Twenty-nine
Beth toyed with the idea of not watching. For all of a second, she wondered if she could switch off. But then, of course, she realised that was an even worse option. At least, this way, she’d know what Lisa was up to. Whatever problems Lisa stirred up, Beth hopefully would be able to correct, when she got her body back. If she got her body back. As much as she was worried Lisa was going to attempt to seduce Charlie later, for now, she had more pressing things to concern herself with, namely, the fact that they were about to get on a boat and head out to the reef.
Lisa and Charlie greeted the tour guide at the water’s edge, and were directed to their boat. It seemed frighteningly small to Beth. They were introduced to the other people on the tour, six in total. After Charlie had introduced himself, she found it upsetting to hear him turn to Lisa and add, ‘And this is my friend, Beth.’
She wanted to scream, ‘No it isn’t. It’s not me at all. Don’t be nice to this woman.’
Charlie repeatedly smiled at her, especially when, with a lurch, the boat set off into the blue yonder. She could feel her face grinning back.
‘This is going to be great. I’m glad we’re doing this together.’ He put his arm around her.
Beth wanted to shrug him off, the last thing Lisa needed was any encouragement. But she already knew removing his arm would be impossible for her. For now, it was all up to Lisa.
The instructor began explaining about the equipment and how it worked.
Lisa seemed not to be listening. ‘The bloke opposite is quite tasty, isn’t he?’
‘Are you paying attention?’
‘Uh huh. I’m just saying, he’s not bad. Do you think that’s his wife?’
‘I don’t care.’
‘Shit. They’re both wearing rings.’
‘What did the guy just say?’
‘What guy?’
‘The guy who’s teaching you how to stay alive under the water.’
‘Oh, him. Um …he’s explaining about the floaty thing. We press the button if we want to come up … or go down … or something.’
‘Jesus, Lisa, you need to know this stuff.’
‘Shush, it’s incredibly hard to learn anything with you yakking in my friggin’ ear.’
‘Tell me about it. Try going through eleven years of school!’
Beth’s unease increased as they ventured further and further out to sea, and away from the safety of the shore. After a few minutes, they were given wetsuits and breathing apparatus.
Once dressed, Charlie said to Lisa, ‘You look kind of cute in that gear, Campbell.’ He then corrected himself. ‘Sorry, I mean, Beth.’
Beth fumed as she heard Lisa reply, ‘Campbell’s fine. I don’t mind.’
Bloody hell. How much longer is this going to go on for?
The rest of the group were nice enough, although she would’ve preferred to have met them as herself. As well as the married couple, there was another pair who seemed to be together. The last pair were two girls who were, very clearly, not an item. This was made obvious by the way they were flirting with all the men on the boat, including the instructor, who was a good twenty years their senior.
One of the girls, an annoyingly slim blonde, produced a disposable camera from her bag, and, forcing it into Beth’s hand, asked, ‘Can you take a picture of us with your hunky friend?’
‘No!’ Beth cried out.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll just fuck it up,’ Lisa said.
The girls grabbed an arm each and leant into Charlie.
‘Be careful,’ the blonde instructed. ‘I didn’t want to drop my decent camera in the sea, so I got that thing. It’s one of the ones you have to get developed. I don’t want to waste any shots.’
‘No problem. You just cuddle up to my “hunky friend”.’ Taking the photograph in a purposely haphazard fashion, Lisa shamelessly cut the girls’ heads off. To Beth, she said, ‘Say “cheese”, bitches!’ Handing the camera back, she gave a sarcastic smile and informed the girls, ‘You’ll like that one when you get it developed. Oh, and, by the way, he’s a bit more than a friend.’ Returning to her seat and moving closer to Charlie, she seductively pressed her leg against his. Beth could do nothing but watch.
The girls took the hint, and resumed flirting with the guide.
Lisa and Charlie stood on the seabed. With no other means of communication, they settled for doing the ‘OK’ hand signal repeatedly to each other. Behind his mask, Charlie appeared to be enjoying himself. An array of fish passed them, their colours were extraordinary. They were bright and beautiful and so close they could almost be touched. Darting this way and that, changing direction in an instant, they were a sight for sore eyes. Beth was aware of Lisa’s adrenalin.
How can she be loving it? Anything could go wrong. If we run out of air, so help me God …
It felt all wrong for Beth. She had no control over her breathing. Of course, when Lisa was in charge, it was never Beth’s job to breath, not really. Even on dry land, it was strange to be beholden to someone else to provide her with the most basic of life’s requirements. But here, under the sea, when the oxygen was being offered via a tube, attached to a tank, it was nothing short of horrific! As hard as Beth tried to breath for herself, she knew it simply wasn’t going to happen.
The wetsuit was extremely tight and seemed hell bent on killing her by constriction. The tank on her back was cumbersome and awkward. Beth wondered how Lisa managed to be so completely unfazed by all this discomfort. Thanks to her sister not listening to the instructions, she wasn’t even clear how they were supposed to get back up to the top, when their lesson finished. Aware of her anxiety levels hitting a peak, and fearful of the bends, she tried to ask Lisa, ‘Do you know what to do when the time’s up?’
‘Huh?’
‘When it’s time to go back up. How do we get back to the boat?’
‘What the hell are you on about? We just swim up.’
‘But … the bends. I’ve read about them. I don’t want to die.’
‘You’re not going to get the bends from swimming that far. I can see friggin’ daylight. Just shut up and let me enjoy this.’
‘I will, but are you sure we ‒’
‘Look at these. Wow.’ Lisa waved her hands, as a school of turquoise and black striped fish danced elegantly between herself and Charlie. ‘Aren’t they gorgeous?’
‘Yes, but ‒’
‘I said shush. If you spoil this for me, I shan’t be happy,’ Lisa hissed, menacingly.
Beth knew what that meant. Fearful of never getting her body back, she forced herself to stop talking. Hopefully Charlie was paying attention, and he’ll know how to get back safely.
Within half an hour the dive was over. The guide swam over and signalled with his thumb that they needed to go up. Kicking Beth’s legs, Lisa broke the surface in seconds. ‘See, we were only a few feet down.’ Taking the mask off, she sucked in a reassuring breath of fresh air. ‘Is that better for you, sis?’
‘Yes. Much!’ Beth knew Lisa was patronising her, but at that moment she didn’t care. Just to have her body breathing normal air felt amazing, even if she was still not in control.
Charlie helped her up into the boat. ‘That was brilliant, wasn’t it?’
‘Uh huh.’ Lisa sounded happy.
‘I’ll say it again, Campbell, you do look rather good in a wetsuit.’ He gave a whistle.
‘Thanks. I wish I could say the same for you.’ Lisa grinned. He simply didn’t have the best physique for such a body-hugging garment. Beth noticed Lisa’s gaze was mostly directed at the material which was tightly stretched over his crotch, it was leaving nothing to the imagination.
Glancing down, Charlie snorted. Adjusting himself slightly, he said, ‘Just got to change the angle of the dangle.’
Lisa and Charlie exchanged a look that Beth was not happy about.