Chapter Fourteen #2
I should have been embarrassed by how tightly I held onto Kelly, but I was in survival mode.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head against his shoulder.
My shivering slowed against the warmth of his chest as I listened to the crashing waves.
I felt weightless in Kelly’s arms and found comfort in the strong, steady beat of his heart. I inhaled deeply, taking in his scent.
I closed my eyes and relaxed even further. When was the last time I had felt this peaceful? Maybe never?
When my shivering finally ended, I opened my eyes and sighed. With the little self-control I had left, I peeled myself from his shoulder and found Kelly’s eyes.
His eyes were a dark shade of gray with a blue ring around the outside. Despite the cold water, his cheeks were flushed, and his eyes remained fixed on mine. With my arms still tightly wrapped around his neck, I could feel myself being pulled in closer. Was I the one leaning in?
I didn’t care. All I knew was that I was going to kiss this gorgeous man again.
I licked my lips in anticipation and tasted the saltiness of the ocean.
The pupils of his eyes got bigger as he leaned in towards me.
I closed my eyes as our noses grazed, and another shiver ran down my body, this time not because of the water.
I was holding my breath, waiting for our lips to meet, but instead, I was ripped away from Kelly as I was plunged into the cold water below.
The water spun me around, making it hard to tell which way was up or down.
I felt a sting as water rushed into my nose, and I reached for what I thought was the surface, fighting for air.
I broke through, gasping until I started coughing. I tried wiping the water from my eyes, but the saltwater stung, blurring my vision.
“Reese!” I heard my name, but couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from.
“Kelly?” I called back.
“Go ahead and swim through the break,” he yelled, but I didn’t even know what that meant.
I blinked furiously as my vision cleared and saw Kelly further out. I began swimming toward him, but froze when I saw a wave building in front of me. I tried to swim faster, but the wave swallowed me up.
Again, I was forced underwater, barely holding onto my goggles. This time, I found the surface more easily. As I tread water, I struggled to keep from passing out from how out of breath I was.
“Oi, Reese,” Kelly’s voice sounded closer this time, his hands wrapping protectively around my waist. “What the heck was that, brah?”
“What do you mean, brah?” I tried to throw his attitude back at him, but I sounded like a drowned rat. I couldn’t admit it out loud, but I was grateful for his steady hands that kept me upright.
“Have you never gone through the break before? You have to dive down. You’ll never get past it trying to swim over,” he said, more gently this time.
Oh, so the break was the mean, ugly wave that kept throwing me around. Got it.
“Okay, okay. If we’re being honest, I’ve never been past the break. But I did swim team one year in high school,” I added.
“Reese, that’s not funny. I wouldn’t have brought you out here if I knew you weren’t comfortable. We can head back in.”
“Wait!” I grabbed onto his arm. “I want to do this. I’m sorry I lied, but I am a stronger swimmer. I just don’t know anything about the ocean. Please teach me,” I pleaded.
He seemed to debate with himself for a moment before sighing heavily. “Okay, but you have to do exactly what I tell you. And if you don’t, then we are heading back.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“Can you open your eyes underwater?” He asked.
“No,” I admitted.
“Put your goggles on. We are going to swim towards the breaker zone. This is where the strongest waves become unstable, breaking before crashing back onto the shore. When a wave starts to form, we’re going to dive down and swim through it.”
I pulled on my goggles and adjusted the snorkel in my mouth.
Kelly didn’t need his as he signaled for me to follow him.
We started again for the rising tide, the nerves in my stomach building until we were right on a wave.
He dove down, and I followed on pure adrenaline.
I kicked furiously, refusing to take my eyes off him.
My arms thrusted forward furiously until Kelly started to make his way up to the surface. I broke through to the surface a moment later, a smile wide on my face.
“I did it!” I exclaimed as I looked back.
“You did,” he smiled. “Okay, we have a little further to swim.” He turned back to the open sea.
I followed behind for a few minutes, hoping we didn’t have to go much further. Right as I was about to throw in the towel, Kelly stopped.
“This is it,” he said, pulling his goggles on.
I dipped my head in the water and was amazed to see that we had been treading water over a large coral area. Fish of all colors and sizes swarmed around us. They were mesmerizing as they swam in different directions.
I watched as Kelly dove deeper off the edge of the coral, venturing further down to the ocean floor.
I hesitated, unsure if I was brave enough to follow, but the little I knew of Kelly made me think he’d make me return to the shore if I didn’t feel comfortable.
I didn’t come this far to turn back now.
I took a deep breath and began my descent, letting out little puffs of air as I went.
The larger fish the coral had hidden became visible.
Numerous fish brushed up against my legs while others breezed right past me.
I was about to rise back to the surface for air when a shadow above covered my body.
I looked up and saw a greenish-brown, shelled body with legs sprawling out.
A sea turtle the size of a large dog was gliding directly above me.
I slowly eased myself towards the surface, making sure not to touch the turtle, until my snorkel found some air.
My eyes zeroed in on the creature in front of me.
I was afraid to move and scare the turtle away.
Something bumped my arm, and I turned, expecting to find Kelly next to me. Instead, my eyes widened as another sea turtle, maybe twice the size of the first, swam right past me. Its dark, black eyes looked uninterested in me as it moved on.
Kelly swam up, seemingly out of nowhere, and I brought my head back above water.
He whipped his blonde hair out of his face. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Pretty cool?” I laughed, my voice nasally from the googles that were covering my nose. “Pretty cool is when a movie you like just happens to be playing on TV, and you catch it from the beginning. This...this is unbelievable.”
I didn’t wait for a reply as I lowered back into the water, noticing that my turtle friends had moved on further out to sea. I moved to swim after them, but was stopped in my tracks as another turtle cut me off, its fin grazing my leg.
We swam for at least the next two hours, neither of us coming up to talk but conversing through a lot of pointing, thumbs-ups, and mouthing the word ‘wow.’ I felt weightless as we floated around, the only sound the soft swishing of the water around us.
A school of orange and yellow fish swam by quickly when I saw Kelly pointing to the surface.
“You ready to take a break? He nodded back towards the shore, and the distance we had drifted was shocking to me.
“I could use some water,” I admitted.
I was careful not to touch Kelly as we swam, not wanting to remind him of our almost-kiss from earlier. I could admit that we had physical chemistry, but I was thankful that the wave stopped us from making a mistake.
It was one thing to kiss in front of his family to prove our relationship. It was another thing entirely to kiss when we were alone.
The sand felt scorching under my toes, and my legs ached fiercely as we made our way to our setup. Kelly handed me a towel and a water bottle. I gratefully accepted both, wrapping the towel around me and chugging down some water quickly. I hadn’t realized just how thirsty I had become.
I glanced over, eyes going straight to his Adam’s apple as it bobbed up and down while he drank. I averted my gaze, heat creeping up my neck.
Kelly took a seat in one of the camping chairs, and my legs shook as I took a seat next to him.
“Swimming like that will take it out of you.” Kelly took notice of my legs.
“I usually run every day, but I haven’t been able to since moving here. It’s crazy how it takes no time to get out of shape.” I felt suddenly self-conscious.
“No, no. I can tell you work out. Most people wouldn’t be able to swim like that for more than half an hour.
I’m impressed you were able to stay out there as long as you did.
I’ve known a lot of women who would’ve refused to get their hair wet at all.
We came in because I’m tired.” Kelly smiled kindly at me.
“Do you like poke?” He asked, but it felt as if he were testing me.
“I love it,” I admitted.
He smiled widely at this. “I just happen to know the perfect place.”