Episode 12: “So, uh, you slept here? All night?”
My sister Hazel also has a podcast, you guys.
But you just need the password to my voice mail to hear it.
[laughs]
By the time July 4th rolled around, I was immersed in everything that was Tahiti and quickly realizing I was having a hell of time managing work and surfing events while keeping in touch with my family.
But don’t worry, Hazel let me hear about it via voice mail.
The first one? Short and sweet and basically said, Hey, just checking in to make sure everything is going okay.
She must’ve left that one the day prior, when I’d been exploring the island with Jordy. Somehow, I’d let him talk me into taking a five-mile walk up a mountain to see a freaking waterfall.
The view was magic, but holy moly, I wasn’t used to that kind of cardio. Every muscle in my body had creaked and screamed its discomfort when I’d forced myself out of bed the next morning.
And the next voice mail from Hazel? Well, it’s so long that I’m actually going to play it right now, just so you can hear it…
“So, it’s me again. I’m guessing you made it safely to Tahiti and all is well. The only way I know you’re still alive is by your damn social media posts on Scoop’s Instagram, and the fact that you’ve apparently gone viral by writing letters to all of your terrible ex-boyfriends. Though, by the way, I’m loving the letters. They’re fantastic, and I’m hoping all this self-reflection will equate to you dating guys who are worthy of your time. Also, when you’re finally back in New York, I have someone I want you to meet. His name is Justin, and he works with Steve at the firehouse. He’s handsome. Super sweet. Has a stable job. And is single.”
[pauses the voice mail]
Of course my sister wanted to set me up with a man who was most likely the spitting image of her husband, aka my brother-in-law. She meant well, but she didn’t quite realize that just because a guy like Steve was her perfect match, it didn’t mean he was my perfect match.
Okay, back to Hazel’s podcast…
“Anyway, I’m not loving the fact that I haven’t heard from you in five days. Five days, Lucky. What gives? I’m literally going crazy over here wondering if my baby sister is okay. I mean, thank God I can at least check Scoop’s website and social media for signs of life, but seriously, you need to call me before I do something crazy like get on a plane and come find you. Call me back, okay? Love you even though you’re being a terrible sister right now. Bye.”
When it came to the flight threat, she was so full of boloney she could’ve added cheese and mayo and made herself a fucking sandwich.
She’d had a damn panic attack a few years back when she and Steve drove to Canada for one of their friend’s destination weddings.
[laughs]
Seriously, you would have thought they were taking a thirty-hour flight to China instead of a five-hour drive to Niagara Falls.
Anyway, I knew she was fired up.
And no way in hell was I going to subject myself to a three-hour phone call with Hazel bitching in my ear for ninety percent of the time.
So, I did the next-best option. A group family message. Hey, guys. Sorry I’ve been a little MIA. I’ve been swamped with work and deadlines. All is well. I’m currently safe and sound in Tahiti. Miss and love you guys!!
I added Hazel, Willow, and my dad to the chat and hit send.
Of course, my phone pinged with a response not even thirty seconds later.
And, yeah, you guessed it, Hazel was the first to chime in with a short, slightly passive-aggressive message of About damn time.
I wasn’t surprised, though.
And thankfully, Willow and my dad joined in on the fun a few minutes later.
Their messages were a completely different animal.
My dad simply responded with Glad to hear, Lucky Charm. Love and miss you too.
And Willow basically just told me she loved me and to send her pictures of the beautiful Tahitian scenery.
I took a quick photo from my balcony, a gorgeous view of the ocean and sand and sun bouncing off the water, and added it to our conversation.
Beautiful! My dad exclaimed, and then quickly departed from our conversation with a final message of I gotta run, girls. My waiting room is bustling and barking as we speak. Be safe, Lucky Charm. And have fun!
Willow also appreciated the view and sent a heart eyes emoji to show it.
But, Hazel? Well, she was still a bit pissed off…
Definitely gorgeous, but don’t think you’ve avoided having to call me back.
She could be such a ballbuster sometimes.
I simply told her I was swamped with work but I’d call soon, and I ended the chat before she decided to send me her frustration via words.
But just before I could click out of my message inbox and start sorting through my work emails, a new text notification from Ollie lit up my screen.
Meet me on the beach in fifteen minutes.
I hadn’t seen him since that day we’d gone kayaking—and I’d accidentally kissed him—and my heart did a little dance inside my chest when I saw his name.
[sighs]
Stupid heart.
But all that excitement quickly turned into annoyance when I registered his demand.
Meet him on the beach? Right now? I hadn’t even finished my first cup of coffee for the day. I promptly told him he was crazy and that I needed to wake up before I could even think about stepping out onto the beach.
But the man wasn’t having any of it.
You gotta hit the beach early to get the best waves.
Best waves? I didn’t need waves…
Yeah, you do, he said. Today is your first surfing lesson.
Surfing lesson?
Obviously, the man had lost his damn mind.
And I didn’t hold back from telling him that very fact. You’re nuts, sir. I can barely swim.
Sir? I could get used to that, little fire…
Cheeky bastard, huh?
I rolled my eyes. And then I called him a lunatic and told him I wasn’t surfing.
He was as persistent as ever, and when I asked him if he was going to give up anytime soon, he responded with a lengthy text.
Nope. I reckon we can continue this back-and-forth chatter for another ten minutes or so, but I suggest you go put on your suit, slather that delicate skin of yours with a whole bottle of sunscreen, and meet me outside. I’ll be the handsome bloke with the pink board in his hands.
He had a pink surfboard?
I couldn’t deny I was intrigued by the idea of it.
But when I questioned it, he hit me with a real confusing doozy of a response.
No, YOU have a pink surfboard. For today. But if you love it, I’ll make sure it stays yours permanently. Time’s a ticking, Lucky. Get dressed, and I’ll see you outside, yeah?
My mind was officially blown right out of the water.
But, technically speaking, besides my morning coffee, I didn’t have any plans for the day.
I’d already finished all of my urgent work tasks, and considering it was the Fourth of July in the States and Scoop’s offices were closed for the holiday, I really didn’t need to respond to emails until tomorrow morning…
The carrot o’fun dangled in front of my eyes, and before I could stop myself, I agreed. Fine. Give me 30 minutes.
[sighs]
Apparently, when it came to Oliver Arsen, I had a hell of a time saying no.
The reason? Even if I wasn’t admitting it to myself then, I can admit it to you guys now…
I was really starting to like him. A lot, in fact.
Which probably explains why I did meet him down on the beach thirty or so minutes later, and proceeded to subject myself to his surfing instructor ways…
“All right, down on the board again,” Ollie coached for what felt like the one-hundredth time, and I groaned.
Between the humid heat and the hot Tahitian sun, I didn’t know what was worse.
And for the first time in my life, I was actually craving the feel of the cool ocean water wrapping itself around my overheated skin like an air-conditioned cocoon.
Sweat dripped from my forehead, and I lifted a hand to swipe it off.
“Seriously?” I asked and stared down at the neon pink surfboard in frustration. “We’ve been out here for like two hours,” I whined. “Isn’t it time to head to the pool and cool off a bit?”
A smirk lifted the corners of Ollie’s mouth, and I had a feeling that smile even reached behind his aviators to the brown eyes that sat beneath them. “Fifteen minutes,” he said, and I quirked a brow.
“What?”
“We’ve been out here for fifteen minutes.”
[laughs]
Fifteen minutes, you guys.
It felt a hell of a lot longer than that.
Every inch of my body was sweating, and my muscles screamed in discomfort.
“You’re lying,” I refuted.
“Nope.” He shook his head and pointed to his watch. “You got down here at nine, and it’s exactly nine fifteen.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered and he chuckled.
“A few more and then we can take a break,” he said and moved toward me. “And this time, I want you to focus on the way your core muscles are engaged,” he instructed as he gently patted a big and steady hand to my stomach, and my muscles clenched in surprise. “These are the muscles that are going to keep you from falling on your ass out there in the sea. These,” he said, patting my belly again as he placed his other hand on my lower back, “And these.”
I looked down at where his skin touched my skin, and I couldn’t get over how his hand nearly spanned from one hip bone to the other.
I’d never really looked at a man’s hands closely, but Ollie’s hands?
Well, they were kind of perfect.
A little callused on the palms, but tanned and strong and with the longest, sexiest fingers I’d ever seen.
“Does it make sense?” he asked, and I lifted my gaze to meet his.
Make sense? I thought to myself. That you have the longest, sexiest fingers I’ve ever seen? No. Not really…
“Lucky?”
“Yeah?”
He smirked at my utter confusion. “Do you understand what I mean about your core muscles?”
“Oh!” I said, and my mouth formed a little circle. “Y-yeah, sure. I think I do.”
“Okay,” he said and stepped back from me and the board. When his hands left my skin, I had to stifle the urge to groan in disappointment.
[sighs]
Tell me I’m not crazy, dear listeners.
Tell me I’m not a total weirdo for being entranced by a man’s freaking hands…
[groans]
Anyway, once I pulled myself out of my weird hand fixation, I lay back down on the board and waited for Ollie’s instructions.
But this time, when he told me to hop up into position, my head turned woozy, and I had to adjust my body from squatting down over the board to standing straight up to avoid falling flat on my face.
“You okay?” he asked and I nodded, but that nod only made me feel more light-headed, and I had to shut my eyes to make the world stop spinning around me.
“Lucky?” Ollie asked, but his voice sounded miles away.
Like miles and miles a-fucking-way.
I even tried to open my eyes and respond, but when my vision tunneled, I shut them closed tight again.
[silent pause]
Everything pretty much went black after that. And the last thing I heard was the word, “Shit,” being muttered from Ollie’s mouth.
Yeah, I just up and passed out.
Right there, in the middle of the sand.
When I finally came to and opened my eyes again, I was lying on my back, my head resting on Ollie’s thigh, and his concerned face stared down at me.
“Lucky?” he asked and searched my eyes. “Are you okay?”
“What happened?” I asked and attempted to sit up, but he gently kept me horizontal with his hand to my shoulders.
“Don’t get up, sweetheart,” he said. “You passed out for a minute there.”
“I did?”
“Yeah, you did. I think we need to get you to a doctor.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t need a doctor,” I said and pushed his hands away with enough strength so that I could sit up. My head spun from the abrupt change in position, but otherwise, it stabilized pretty quickly.
“Sweetheart, I really think you do.” The concern in his eyes was evident, and my heart clenched at the sight.
“It’s no big deal, okay?” I said, but he didn’t seem convinced. So, I offered up a legitimate explanation. “Seriously, Ollie. I’m fine. This isn’t the first time that’s happened. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve had occasional issues with fainting spells.”
“Really?” he asked and I nodded.
“It’s a genetic thing,” I added. “My mom had it her whole life. Hell, it even got worse before she died.”
His eyes lifted in surprise and then darkened with more concern at my words.
“She died from breast cancer,” I explained further. “Not fainting spells.”
“Oh,” he said, and a layer of sympathy mingled in with his concern. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay.” I shrugged off the sympathy the only way I knew how. “It happened nearly twelve years ago.”
He reached out to brush a sweaty strand of hair from my forehead. “Must’ve been a pretty tough time.”
“It wasn’t easy,” I admitted. “But between my dad and my sisters Hazel and Willow, we managed to get through it. Anyway,” I said by way of directing the conversation to less depressing territories. “Sorry about the whole passing out thing. I think maybe the heat just got to me a little…”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “But I really think we need to get a doctor to check you out just to be sure.”
An unconvinced laugh left my lips. “That’s not necessary.”
I brushed the sand off my thighs and attempted to stand. But when I had to grip his shoulder with a shaky hand to steady myself, his mouth turned down at the corners.
“Lucky,” he said, and I waved him off.
“I’m fine. Promise. I’ll just head back up to my room and rest for a little while.”
“Okay. Yeah. That’s a good idea,” he agreed and hopped to his feet.
But he didn’t stop there.
With one strong arm below my thighs and another pressed to my back, he lifted me off my feet and into his arms.
“W-what are you doing?” I squealed.
“I’m taking you to your room.”
“Pretty sure my feet work, you crazy person!”
He just chuckled softly and carried me back toward the hotel’s beach entrance.
“Seriously, Ollie?” I questioned when we reached the automatic doors. “This is completely unnecessary.”
He pretty much ignored me after that.
Well, me and all the guests in the lobby looking toward us as he carried me to the elevator and tapped the up button.
“Oh my God,” I muttered as he stepped into the first available car. “You’re a pest, you know that?”
He grinned down at me. “Pretty sure you’ve told me that before.”
“Apparently, you don’t listen.”
“What room?”
“It’s 803,” I answered with a roll of my eyes. “And you can put me down now. No doubt I can handle it from here.”
“Not happening, little fire,” he responded and tapped the button for the eighth floor. “I’m not letting you stay by yourself until I’m certain you’re okay.”
God, he was annoying. But he was also the most determined man I’d probably ever met in my entire life.
I knew attempting to resist him was fruitless, and I needed to just saddle up for the rest of the ridiculous ride.
It was like he was trying to give his best Hazel impression or something.
I stayed patient, though, and silently planned to send him on his overbearing way once he’d set me back on my feet in front of my hotel room.
But my hopes went up in flames when Ollie walked us inside my room and made a show of putting me on the bed.
“Stay there,” he said.
“I need to pee, and I need to get out of this bathing suit.”
“Fine,” he agreed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “But then, it’s back to bed.”
I rolled my eyes as I got to my feet, grabbed a fresh set of clothes, and locked myself into the bathroom for a few moments.
But by the time I was dressed and heading back out of the bathroom, the woozy sensation started to fill my head again.
“You okay?” he asked when he saw me reach out for the wall to steady myself.
I nodded. “Just need to lie down for a bit. No big deal.”
Ollie wasn’t convinced, and with strong arms, he picked me back up and carried me to the bed.
And this time, I didn’t complain.
If anything, I was thankful for the help.
[sighs]
I was a real shitshow that day, you guys.
All woozy and light-headed and apparently incapable of completing the simple task of walking from the bathroom to the bed without nearly falling face first into the carpet.
But, Ollie? Well, he just handled it.
He stayed by my side.
He made sure I was okay.
And once he’d tucked me under the covers, he snagged his phone off the nightstand and made a call to one of the competition doctors.
When he hung up the phone, I glared at him.
“I don’t need a freaking house call, Ollie.”
“Stop being so damn stubborn,” he responded and sat on the edge of the bed near my hip. He brushed my hair out of my face. “You’ve already passed out once and nearly did it again coming out of the bathroom. Getting checked out by a doctor isn’t up for discussion.”
“That’s pretty apparent,” I muttered, and he just grinned.
The man gave zero fucks about what I wanted.
But apparently, he gave a lot of fucks about me…
[pauses]
The house doctor arrived not even fifteen minutes later, and Ollie greeted him at the door.
“Thanks for coming, Doc,” he said as they walked toward the bed. “This is Lucky. She passed out on the beach about thirty minutes ago and nearly had another spell when we got back to the room.”
“Hi, Lucky,” the gray-haired man said with a smile and held out his hand. “I’m Dr. Elders, one of the resident physicians with the Professional Surfing League.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said and shook his hand. “I honestly don’t think you needed to come up here, but Ollie was pretty persistent.”
Dr. Elders smiled knowingly and set a black leather bag on the bed. “Let me just do a quick assessment, ask you some questions, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”
Twenty medical questions and fifteen minutes later, Dr. Elders finished up his assessment and gave me a diagnosis.
“I know fainting spells are part of your medical history, but I think what we’re actually dealing with here is a bad case of dehydration. Have you done anything strenuous in the past twenty-four hours?”
“I went on a long hike yesterday with Jordy Fuller,” I answered, and Ollie’s gaze moved toward mine for a beat.
“Well,” Dr. Elders continued, “that, in combination with your work and travel schedule, is probably what did it. I think it would be smart if we give you some IV fluids just to help you get back on your feet a little quicker. Otherwise, I’m afraid you might start getting other symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.”
“An IV?” I scrunched up my nose. “You don’t think that’s a little overboard?”
The doctor shook his head and started getting out supplies. “No, I think it’s the correct and best treatment option for you right now.”
I sighed and lifted my eyes to glare at Ollie.
“Thanks a lot,” I muttered.
He just chuckled and reached out to hold my hand as Dr. Elders pulled his supplies from his bag to give me an IV.
By the time the needle was inserted and the fluids were streaming through the tubing and into my arm, my bones started to ache with fatigue.
Shit, what a weird day.
“Just give it about thirty minutes or so, and you’ll be all set,” the doctor updated as he cleaned up his supplies.
My eyelids started to droop, but I forced them open and nodded. “Okay,” I answered quietly, and a big yawn followed my words.
I moved my focus back toward the television screen, just as Ollie’s phone rang inside his pocket. He picked it up by the second ring.
“Hey,” he greeted into the receiver, and another yawn left my lips. “Sorry to do this, but I’m going to have to cancel the meeting today,” he said and stood to walk toward the windows that looked out onto the balcony. “An emergency came up.”
An emergency? Was he talking about me?
I wanted to keep listening to his conversation. I really did.
I wanted to tell him that I was fine and he didn’t need to stay, but the past two days had caught up with me.
My eyelids drooped down even farther, and it only took a few blinks before I was lights-out to the world…