aching, and that last beam was so damn narrow, her feet kept threatening to slip off.
“I can’t hold on any longer,” Sabine spluttered, barely able to keep it together.
“You can,” Talia said, pressing back just enough to keep the ball in place.
She squeezed Sabine’s hand, but even that extra tether couldn’t stop Sabine’s legs from quivering and her back from protesting.
She felt herself teetering, tipping forward.
The ocean below looked so inviting. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just let go.
Maybe the reward wasn’t even that great.
And then... splash!
Monique shrieked. Hanna flailed, and just like that they were tumbling into the sea with the ball falling after them.
“And that’s it!” Vivian yelled. “Talia and Sabine are the official winners of the Luxury Bedtime Reward!”