Chapter 6
I think about summer my head was swimmin'
You wrote my name in the sand We walked together hopin' forever
Please don't let go of my hand - LeBlanc and Carr, "Falling", It was their highest-charting single, peaking at number 13 in the United States during the winter of 1978.
My hair flies behind me as Ang pushes me on her skateboard. It's really hot out, but we couldn't find anyone to ask for a ride to where Ben is hanging with his skateboard friends. Again, I bitch out Charlie for not buying me a car and complain that Ben should pick her up like a gentleman if he expects her to spend an afternoon watching him ride around on cracked asphalt and iron railings. She shoots back that Jared could do the same.
"He's not my boyfriend."
"I dunno, you seemed pretty happy at the beach last week when he stopped by."
I flip her the bird and jump off the board, giving Alice a turn. "Is he going to be your boyfriend?" Alice asks as she balances herself.
"I don't know." Since our movie date we've been out one other time to the diner. It's not that he's not a nice guy, or cute, but he's not Edward. A fact I don't say out loud. "Charlie wants to meet him, though."
"Make sure he comes after dinner," Ang says as she grabs Alice's hand. We pull her by the arms while cars honk at us to get off the road. She's laughing and trying not to fall as we run and whip her so she's flying on her own. We take a few more turns until Angela declares she needs a smoke and picks the board up nestling it under her arm while we walk slow.
The place they're skating in is the old library parking lot. It has lots of curbs and stairs and all the stuff the skateboarders seem to think is a great way to injure yourself. There's about fifteen of them standing around pretending to be the Z-Boys from Santa Monica, which they will never be. We sit on the cement and cheer them on anyway as they do jumps and spin around, and we hold our breath when one guy gets so low in a turn that his long, blonde hair is brushing the ground.
Ben glides towards us after performing a few cool tricks. He's really very good and we tell him that. Ang says she wants to learn some moves, so like an attentive boyfriend, he coaches her how to do some basics until she gets too hot and sits back down on the concrete.
"I wish we had beer," she says, fanning herself with her hand.
"Hell, I'd give a hand job for a Tab." I look around to see if there are any coolers or backpacks, as Alice makes a clucking sound next to me.
"You really shouldn't joke like that."
"Who said I'm joking?" I bump my shoulder into hers and make a goofy face at her until she smiles. She really needs to loosen up.
A skateboarder starts coming fast towards us and I'm about to get off my ass so he doesn't give me a concussion when he makes a sudden stop in front of us, kicking up gravel.
The shaggy blond smiling at us makes my eyes go wide. "Mr. Whitlock," I say, surprised to see a teacher out here with these guys.
"I didn't know you skated," Ang says to him, shielding her eyes.
"Sure. It's just like surfing. How's your summer going, ladies?" Ang and I answer generically while I try to catch a glimpse of Alice's reaction to her dreamboat showing up out of nowhere.
The conversation continues in the type of banal niceties you say to a teacher when you see them awkwardly outside of school until he makes motions like he's going leave. "Okay, well, you girls enjoy the rest of summer. Mary Alice," he smiles as he turns to her, "hope you're reading some plays during your break."
"I am." It's the only thing she's said this whole time. I guess she's too nervous to speak.
He salutes us and kicks off his board, turning back towards the skaters.
"That was awkward," Ang says. "I hate seeing teachers where they're not supposed to be. I saw the gym teacher last summer driving a cab outside the grocery store and it just about traumatized me."
"I think little Alice here is traumatized right now," I joke as I watch her staring after him.
"Little Alice can handle herself just fine, thank you very much." She gets up and wipes dirt off her butt. "I'm gonna go. It's too hot for me."
Ang and I share a look. "Wanna come over later?" I ask her. "The new Seventeen came."
"I don't know, maybe. I'll call you." Alice walks away and doesn't look back.
The next weekend, Tasty Dog is super busy. The beach is usually crowded in summer with teenagers and stuff, but on a Saturday it's especially busy with parents making the most of their day off with their kids. It means there are actual adults with money to spend so the food shacks and ice cream stands are usually non-stop.
I'm running around taking orders, giving them to the cook, and then delivering them to the window and tables while taking money. Alice called out sick, and when I see her next, I'm going to be very mad at her. The cook's son is helping out, if you can call it that. He's mostly ogling the bikinis that come to the window and trying to act much cooler than he'll ever be.
I blow my hair away from my sweaty face and tell him to help me refill the ketchup and mustard bottles before we close for the day. We clean up a bit, making sure everything is ready for tomorrow and as we get on the countertops to close the windows, the sun on the water looks so inviting I think about going for a swim. It's a law if you're a California girl to always have a bathing suit on under your clothes. If you don't and the authorities find out, you get deported to Kansas, so I figure I'll put it to some use.
Taking off my burger-stenched shirt as I walk through the picnic tables, I see Cullen's Surf Shop still has their door open. A colorful flag waves outside in the breeze and I decide I'd rather surf. I'm sure Mr. Cullen would loan me a board. He and Charlie know each other from competing in amateur surfing competitions together before Charlie got serious with my mom and decided he needed a real job, while Mr. Cullen continued competing and traveled around the world until settling here about a year ago.
Crossing the threshold, I take in a whiff of the always present patchouli smell and look around. Boards of all different sizes and colors are lined up against the wall, mixed in with some trunks and t-shirts. Pictures of Mr. Cullen riding waves are hung up alongside pictures of other famous surfers. I walk to the one next to the display of board waxes and look at Charlie as he's just entering a large curl. It's funny to see him without the mustache.
"Bella! It's been a while, how are you, honey?"
I turn and smile. "Hi, Mr. Cullen." He envelopes me in a hug and he smells like the ocean mixed with weed. For an older guy, he is super handsome. He's the perfect combination of tanned skin and bleached-by-the-sun hair. Edward looks a lot like him. "I'm good. I was hoping I could borrow a board? I don't want to go home to get one and waste time, the waves are perfect right now."
"You know you don't have to ask. But are you going out alone?" He walks to the wall of boards and sifts through a few.
"Yeah, but there are others out there, I'm sure I know someone."
"I'd feel better if I went with you. Let me get changed. I'll lock up early."
"I can ride with her." Edward pops out of the back room and it's all I can do to keep my eyes from bulging out of my skull in shock that he's volunteering to spend time with me. And–he's shirtless. Yum.
"That's okay, I don't want to put anyone out," I stutter, and my heart starts racing just a little bit.
"It's fine," he says, not even looking at me as he kicks his flip flops off and stashes them behind the counter.
Carlisle smiles. "Yeah? Sounds good. Here, how's this one?" Carlisle slips a board out of the group.
"Great." I go to reach for the board but Edward steps in front of me.
"Give her the Ed Angulo." Edward pulls a board out. "The blue matches her suit." He looks as startled at his comment as I am. "It's also the easiest to handle for a girl."
I scowl at him when he grabs my board and walks out. "Don't let Gloria Steinem hear you talk like that," I yell to his retreating back.
I hug Mr. Cullen one more time and tell him I'll tell Charlie he says hi. Following Edward outside, he's gathering his board and now has one under each arm. "I can get mine," I say and follow him across the beach.
"It's no problem." And it really isn't. His muscles are flexing as he carries them easy. His red trunks are hanging a bit low and I half-wish they fall down and he can't grab them because his hands are full.
It finally dawns on me that I'm going to surf alone with Edward. I haven't been this nervous since I left my Barbie diary on the bus in sixth grade. He puts the boards upright in the sand as I wipe my sweaty hands on my shorts. I then get more nervous when I realize I'm going to have to take them off in front of him.
"I could've surfed alone, you don't have to babysit me."
"You could just say thanks for the company."
"Just because Charlie–"
"Bella. I wanted to surf. You wanted to surf. Therefore, we are surfing at the same time."
"Okay." I shimmy out of my shorts and hope I look like Cheryl Tiegs and not Hervé Villechaize.
"You've done this before, right?" he asks and I see a hint of sarcasm in his smile.
"Yes, I'm not great, but I don't suck."
He starts stretching his arms over his head loosening up and his abs are perfect. It's all I can do not to drool. Even his man nipples are nice-looking. Golden brown and just the right size with no hairs sticking out of them. Cosmo would sell a lot of copies if they made him do a naked centerfold like Burt Reynolds.
I insist on carrying my board to the waves and we start paddling out. The water is the perfect temperature and I'm instantly at peace with the world. There are some other guys farther out and the swells are starting to climb. Edward lays on his board waiting for a good one, and I do the same. We bob over a few he finds unacceptable, listening to the water as it softly laps against our hands while the surf farther away pounds down. Birds are flying overhead and it's a cloudless day.
It might be my favorite day, ever.
I see one coming I like so when it starts lifting my board, I turn and paddle with the wave at my heels. I see Edward right next to me doing the same, and once the wave hits the right height, we both jump up onto our boards and sail along the crest.
I get a pretty good ride going, but I'm the first off and I land in the cool water which feels like heaven on my Tasty Dog-abused skin. Breaking the surface, I swim to catch my board and climb up. Edward made it farther to shore, so he's paddling back to where I am.
"Not bad, Swansong. I'm impressed."
"Because I'm a girl or…" I was about to say 'Rosalie's twerpy sister' but I decide against saying her name. Not right now. "Or because my true talent is comedy?"
Edward laughs and it's the most I've ever seen him laugh at something. He throws his head back and shakes the water from his hair before smiling at me.
"You can be pretty funny." He ducks his head and shakes his hair one more time before he starts paddling.
I'm beaming inside. Maybe during all those dinners where I'm trying to make people forget their food by entertaining the crowd, he's listened to me once or twice. We turn and wait for the next wave, and ride a few together with me mostly wiping out first. He gives me a few pointers and the next wave I nail perfectly if I do say so myself.
"I need a rest," I say after the fifth in a row. I straddle my board and ride the water, and Edward does the same. We drift a bit in silence, both of us watching the surfers farther out. "You could go…" I motion towards them.
"I'm good here." His eyes are reflecting all the colors of the ocean beneath us and the sky above. It's blue and pink and purple and it makes Edward's skin glow warm.
"This would make a beautiful scene in a movie," I say absent-mindedly and Edward turns to look at me.
"It really would." I'm staring at him and he's staring at me. My board starts to drift from his and he holds his hand out to me, pulling me back towards him so our knees bump. He holds my hand for just a beat too long for a guy that has a girlfriend, and it's me that pulls away. We both turn back to look at the waves, my heart going a million miles a minute. I couldn't have just imagined that. But it's probably just the magical witching hour of the day, where everything looks so much better than it actually is and pulls you into her spell.
Edward breaks the silence first, asking me about random things like Tasty Dog and school, and we talk about his classes and what kind of films he wants to make.
We spend the next half hour bobbing there together, talking and laughing and dreaming and forgetting that Rosalie Hale exists.
PB Fun Fact: I really saw my elementary school gym teacher, Mr. Zak, parked outside the A&P grocery store in the driver's seat of a taxi. It had never occurred to me before that teachers had other lives.
Huge thanks to two girls I'd skateboard with all day, LayAtHomeMom and CarrieZM!