Page 17 of Bassist With Benefits
The wave was deflating and they rode the last few yards together, side by side. They jumped off their boards when the water got too shallow and ran onto the shore.
Joy bubbled inside of Jeremy. He let out an ecstatic laugh and slung his arm around Alan’s shoulder. “That was so cool!”
“I knew you could do it, Jeremy!”
“Thanks to you! C’mon, let’s go out again.”
Filled with excited energy, they both ran into the water and paddled into the horizon until they were tired. The sun was blinding, and the water was like a sheet of glass. They turned their boards around and rode a rising swell back toward the shore. That’s when Jeremy realized how far they had paddled. No one was around them, and the sand looked like it was a million miles away. Holy shit! He was standing on his surfboard like a pro, riding a huge wave next to his best friend.
“Awesome!” Alan’s voice came through the roar of the ocean, and Jeremy flashed him a “hang loose” sign.
Since they had paddled so far out into the ocean, the wave was larger than anything they’d seen all day. Jeremy tentatively stretched out his hand and tickled the wave, just like surfers did in the movies. It was awesome! The wave arced over his head, and he hunched down, praying he didn’t fall. Encased in a tunnel of ocean water created by Mother Nature, the light grew dimmer as the wave curled and stifled the sun’s rays. Jeremy’s heart was beating almost as loud as the surf, and his smile was so wide his cheeks hurt. This was the best day ever!
His adrenaline spiked when he thought he caught a glimpse of Alan’s black hair, just before the wave crashed down on Jeremy’s head like a cinderblock. He tumbled and turned under the surf, caught in a washing machine of turbulent water. He fought the current and darted toward the light. Breaking through the ocean’s surface, he gulped a deep breath of air before his surfboard cracked him on the skull and everything went black.
“Duuude! Duuude!”
Jeremy squinted in the bright light of the blaring sun. His head was pounding and his ears were clogged with water.
“Is he alright? Is he waking up? Jeremy! Jeremy!” It was Alan’s frantic voice, muffled in the distance.
Jeremy forced his eyes open. He was on the shore, lying on his back, surrounded by a group of people. A frizzy-haired lifeguard was staring at him from less than a foot away.
“You OK, dude?” the lifeguard asked.
Jeremy raised his hand to block out the sun’s brightness. “I… I think so.”
“You rode a righteous wave before you wiped out and your friend saved you.” He held up his hand for a high-five, which Jeremy ignored. “You rode that thing like you were at Pipe, dude!”
“Get outta the way!” Alan pushed the lifeguard aside. “Jeremy, are you alright? You scared the hell outta me!”
Jeremy sat up on his elbows and rested there for a second, then moved into an upright position and rested his forearms on his knees. The crowd around him cheered and clapped, and he gave them a wave to indicate he was OK. “What happened?” he asked Alan.
“You rode this giant wave, like the guy said. It was fucking awesome! Then you disappeared. When the wave cleared, you were floating face down.” Alan put his hand over his heart and let out a deep breath. “I thought you were dead. I just grabbed hold of you and brought you to shore before I even checked if you were breathing. I never swam so fast in my life!”
Jeremy touched his forehead, which didn’t seem to be bleeding, but there was a huge lump over his right eye. “How long was I out?”
“Not long. You came to as soon as the lifeguard took you out of my arms and put you down on the sand.”
The whole thing played back in Jeremy’s head. The wave. The awesome feeling of riding a tube the first time he surfed at the Wedge. The adrenaline spike. Then the salt water in his mouth, stealing his air, the churning water tossing him over and over, the gust of breath when he finally poked his head above water, and the crash of the surfboard on his skull. He could have died out there. Drowned at 14. He slowly turned toward his friend. “You saved my life, Alan.”
“No I didn’t. I just—”
“Yeah, you did. Thank you.”
Alan’s lips curled into a tiny smile. He looked at the sand, then back at Jeremy. “You’re my best friend, Jeremy. I’ve always got your back.”
God, that had happened almost fifteen years ago, and Jeremy remembered it like it had happened yesterday. He paddled over to Alan, just as he had done that day, except they were at Cocoa Beach instead of at the Wedge.
“What the fuck were you doing?” Alan’s soft gray eyes twinkled in the light. “I called you three times but you looked right past me.”
“I was thinking about when I first learned how to surf and the day I got knocked out at the Wedge. Do you remember?”
“Sure I remember. You cracked your board. With your skull.”
“You saved my life that day.”
Alan’s gaze turned humble as he stared down at the water before returning his eyes to Jeremy. “Yeah… well.” The corners of his lips curled into the same tiny smile he had worn that day on the beach. “If I’d known you were gonna be such a pain in my ass, I’d have let you drown.”
