Cash In Now Honey

I don’t remembered anything after that point. I woke up the next morning curled up next to Mason in his bath tub without a top on. ‘Oh shit’ was the first thing that ran through my mind. I slowly looked around and saw my swim top hanging over the ledge of the tub. I picked it up and slowly sat up, putting it back on. I rubbed my hand over my face and groaned. I was so hungover. I slowly stood from the bathtub, which I now noticed had a comforter and pillows in the bottom of it. I went into Mason’s room and pulled on one of his hoodies, which hung to my knees it was so big. I went downstairs, stepping over Scott, who was passed out in the hallway. I got a bottle of water and found some Tylenol before curling up on the opposite end of the couch as Luke, who was passed out. Before laying down, I got a blanket and put half of it over him and then pulled the other half over me. I went back to sleep and woke up when someone was clanging around and loudly talking in the kitchen. I heard Luke groan and I uncovered my face for a second to yell at the person.

“Shut up,” Luke and I yelled in unison. I looked down at him and he looked at me, a pained smile on his face. I slowly sat up and handed him my bottle of water and the bottle of Tylenol.

“Oh my gosh. You are officially my favorite person forever,” Luke said as he took them from me. He laid back down only to get up a second later and run to the bathroom. I felt a little queasy but figured I’d be fine. I stood slowly and went into the kitchen and was hit with the smell of bacon, my trigger when I’m hung over. I flew up the stairs, stumbled over Scotty, who was waking up, and into the hall bath. I dropped to the floor and the contents of my stomach from the night before came up. I tucked my hair behind my ears and dry heaved a few times. I thought I was done but nope, up came some more. I felt hands collect my hair as I coughed into the toilet. I shut the lid and flushed the toilet. I looked up to see Scotty standing there. He handed me a damp wash cloth as I pulled myself up onto the toilet.

“Thanks,” I said to him.

“I knew the minute I smelled the bacon it was you who ran over me,” he said as I pushed some hair out of my face. I looked up at him and we shared a look that we had always shared when we were dating. The look that tells the other how much you care about them. I stood and went into Mason’s bathroom to brush my teeth. I pulled my hair back and went into his room and found some of my own clothes to wear. I pulled on a pair of sweats, a tank top, my UGGs, and a hoodie before going back downstairs. Everyone was feeling a little hung over this morning so we just lounged around the house all day. After watching about three hours of TV, I got up off the floor where I had been laying and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water and on my way back to where I had been Mason grabbed my hand. I looked down at him on the couch and he smiled at me. He pulled me towards him and onto his lap. I sat and curled up, resting my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and I quickly fell asleep. I woke up when it was dark out and went up to the bedroom to sleep.

A month later back in Carlsbad, CA

“MASE!” I yelled. I could not for the life of me get my hip to pop and I needed it to before I did anything today. It hurt really bad and popping it would make it feel a hell of a lot better. Mason appeared in the doorway of his bedroom and looked at me laying on the floor on my back.

“What are you doing?” he asked me.

“I need your help,” I told him.

“Can you not get up or something?” he asked in concern.

“No, I can. I can’t pop my hip and it hurts like a bitch. I need you to pop it for me,” I told him. He kneeled on the floor by my feet and I pulled my right knee up towards my chest. He placed his right leg on the outside of my left and his left on the other side of my left leg as he shuffled forward.

“Just push down on my leg, pushing it towards my chest and inwards a little. It might take a few tries but it’ll pop,” I told him. He tried but he wasn’t putting enough pressure on my leg.

“Push harder, Mase,” I told him.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said to me. I smiled up at him.

“You won’t, I promise. I’ll tell you if it hurts, just push harder,” I told him. The door opened then and Luke, Danny, and KP all looked down at us.

“You didn’t honestly think we were going to have sex and be that vocal about it with you down the hall did you?” Mason asked as he applied more pressure to my leg. He gave it a really good push and it popped.

“Thank god. That felt amazing,” I said. He let got of my leg and stood, pulling me to my feet. “Thanks.” I kissed him and he pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around me.

“Alright, enough PDA,” Danny announced. Mason shuffled towards the door and slammed it shut without breaking the kiss. It carried on and I found myself laying on Mason’s bed, my hands running up and down the front of his shirt with my tank top pushed up underneath my bust, exposing my stomach.

“Mase,” I said to him in a breathy tone. He pulled up from giving me yet another hickey and looked at me. He could tell that I needed to stop. He kissed me before standing up and pulling me up with him. I walked into his bathroom and fixed my shirt.

“Yeah, this is going to be fun to explain to the guys,” I said as I looked at the three marks on my neck and two above my left collarbone.

“Wow, I’ve been busy,” Mason said as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. “And what guys?”

“The guys I work with at Billabong. I guess we’re teaching some of the team to surf today,” I told him. “Not all of them do, like the skate and snow teams.”

“Do you know who?” Mason asked.

“Um, Bucky Lasek, Ben Gore, um, Scotty, Jamie Anderson, and they asked someone else but they didn’t say who,” I told him. “Speaking of which, I gotta get changed and go.”

“No,” Mason whined.

“Yes,” I replied. “Why don’t you guys come up to the beach? Once I’m done, I’ll teach you guys how to surf.” I grabbed my shoes from the floor, kissed Mason, and left. I knew I’d never get out if I didn’t. I went home and changed into my suit, slipping on some long board shorts and Billabong t-shirt over top before placing my board on top of my Scion and heading to the office. I walked inside and smiled when I saw Scotty.

“Hey,” I said as I went up and hugged him.

“Hey. You gonna teach me to catch some waves?” he asked.

“Maybe not me specifically. All these guys are great teachers though,” I told him.

“Why are you the only girl?” he asked me.

“I worked really hard to get where I am in the company,” I told him. I saw Jack appear from the gear room and was puzzled. He came over and hugged me before standing beside Scotty. He must have been the other team member.

“Guess who’s teaching me to surf?” he said.

“Dude, not fair,” Scotty said. Jack smirked and puffed up his chest a little. I laughed and said I’d be back. I went and checked with my boss about getting a few extra boards for the guys, loaded them into my car and grabbed Jack’s as well. I had everything else I needed in my car so I was ready to go. I told my co-worker Jake that I’d take Scotty to Swami with me and Jack and told the two to follow me. We got into my Scion and headed to the best beach spot by Encinitas.

“Scotty, Jake is going to teach you,” I told him as we unloaded boards and gear.

“Alright,” he said before heading off.

“Jack, you’re with me. You ready?” I asked him. He nodded and we headed for the sand. I showed him basic techniques and whatnot before taking to the water. The surf was good for teaching today. It was pretty mellow so I didn’t have to really worry about Jack. He caught on pretty quick, as did the rest of the teams. I looked over at the beach and saw Danny, Mase, Luke, and Kevin all sitting in the sand. I motioned for Jack to follow me and we headed in. We walked over to them and I sat down in front of Mason on the towel he was sitting on. He wrapped his arms around me as I wrung my hair out into the sand.

“How’d he do?” Luke asked me.

“Pretty good,” I told him. “He’s a natural athlete so I wasn’t too worried.”

“Do you think they’d teach us?” Luke asked me.

“I’m sure someone will. I could,” I told him.

“I thought you were teaching me,” Mason said.

“Nah, I’ll get someone else to,” Luke said after Mason practically glared at him.

“Come on babe. You ready to have a try?” I said, standing up and looked down out Mason.

“Uh, sure,” he said. I pulled Mason to his feet and looked at the other guys.

“Come on. I grabbed some boards for you guys from Billabong,” I told them. They followed me to my car and I gave them each their board.

“Luke, why don’t you go relieve Jake from having to deal with Scotty,” I suggested, gaining a chuckle from the guys. Luke nodded and headed off to where Scotty was.

“Danny, you kind of know how to surf already don’t you?” I asked him.

“Yeah, a bit,” he said.

“Why don’t you talk to Ben,” I said to him. “Kev since you’re practically pro, you can go do your thing.”

“I’ll go with Dan,” he said before they headed off.

“You ready?” I asked Mason. He nodded and we headed for the beach. I went through the same steps I had with Jack but once we got into the water, I stayed on the back of Mason’s board. I tapped on his leg to let him know when to paddle and then when to stand up. We did this for a while before I thought Mason had gotten the hang of it.

“You ready to go by yourself?” I asked him.

“Sure,” he said. I slipped off the board and stood in little lower than chest deep in the water. I watched as Mason paddled and stood, before face planting into the water. I winced and swam towards him.

“Mase, you okay?” I yelled over the sound of the waves. He popped up a few feet from me and looked towards me. I went over to him and gave him a hug and a kiss.

“I suck at this,” he said to me. I grabbed his board and pulled myself up on it. Mason joined me and placed his legs over the top of mine.

“It takes practice. It doesn’t happen over night. It took me a good year to get really good at it,” I told him.

“I’m used to boarding I guess,” he mumbled. “You know, having my feet connected to the board already while it’s in motion.”

“Which you’re amazing at,” I said to him as I brushed a chunk of hair out of his eyes. I smiled at him and he returned it with a grin. “You want to try again? You’re doing pretty well, you just need to center yourself a bit more.” Mason nodded and I slipped off his board and swam back to where I could touch. Mason paddled out and every time he caught a wave, he got a bit better. Kevin came over to me and pulled me on his board with him.

“You looked good Kev. You’re a natural. You seem pretty comfortable on the board,” I commented.

“Yeah, I am. I love surfing and I like to think I’m pretty good,” he said with a grin. “So is your boy,” he said, pointing over to Mason. He was riding like a pro now and was starting to put his little swagger into it. “He’s getting lucky tonight if he keeps it up.” I back handed Kevin in the stomach but smiled.

“I’m the lucky one,” I said with a smile as I watched him. I hadn’t really thought about it since Mason and I had started dating. I normally did and got hung up on everything that I disliked about the person I was with. I did it with Scotty and I knew it but I didn’t dislike many things about him besides the fact that he was so tall and that he was gone a lot but both were things I got used to and actually started to love. I liked his height because we were cute since he was so tall and when we started dating, I was a bit on the petite side but then I grew and it evened out. I also started liking the fact he was always gone because then when we did get to spend time together, it was worth the time apart. But I hadn’t done this with Mason. As KP paddled back out, I stood and thought. I couldn’t think of anything I didn’t like about Mason, well besides the fact that he would be gone a lot during the winter but, like with Scotty, I’d get used to it and enjoy our time together. I was lost in my own thoughts and screamed when I was picked up and put on someone’s shoulders. I looked down to see Jack and gripped his hands when he offered them to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Nothing,” he replied as he watched KP.

“Put me down,” I said to him nicely as a wave started to roll in. “Just toss me into the wave.”

“You sure?” he asked, seeming skeptical.

“Yeah, it’ll wash me in,” I told him. As the wave came, Jack gave me a jolt and tossed me into the wave. I let the water push me into the shore and surfaced when I hit about three foot deep water. I pushed my hair back out of my face and pulled up my bikini bottoms a little as I trudged out of the water. I saw Mason sitting on his towel, watching Luke and Danny so I jogged over to him. I fell onto him and he fell backwards into a laying position.

“Hi,” I said to him with a smile.

“Hey,” he replied. I leaned forward and kissed him, tasting the saltwater that was dripping from me onto Mason. Mason smiled and put his arms around me. I pulled back and sat up, turning around so my back was pressed against Mason’s chest, his arms around me.

“I love you,” I said to him quietly.

“I love you too,” he replied.

“It took me a long time to be able to say that to Scotty,” I told him.

“How long?” Mason asked.

“Like our one year anniversary long,” I replied. “I don’t know, something about you just made me fall really hard and really fast but I’ve landed on my feet you know?”

“I think I get what you’re saying,” Mason replied, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Do you want to hang out tonight? Just you and me? I might even try to make you something for dinner.”

“That sounds good. Movie after?” I asked.

“Definitely,” Mason replied.