“Awesome, everyone’s set, so let’s get going!” Stevo finally called out. I made sure not to turn around and look at the guy. I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to know if he recognized me. I didn’t want my body to react the way it did every time I looked at him. It felt so wrong, and yet at the same time, it felt so good. It felt naughty.
As we walked along the beach towards the surf, I began to silently thank God that Lisa hadn’t decided to come with me today. I asked her before leaving, but she’d decided to sleep in. I could only imagine her reaction if she had. She would have instantly introduced me to the guy, told him how hot I thought he was, and suggested we go out for drinks after the lesson. Yes, it was definitely a lifesaver that Lisa hadn’t shown up.
When we got down to the beach, Stevo got us all to put down our boards, so we could learn the positioning. I walked to the other side of the couple that had arrived after me, making sure I was on the far end.
We spent the next twenty minutes practicing jumping up on the surfboard, while Stevo came around and gave us tips and advice. It was tougher than I thought it would be, even with the board just sitting on the sand. I had years of balance practice from figure skating under my belt, but it had been so long since I had done anything that required any sort of balance skills that it felt like I was starting again from square one. Then, we got a bit of a talk about paddling out, choosing a wave, tips on how to catch the waves, and eventually Stevo invited us into the water to practice.
I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to be able to avoid the man completely in the water. We made eye contact after a couple of minutes, and he smiled at me. I thought I was going to melt. His smile was gorgeous, it felt like it sent rays of sunlight penetrating through my skin.
Does that mean he recognized me, or is he just being polite?
Before I got the chance to overanalyze the situation to death, Stevo called me over.
“Caroline, you’re up!” he announced. I swam over to him on my board. We were in waist deep water, the waves we were catching had to be less than six inches high, but they looked enormous to me.
“Alright. You remember everything we’ve done so far. Just don’t panic, and don’t worry if you fall, almost everyone falls their first time.”
I nodded and looked out at the water. After a few seconds I saw a wave that looked promising. I turned and jumped up on my board, and the next thing I knew I was riding on the water! I must have been going about a mile an hour, but it felt like I was racing. I held my arms out, making sure to keep my balance, and the next thing I knew I had actually hit the beach. I had done it!
Jumping off my board, I grabbed it and ran into the water, getting high fives and cheers from some of the others in the group. Then Stevo called out “Mark” and the man whose name I now knew went out with his board.
I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Mark found a wave and caught it almost instantly. He looked so athletic, so strong, I had even wondered if he should be in the beginner’s group. At one point he just about lost his balance, coming only inches away from plunging into the surf, but saved himself at the very last second.
We spent the next hour in the surf, practicing on the little waves. After everyone had done a couple of waves with Stevo watching, we were invited to separate and find waves of our own. I ventured off a little ways from everyone else, not wanting to accidentally run into anyone. Slowly but surely I was getting the hang of this. I was getting used to it! This was awesome!
The time absolutely flew by. I guess it was probably only about ten minutes or so before the lesson was ending, but I was getting really confident. Maybe a little bit too confident. I decided I wanted to go a bit deeper, try and take on a wave that was a foot, maybe two feet high. It was going to be awesome!
I swam out further than before. It’s not like I was in the deep or anything, the water wouldn’t have been higher than me. But still, considering this was my first time ever surfing, it was a big thing for me.
Spotting a wave that looked pretty decent, I turned my board around, paddled with it and jumped up when I thought the time was right. Sure enough, I nailed it! It was awesome. I felt like I was flying, I felt like I was really surfing. Floating on the water, it was one of the best feelings I’d ever experienced in my life.
Then as I came in towards the sand, almost reaching the shore, my left foot suddenly slipped along the board. I tried to compensate by moving my body to the right, but it was too late. My board flew out from under me, and the last thing I remember was hitting the water with a splash, and a horrendous pain in the back of my head.
When I woke up, I was on the beach, blurry faces over me. My throat felt like it was on fire. I coughed, and seawater came spewing out of my mouth. As I began to focus, I realized it was Stevo and Mark that were leaning over me.