Page 117 of Reel Love

Then Ben looks at Stevens. “The day after the date, you’re all,We laughed. She came to my house. I drove her home …as if she’s any other woman. No offense, Alana. I mean that with respect. But,DUDE. You went out with Alana. Freaking. Graves. And you come strolling out to a surf sesh all chill and nonchalant the next morning? I would have been running down the sand waving my hands and doing a double back handspring while I shouted her name.”

“Might be why you never dated her,” Kai says with a smirk.

“I didn’t ever want to date her,” Ben says. “I had my eye on Summer. She’s the only woman for me.”

“And do I inspire you to do gymnastics on the beach?” Summer asks Ben, obviously as an attempt at diversion more than anything.

“Every day, babe. You know that, Monroe. I’d do gymnastics all day for you.”

Stevens squeezes my hand. Then he walks me closer to the group where Mila’s sitting on a large piece of driftwood, watching the Ben show in comfortable silence. Riley and Cam are in chairs they brought down. Kalaine and Bodhi are on a beach blanket on the other side of the firepit.

“Hey, everyone,” Stevens says. “You know Alana, obviously.”

Everyone greets us. Not one of them acts like anything’s out of the ordinary.

Ben keeps looking at us, shaking his head.

He finally gathers his wits and walks over to us again.

“Sorry, you two. I haven’t been this surprised since I found out Riley’s dad gifted her a refurbished VW bus for our trip out here from Ohio. It took me a minute to get over my shock. But …” He shakes his head again as if he needs to dislodge his disbelief. “Okay. Yeah. So you two are dating. Got it. Welp, congratulations. I’m really happy for you. And Alana, for real, besides being a reclusive brainiac who loves slimy underwater creatures, this guy is solid. He’s a good man. I’m sure he’ll be good to you.”

Stevens smiles at Ben. “I will.”

“He is,” I tell Ben, and then I smile up at Stevens.

“Would you look at that?” Ben says. “You two really do like each other. Man. Okay. Well. I assume this isn’t public knowledge yet.”

“It’s not,” I tell Ben.

“Well, you have my word.” He runs his pinched fingers in front of his mouth. “My lips are sealed. I’m the vault. Just ask Kai. Right, Kai?” He makes the zip motion again.

“Not that again!” Kai shouts from where he’s sitting next to Mila, skewering a marshmallow.

“What?”

“That zipped lip thing.”

“Hey. I kept your secret about Mila,” Ben protests. “I’m a good secret keeper. You see all this?” Ben waves his hand up and down his torso. “This is a vault. And this …?” He points to his mouth. “This is the door. And this …?” He pinches fingers together. “Is the key. Now, watch closely.” He twists the “key,” turns it, and tosses it. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you keep a secret.”

We all laugh. It feels so normal hanging out with this group—being here with Stevens at my side—like a gift.

One I know has an expiration date.

THIRTY-ONE

Stevens

I never saved anything for the swim back.

~ Gattaca

Itook the main ferry over to Ventura this morning, lugging an oversized garment bag with my costume for tonight’s fundraiser. The World Coral Restore Corps is hosting a gala of sorts. Only, instead of tuxes and gowns, I was informed we needed to come up with a costume representing an animal or part of a habitat impacted by coral reef degradation.

I chose the bolbometopon muricatum, or as it is more commonly called, the green humphead parrotfish. These shallow ocean water fish are vulnerable. And ugly. They have a protruding forehead and the appearance of buck teeth, which is really one gigantic tooth attached to their jawbone which they use to chip algae, bacteria and microbes off coral. Mom made me a costume, and it’s … ugly. But in the best of ways.

My costume looks just like the parrotfish with its pinkish tint on the front of the face and a bulbous forehead framed in light chicken wire and filled with light stuffing under the scaly fabricso it remains upright when I put on the costume. The buck teeth on the beak of the fish really are the capstone of the costume.

Thankfully, I’ll be surrounded by a bunch of science nerds who will (1) immediately identify what animal I represent, and (2) appreciate why I chose this particular fish. Not only is the parrotfish dependent upon the reefs, but his excessive excrement helps contribute to the regeneration of coral. What a guy!

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