Page 19 of Between the Lines

But after the umpteenth time Theo had gone under and come up spluttering, Luca saw the last of the fight wash out of the guy. His shoulders sagged, the frustrated tension in his jaw at odds with the slump in the rest of his body. “We should go in,” he said. “It’s cold.”

“No.”

Theo looked up, eyes flashing angrily. “I can’t do it, Luca. I appreciate your—”

“I’ve got an idea,” Luca said. “Stay here.” He waded far enough into shore to skim his own board up the beach. The sun was low on the western horizon, golden shafts of sunlight highlighting the Majestic where she perched, looking down on them from the top of the cliff. Soon, the evening would be too dark to carry on. It was now or never.

He waded back to Theo, who stood in a disconsolate huddle next to his bodyboard. “Okay, get on it.”

In fairness, the guy looked wrecked. “Luca—”

“C’mon, we’re doing this. Back on the board, man.”

With obvious reluctance, Theo tried to climb on. He was tired and all over the place, so Luca stationed himself in front of the board, one eye on the incoming waves, grabbed Theo under his arms and hauled him on properly. Theo yelped in surprise, clutching at the edge of the board, but didn’t protest. “Hold on,” Luca warned, looking him in the eye. “Understand? Hold on.” Miraculously, Theo held his gaze long enough to nod. His eyes were only just visible beneath the hair falling across his forehead, and Luca had a sudden urge to push it back from his face.

Instead, he grabbed the tether and started towing Theo out over the breakers, far enough to catch a decent size wave. Behind him, Theo muttered, “Fuck.”

“You’ll be fine. Just don’t let go.”

When they were in position, Luca got in behind the board, holding it on either side of Theo’s butt, close enough that Theo’s thighs grazed his hips. Not thinking about that, he kept his eyes fixed on the incoming waves. He let them float over a couple that weren’t quite breaking, a couple of others that weren’t big enough, and then he saw it: the perfect wave. Its face was walling, a little white water foaming on the top, and it was heading straight for the beach. If Theo caught it, he’d have a sweet ride to shore.

“Okay!” Luca yelled. “Hold on!”

Theo looked over his shoulder, eyes popping when he saw the wave. “Jesus fucking Christ!”

“You’ll be fine.”

Luca got the board moving, shoving it forward as hard as he could as the wave face rose behind them. He ducked, felt the water lift him, and powered forward with his legs until the board skimmed out from his grip. When he surfaced in the shoulder of the wave, he whooped in delight at the sight of Theo dropping down its face, riding it all the way into the shallows until he washed up gently onto the sand, rolled off the board and lay there like a half-drowned starfish.

Luca laughed, bodysurfed the next wave in, and waded out of the water. Theo was still flat on his back, staring at the darkening sky, seafoam in his hair. And he was grinning—a bright, beautiful grin. Luca felt like cheering.

“That was bloody brilliant,” Theo breathed, levering himself up onto his elbows. “Itdidfeel like flying!”

“You did it, man. What a ride!” he reached down and Theo clasped his hand. Luca was careful not to tug too hard this time and Theo got to his feet, grinning.

“I can’t believe I did it. Well, you did the hard part, but—”

“Hey.” Luca gave him a soft punch on the shoulder. “Shut up. It was your ride, Wishart. Own it. You did good.”

Theo shook his head, as if dazzled. “I’d never—I didn’t think I’d ever do something like that.” And then he looked up, right into Luca’s eyes. “Thank you.” It was such a consuming gaze, so earnest and different from Theo’s usual fleeting glances, Luca didn’t know how to respond. Jaw slackened, lips parting, Luca sank into that long look. Theo licked his lips and for a crazy moment Luca thought Theo might kiss him. But he didn’t, he broke eye contact and turned toward the cliffs with a shiver. The sun had fully set, night flowing in with the tide. “It’s getting dark.”

“Yeah,” Luca said, shaking off the weird moment. “Yeah, we should go.”

There were heated outdoor showers next to the Surf Hut and Luca peeled off his wetsuit, dunked it in the freshwater barrel, and stepped under the warm water, sluicing it through his hair. He rubbed the salt off his face and blinked the water out of his eyes, only to see Theo struggling to reach the cord at the back of his own wetsuit. He smiled; the guy was hopeless. Toweling his hair dry, Luca stepped out of the water. “C’mere, I’ll get it.”

“I can do it.”

“Sure. I can help.”

“I’m not achild,” Theo snapped and then looked away, his expression masked by the dusk.

“I’m well aware ofthat,” Luca said, turning him around. Theo was tightly wound, for sure. Luca could feel the tension along the hard line of his shoulders. In silence, he tugged the zipper halfway down Theo’s back and handed him the end of the long cord so he could do the rest himself. Only Theo didn’t, he just stood there, head bowed. Waiting for something? Uncertain, Luca waited, too, eyes tracking the sliver of skin visible down Theo’s back.

“I’m—I find this difficult,” Theo said at last. Luca wasn’t entirely sure what he meant: bodyboarding, wetsuits, or the ambiguous tension flowing between them? It was hard to gauge when all Luca could see was the nape of his neck, damp hair curling. “I get frustrated.”

“Who doesn’t?” Luca set his hands lightly on Theo’s shoulders, felt the bones beneath his palms, and hooked his thumbs under the damp wetsuit. Blood racing—much of it heading south—he slipped the sleeves over Theo’s shoulders, bare skin cool against his fingers, and let go before he took it too far.Over to you, buddy.

Theo looked over his shoulder, eyes pools of darkness, difficult to read. After a long silence, he nodded. “Thank you. I’ll...” He swallowed. Luca could see his throat working, a couple drops of water trickling into the little hollow at its base. “I’ll go shower.”

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