Night Marchers Read online

CHAPTER 7 (SURF'S UP)

  Morning comes before it should splashing light throughout the room. Covering my face I was about to ask God for a few more minutes…then I remembered my plans with Tristan this morning and I quickly jump out of bed.

  Giggling with anticipation I start wondering why I am so giddy. I just saw him last night, yet I can’t wait to see him again.

  I sort through my suitcase trying to find my cutest bathing suit. It is a two-piece forest green number that has little ties on the sides of the bottom. Kaylee always wanted to borrow it when we went to the pool because of the bling on it. It has a clasp in the middle of the top that holds two large rhinestones. I look out my bathroom window and survey the lush palm trees dotting the beach. The color of my bathing suit literally matches their leaves. Well, I guess if I embarrass myself at least I will still look cute doing it.

  An hour later I’ve put my hair up in a ponytail, meticulously put on some waterproof mascara, shaved my legs and wiggled into my bathing suit. I search through my suitcase again to find my sunglasses and cover up dress then I’m ready to go.

  I run down the hall into the kitchen, grab a muffin and down it with a glass of OJ. Wow, Alani really can bake; these muffins are delicious!

  After I finish my breakfast a thought pops into my head. I just realized that Tristan never said what time we were going surfing, just that we were going this morning. I shake my head disbelieving the idiocy of myself not asking that one small question. Oh well, I guess I will just wait till he shows up.

  To pass the time I decide to take a short walk along the beach and maybe capture some Hawaiian air for my collection. I stop by my room to pick up a small glass jar and wax sealed lid. As I step outside I close my eyes and breathe in the fresh Hawaiian breeze. I test myself by trying to pick out some of the different scents that tantalize my senses. Mango, coconut, plumeria and salt water I list off. It smells just like a perfume I tried on once called Hawaiian Song.

  A few seconds later I open my eyes and start traveling carefully down the cobblestone path that Tristan and I took last night. At the bottom I hop onto the cool morning sand. It feels soft and cold between my toes.

  I look out onto the ocean. The surf washes up to the beach bringing with it an elegant morning air. I pull out my glass jar and hold it in front of me sideways allowing the cool breeze to blow into the bottle. Ceremoniously I take a deep breath trying to mentally record the scent then I put the lid on the jar. Now I can add Hawaii to my air collection.

  I’ve been asked before whether I have ever opened one of my jars of air and smelled it. I honestly have never tried. I’m not even sure if I would be able to smell anything if I did open it. Instead my collection is more like recording memories with a visual image. When I look at this jar that I will label “Kauai, Hawaii,” I will remember the tropical flowers and fruits mixed with the salty ocean breeze. When I look at any of my jars I can conjure up the memory of the scents of the land where I took the air.

  With my sealed bottle in tow, I start hunting for seashells, but mostly I’m looking for that coveted rare sharks’ tooth which can sometimes be found along a shoreline. If I find one I’m going to give it to my dad. Every time we would go to the beach he always had his head down looking for a tooth. He would tell me the same story each time we visited the ocean.

  On the first night of my parents honeymoon they were taking a sunset stroll on the beach in Cozumel when my mom stepped on a sharks tooth slicing open her foot. My dad had to pick her up to carry her back to the hotel so she didn’t get any sand in the wound. When they got to the hotel he told the concierge what happened when asking for a first aid kit. The concierge told him how rare it is to find a sharks tooth on a public beach. After my dad bandaged up my mom’s foot and took her to their room, he went back to the beach and retrieved the sharks tooth. He cleaned it up and brought it back to my mom as a gift. I still remember the line that he said to her. “Our love is rarer than this sharks tooth.” It was so cheesy, yet so amicably sweet. My mom glued the sharks tooth on the front page of their wedding album to remind them of their rare gift.

  I feel a little tug in my heart when I think about the photo album along with all of our other memories and belongings that are gathering dust in a storage room back in Texas. Pushing the thought away, I maintain the mindset that I’m not going to be homesick. After all, I’ve only been away from home less than forty-eight hours.

  While I don’t find any sharks teeth this morning, I did pick up several interesting shells. I use the front of my cover up as a sort of makeshift basket for the treasures I found today. Once I’ve gathered up everything I start heading back since I don’t want to miss Tristan when he arrives.

  I place the seashells and the jar of Hawaiian air on the top of my dresser in my room. As I’m admiring each shell’s uniqueness I hear a knock on my patio door. I jump back in surprise when I see Tristan standing there.

  If I thought he looked handsome yesterday, I was wrong. Today, he looks gorgeous in that beach bum sort of way. He has his shirt off and lime green surf shorts on. I take a second to notice his lean muscles running the length of his chest.

  Tristan raises his hand in a small wave. Heat flushes to my cheeks as I realize I’m staring yet again. I head over to slide open the door.

  “Hey Emma, you look like you’re all ready!” Tristan gave me that million-dollar smile of his.

  I smile and say, “Yep!”

  Tristan gestures with his head towards the door. I grab my new beach bag, which has my towel and sunscreen then follow his lead out the door. He picks up his surfboard off my patio and leads me down the path towards the beach. Once we hike about a quarter of a mile up the beach I notice a second surfboard in the sand. “Is this one for me,” I asked?

  “Yep, that’s my old board. My mom got me this new one when I turned nineteen this year.” Tristan replies.

  So he’s nineteen… I guessed right. I turn towards the surfboard that is allotted to me and respond with a simple, “Thanks.”

  During the first part of the morning Tristan had me practice on land with the board. He showed me the basics from paddling to how to stand when you catch a wave. I crack a joke about already having the balancing part down since I’m great at standing on top of the board while it’s perched in the sand. Tristan cracks a small laugh and shakes his head as he continues on with his instructions.

  Each time he showed me a new tip I would just smile and nod. After all it all seemed good in theory, but I was still very hesitant at trying it in real life.

  “So you think you’ve got it down? If you’re still unsure, I could show you if you want.” Tristan smiles at me reassuringly.

  “Yeah, that might be good. I think I will do better if I see you in action hitting the waves. They look pretty intimidating from here. I can only imagine what they will look like up close.” I look out onto the Pacific to see it furiously churning wave after intimidating wave.

  “No problem. Just watch what I do and you’ll be surfing in no time.”

  I watch Tristan paddle out about a hundred yards away from where I’m sitting. He does a big goofy wave to make sure he has my attention and then he goes to work. I see him paddle until he finds just the right wave, and, as if by magic, he rises up on his board and begins surfing the wave with precision and grace…all of which I know I lack. Tristan shows off by flipping on his board and doing all kinds of things I’ve only seen on TV.

  After twenty or so minutes of flawless surfing Tristan paddles back to shore. Water gleams off his skin making him look like a male swimsuit model. As he walks up to me he shakes the water out of his hair. I wonder if he knows just how cute he is.

  “You were amazing,” I mused. “I’ve never seen anything like it. You make it all look so easy.” I would be content to just watch Tristan surf for hours; he makes it look so effortless and his passion for the sport really shines through.

  “Aw, it is easy Emma, you just got to get the hang of
it first. You’ll be surfing like me in no time.”

  Sure, easy for him to say. Coordination and I do not agree most of the time. I don’t see myself taking to it all that easily.

  “To be honest with you Tristan, I think I’m more of an observer than an actual surfer. I probably belong more on the sidelines than being dangled out in front of sharks.”

  Tristan smiles his wide toothy grin and holds out his hand to me. I take it and he pulls me up to my feet. My hand feels good in his, safe. After a few seconds of standing I realize that I’m still holding his hand. I blush and pull my hand awkwardly away.

  If my lingering too long was awkward to Tristan at all, he didn’t let on. He just continues urging me; “Come on Emma, you just got to try it at least once. You can’t judge it without trying!”

  Tristan really seems sure of himself and his confidence gives me a bit of a boost. After all he’s really good at selling the idea that I’m going to do well surfing. He could probably sell sand in the desert with a smile like his. I take a deep breath, let it out noisily and say, “Okay, but if I don’t like it, then from now on I just get to watch, K?”

  “No problem Emma. I’m sure you are going to love it.” Tristan beams back at me.

  I let Tristan lead the way into the water. I follow him hesitantly paddling out further from the shore. He gestures for me to fasten the cord from the board to my ankle. He does the same. Then it’s on. We begin our quest for ‘the perfect wave.’

  “Emma, you see that swell? Try to catch it as it approaches this way. It should break just in time.”

  I look to where Tristan is pointing and give him the ‘A-Okay’ sign trying to feign a bit of confidence. As I paddle alone towards the wave I feel like I’m headed towards impending doom. I send up another quick prayer that I don’t make a fool of myself or worse, hurt myself.

  As I near the wave it begins to swell up larger than I anticipated. The adrenaline kicks in. Everything Tristan taught me plays in my mind as I focus on the wave. I begin paddling hard towards the shore and right as the wave is about to break I mount my board. I get half way up feeling a swell of pride. A second later the board beneath me begins to shake. Fearing the worse, my legs come out from under me and I crash brutally into the wave that throws my legs up over my head taking my board along with it. I get taken under for a few seconds. Salt water fills my nostrils and my mouth. Once I find which way is up I start kicking my legs hard towards the surface. I break the top of the water and take a giant greedy breath coughing and spewing the saltwater from my stinging lungs.

  Whew! I survived. I grab a hold of my board that is still attached to my ankle and use it as a floatation device. That’s when it came to me. Something was desperately wrong... I reach down beneath the water and feel around my waste confirming what I was dreading. My swimsuit bottoms are missing! I begin frantically looking all around me trying to see if they’ve surfaced. I don’t spot them and I’m mortified! To make matters worse Tristan is swimming towards me! I rack my brain to figure out what to do and decide to awkwardly cover myself with the board.

  “Wow Emma, I wasn’t expecting the wave to swell that much. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Tristan’s is nearing me.

  “I’m fine, just stop where you are!” I yell. I’m sure if I had a mirror to view myself I would be able to confirm that my face is redder than a tomato.

  A look of utter confusion flashes across Tristan’s face as he stops mid paddle.

  “I have a big problem.” I stammer. “I’m so embarrassed!” I don’t have to say too much more because a flash of knowing flashes across Tristan’s face. Maybe it’s the way I’m holding the board out in front of me that tipped him off. I’m sure it looks rather unnatural.

  Tristan makes a quarter turn away from me and begins, “You know Emma, you aren’t the first one to have a…” He sounds lost in thought, “Wardrobe malfunction if you will.”

  If it’s even possible my face turns an even darker shade of crimson. “Tristan, this is horrifying. I don’t even think the greatest writer in history could find words for how I feel right now. I’m not even sure what to do…” My voice begins rising, pleading with him to help me. I can feel tears of embarrassment rimming my eyes. It’s like that moment in a dream where you realize that you left the house totally naked and you freak out! Only this isn’t a dream, and I really am basically wearing a partial birthday suit from the waist down.

  “Emma, you aren’t the first person this has happened to and you won’t be the last. Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to stay put while I swim to shore, get your towel, and bring it back to you.” Tristan adds with a short laugh, “And don’t worry, I promise not to look.”

  Tristan began his paddle back to shore while I helplessly bob in the water. This is so mortifying! This wouldn’t be so bad if I were swimming in the murky Gulf of Mexico back in Texas, but here the water is so crystal blue you can nearly see the ocean floor.

  Tristan could have taken advantage of the situation and stole a glance if he had wanted to. I’m grateful that he didn’t. I take a mental note of just how much I am beginning to like him.

  I watch Tristan scramble up the shore, snatch up my towel and head back in my direction. He is all business…it’s a little comical to see him with a towel going into the water instead of out. It quickly becomes drenched which makes him look like Linus on those Peanuts cartoons, dragging his blanket around.

  Tristan gets about twenty yards from me and begins to back paddle with his head facing the shoreline. “Tell me when I get close and I’ll toss the towel back,” Tristan exclaims.

  I wait until he’s only two feet away and say, “Okay, you can hand me the towel now.” He hands it to me behind his back. I push the soaked towel under water and awkwardly wrap it around my waist. I have to hold on to the board with one hand to stay afloat and use the other hand to keep the towel from floating up in the water. I’m not complaining though, it’s certainly better than nothing. “Okay, I’m decent.” I tell Tristan.

  He slowly turns back towards me. He tells me to scoot further down on the board, which I do. He swims over to the same side of the board that I’m on and takes his spot only a few inches from me. “Hold on to the board.” Tristan tells me. He starts propelling us forward towards the shore. I feel bad that he’s doing most of the work since I’m just doing my best to stay afloat without losing the grip on my towel. Once we get close enough to shore for me to stand I let go of the board. He picks it up and starts carrying it out of the water ahead of me. I start walking to shore feeling all ten pounds of this waterlogged towel around my waist.

  “Tristan, I just want to say thanks for handling that…situation the way you did.” I look down at the ground in search of the right words. “You are really sweet.” My cheeks burn beneath my skin. I am just hoping he doesn’t notice.

  “It’s really not a problem Emma, I’m just doing what’s right.”

  I give him a smile and we slowly make the climb back to the house. Tristan is carrying both of our boards along with my beach bag. I feel bad, but it takes both of my hands to keep the heavy towel from sliding down on my waist. When we reach my patio Tristan turns towards me, “Just wait here, I’ll get you a dry towel so you can go inside.”

  Tristan returns a minute later and hands me a towel. He then goes to the other end of my patio and keeps his back to me. I replace the soggy towel with the warm dry towel and breathe a sigh of relief. The nightmare is finally over and at least I’m officially semi-decent.

  I tell Tristan he can turn around now. He complies and smiles at me. I can tell he is a little red as well. Maybe it’s empathy or something.

  “Thanks again for being such a gentleman out there. Most teenage guys where I come from would have pulled up a chair to watch me utterly humiliate myself; or try to get a free peek. You didn’t even steel a glance! You truly are one of the last few gentlemen left in this world. I truly am grateful.”

  Tristan held
my sincere gaze for a moment before averting his eyes. “I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. I know if it would have been me in that situation you would have done the same for me.” He looks back up at me and I smile. “Furthermore, I want you to know that I am a friend you can trust.”

  I nod and say, “Thank you,” again. I keep saying friend repeatedly in my head. That’s what we are, friends. I tell Tristan, “Well, I’m going to go in and get washed up. I guess I’ll see you later then?”

  “Oh, you’ll see plenty of me…not sure if that’s good for you or not. I live next door in that house over there,” he points to the house I noticed yesterday when we arrived. “The Kealoha family built it for my mom ten years ago when she came to work for them.”

  “That’s nice of them. Oh, and I’m sure it’s good for me too. I’m already a little homesick and it’s good to have a friend nearby.” I accentuate the word friend.

  Tristan smiles at me, “So, I guess I’ll see you at dinner, if that’s okay. My mom and I usually eat with the house guests so she can clean up afterwards.”

  “Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks again Tristan for the surfing lesson. Although it didn’t turn out like I expected, I did have a great time.” I smile thoughtfully and he returns the gesture.

  “Bye,” he says as he turns and heads off my patio, back down the path towards his house.

  I watch him leave and then close my patio door and lock it. I immediately pull out my phone to text Kaylee. “I just made an utter fool of myself in front of McHottie.”

  A few seconds later my phone vibrates. I open Kaylee’s text message. “McHottie, who is that??? Are you holding out on me???”

  Another text comes through before I can respond: “What happened?”

  I answer, “It was horrible Kaylee!!! Oh, it’s almost 2 here. Let’s Skype.”

  “Sure I will be on in five... Can’t wait to see your face! :0)” Kaylee sends.

  “Me too! See you in five.:0),” I reply then head off to change into dry clothes.

  I go grab my MacBook from my backpack and turn it on. While it’s booting up I catch a glance at my beach bag sitting on my bed. Oh my gosh, duh Emma! I think to myself and lightly thump my forehead with the palm of my hand. My cover up was in my bag! I guess with the commotion of losing my bottoms I totally didn’t think of the cover up that I could have thrown on for our walk back up to the house. Oh well, I guess it’s not worth a fret now.

  A few minutes later I accept the video call from Kaylee. When I see her face fill the screen my throat starts to choke up with emotion. I can’t believe how much I miss that face.

  “Hey lady.” Kaylee says and then ads, “Ooh! I totally dig that bedspread. It’s so you!”

  I look down at my video shot at the bottom left hand corner of the screen “Yeah, I know right! It’s totally what I would have picked out for myself.”

  “Well, it’s awesome! Enough pleasantries; spill it lady!” Kaylee yells to me with a wide curious grin, while she inches closer to her camera. I imagine for a second that I’m sitting in her room with her and not in a room thousands of miles away. I stare at her for a second and then look behind her at the pic of Taylor Lautner from New Moon on her bedroom wall. I guess that’s another thing we didn’t have in common. She was team Jacob. I laugh to myself.

  I spend the next hour telling her everything that happened and all the Tristan details. She pops a couple jokes at me and then reassures me that it probably wasn’t that bad, me losing my bottoms and all. She also threatened me and told me that if I don’t steal a pic of Tristan and send it to her soon, she wasn’t going to speak with me for at least, um, a day. I love her! I feel so much better after talking with her. I think I have enough courage now to show myself in front of Tristan tonight. After all, I don’t want to have to eat my dinners in my room for the duration of my stay. I just hope that I don’t make a fool of myself in front of him again.