Summer was almost over.
After our talk on the beach, I took Alex home from work a few times. It helped us. I wanted so badly to take her to our abandoned house. A part of me knew she wanted that, too. I was terrified that if we went there, our complicated relationship would follow us. I didn’t want to ruin whatever progress we had made.
Our friendship wasn’t anywhere near what it used to be, but it was something for now.
She and Cole spent a lot of time together. I saw them everywhere. My eyes tended to gravitate toward her, even when I willed them not too. I never talked to him, even though the boys did. We ate lunch with him a few times and I played nice.
Not for him.
For her.
I spent the morning arguing with my parents over the fact I still hadn’t decided on what college to attend. If I didn’t respond soon, I would lose the opportunity to attend. I’d end up at Wilmington University.
Would that be so bad? I didn’t know…
By the time I made it out to the beach, it was after lunch. I saw the boys as soon as I placed my board on the sand. They had been out there for hours already. Alex was on the restaurant deck with Cole standing in front of her, caging her in with his arms against the wall. She looked so tiny, gazing up at him. She seemed completely comfortable in her own skin. From Cole’s body language, it was obvious what he wanted.
Her.
He said something that lit up her entire face, the same way it used to for me. The glimmer of her lip-gloss reflected against the sun, making her mouth appear more inviting and enticing. I gripped my surfboard so fucking hard that my knuckles turned white. Jealously quickly escalated through my entire body in response. He may have a lot over me that I couldn’t compete with, but I did have one thing going for me that he never would.
She was mine first.
I must have made a loud noise when I picked up my board because our eyes locked despite the distance between us. Cole rapidly followed her stare. He scowled at me but shook it off pretty fast and tugged her face back to him with his thumb and forefinger.
I gripped my board, making my way to the ocean. I would take out my frustration on the waves. I paddled out a few yards and found a steady rhythm as always. Nothing compared to the feeling I got riding the water with skill and stride that I acquired throughout the years. As I caught my first wave, I saw pretty boy out of the corner of my eyes, paddling into it and cutting me off. I rode the wave as close as possible to him, made a firm left turn and sprayed him as hard as I possibly could. Narrowly dodging him, making him fall back into the wave, as I continued riding on.
The fucker did it on purpose.
That much I was sure of.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I yelled out, paddling up to the tail of his board.
“Can’t handle some healthy competition, Lucas? I already stole your girl, so I guess not.”
“Fuck you!” I roared.
“Ooohhh, touchy subject.”
I turned to face him as we both paddled out past the break. “Not at all, seeing as you’re just friends. At least that’s what Alex keeps reminding me of,” I maliciously spewed.
He narrowed his eyes at me and didn’t falter. “At least I’m something to her. Can’t say the same for you.”
I jerked back and he saw it. Grinning he said, “It’s about time someone puts you in your place, I don’t mind being the man that does so. Pick a wave. I’ll meet it. I’ll pick another and we’ll see if you can. Let’s see who can really ride better.” I could tell he was sore from me spraying him and making him drop back out of the wave.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Fuck that. That’s dangerous, there’s too many surfers out here today,” I reasoned, looking around us.
He snickered not looking around us at all. “Always knew you were a pussy, no wonder Alexandra came to me.”
I scoffed in disgust not backing down now more than ever. “I’ll go first.”
He smiled, a big toothy grin showing his stupid fucking dimples that I wanted to fuck up. “Lead the way, Bo,” he triggered with wide eyes.
It took a few minutes before I found the wave and nodded toward it. He didn’t miss a beat, immediately paddling out. We both rode the waves with perfection and precision of an experienced surfer, except at the last second he cut me off again. I realized right then and there he played dirty. We went back and forth a few more times, each wave bigger than the last. Since I knew how he competed, I kept my distance so that he couldn’t get close enough to cut me off again. It didn’t take long for the other surfers to grasp what we had going on and they swiftly made their way out of the ocean.
Before we knew it, it was just the two of us. I looked out toward the beach and saw a crowd had gathered. We were too far out for me to see if Alex was among them, but something in my gut told me she was. It just gave me more determination to make Cole look like the asshole I knew he was.
We played this back and forth for what seemed like forever with neither one of us backing down. The waves were getting bigger and heavier. Clouds began to form above our heads. Rain was fast approaching, with high winds only inciting the seas.
Cole’s turn was up and when he nodded toward the pier it took me a second to understand what he suggested.
He must have seen my trepidation. “Aww! Come on, Lucas, if I can do it, you can.”
“You’re insane. The waves are too rough. It’s too dangerous.”
“No shit. That’s the point. Whoever rides the wave under the pier the slowest stays away from Alex.”
I shook my head. “I’m not agreeing to that.”
“Scared you’ll lose then? Come on, I know you want me gone. I’ll back off if you win.”
“She means that little to you?”
He smiled. “I know I won’t lose. She means that much to me. Can you say the same?”
I knew in the back of my mind it was a bad idea. I also knew that I wouldn’t back off even if I lost, though he didn’t need to know that. If there were a chance that winning would make Cole go away, then I would fucking jump on it.
I cocked my head to the side and then nodded for him to lead the way. He did. My heart beat out of my chest with every wave we had to duck dive. In a matter of minutes, the winds picked up. The wash off the back of the waves sprayed hard into our eyes, making it that much more difficult to reach our destination.
Once we arrived, my skin felt chills due to the wind and rain that mercifully pounded into my flesh. I was ready to get the fuck out of the water. By the look on Cole’s face, he was too. “First one to make it under the pier the fastest wins,” he reminded.
All I did in response was nod my head. My lips felt chapped and dry.
We jockey for the wave trying to find the best break spot. We both managed to catch the wave, but Cole was in the best position. I didn’t let that deter what I needed to do, even though I knew I might get fucked. As I approached the pier, I strategically laid out how I would avoid the pylons as I chased Cole under the pier. At the last second, he purposely cut back and stalled, leaving me with nowhere to go.
I tried to bail off the back of the wave but clipped the pier on my way out, catching my right foot on the barnacles. Immediate pain rushed through me, burning like hell. I had no time to contemplate how bad my foot was because I needed to get the fuck out of the way of danger before the next set of waves took me underneath the pier.
I jumped on my board, using all my strength to paddle my way out from under the pier and let the white water drag me back. By the time I reached the shoreline everyone had ran toward me to help. As panic and chaos ignited all around me, all I wanted to do was pass the fuck out from the blinding pain in my foot.
I didn’t even wait until I reached the sand before I rolled onto my back, desperately trying to catch my breath and govern the burning sensation that elevated from my foot through my entire body.
“Oh my God! What the fuck were you thinking, Lucas?” Jacob yelled, kneeling beside me and placing my head on his lap. The rest of the boys gathered around me, but I didn’t see the one person I wanted to.
Alex.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Jesus Christ, Lucas, you could have died,” Dylan scolded, lifting my foot, that was now drenched in blood.
“I’m a doctor,” some man chimed in, pushing aside Austin and Dylan.
Thank God.
After he checked my foot, he called 911 stating I needed stitches. Dylan was able to get pain medication from the restaurant. I swallowed them whole and with no water. The crowd tapered after several minutes and it was then that I saw Cole hovering above me, looking down at me with worry and guilt all wrapped up in one on his face.
Not even a second later I saw Cole literally being shoved sideways and into the sand, his big, bulky frame falling over into a patch of water. I immediately turned my neck to find its source of strength.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Alex barked at him with her hands out in front of her. I had never seen her so pissed before. It took me a few moments to realize that she was the one who knocked him over.
“Darlin’—”
“Don’t, Darlin’ me. I saw you, Cole! I saw you provoke him. You knew! You knew what he would do! Why? Why would you provoke him into something that could get him killed!”
“That’s not—”
“I’m not stupid! You stopped! You stopped right in front of him and he had to jump off his board to miss you or even worse hit the pier! Oh my God, Cole! How could you?” she wallowed with tears falling down the sides of her beautiful face.
I looked back at Cole who had his hands up in a surrendering gesture and for the first time I felt bad for him. I don’t know why I did, I just did.
Love makes you do crazy things. I guess in part I knew he loved her, and that won out in the end.
“Half-Pint,” I coaxed and she instantly spun, her anger now directed at me. Which was not what I expected.
“You!” She pointed at me with a stiff finger and a heated composure. “Don’t, Half-Pint me! Why would you listen? Why would you be so stupid to put yourself in danger? What do you have to prove to him? Nothing! Not one damn thing, Lucas!” She stomped her foot, her body shaking. “You could have been killed. Do you not realize that? You could have died and I would have watched it happen. How could you do that to me?”
I jerked back, my own eyes filling with tears. “I’m sorry,” was all I could say.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. I knew she hated to cry and to have people watch her breakdown almost killed me in itself.
“You always say that! That’s all you ever say and nothing ever changes! Not one thing! I’m over your fair weather apologies that mean nothing. You never think about me! You don’t care about what I think or want! It’s always about you!”
Her words cut me in ways that made the burn of my foot seem like nothing in comparison. “It was just a guy thing. A stupid fucking guy thing,” I muttered, looking over at Cole who seemed amazed that I didn’t sell him out.
She stepped back, staring back between the both of us. “Like your, ‘She’s just a girl,’ thing?” she scoffed in frustration, vigorously shaking her head. “You two can have each other.”
“Alex,” I called out as she ran away from us. Aubrey quickly chased right behind her.
Cole and I just stared at each other before her mom stepped out of nowhere. I hadn’t even notice she was there. I saw the disappointment clear across her face, making me feel like a bigger piece of shit than I already felt.
“Lucas Brody Ryder,” she scolded and I winced.
“I don’t know what happened out there, but I do know that my daughter was worried sick the entire time. Jesus, Lucas, I have never seen her so scared before,” she sighed and I bowed my head.
The shame was too much to bear.
“I am so disappointed in you. So disappointed.” She handed me her cell phone. “You need to call your mama. The ambulance will be here soon.”
I grabbed the phone not being able to look up at her. I hit send and it rang three times before she answered. I know because I counted.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Mom,” I said with a voice I didn’t recognize. The comfort in her tone brought me to my knees and I flipped out. Of course that caused her to flip out.
“Lucas? Lucas, honey, is that you?”
“Mom, I’m in trouble.”
“What do you mean you’re in trouble? What did you do?”
“I hit the pier with my surfboard,” I explained with nothing but dread in my voice.
“Why were you under the pier with your surfboard?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. “I’m sorry.”
“Lucas, where are you?”
“At the beach, by the restaurant. The ambulance is on its way.”
“Ambulance?” she shrieked. “What’s going on? Oh my God, Lucas, never mind. I’m on my way.” She hung up.
I handed the phone back to Alex’s mom still not meeting her intense judgment.
“Cole, you need to call your parents.” She handed the phone to him next and I immediately saw the fear in his eyes.
“He doesn’t need to call his parents.”
They both looked over at me, shocked and dismayed.
“I’m hurt, he’s not,” I simply stated.
“Lucas, he needs to be punished for his involvement in this. You both do.”
“I’ll be fine. No need for both of us to get in trouble.”
She nodded in understanding. “Okay. I’ll go wait for your mama out front.
She left and the boys instantly hovered above Cole, who still hadn’t moved from his spot on the sand.
“You better stay the fuck away from, Alex,” Jacob warned, ready to strike if needed.
“Leave him alone.”
They all turned to me. “You can’t be serious?” Dylan chastised.
“I am. Leave him alone. It’s between him and I. Now give us a few minutes before my mom gets here and I’m grounded for the rest of my life.”
They all shot him dirty looks but took in my request and left.
“Man, I appreciate—”
“Shut the fuck up,” I interrupted, catching him off guard. “I don’t like you, you don’t like me. That much is obvious. I didn’t do this for you. I did it for Alex. As much as I hate it, she needs you in her life. You’re her friend in ways that I can’t be. At least not now.”
“I love her, Lucas.”
I nodded. “Me too. I hate that you’re around. I hate that she relies on you and no way am I saying I want you anywhere near her. And trust me when I say I don’t fucking like you, but who knows when I’ll be allowed to see the light of day again. So, take care of her this summer.”
“You have my word.”
“Now get the fuck away from me before I change my mind.”
He stood, peering down at me with one hand behind his neck. Rubbing the tension and anxiety that radiated off of him. “Lucas… I didn’t… I mean… I was running on pure adrenaline. I never thought… I mean…” he paused, trying to find the words to say to me. When he finally breathed out, “I’m sorry.”
I nodded again and with that he left.
I sat there thinking.
Not about Cole, or the pain I was in, or even how much trouble awaited me.
Alex and how everything she said.
Was right.
I didn’t give Cole the approval to be with her. I would never do that, but for the first time I thought about what she needed and right now.
She needed Cole.
End of story.