Time Stood Still

Chapter 3: The Wave's Will Pull Us Under.

Josh's P.O.V

Friday night turned into a long stressful night. I locked myself away in my room, hoping to avoid mum and not having to tell her about my shameful grades I got in my essay. It was 4.53am in the morning, when I finally typed the last line of my English essay, which I must say, if it wasn’t for Oliver’s help and notes I would have given up ages ago. But I felt pretty proud of myself and thought I’d deserved to go surfing with the others tomorrow. I closed my laptop shut, letting out a tired sigh before stretching my stiff arms above my head, hearing a couple of joints in my body crack. Man, I really need to go to bed, I have a long day tomorrow…or should I say this morning?

We drove down to a place called Great Western Beach in Newquay, which apparently was one of the best beaches for surfing. The weather seemed okay, slightly cloudy but didn’t seem like it was going to rain, the waves looked alright, not to rough and not to calm, apparently perfect for beginners like me.
Vic and Mike were kind enough to lend me a one of their wet
suits and a surf board, for today’s surf.
The guys were all so pumped up and ready to go and before I knew it, Mike, Tony and Kellin were diving into to the waves, paddling there way out to sea, racing to catch their first wave of the day. Vic and Jaime stayed behind to teach me the simple “basics” of learning how to surf.

“Its all about balance and foot work really, once you’ve got that down, you’ll be able to pick it up pretty fast.” Vic smiled at me, as I stood on my board which was resting on the sand. I felt kind of stupid fake surfing on the beach but Vic assisted that I did this first.

“You need to bend your knees, otherwise your balance will be all over the place and you won’t be standing up for long!” Jaime laughed, as I was trying to mirror his position on the board. I felt so stupid and pretty embarrassed, especially when I had no idea what I was doing. Kellin’s girlfriend Kate was sitting on the sand, giggling at us the whole time, which wasn’t making it easier for me to be honest. In fact, it really irritated me, I’d like to see her try and surf for the first time!
“Aren’t you surfing Kate?” I spat out at her. I wanted to know if she was any good her self, so she could quick laughing at me.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” she giggled.
“I just like to watch you guys make fools out of yourselves in the water, it’s rather entertaining to watch.”
Its nice to know I amuse you, I thought bitterly to myself. I didn’t see the point of her being here, if all she was doing was watching us and commenting and giggling at our mistakes, she can do one! But Jamie confirmed the reason why she was really here.
“More like you can’t bare to leave Kellin’s side!” Jaime mocked, which made her frown and pout her lips.
“As if Jaime, you can’t even stand up longer than 10 seconds!”
“I can stand up longer than your beloved Kellin, I’ll prove it to you!”
“Ok, show me!”
Jaime picked up his board and made a run towards the sea, Kate followed behind so she could get a closer look at the challenge. Finally they left, leaving me alone with Vic, which I didn’t mind at all. Now all the distractions were gone hopefully it wouldn’t take Vic too long to teach me the basics which shouldn’t have taken this long in the first place.

“And then there were two.” Vic said, a smile creeping upon his lips.
“Finally, maybe I can get this over with now.”
“Sorry about Kate.”
“Its fine, so what do I do now exactly?” I asked, standing on my board waiting for Vic to direct me through the process but his next actions took me by surprise.

Vic came up behind me, bending my legs in the right position and then placing his hands lightly on my waist, he then place a hand flat against my lower back, making me blush heavily at his touch and letting a quiet gasps escape my lips. I bit my lip hard in sudden panic, as I realised what I had just reacted too.
Fuck, what the hell is this? I’m blushing at his touch? What the fuck man?!
Thank god he was standing behind me so he couldn’t see my face and hopefully didn’t notice my breathing become slightly louder.
He continued, like he hadn’t notice me liking his touch and hoping for more.

“Your back needs to be straight ok? And you need to hold out your arms, they’re gonna be your guide through the whole ride.”
His hands slid there way to my arms, spreading them out, he was standing incredibly close behind me, his body was literally pressed up against mine, his hands wrapped around my wrists, and he was talking into my ear which was sending crazy butterflies to the pit of my stomach.
My heart was racing incredibly fast and I couldn’t control it to slow down.
What the fuck is going on? Why do I feel like this? I’m not supposed to enjoy him touching me… What’s gotten in to me?!

I stepped out of Vic’s hold, feeling awfully uncomfortable with how I was enjoying Vic’s hands all over me like that. I bit my lip, that’s never happened before. Most of my friends back in London are guys, and I have never felt like this towards any of them… So why am I suddenly enjoying a guy touching me now?
“Erm, can we just get in the water now?” I asked, not looking at him as I hung my head, hoping he wouldn’t notice anything was wrong.
Vic laughed at my impatience, and picked up his board.
“Fine, come on then!” he motioned his hand to follow him towards the sea and I did, feeling grateful he hadn’t notice anything wrong or suspicious.

Holy fuck the waters cold and this wet suit is suppose to help how may I ask?!
“Fuck!” I cursed.
“It’s not as bad as it can be Josh, you’ll get used it!”
I shot Vic a look of “are you fucking kidding, I’m freezing my balls off!” but he only laughed.
“Come on, paddle beside me.”
I paddled close beside Vic, a little nervous about swimming far out to sea. But Vic made sure I had the surf board strapped around my ankle so I wouldn’t lose my board when I fell off or if worse came to worse they knew they could find me if I was attached to my board… Like, that’s great to know as a beginner! Mike also promised to stay kinda close when I was in the water too, safe to have a life guards’ watch I guess.

We sat on our boards, our legs hanging either side in the water as we waited for the next wave to come.
“There’s a small one coming, you watch me first ok so you have a rough idea what to do.”
“Erm, sure.” I nodded, not really wanting Vic to leave my side but I said nothing.

Vic started paddling away from me, ready to catch the wave which was fast approaching, I was a little nervous for him, he seems so small and innocent, and I would hate him to see him get hurt by the waves or his board. I know surfing can be really dangerous if you’re not careful, you can never let your guard down when you’re out here.
The wave grew bigger and bigger as it got closer to Vic and I suddenly found myself completely alone on my board as all the others decided to catch the wave as well. I didn’t want to be left alone out here, I wasn’t completely confident with deep water… especially left on my own. I began to panic a little, and then I realise I wasn’t comfortable at all with the water. Fuck! I need to get back to the beach now! I began to shake with fear; my breathing became fast and ragged as I searched the water around me. I clutched onto the edge of my board for dear life, thinking if I weren’t holding on tight enough, I would fall in and drown. I closed my eyes tight as I tried to calm myself down, “Its going to be okay Josh, I can do this. The others are here if anything goes wrong.” I spoke to myself, trying anything to calm my nerves. All of a sudden, I felt really sick, having my eyes close and having the wave’s rock my board back and forth was making me feel sea sick! One of my hands flew to mouth as I gagged slightly. Oh god. Please don’t throw up, that’s the last thing I need… I just need to get to the god damn beach! Why on earth did I agree to this?! I knew I hated the water, but yet I somehow stupidly agreed to go surfing because I wanted to make friends! Ugh, nothing is worth this, sorry but not even new friends, I have enough of those back in London...

I was distracted at the sudden screams and cheers of everyone in the distance, I slowly manage to open my eyes to see the guys surfing the waves. And one by one they all started to fall off their boards as the wave came to the end, Mike was the only one who managed to stay on. Of course he was showing off, it made me giggle to myself…which was good because he was distracting me, calming me down from my panic attack, as my eyes followed him along the wave. My eyes scanned the water, searching for Vic; my heart began to race incredibly fast yet again, where did he go? Everyone’s heads started to pop up out of the water, all but Vic’s.
Please no.
Ten seconds later, Vic’s head finally popped up and he was high fiving Kellin and smiling and laughing. I instantly relax and let out a sigh of relief. Thank god he’s okay.
He swam back out to me, wearing the biggest smile on his face.
“Did you see me?” he said, sounding pretty proud of himself.
“Yeah, you were awesome.”
He didn’t seem to notice how much of a wreck I was without him, but I guess having him back at my side again calmed my nerves down completely.
Another wave was coming and Vic was about to paddle out again but I grabbed his hand in fear, I didn’t want him to leave me again! He turned to face me quickly, his expression worried and confused as he searched my eyes.
“Josh?”
“Please, don’t leave me out here again.” I begged, hanging my head.
“Hey, it’s okay Josh.”
I kept my head down, feeling a little embarrassed and feeling like a big baby not wanting him to leave me.
He must of sense my nerves and sent me a reassured smile as he placed his hand on top of mine. Several waves came but Vic stayed beside me the whole time and just watched all the others laughing and cheering at whoever stayed on and fell off.
I felt kinda guilty, having to make him sit beside me the whole time, knowing he wanted to be surfing with the others. I told him to go ahead and join the others but he refuse to leave my side and said he would much rather sit with me on our boards and watch the others in the distance. Which to be honest, I was secretly glad he chose to stay in the water with me.

We’ve must have been in the water for over an hour now and I still hadn’t even tried to surf yet. I must have been coming across really boring to Vic just sitting here, not even wanting to try.
I let out a sigh, I need to get over this stupid fear I have of the water and at least try to god damn surf! At least try once! And if I can’t handle it I’ll stop, but at least at the end of the day, I could say I tried once… hopefully Vic would understand.
“Okay, I think I’ll try now.”
“You sure?” Vic asked, double checking I was feeling up for it.
“Yeah, I think I can handle it.”
Vic smiled lightly at me before searching for an up coming wave.
“The wave coming is a small one, stay close to me Josh; I promise you’ll be okay.”
We paddled out together, but right at the last moment when the wave got really close, I freaked out and didn’t stand up, missing the opportunity of the wave. This happened several times and Vic kindly stayed with me the whole time, telling me it was okay and try again at the next one. He must have been pretending to be so patient with me, because I was keeping him from having fun with the others and I was just in the way obviously. But he nagged me to try again, so I did.

Everytime I tried to stand up I would instantly fall straight off, god knows how the others did it. Mike made it look so bloody easy! Time and time again I tried but every time I failed, I was getting annoyed and frustrated at myself and most of all, I was absolutely exhausted.
“Fuck it, I give up!” I moan. The bottom half of my body was in the water, while my arms were stretched out, clinging onto the other side of my board.
“Come on Josh, try one last time!” Vic tried to encourage.
“I can’t do it Vic.”
“Yes you can, I have a feeling you’ll be able to do the next one!”
“I have a feeling I won’t.”
“How do you know if you don’t try this one last time?”
I glared at him, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. And to be honest I couldn’t seem to resist his smile.
I let out a frustrated growl but pulled myself back up on my board and started to paddle out to the next wave with Vic.

I stood up! It was for like 3 seconds but I finally managed to stand up! I panicked as soon as I fell into the water, feeling totally vulnerable as my body fell into my worse fear. Fear of being pulled under by the waves and not being able to come back up again… but I pushed and kicked at the water with every bit of my strength and fought my way back up to the surface and I finally popped my head above the water, letting out deep gasp of air and grabbing hold of my board for dear life. I looked up, as I was met with cheers and the biggest cutest smile of Vic’s face.
“I told you could do it dude!”
“Fuck, that was scary… but awesome at the same time.” I panted, feeling absolutely exhausted.
Vic helped pull me up on my board and patted me on the back for my great achievement.
“You did great for your first time Josh, you should be proud!”
“Thanks Vic, I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I smiled at him but then it soon faded quickly as I felt that butterfly feeling in my stomach again. Feeling guilty for even smiling at him and liking it… I began to shake in my skin from the cold… well I think. My stomach growled from hunger and I realised how fucking tired and hungry I was and I honestly just wanted to go home to bed. But thankfully Vic answered my prayers.
“Come on, let’s paddle back to the beach, we’re all starving and want to go eat!”
Yay food! I couldn't think of anything better than solid ground and food right now.