Page 12 of Lost in the Current of You

I wished I had forever to experience this week.

We had two more days here until it was time to leave, returning to our regular life.

We walked down the main street of Airlie, popping into little boutique shops and bookstores, filling our arms with shopping bags and hoping we could fit them all in our suitcase to fly home.

We passed by a tourist shop, and my eyes caught on a slide show playing in the window, bringing me to a halt in front of it.

It advertised jet ski tour guides across two islands of the Whitsundays and hiking to one of their most famous tourist lookouts. It immediately pulled my interest and I couldn’t help but turn to my friends as excitement buzzed through me. I had always wanted to ride on a jet ski and experience the adrenaline that came with it. It looked like so much fun.

With this spontaneous decision in mind, I pointed to the TV behind me. “What do you guys think? We should try this.”

Alex pressed his lips together as a mix of fear and uncertainty flashed in his eyes. He had an irrational fear of being stuck in the middle of the ocean. “That seems like a death wish.”

“Oh, come on. It looks fun. Don’t lie.”

Avery read the information off the screen, eyes widening a bit. “Three hundred dollars per jet ski is a lot.”

I chewed the inside of my bottom lip, staring at the price. A thought crossed my mind. “I could ask Reece and his friends if they want to join? We can split it then and make it cheaper.”

Avery shrugged. “Yeah, that would work.”

I looked at Alex. “Do you want to join or you want to hang by yourself?”

He raised a brow and crossed his arms. “Well if you put it like that then I guess I have no choice but to come.”

“Good. You won’t regret it, I promise. It’ll be so much fun and we have a professional tour guide with us so he’ll save you if you run into any trouble.”

He grumbled, “He better be hot.”

I laughed before pulling my phone out and texting Reece, inviting him and his friends.

His reply was almost instant.

We’re down. Only if I get to ride with you though.

I shook my head and rolled my lips to keep them from rising.

What makes you think I’d want to partner with you? What about your friends?

I think I would prefer your arms wrapped around me than theirs.

Opting to ignore his text and the flurry of butterflies it sent through my stomach, I sent him the details.

Looking up at my friends as I tucked my phone back in my pocket, they each raised a brow.

“What?”

“You just seemed awfully smitten on your phone.” I scoffed at that and he shrugged. “Just saying.”

“You’re delusional.” I rolled my eyes before I caught Alex mimicking typing on a phone and giggling at it. I shook my head. “And insufferable. Come on, let’s go book some jet skis.”

Luckily, they had a booking available that afternoon, but we had a few hours to spare until then, so we met with Reece, Jake, and Sage on the beach and played volleyball.

It was a popular game to play that week by the water to pass the time and meet new people. Our skin had become almost raw from the amount of time spent under the sun on that very beach, tanning, swimming and playing volleyball.

Our game was unfair, in my opinion, with Reece, Jake, and Sage on one team and Avery, Alex, and me on the other. Alex and I weren’t the most sporty people, so Avery was put at a disadvantage. She really tried to carry us through, but in the end, we sorely lost.

“Nice game, Summers,” Reece hollered over to me as we collected our things and made our way to the meeting point for our jet ski tour.

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