Drowned

Linda saw the set approaching and, like Luke had said, let the first and usually smallest wave go by. She started paddling for the second one and felt the acceleration when the wave latched onto her. Quickly, Linda lifted her upper body, smoothed her foot along the board until it came perpendicular to her knee, flung her left leg to the front of the board and stood as quickly as she could. She waited to lose her footing, to slip off of the edge, but that moment never came. She paid close attention, never letting the board wobble too much and trying to hold her own against the water rushing her toward the shore.

This is exhilarating, Linda thought. The excitement mounted with every moment that she didn’t fall and with every increase in her speed. When she finally felt herself slow down and saw the sandy beach through the water, linda threw her hands up in the air, leaped off her board, and jumped up and down, splashing water everywhere.

Luke and Dave rolled in on the third wave, only seconds behind her. Luke picked her up and spun her around while Dave slammed her hand in a high five. She looked over at Evans again and caught the grin curving his lips. Maybe he had been rooting for her all along, she mused.

"That was awesome," Linda said with a beaming smile.

"It really was, now let’s grab some food." Luke turned toward the towels with a hopeful look that silently prayed Emma and Miles hadn’t emptied out the cooler.

"What? Food? I just got the hang of this." The boys looked at her with sad baby faces. "Okay, you guys go eat, I’m going to try for a few more waves."

"You sure?" Dave asked, and linda could tell he had finally warmed up to her. A day in the water could do wonders.

"Go, go. I’ll be in soon." She shooed them along and then threw herself back on her board to paddle out past the breaking waves. As she caught the next wave, Linda knew she had the technique down. She rode in perfectly and paddled out for more. After a few turns on the small waves, she decided to try for something bigger.

Linda sat alone in the water, closer to the pier where the waves had been breaking earlier and getting larger. Some part of linda wanted to prove to him that he was wrong, wrong in judging her based on stolen glances and wrong in making fun of her. Linda could feel his eyes on her as she paddled closer. And maybe she was being too self-assured or was too fueled by the anger he had sparked in her, but linda knew she had to try to show him something about her that he hadn’t already assumed.

Linda never met his stare. She didn't want him to know how much his presence affected her, so instead she looked out at the horizon for the next set.

Linda saw the curl, saw it break early against the pier, and paddled with all the strength she had left. When the wave got closer, she knew it was too big for her to handle and almost wanted to back out, but Tristan was still watching her. The wave picked her up and pushed her faster than she had ever gone before. When she tried to stand, her board nosedived with the speed and Kira fell headfirst over her board and into the water. She flipped underwater a few times, the strain of her board pulling her forward until she finally broke the surface for air.

After a gulp, the next wave crashed and she was thrown under again. She caught her breath for a moment of relief before the third wave in the set smacked her, and she had nothing left to fight. The wave pushed her under, and her board smacked her forehead.

Pain flashed. And then nothing.

She was sinking. Her board tugged, pulling her underwater.

And then linda fell into darkness.

"Linda, come on." She heard the command in his deep voice, but couldn't respond. "Linda, wake up."

A hand slapped her in the face, once, twice, a third time and then her eyes shot open and she tried to breathe, but her throat was stuck. Someone flipped her to her side as she began coughing, and finally she spit up what seemed like a gallon of water. Linda lay down again and closed her eyes, wanting to sleep.

"Linda!" One more smack landed on her face. "You have to stay awake."

She opened her eyes and saw the blurry outline of a boy with dark hair and pale skin. "Evans?"

"Hello."

She saw the corner of his mouth curve upward despite her uneasy vision. "What happened?"

"You were being stupid," he drawled. Linda started to remember the wave and wipeout, and then her anger brimmed back to the surface.

"Only because you were being an ass," she grumbled. He just laughed.

"Come on, try to sit up." Evans curved an arm around her back to help lift her up.

She noticed, at that moment, that they both wore only bathing suits and she was basically sitting on his lap. Linda tried to discreetly look at his chest, which was quite chiseled, and then she noticed the nice bulge of a bicep in his arm. Linda let her eyes wander a few moments longer until Evans picked her up far enough for the pain in her head to finally hit. She groaned, put a hand to her brow, and curled into his body a little more.

"Ow."

"Yeah, your board got you pretty bad."

"I know." Linda was starting to get annoyed by his habit of stating the obvious. She pulled her hand back for a moment. "Crap! I’m bleeding."

He stared at her hand, which was covered in running red liquid, until she put it back to her head. Linda noticed he was staring again, but this time at her wound. He leaned in closer, inspecting it she hoped.

After a minute, she couldn’t take it. "Evans, tell it to me straight. How bad is it?"

He jerked as if she had interrupted him mid-thought. "Oh. It’s nothing. You’ll be fine. Might need a few stitches."

He sat her up on her own and moved back a foot.

"Thanks…for helping me, I mean," she said, not sure where to look, eyes landing on his face and then staying there. A few different emotions pass over his features until he finally settled on the half-smile she had started to like.

Evans grabbed a shirt from the unguarded towel next to him, looked at it, looked at Linda, and shrugged. He put it to her head, told her to hold it there, and helped her stand up.

"Get away from her." Luke’s voice boomed from behind. He barged in, pushing Tristan to the side.

"Chill out, Luke. I didn’t do anything."

"I don’t care. Leave," he commanded, voice angrier than Linda ever remembered hearing.

"And if I don’t want to?" Evans asked. Linda knew he was saying it more to test Luke and less because he really needed to stay.

"Then…" Luke paused, clenching his fists and looking around. Then he promptly punched Evans in the face. For a moment, Linda thought she saw a flashing light, but she quickly realized it must have been the sun, which had previously been silhouetted behind the two boys. Evans fell over and rolled once on the ground.

"Luke! Stop it. He just saved my life."

"Come on, Linda." Luke tugged her hand. She glanced back at Evans, who just nodded to her, and followed Luke. "We have to take you to the hospital."

She didn’t mention the punch, wanting to wait for a good time. Instead, she went with her friends back to the car, listened to them talk about trivial things to distract her, allowed Luke to carry her into the hospital, and tried to process the heavy thoughts churning in her head.