Page 154 of Hooking Up
About this?
Or about what she wanted to tell me?
It doesn't matter. Either way, I need to guide her through this. To get her focusing on her immediate surroundings.
I noduh huh, even though she's full of it, then I motion to the waves. There's one rolling toward the beach. "Waves come in a set. Three or four, then there's a calm, then another set. The waves in the same set tend to be about the same size. But all the waves here are small. That's why I came here."
"Bunny slopes?"
"Basically." I turn her board in the right direction. "Think freestyle for this. You want to paddle with the wave until you feel it catch you, then do a pop-up. I'll tell when you've caught it. Yell 'Iris, now.' But the ocean's loud. You might not hear me. If you feel like you've got it, go for it."
"Uh…" She stares back at me in horror.
"You can do it. Trust me."
"That's my line."
"I'm stealing it." I press my palms against her board, push myself enough to kiss her.
She tastes good. Like salt and sunscreen and Iris.
A wave breaks and crashes into the sand. "You ready?"
"Yeah."
"I'll tell you when." The next wave isn't big enough. I watch it crest, break, pound the sand. There. The next. Almost. "Now." I push her in the right direction.
She starts paddling.
And just keeps paddling.
She rides the wave all the way to the sand, but she's on her stomach the whole time.
Reasonable for a first attempt. Fuck knows it took me forever to actually get on my feet.
I swim out to meet her, help her bring the board back.
She climbs on. Shoots me a sheepish expression. "I chickened out."
"It takes time to get comfortable."
"Yeah. A long time."
A long fucking time. "Go for it when you're ready."
"No. I want to be ready. Now."
"There's no secret. You just have to do it."
She nods with understanding. Presses herself into sphinx position. Looks me in the eyes. "What do you think you're going to do about your sister?"
"I don't know."
"It's tough."
"You can still walk, you know."
"I know. I don't want to."
