24
Ashlynn
Those Eyes – New West
P ulling away from Anthony’s tight hold on me, I finally look at him and say, “Hi!”
I am greeted with his crooked smile and another hug. Grabbing my hand, we head to his car. He puts my luggage in the trunk, and once I walk to the passenger side to get in, I see the bouquet of flowers! Anthony speaks before I can say anything, “I know you won’t be able to keep them, but I just wanted to bring you some!”
Leaning over the center of the car, I give him a kiss and tell him, “Thank you!”
As we are driving, I ask, “So, what are the plans? Anything for tonight?”
“Not tonight. We have to get up early tomorrow for what’s planned, so probably an early night!”
I’m a little puzzled at what we could possibly be doing that is going to require us to get up early. “How early are we talking here? I am kind of grumpy in the mornings!”
Giving me a little grin, he says, “Don’t worry, breakfast and coffee will be involved first. I am grumpy, too, without caffeine and food!”
After driving for almost 45 minutes, we pull up to someone’s house, or at least that’s what it seems. The house is small and right on the water’s edge. “Whose house is this?”
“This house belongs to Nash’s family; they rent it out. Luckily, they held it for me for these next few days while we are here.” Walking inside, we are greeted by nothing but windows all along the back, with an amazing view of the water and Mount Rainier!
Anthony turns to me, and asks, “Do you want to change, and we can sit out by the firepit for a while?”
Anthony knows me too well. “Yes, I would love to! I will be right back.”
After changing and coming back downstairs, we head to the deck, where the fire is already started. “This house is beautiful; I would love a house like this! Right on the water. I can just imagine waking up and drinking coffee on this deck!”
“It is a very nice house; I have stayed here on a few occasions, when I have been out here for competitions. Nash’s family is great. Also, they want to meet you and are doing a cookout in a few days. The whole team is still here!” I’m excited to know the whole team is still here and I get to see everyone.
“Nash’s family wants to meet me?”
Kissing my temple, he says, “They treat me like a second son, since Nash is their only kid. They are good people. I know they will love you!” I don’t know how much longer we sit by the fire, because I end up falling asleep. Anthony wakes me up, so we can go to bed.
It is 6 damn AM! I can’t even remember the last time I woke up this early. I’m not much of a morning person, and Anthony just laughs at how sluggish I am compared to him, as he's able to wake up early and fully function within the first 15 minutes. “I promise getting up this early is worth it once we get to where we need to go.”
Sighing loudly, I say, “It better be worth it. I really don’t even know the last time I was up this early. Not even when your team came over for breakfast!”
We pull up to a harbor full of boats and a few different places to eat. We walk into a small little café for breakfast. The smell of coffee immediately fills the senses. We order a giant pecan cinnamon roll to start with and then our breakfast meals. I am stuffed by the time we leave. We walk along the pier for a little, so we don’t feel so uncomfortable after everything we just ate. Walking along the few little shops, Anthony receives a phone call, and all I catch is, “We will be right down!”
Turning to me with a big goofy smile on his face, he asks, “Are you ready to go?”
A little confused, I nervously tell him, “Yes!”
We walk down on the dock and stop right next to a decent size boat that is named, Alley-Oop! I stop dead in my tracks. Anthony looks over at me. “What’s the matter? We have to get on the boat for your surprise.”
I shake my head at him. “I can’t get on there. I haven’t been on a boat in a long time because I get motion sickness.” Anthony looks so deflated when I tell him this. He turns and jumps on the boat anyway and disappears. Then, he comes back to where I am standing with an older gentleman walking behind him. “Ashlynn, this is Captain Dave! Nash’s grandpa.”
I say hello to Captain Dave, as Anthony introduced him. “So, Anthony says you get motion sickness on boats? That’s okay, I have techniques that will help control it and some medicines.”
Anthony grabs my hand and I hesitantly follow him onto the boat.
Before we head out into the water, Captain Dave is busy with a few things while he's on the phone with someone else. As I sit down and allow myself to get used to the movement of the water, I notice the subtle motion of the boat, which starts turning my stomach a bit. Closing my eyes and trying to ignore it, I hear a loud thump followed by Nash’s voice! Opening my eyes, I see Nash. He says, “Hope you all don’t mind; I will be along for the ride this morning!”
Coming over to where I am sitting, Nash has his arms wide open and pulls me to my feet for a hug!
“Long time no see, Ashlynn.”
Smiling at him, I say, “Nash, how are you doing? Thank you for letting us stay at your family’s house and using your grandpa for whatever we are doing this morning!”
“The old man enjoys what he is taking you all out to do!”
Right at that moment, his grandpa yells from where he is, “When we are on this boat, it is Captain Dave!” Both Anthony and Nash laugh at his grandpa or Captain Dave!
After a quick boat ride out to the ocean and near a beach named Alki Beach near west Seattle, Captain Dave yells to us that this is the spot. We all just sit and wait for whatever we are waiting on. The boat just sways back and forth, making my stomach turn even more. I try to ignore the feeling of getting sick by breathing in and out on repeat. Nash comes to sit down next to me, “Ashlynn, I am not meaning this to sound mean, but you look like shit. You are way pale!”
Letting out a little laugh at Nash, I say, “Thanks for that Nash, I feel like shit! I don’t do well on boats!”
Anthony then comes over with some motion sickness medicine that he got from Nash’s grandpa. They kind of help ease the feeling, but not too much.
“Ashlynn, baby, if I knew you got motion sickness, I wouldn’t have planned this. I didn’t even think to ask how you do on boats. You don’t get sick in cars with motion sickness. I assumed it would be okay. Baby, you have no color in your face at all. I’m going to have Dave take us back. This isn’t fun for you.”
As Anthony gets up to walk to Dave, I grab his arm and pull him down on the seat next to me. “Don’t have him take us back, I will be okay. The medicine is helping a little. I don’t have car sickness because it’s a different motion than out on water. Though I am curious if this is the full surprise, or is it going to happen soon?”
Pulling my head down so it is resting on his chest and rubbing my back, he says, “You are so impatient. The surprise will happen when it is ready to.” I don’t even get what that means!”
Nash and his grandpa sit down when Nash decides to tell me, “You know, when I was little, I used to get sick all the time when we would go out on the boats. Even though I grew up out here and we went out on the water most of the time. It never failed; I would always get super sick.”
Busting out with a laugh, Captain Dave says, “It is true; the damn boy couldn’t even make it fully out of the harbor before he was throwing up over the side of the boat. He’s gotten better with age, as you can see!”
I look over at both of them, knowing they are just trying to help me forget about my motion sickness, “Thanks for the story, but talking about getting sick over the side doesn’t really help me out here!”
Anthony continues rubbing my back as I put my elbows on my knees and hold my head.
“Here is an old trick, Ashlynn. I swear it will help you. I need you to look up, though.” With that, I look up at Nash, noticing in my peripheral that Anthony nods at him like a go-ahead sign. “Look out at the horizon and find something to focus on. Don’t take your eyes off it. Soon, your eyes will only focus on that instead of the movement of the boat.” I am a bit hesitant that this will work, but I try it, anyway. What could it hurt at this point?
Turning my body to face the horizon, I focus on the beach that has a ton of seals laying out in the sun, but keep my eyes on the sand dune since it is not a moving object. We are far out in the ocean, but I can make out the dune. The only reason I know about the seals is because Captain Dave told us they hang out at this beach. Anthony has been unwavering in his back rubbing; I am almost relaxed, forgetting about the sick feeling. Right as I close my eyes, I hear a whoosh sound near the boat, opening them because I hear it again. I turn my head and see a mist of air come out of the water. Whispering more to myself than anyone, I say, “That can’t honestly be what I think it is.”
Anthony leans in, right next to my ear. “What do you think that was?”
I turn to look at him. “I think I know, but I am not sure!” More whooshing noise comes from a couple of areas around us, along with more mist in the air.
All movement has stopped after the last few minutes, so I turn back to focus on my nonmoving object. Sitting a bit longer and suddenly, a ton of air mist up out of the water and, with that, two orcas make an appearance, breaching up out of the water, just enough for us to see their eyes. I jump up so quick to the side of the boat that Anthony jumps with me and throws his arms around my waist. “You brought me out here so we can see orcas. Are you kidding me?!”
Anthony leans down and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Seeing your reaction is worth it. They are pretty awesome!”
The pod starts swimming all around our boat, and I am snapping as many pictures as I possibly can to always have this memory. Nash walks up next to Anthony and me, and says, “Feeling sick made it all worth it, right Ashlynn?”
I turn toward him. “So worth it. I never thought I would have this experience! This is amazing!” After a bit longer of watching the orcas, Anthony moves away and lets me soak in this moment. They are coming over to the boat more and I noticed that there are two babies with the pod! I can’t believe Anthony set all this up just for me.
With the pod swimming back and forth under the boat a few times, I lean over the side as far as I can so I can watch them and the babies swim more. Anthony comes back over to me, “If you lean any further, you are going to fall into the water!”
Standing back up and smiling at him, I say, “I guess you better hold on to me, so I don’t fall overboard!”
Giving me a shy smile, he says, “Of course, I will hold on to you. I’ll always be here to hold you!” Melting in his arms even more, I quickly turn and hug Anthony so tight and pull away, standing on my tiptoes and smash my mouth to his for a long deep kiss.