Chapter 36
Vince cooly surfed another ten waves. Though he messed up a few and fell off his board, for the most part, he cut a damn good figure.
“I’ve rarely seen him surf so well,” Pili said as he came out of the water with Milo and Brody. The three looked ridiculously good with their tanned surfer bods and beach hair. “It must have to do with you.”
I spun to face her. “With me?”
She tilted her head. “Your presence seems to motivate him.”
“He doesn’t know that I’m here.” My voice shook suspiciously. “I mean, he didn’t see us arrive.”
“Oh, believe me, he did,” she said in a tone I couldn’t quite decipher.
“Well, at least he does now,” Laurie said.
Vince was only a few feet away and shining at me like a thousand-watt bulb.
Though I put it down to the dopamine, I secretly feared that there was another reason.
And that reason was beautiful. Heart-stoppingly beautiful.
But it was also dangerous. And tricky. And wrong.
As wrong as the pride I had felt earlier when watching him surf.
“Hey,” he said, flashing his finest dimpled smile.
As if trying to dissuade me from my negative thoughts.
It worked. My heart filled with comforting warmth.
He sank to his knees in front of me and kissed me so fiercely that we sank together backward onto the sand.
His body was wet and cold and gave me some much-needed cooling off.
One of the guys grunted suggestively, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Vince give him the finger. But without breaking our kiss.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered, his lips tasting of salt water.
We stood up again and didn’t even bother to clean our sand-covered bodies.
Pili and the guys were ravenous. They hit the snacks while Laurie and I contented ourselves with some water.
Then came the expert assessments. As there were so many terms that we just didn’t know—airdrop and tube and kick-out and aerial—we soon lost interest and started talking about other things.
“How was training?” Vince asked at some point, hugging me from behind and putting his chin on my shoulder.
“It was awesome!” Laurie replied in my place. “No shit, you should have seen her. The way she just slams balls over the net.” She imitated me with an energetic hand movement, and managed to whack Vince in the face. “Oh, sorry.”
Flattered and a little embarrassed, I lowered my eyes.
“Maybe I’ll get the chance to see you play sometime,” he mumbled at my ear, causing my skin to tingle.
“Fuck…you two can hardly keep away from each other,” Pili groaned then made a face of mock disgust.
“You could have it too,” Vince said loud enough for her, but not Milo, to hear.
Pili rolled her eyes. At about the exact same time Brody called out, “Chip! Hey!”
His surfboard under his arm, Chip walked up to us. Shirtless, in patterned, low-riding swimming shorts. A few people nearby recognized him and began to whisper excitedly. As far as I could tell, he liked that kind of thing.
“You all leave me a few good waves?”
Pili spread her arms. “All yours.”
He nodded contentedly, stuck his board in the sand, and took off his backpack.
“How’s Tristan?” Vince asked.
“Good.” Chip shrugged. “He applied to be team captain.” With good-natured sarcasm, he added, “The old man was ready to burst with pride.”
“Speaking of lifeguards”—Brody nodded toward the abandoned lifeguard tower nearby—“what’s going on? Since when have they been taking off so early?”
Chip looked at his watch. “It’s five thirty.”
“They were already gone by the time we showed up,” Milo said.
“Hmm. Maybe lack of staff,” Chip suggested.
Milo wrinkled his nose. “Just saying. I mean, it’s not entirely undangerous with these kinds of waves.”
“I’ll pass it on.” Chip cast a glance at all of us. “What’s up? Someone gonna come with me or have you all had enough?”
Pili and Milo shook their heads. Brody mulled it over.
“What about you?” Vince asked me quietly. “You want to give it another try?”
I looked at him as if he weren’t all there. “No way. I was already afraid of one of you getting swallowed by those monsters.”
“You were worried about me?” he asked in far too smug a tone.
I rolled my eyes. “You all.”
“I’m out. I’ve had enough for today,” Vince said.
Chip and Brody headed off for the water with their boards.
“I’m coming with you,” Laurie said, jumping up from her towel. “I need to cool off.”
“Be careful, eh? Those waves are serious,” Vince called after her.
A second later Pili and Milo grabbed the volleyball and started to toss it back and forth.
“You want to join in?” Vince asked me.
I was about to nod when Pili said, “I’ve got my paddleball set too.”
“No way,” Vince said. “I’m not playing paddleball against someone who competes at Wimbledon.”
“You afraid?” Milo said.
“You bet I am,” Vince answered, causing everyone to laugh.
“I’ll be nice,” I said with a wink.
“Yeah, yeah, what was that about slamming balls over the net?”
“I don’t see any nets around here,” I replied innocently.
“Don’t be such a tool.” Pili chuckled.
Grumbling, he gave in and let me put one of the neon green rackets in his hand.
“In case it makes you feel any better, I haven’t played in ages.”
I tossed the pink ball into the air and caught it effortlessly with my hand.
“It doesn’t.”
I laughed and put enough distance between us to start playing.
* * *
“Game, set, match!” I said with devilish joy when less than a quarter of an hour later Vince was lying on his back in the sand.
“Since when has this game been so stressful?” He gasped.
“Since you decided to play against someone who competes at Wimbledon.” With a wink, I held out my hand, but instead of letting me help him up, he pulled me to the ground.
“Pretty sneaky,” I said once I was on top of him.
“Wearing this bikini was pretty sneaky too,” he whispered.
I wanted to kiss him when a scream made me stop. I turned toward the water. Disoriented, I squinted against the sun. Another scream. A woman calling for help.
“Fuck, that’s Laurie!” Pili yelled.
After a brief moment of shock, Vince and I jumped up and stared out into the ocean.
It was indeed Laurie. She had drifted off quite a distance, flailing her arms wildly and making panicked noises, while huge waves piled up all around her.
From one second to the next, I was frozen stiff with fear.
Someone called for the lifeguard, but I knew no one was there.
Only after a delay did I realize that Vince had long since started moving.
Following right behind him, I ran for the water.
A huge wave crashed over Laurie’s head. Someone else screamed. Me.
“Is that Chip?” I heard Pili call as Vince dove into the waves.
Someone was swimming toward Laurie. From where we were I couldn’t tell if it was Chip or not, but whoever it was, he was swimming toward her with powerful strokes. I held my breath, becoming acutely aware of all the worried mumbling around me.
“He’ll be by her in a second.”
Pili had come up next to me, her eyes fixed on the water. She was obviously referring to Chip, as Vince was still far away and was having a hard time withstanding the waves.
“He’s got this,” Pili reassured me, and a part of me wished she was talking about Vince.
Because whereas Chip had almost reached Laurie, Vince’s body was repeatedly being swallowed up by the waves.
My stomach tightened with fear, and it seemed wrong somehow when an unknown voice behind me sighed.
“Thank God!” Chip had reached Laurie, and they’d exchanged a few words.
Then he began pulling her in with an underarm grip.
Someone cheered. Someone else clapped. But I still didn’t feel any relief.
On the contrary. My heart felt like it was in a vice whenever I saw Vince’s head flash among the gigantic waves and disappear.
Flash and disappear. I was as afraid to look as not to look.
“Vince!” I cried. “Come back!” I knew my voice wouldn’t make it through the sound of the waves, but I didn’t care. “Vince!” In a panic, I turned to Pili and Milo. “He’s got to get out of there!”
“Vince!” Milo yelled, and I joined in.
Chip and Laurie, for their part, had made good progress and were getting close to shore.
“I’ll swim out to him,” Milo said, but was held back by Pili’s arm. Only for a second, but enough for him to see the fear in her expression. For him.
Over the next few minutes, so much happened all at once that it was hard to keep up.
Chip brought Laurie safely ashore, helped her out of the water, and wrapped her tightly in the towel that Pili had at the ready.
Milo told Vince that Laurie was fine and swam back with him.
As he waded out of the water, I couldn’t hold back any longer and ran toward him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said as I threw my arms around his neck. “All good,” he whispered. But I could feel him trembling. Could feel his heart hammering against his chest. And mine against his. “You okay?”
It took me a moment to realize that he hadn’t addressed the question to me, but to his sister. Laurie was standing between us, trembling and pale, a residual look of shock in her blue eyes.
“She got caught in an undertow,” Chip explained.
You couldn’t see the strain on his face, but there was something in his gaze. A darkness. As if something dark had taken possession of his soul. The hairs on my arms stood up.
“Do you need a doctor?” Vince asked his sister. His tone was soft and concerned.
Laurie shook her head a bit apathetically. “I’m just cold. And I’m tired.”
“Let’s go home,” he said.