The Beach
When Alec invited us to go to the beach, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. It made me feel warm and appreciated – the fact that he wanted us to join them – but I also had my doubts. Being in my swimming costume in front of guys I’ve only just befriended? That’s actually kind of intimidating. I also haven’t been on a group trip out with friends for . . . well about a year now. I’m unused to this kind of thing. To make matters worse, there’s also the minor detail of me not being able to surf.
Yet somehow, Violet still managed to convince me into saying yes.
“I know you aren’t comfortable with them just yet, but they like you, and they want to spend time with you. This is not a scary thing or a bad thing; it’s an opportunity to defeat some of your fears and get close to some pretty nice people,” Violet had said to me, when I expressed my nerves. “Plus, I’ll be there with you if you ever do want to leave, or feel uncomfortable. Come on, Riley, you’re great and you can do this.”
I said yes. Now my poor unfortunate ears are facing the consequences.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round!” Joe’s voice bounces around the car as he belts out the rhyme in quite possibly the worst tune I’ve ever heard. He clutches his chest dramatically, blissfully unaware of the way the rest of us are wincing at the pitch. “Round and round, round and round!”
“Dude, we’re in a car,” Alec deadpans from beside me. His warm arm is slung round my shoulders in a casual gesture, which somehow still makes my skin tingle and my heart race. Dylan and Violet are sitting in the back making small talk, with Chase driving and Joe sitting shotgun. We’ve been on the road for the best part of five minutes and already my ears are bleeding. Luckily for me, we should be there soon, and part of me is actually excited.
Sparking a bright idea, I fish around in my pockets for my phone and my earphones. Joe has moved onto a rendition of “Humpty Dumpty” now. If he doesn’t shut up then I’m just going to have to drown him out instead. Alec spots me fumbling and leans closer to speak quietly to me. The hair on the back of my neck rises at our proximity.
“Can I listen too?”
“Sure.” I pass him an earbud with a smile. “Taylor Swift or One Direction? I don’t have any other music on this phone.”
“Nice try,” Alec scoffs, elbowing me playfully so as to make more room for himself in the middle seat. “I know you aren’t into that kind of music. I practically hear your playlist on repeat, from your bedroom speakers. Put Twenty One Pilots on or something.” Impressed by his observation of my music, I do exactly that, chuckling as I elbow Alec back and sling my legs over his as best I can with the seatbelt. I win.
“Guys, can you just date already?” Chase groans from the driving seat. “The sexual tension in this car is unbearable. My boy radar is picking up on it.”
Joe stops singing to gape at his best friend.
I inhale sharply at this, fighting the urge to laugh. “Is that your indirect way of saying we’re turning you on?”
“Maybe.”
“Just think of your grandpa in the shower. Naked.” My voice is laced with a daring sense of amusement, and Alec cringes beside me.
“Ahh!” Joe yelps loudly, covering his eyes as though it’ll help. “I’m imagining it too!”
I hear Violet snickering behind me, and she pats me supportively on the shoulder.
“You’re going to make Chase crash the car,” she points out. “He looks horrified enough as it is. In fact, all the boys do.”
I glance over at Chase, letting out another dark giggle. At the moment the poor boy is blinking repeatedly, as though he hopes to get rid of the image that way, and his face is coloured a bright red hue. Serves him right.
I wonder briefly what we’ll be doing today, but the answer is pretty evident. The surfboards are attached to the roof of Chase’s car – a dark truck with the licence plate peeling off at the back. My minimal experience of surfing was noted and ignored, and Violet happily pointed out that we can just go swimming, sunbathe or walk around instead. It’s her first real bonding time with Chase, Joe and Dylan and she seems to be fitting in really well. Not that I’d expect any different from my bubbly best friend.
“Can you surf?” Alec asks, as if reading my mind. I shake my head. “Guess I’ll have to teach you.” He looks oddly pleased by that fact. After the skateboard incident, guess he’s just happy that he’s better than me at something.
“I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it,” Joe says, winking at me. “If she doesn’t, then it’ll be funny to watch her failing, so it’s a win-win situation for all of us.”
Alec smirks at this, high-fiving Joe. I guess boys will be boys.
“Fail like your last Math test,” I mutter under my breath. I don’t think Joe heard it, but I can tell that Alec has from the widening of his smile. We turn onto the coast-side road and turn into the little dusty car park. Chase pulls up promptly in the first car parking space, right by the steps down to the beach. The beach in Lindale is small and sandy, a beach for locals rather than tourists. There are a few small stores in the road behind it, but nothing major. I don’t even think we have a hotel in a fifty-kilometre radius, that’s how lonely this place is.
“The waves look great,” Alec says as we all clamber out of Chase’s Range Rover. “I call dibs on the red surf-board!”
The sun beats down on the pale skin I have exposed, and I pull my sunglasses over my eyes.
Chase curses. “Dude, you know I love that surfboard!”
“Slim, sexy and gives one hell of a ride,” Alec agrees, subtly winking at me. This boy should sell innuendos for a living. Dylan smacks him lightly on the back with a grin, and immediately the three boys scramble to get the surfboards down. I feel like a bit of an awkward lemon, standing watching. I would help, but I’m a bit short.
Chase begins to hand out surfboards as they come down. Alec gets the red one he wanted. Violet’s is pale blue, with a rounded top.
“Right, let’s roll.” Chase shoves a slightly smaller yellow surfboard into my arms, and I mimic the others’ positions of holding as we make our way down the steps, me trying my absolute hardest not to fall down. The beach isn’t crowded luckily, but there are a few people dotted along the sands because it’s a hot day. Usually it would be empty. My flip-flops sink into the hot sand, and Alec’s tanned skin does wonders at distracting me.
After laying down the towels and piling up the surfboards in the centre of the beach, I collapse down onto the edge of my towel and fling my beach bag carelessly beside me. Violet, splayed beside me with a pair of dark aviators on, raises her eyebrow.
“Are we going surfing or what?” she asks.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Chase grins at me. “You sure you can handle it?”
“I was born ready.”
So not born ready.
At my confirmation, all four of the boys begin to pull their shirts over their heads – leaving them in their swim shorts. I glance at Violet awkwardly, and her eyes are bugged to almost twice the size. We were also not ready for that hormone-fest. All the boys are chiselled, tanned and muscular in all the right areas. Leaving me ogling, Dylan, Joe and Chase grab their boards and run down to the sea immediately.
Alec, however, lingers behind, and I snap my jaw shut and try to act cool.
“Think you have a bit of drool there,” he teases, pointing at my chin.
I stick my tongue out. My cheeks are slightly hot. “We’ll meet you down by the water in two minutes.”
Truthfully, I need some time to compose myself first. Not just for the surfing, but for the guys seeing me in a swimsuit too. As he runs down the beach, I look to Violet again and she smiles at me, standing up and brushing the sand from her legs. At least I’m not in this alone.
“We’re going to do this,” she says in a singsong tone, pulling me up by my hand. “It’s about time we show them some girl power.” Together we begin to get changed in the hot sun, with me glancing dubiously down to the sea every chance I get.
“Very easy for you to say – you’ve surfed before,” I grumble, kicking off my flip-flops.
“You’ll be fine, Riley, I promise. It’s so much fun.”
“I’m scared.”
I glower apprehensively down at the waves licking my toes. My surfboard is dug into the sand beside me, ready to be used and disappointed that I can’t seem to bring myself to do just that. Alec, standing beside me, grabs my hand reassuringly and tugs gently as he walks deeper into the cold sea. “You have nothing to be scared of, I promise.” He tugs again. “What harm can come from trying?” Sparks shoot up my arm, but I ignore them.
“I can do this,” I mutter to myself, tightening my grip on Alec’s hand and pulling both myself and my board further into the waves. Dylan is waiting, about knee-deep, and I’m hardly ignorant of his eyes straying over my bikini-clad body. Alec made his fair share of remarks too. If my whole body could blush, I would be red all over right now. When we reach about waist-deep into the water, and I’m pretty sure my limbs are going to fall off with the cold temperature, Alec stops and releases my hand.
I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.
“What do I do then?” I bite my lip, intimidated by the scenario. I expected Violet to stay and support me, but she’s already stomach-deep in the water with Chase and Joe, ready to show off her skills. So much for girl power, team.
“You should probably just start off with paddling,” Dylan suggests, “so just get on the surfboard and float for a while. There’s no real current or anything here, so you don’t need to worry about that. Just paddle towards the waves, and when you hit them, lift up the top half of your body. I can help you if you need me.” He helps me onto the surfboard after a minute struggle, and I clutch the board with heavy breaths.
“Okay,” I say. “Like this?”
Slowly I start to paddle towards the waves, bobbing up and down precariously. I don’t get far, though. Alec shakes his head and grabs the board to stop me.
“You need to go faster, or else you’ll be dunked on. Here, curve your hands like this,” Alec grabs my hand and curves it into the right position, and I pray that he can’t see my blush under my wall of hair. I set off as soon as I can, paddling faster this time. “Yeah, that’s better!” I can hear the smile in his voice, and after a second or two, he appears beside me on his own board. Dylan bobs up beside us, grinning.
“Okay, aim for a few waves, and lift the top of your board to cross them,” Dylan instructs me. I gasp when I’m suddenly pushed forward, before my instinct kicks in and I begin to paddle furiously towards the first gentle wave. I pass it without a hitch, relaxing slightly. The second one however, I tilt sideways, sliding off into the water.
It takes me more than a few attempts to get back on the surfboard each time that I fall off, but gradually I find myself slipping off less and less as my technique improves. Albeit, I’m only facing fairly small waves at the moment, but I’m feeling pretty good about myself.
“I want to try to stand up at least once today,” I tell Alec with determination. “Can you teach me to stand up?”
Dylan has left to follow the others, and I long to be with them, riding the bigger waves.
“Okay, but know that you’ll probably fall off,” Alec says. He slides off his own board to steady mine. “Right, so first lie down in the paddling position.” I do as I’m told. “Now keep your knees together – that’s important for balance – and slide your legs underneath you so that you’re kneeling.” I clutch the surfboard so hard that my knuckles turn white, wobbling unsteadily. By some miracle, I don’t fall off.
“Now get your balance, and let go of the board,” he orders, holding the board steady so that it doesn’t bob away. My breathing hitches as I register my next move, but nevertheless I steady myself, my hands flying out either side for balance.
“Now, slide one leg up. Slowly . . . slowly, Riley, slowly –”
One minute I’m standing, the next minute I’m engulfed by cold water. The temperature change is a shock to my system, despite slipping in numerous times before, I was never fully under. I emerge with a gasp, my auburn hair stuck to my back as I settle myself on the edge of Alec’s surfboard. We both have our arms crossed on the edge, facing each other. I puff out a little bit and Alec cracks a smile that stirs up a feeling in my gut. “Ready to try again?”
I beam at his question, and my heart seems to flutter at the sparkle in his eyes.
Stop that.
“Why the hell not?”
“Riley, we’re going back into the water,” Chase and Joe announce, clutching their surfboards. I sit up a little bit, squinting at them through the harsh light. They’ve literally spent most of the day in the water, their skin is sun-baked and they’re going back in? Idiots. I nod in acknowledgement of their plan and continue to apply sun cream to my pale limbs. Dylan is lying on the towel next to me, and Alec has disappeared to the shop for some drinks. Throughout the course of the day, I’ve found myself gaining a bit of confidence around the boys, in exactly the way that Violet said I would.
We’re friends. Pretty good ones at that – although my insecurities are screaming at me that something must be dodgy about this. It’s so strange that I’m friends with some of the most popular boys in school. It’s strange that I’m hanging out with this many people again.
My thoughts are interrupted when Alec arrives back, plonking himself down at the end of my beach towel. I didn’t even see him coming.
“I got you a Pepsi,” Alec declares, thrusting the bottle into my lap.
“Thanks,” I mumble gratefully, holding the cold bottle against my heated skin. I spot something in my peripheral vision. “What’s that?” Alec is holding a small brown paper bag, angling himself to shield it from me, which naturally makes me curious. He pushes his hand out of view.
“It’s nothing. Hey, will you do my sun cream for me?”
My eyes narrow at his blatant change of topic but nevertheless I grab the bottle. “Okay, turn round and I’ll do your back.”
“Don’t act like you aren’t desperate to,” Alec teases, spinning on the towel and flicking sand up my legs. “This is your dream come true.”
I pour the sun cream into my palm and smack it lightly on his back, before rubbing it in with circular movements. Once I’ve covered the lower half of his back without any discouragement from Alec, I’m hit with a stroke of genius. I rub the rest of the sun cream into his upper back, and then use a single finger to scrape the word ‘smile’ out of the sun cream. Alec is being quiet, staring pensively out at the sea.
“You look grumpy,” I say. “So I wrote ‘smile’ on your back. Be happy, Wilde.”
Alec turns to look at me, running a hand through his hair. “You’re one of a kind, you know that?”
I fight to restrain my blush and fail. Luckily, this is the moment that Dylan decides to sit up, with a strange expression on his face.
“Riley,” he says, “do you want to come down to the water with me? I need to speak to you.”
I nod enthusiastically at the chance to escape from my awkwardness with Alec, and together Dylan and I stand up and head towards the chilly waves at the bottom of the beach. The wind is getting increasingly bitter as the afternoon draws to a close, and I know we must be leaving soon. In my peripheral vision I can’t help but notice the slight scowl on Alec’s face as he watches us leave. My feet sink into the sand and my hair whips back from my face.
“So . . .” I turn to Dylan expectantly. We’ve reached the damp sand now, just kissed by the sea. We begin to walk along the waterfront. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”
The expression on his face is almost guilty.
“I like you,” Dylan says bluntly.
My throat thickens as I choke out a single word. My feet falter. “What?”
“You heard me,” Dylan sighs, stopping too.
“Dylan, you can’t –”
“Well I do.” His expression has solidified, and I feel small under his intense smoulder. He stares for a few seconds. My heart is thumping heavily inside my chest. I glance back up the beach, towards the cheeky boy with dimples and a past. The boy that has made no moves on me, that flirts with other girls. I look back at Dylan, torn. He’s smart and hot and so genuinely sweet. There must be something wrong with me. Should I say yes? I’m sure he could make me happy. He’d treat me really well. The tension is so thick it could be sliced like a hot knife through butter.
“Dylan –”
“I know.” He glances down at his feet. “But can you just tell me if there’s a shot?”
I stare at him, completely bewildered.
“I-I don’t know.” I hadn’t ever thought about Dylan in that light. My brain was so annoyingly focused on Alec – our heart-to-hearts, the times he touches me. The truth of the matter is, though – he hasn’t made a move. He’s nice to me, and what we have is special, but does he see it in that way? Would he ever actually make a move? Maybe after all this time I am still just the goofy girl from next door with the Mickey Mouse bra. Meanwhile the boy standing in front of me looks at me as if he’s already expecting to be shot down, and I’m so confused.
That’s the moment when Dylan chooses to step forward and press his lips against mine.
It’s damp and sweet and everything a kiss should be. Lingering for only a second, he steps back and looks at me with melted blue eyes.
“Hey,” I say softly, catching his attention. “I’m so sorry, Dylan . . . I just –”
“It’s okay,” he mumbles. “I know you’re confused. I know why.”
“I don’t want to . . . get into anything,” I struggle to find the words, “if I’m not sure about it, you know? I want to be one hundred per cent sure, and I’m not sure I am, with either of you yet. I don’t know if I’m even . . . even ready.”
“That is completely understandable, don’t worry.”
He nods and offers me a small smile, before turning and heading back towards the beach. I feel numb and shocked. I don’t look after him. I can’t. My hands are shaking, my breathing is funny and it feels like I don’t even know how to walk any more. That’s when I notice Alec stalking away from the beach, and I consider how much I’d want his lips on mine. More than any boy, even one as funny and smart and attractive as Dylan. Does he want that too, though? A sickening pang hits me in my abdomen.
Riley Greene, you absolute idiot.