A Smile for Your Scrapbooks

After teaching him the basics, it was time to get him out on a wave. We sat on our boards, facing land as we waited for the perfect crest to rise over the water.

“I’m nervous,” Alex admitted randomly.

I turned towards him and smiled. “Why is that?”

“Um. I’m in the middle of the ocean on a piece of Plexiglas. It’s a little nerve-wracking,” he informed me, sending me a wry smile.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head back in laugh. The water beneath me swished around my feet as I leisurely kicked them. I know a lot of people were terrified of open water, but Alex had been doing fine. To be honest, I think he was nervous to just get up on a wave. He seemed like the type of person who was a bit of a perfectionist, and I doubt he ever liked failing at things.

“Don’t worry. You’ll do great. Now get ready. This one is perfect,” I said, looking over my shoulder as I leaned low over my board, preparing to ride the crest sitting down so that Alex could take the limelight.

Alex’s face paled a bit as he lay on his board. The wave came closer and closer, gaining height as it did. I could faintly hear him mumbling next to me, though I couldn’t really make out the words.

“Go! Go!” I yelled, swatting at him.

His hands began paddling at the water at a rapid pace. The wave caught him and lifted him next to me, pushing us both towards shore. I clung to my board, laughing gleefully as the crest finally pushed past me, taking Alex farther away.

“Stand up!” I screamed, cupping my hands around my mouth.

Alex’s slim frame rose above the board. He crouched low, his hands clinging to the sides of the board for a few seconds before slowly, and very shakily, he stood all the way. I heard his triumphant yell all the way where I was and I couldn’t help but let one out with him. I threw my fists up into the air in pure joy, glad that Alex was actually coasting along the wave.

And then he began to wobble, his body tilting this way and that, his arms flailing around madly.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, instantly paddling towards him.

Before I got very far, he fell off his board, into the tumbling waves. Wave after wave hit me, pushing me closer, and yet he still didn’t come up.

“ALEX!” I screamed, pushing myself farther.

His board was damn near shore, but that wild, messy hair was nowhere to be seen. Panic clawed at my stomach as I rolled off my board, diving quickly underneath the water. There was no way that I could let something happen to Alex. He was my responsibility today, and I promised him that nothing would go wrong. I couldn’t believe that I had let this happen.

I swam around, my eyes stinging from the salt water. The currents pushed and pulled at me, jerking me every which way. I rose for air, and instantly kicked back beneath the grey waters. What if he was caught on something? Or what if he had hit something, and was now drowning beneath me somewhere?

I couldn’t think like that.

Out of nowhere, I saw the flash of a strange shade of blue. I kicked towards it, pushing myself to my limits as I fought against the current.

Of course the one thing I saw in the endless ocean was Alex’s board shorts-clad ass.

His leg was caught in some old rope, and he was no longer trying to get it untied. I swam around him, and his eyes were barely open, his cheeks puffed out as he fought to stay conscious. He didn’t seem all that surprised to see me as I caressed his cheek for a brief second before I dived down near his foot and began working at the knot.

It took me less than a minute, but under there, it felt like forever. Every second that Alex wasn’t free was another second he was going without air. I had no doubt, as I clung to ankle, that he was unconscious above me. I could feel myself crying, my tears mixing in with the dark water around me. This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have brought him out here.

Once I had gotten him untied, I locked my arm around his waist and pushed off the sandy bottom, kicking has hard as I could towards the surface, towards air. I was worried for Alex. He had been underneath the water for so long.

The warm Florida air smacked me in the face as I surfaced. I took a huge gulp of it, my eyes wide and hair clinging to my face. I began kicking towards shore, dragging Alex’s limp body with me. My muscles were growing weak, and my breathing was haggard, ripping at my chest with each intake. Eventually, I made it to the sand, and I dragged the two of us a little inwards. I nearly collapsed next to him, allowing exhaustion to take me, but I knew that if he had taken in a lot of water, he needed my help.

I flipped him over onto his back and checked his pulse. It was still there, thank goodness. I thought back to the old CPR classes I had taken when I had been a lifeguard at our local pool. I tilted his head back gently and clamped his nose shut before pressing my lips to his, pushing some of my air into him.

“Come on Alex,” I muttered as I shoved hard on his chest a few times.

I repeated the process a couple of times, when finally, he let out a loud gasp, and started coughing up water. I moved out of his way as he rolled to the side, heaving and puking. I let myself finally relax as I watched him, staying close by in case he needed me again.

“Are you okay?” I asked, once he was done puking.

“I’ll do better in a little bit, I’m sure. Thanks, by the way. I knew you’d come,” he said softly, his voice raspy. His brown eyes peered up at me as he held one of his arms out to pull me close. I leaned into his shoulder, and he pressed his forehead to my cheek. “Thank you so much,” he whispered.

Warmth filled my body at his sincerity, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I had only been doing what was right by any means. No other human being that I knew would’ve left him there.

“It was nothing, Alex,” I murmured, shifting in the sand.

He cupped my face with his hand and pressed his lips firmly to mine, startling me. I stiffened for a few seconds, and then just let it happen, my fingers playing with the ends of his hair. Alex pulled away and stared intently into my blue eyes.

“It was something. You saved my life, Jordyn. I didn’t think I was going to make it out of there.”

I smiled and left it at that. Instead, I allowed myself to curl up to him, the both of us drying in the warm summer heat and trying to ignore the visions of Alex not making it out.