A Smile for Your Scrapbooks

The next morning, my alarm went off bright and early. I groaned as I reached over, swatting at the snooze button. After a night like last night, I just wanted to go back to sleep. I vaguely remembered dancing with Alex, and him kissing me, but that was about it. Everything else was a drunken blur, though I was certain that Rachel, if she wasn’t as plastered as I was, would remember every single detail.

“Good moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorning!”

I cracked one eye open and stared at Rachel, who stood in my doorway, a huge grin on her face and a bathing suit already on.

“You chipper bitch. Get the hell out of my room,” I yelled, throwing a pillow at her.

She laughed madly and ducked, avoiding my lobbed pillow. Rachel came over to the bed and lay down next to me, snuggling into my shoulder in an attempt to make me feel better.

“Aw, Jordy. I love you. And you have to meet Alex in about half an hour. So you have to get up. Else I’ll beat you with a stick.”

“Have I ever mentioned how much I hate you?” I grumbled, shoving her away from me before crawling out of bed.

“Denial is not just a river in Egypt, young one,” Rachel retorted, moving over to my dresser and opening the drawer that held my bathing suits.

“You are so dumb,” I muttered as I used the bathroom.

By the time I was done, and had my hair pulled back into a ponytail, Rachel was standing in the middle of my bedroom with the worst bathing suit I owned. It was insanely skimpy, and I only wore when I didn’t actually expect to get into the water.

“What the hell are you doing with that?” I asked, staring at the striped material in her hands.

“I am doing nothing with it. You, grasshopper, are wearing it today. You need to look extra sexy today for Alex, and I’m going to help,” Rachel informed me with a smug look on her round face.

I stared at my best friend as though she had lost her ever-loving mind. “I don’t think so, Rach. That thing will come off in moments.”

Rachel giggled and nodded. “That might be the point, my dear.”

I scowled and yanked the bathing suit out of her hands, giving up on arguing with her. I’d just throw a wetsuit on over it and call it a day. I headed into the bathroom and put the damn thing on, wincing at how much skin I was revealing. I put on some more chapstick, and then walked out of the bathroom. Rachel had sat herself on my bed, awaiting my return.

“Woo, sexy mama!” she cat-called, whistling at me.

Despite myself, I felt my cheeks go red as I grabbed a wetsuit out of the closet. I pulled it on over my bathing suit and motioned for Rachel to zip me up.

“I can’t believe you’re going to hide the sexiness. Seriously, what a waste, woman.”

Once more, I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. What are you doing today? You seem awfully ready to get rid of me,” I asked, looking over my shoulder at her with an arched brow.

It was her turn to look a little uncomfortable as she moved away from to grab a pair of flip flops from the closet.

“Um. Well. Zachary actually invited me out to breakfast. I figured I’d take a long bath. Get ready, you know?” she said, offhandedly with a shrug.

My eyes widened and I shook my head. “Rachel! Getting hot and heavy with one of my neighbors?” I asked, repeating her question from the night before.

She gave me a scathing look and tossed some flip flops at me. “Shut the hell up, whore. Get outside. You’re going to be late.”

I cackled and hopped out of the room, attempting to put my shoes on as I walked. I made it downstairs without killing myself, and grabbed my board. I assumed that Alex didn’t have one, so I grabbed one of the others that I had that I didn’t use that often, just in case. I’d hate to get pissed off because he broke one of my good boards.

And when I’m right, I’m right.

I stepped outside and saw Alex leaning against the railing around my porch, clad in only a pair of board shorts and flip flops. In his hands were two Styrofoam cups of coffee, and a nervous smile was on his face. I put the two boards against the railing next to him and smiled as he handed me one of the cups.

“Morning,” he said, smiling at me over the rim of his cup.

“Morning,” I repeated, looking just past him at the ocean. “Great day to surf.”

He laughed and looked over his shoulder for a second. “Good. Maybe that means I won’t embarrass myself trying to learn.”

I took a deep drink of my coffee and smiled. “I doubt you’ll embarrass yourself. It’s not that hard.”

Alex snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. I saw you out there the other day. You made it look easy.”

I stared down into my coffee cup, appalled that my cheeks once again went red. I hadn’t even noticed that he had been watching me the other day as I rode the waves. It was nice to know that he had taken an interest in me at least.

We stood there in silence for some time, enjoying our coffee as we still tried to wake up. I could feel my limbs beginning to loosen, and the more I stared at it, the more the ocean appealed to me. I couldn’t help but realize just how much I missed it the one day I wasn’t out there. To me, it wasn’t just a large body of water. There was so much life in there, so much more meaning than that. It was a second home, a sanctuary. I could lose myself out there, and never know the difference.

“You look lost in thought.”

I jumped and turned towards Alex, grinning sheepishly. “Yeah. Well. I was. Now I’m just thinking of getting out in the water. You ready?”

He nodded and took my empty cup from me, setting them on the porch floor. We grabbed our boards and slowly made our way down to the ocean.

“Are there sharks in there?” he asked, his voice shaking only a little as he nodded his head at the dark grey waves.

He was so cute in that moment that I just wanted to grab him and kiss him. He actually looked kind of scared, his fingers playing along the edge of the board he held underneath his arm. I reached up and played with the little tendrils of hair at the nape of his neck as I shook my head.

“No, not usually. Don’t worry, Alex. It’s perfectly safe,” I told him.

Alex looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, a calm, sweet smile coming over his handsome face. It was then that I realized that I was probably taking too much of a liberty with him, and I pulled my hand back, pressing it firmly to my leg.

“Let’s get out there,” I said, leading him out into the chilly waters.