Chapter 10

Haleiwa was hopping that Wednesday. Everybody and their brother as well as their sister, their dog, their mother-in-law, and their pet parakeet had turned out to see if the North Shore was really going to serve up some surfable waves at the end of August. And although the conditions were hardly the greatest ever, I don’t think the day disappointed anyone. Certainly not any of the die-hard country locals who would rather sit out the summer than fight traffic on the island’s metropolitan southern shores.

Matt and I were having a great time. By unspoken mutual consent, we didn’t talk about Ty or Austin — or either of our love lives, for that matter. We just kicked back and mused about senior year and football and water polo and college applications and a hundred other things of less importance. I’d invited Kali and her friends to drop by too, figuring that Zane was bound to be out surfing the North Shore somewhere himself, and I was surprised when she said they were all in Honolulu, including Zane. But I couldn’t say I was sorry. Having all Matt’s attention to myself was a rare treat.

Matt and I spent the early part of the day bumming around the different beaches, snacking from the food trucks, and searching for any less-than-insanely crowded break that looked my speed. He flatly refused to surf himself, but seemed happy to occupy himself otherwise while I indulged. I had just paddled in at Ali'i Beach — and managed one really nice ride, thank you very much — when the crowd suddenly quintupled. The world-famous pro surfer Makani Marro, who grew up in the area, had made a surprise appearance. He was coming out to shred a few with the rest of us!

I was as excited as anyone to catch a glimpse of the Hawaiian icon in person. But any dreams I had of catching a wave beside him were squelched as soon as he hit the water. Scores of other surfers buzzed around the guy like bees, and the swarm soon took over the best part of the lineup. I got pushed so far out I was scrambling for ripples to stand up on, but I didn’t mind all that much. Being out on the same break as a world title contender was super cool, even if I couldn’t surf worth crap just thinking that he might theoretically be watching me! Matt, sweetheart that he was, kept yelling encouragement from the beach, telling me how great I was doing. The funny thing was, he sounded so sincere I could almost believe that he believed I looked good!

Everyone seemed to be having a blast. But within seconds of Makani’s first much-anticipated ride, all hell broke loose. I didn’t see it happen, but apparently someone lost control of a heavy paddleboard, which shot up out of the water and struck Makani in the back of the head. I came up from a wipeout of my own to hear screams and shouts of panic. Everyone in the water was moving towards the same spot, where a bunch of boards bobbed on the surface while their owners dived. The terror of the crowd was infectious, and my heart raced as I listened and tried to make sense of the scene. Makani’s leash had snapped. He was underwater. He was injured, possibly unconscious…

No. My last ride had pulled me well out of the action, and I paddled back with haste. I couldn’t tell if any of the divers had actually sighted Makani yet or not. Everything was pure chaos. I headed to where everyone was diving, but before I could get there, I heard a girl’s voice screaming my name.

I looked back towards the shore to see Kali’s friend Kylee standing out on the jetty, jumping up and down and waving her arms at me. I blinked at her with disbelief. I thought I’d seen Kali herself standing on the beach next to Matt a couple minutes ago, but I had talked myself out of it. Weren’t they all supposed to be in town today? “Makani!” Kylee shouted at me, pointing. “He’s floating right underneath you! Dive down deep now! Do it NOW!”

One second I was watching Kylee on the jetty; in the next, I felt like my eyesight had been hijacked by a remote feed. I saw a mass of black hair drifting lazily in a sea of bluish green. Then I saw my own hand extended in front of me, reaching out…

I didn’t even think about it. I just unstrapped the leash from my ankle and dove. There was no doubt in my mind that Makani was down below me somewhere, just as Kylee said. Never mind where everyone else was looking.

That didn’t mean I knew exactly where to find him, however. No shimmering fish lined up in the shape of an arrow to guide me. Nor did I feel some inner homing instinct. I was literally just fumbling around. The first few feet of ocean were opaque with chop and beyond that the water grew darker. I could see only in patches as columns of sunlight filtered through the shifting layers of current. But I knew that I would spot him eventually.

Just as my lungs threatened to burst, the beautiful mop of floating black hair drifted into my vision for real. Deep… he was so deep! I shot up to the surface, took in as much oxygen as I could as quickly as I could, then went straight down again. Yes! He was still there… I reached out… I had him!

I soon learned that rescuing another teenage girl from the deep end of a stagnant concrete pool was a whole hell of a lot easier than pulling a grown man from the grip of an ocean undercurrent. It took every ounce of my strength and more oxygen than I’d come equipped with to get Makani’s limp form anywhere close to the surface. In an agony of frustration, I had to let go of him again — just long enough to free myself for one more quick dash to the surface. Thankfully, he did not sink back far, and on my second attempt I managed to get him up and get his face above the water line.

That would probably be all I could have managed if another man hadn’t arrived mere seconds later and removed the surfer’s weight from my arms. One of my calves was cramping and I had a bad feeling about the other one. I was so tired. I just needed to float for a second and rest maybe…

The floating part didn’t work out so well, and the next thing I knew I was underwater again. I had just started to paw my way wearily back to the surface, cramp and all, when out of nowhere two strong arms grabbed me and my head popped up into breathable air again. Oh, cool. That’s better.

“Grab the board, Lacey.” It was Zane’s voice. In fact, the arms were Zane’s arms. How did he get here? I grabbed the board’s tail, then watched with detached fascination as Zane and Kali’s dad — wait… Colonel Thompson? seriously? — hoisted Makani’s dead weight up onto the main body of the board.

I drew a couple more lungs’ worth of air into my system and relaxed. Everything was okay, now. I could see EMS approaching. We just needed to get Makani to them. Streams of red blood flowed through the surfer’s hair, which meant he was absolutely still alive. He would be okay. He had to be. My head and shoulders were sharing the back of the board with him — which was good, because my arms were limp as noodles — but at least the cramp had settled enough that I was able to help by kicking. And kick is what I did. All the way up until the EMS crew took over with Makani. Then we reached shallow water and everyone else stood up and started walking in. I stood up, collapsed at the knees, and fell butt-first into the foam.

So you can imagine why, at that point, I wasn’t feeling the least bit like a hero. If it had been only me and Makani out there, both of us would have drowned. I would never have known where to dive if Kylee hadn’t told me, I couldn’t have kept Makani’s head above water another three seconds if Colonel Thompson hadn’t grabbed him, and I’m not sure I could have gotten my own head back out of the water if Zane hadn’t grabbed me. And although the two men weathered their experience just fine, weakling me would have had to crawl back up the beach if one of the paramedics hadn’t demanded I wait for a stretcher. The crowd pressed in hard after that, everything got loud, and I only vaguely remember being toted up the beach. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in an ambulance breathing from an oxygen mask. One unfortunate medical assistant got stuck poking and prodding at me while the others worked on Makani, and when I heard their patient start to cough and sputter my eyes welled up with tears.

Thank God. He really was going to be all right!

After a few minutes’ rest and many drags on the oxygen, the fogginess in my head seemed to clear. The cramping was gone and I really did feel okay, aside from the coughing and a little bit of shakiness. I wanted to get out of the ambulance, because I needed to find Matt. I hadn’t seen him since before Makani got knocked out. Did he know where I was? If not, he must surely be wondering. God only knew where my board had ended up…

The paramedics didn’t want to release me; they kept insisting that I needed to be checked out in the ER. But no way was I disappearing in an ambulance. I needed to figure out what had happened to Matt. It took an argument with the paramedics and the intervention of Kali’s father — who insisted he would notify my parents and make sure I got to the ER — to get me freed, but eventually the ambulance took off with Makani and without me. I found it odd to see both of Kali’s parents hanging out with Kali, Zane, Kylee, and Tara at a North Shore beach on a weekday afternoon, but since I couldn’t think of a polite way to ask what the hell they were all doing there, I didn’t ask them anything.

“Lacey! Where are you? Lace!!!” The familiar voice cut through the din of the crowd like a ray of sunshine, and I whirled toward the sound. There were so many people pressing in, wanting to see what was going on, wanting to ask questions and to tell their stories to everyone else, that I couldn’t see who was calling, which meant for sure he couldn’t see me. But it was definitely Matt, he was looking for me, and he sounded worried. I drew in a breath to answer, but realized there was no way I could shout without breaking into another coughing fit. Luckily, my friends answered for me, and after a volley of yells, Matt finally honed in on us and broke through.

The sight of him did something to me. I don’t know what, but something. His hair and his boardshorts were dripping wet, and he wore no shirt or shoes. I knew immediately that he hadn’t just been standing around — he’d been out with all the others who were diving randomly, trying their best to find Makani no matter how slim the odds. Matt might not have the right combination of balance and flexibility to make a good surfer, but his strength and stamina made him a powerful swimmer, and at that moment he looked like the hottest thing alive.

It didn’t hurt that the instant his blue eyes caught sight of me, his whole face lit up. Before I knew what was happening his arms were around me and my feet — per usual! — were in the air. His hearty embrace was pure pleasure, and I basked in the feel of it, never mind that my nose was smashed sideways against his water-slicked shoulder and that my rib cage was flattened. I pulled my head back, but still couldn’t get any air. “Matt!” I choked out with a smile, “Put me down! I can’t breathe!”

He released his grip immediately and set me back on my feet, but his arms kept me close as he leaned down to study my face. “It was you, wasn’t it? I heard that a girl pulled him up. They said she almost drowned. Somebody said she did drown. And then I couldn’t find you anywhere.” His voice was rough. He looked around at the others. “I couldn’t find any of you.”

“Sorry about that,” I apologized, feeling guilty. It was obvious that the poor guy had been genuinely, seriously worried about me — which made me feel miserable, embarrassed, and oddly elated all at the same time. A strong rush of emotion made my eyes hot, and I fought back tears. A ridiculous number of people were standing around, an alarming number of them were staring at me, and I was feeling more self-conscious by the second. “I am a trained lifeguard, you know,” I said offhandedly, trying to lighten the mood. “I’d be pretty proud of myself if it weren’t for the small fact that I would have drowned if Zane and Colonel Thompson hadn’t gotten to us when they did.”

“Don’t say that,” Zane protested. “What you did was incredible!” He was smiling at me like I’d done something he hadn’t, which was nonsense.

Kali’s dad was just as bad. “It was a team effort, but you were definitely our MVP,” Colonel Thompson insisted with a wink.

“I’m not surprised,” Matt said proudly, beaming down at me.

They had all lost their minds. I looked at Kali and her friends, hoping for some normalcy, but their faces shone with just as much admiration. It really didn’t seem possible that we’d watched the same show. Had they missed the part where I couldn’t walk back in without doing a butt flop?

Before I could protest again, a bunch of school-age boys pushed their way up to me, returned my brother’s board, and begged me to tell them the whole story. I was thrilled to have the board back, so I gave them a quick rundown. But not only did my story impress the boys way more than it should have, the crowd thickened as I told it, and before long, I was being deluged with questions. I started growing really uncomfortable — and feeling a little light-headed again — when Kali intervened. “We need to get you to the ER, Lacey,” she reminded loudly.

“What?” Matt demanded, sounding horrified.

“That’s what the paramedics said,” Kali explained.

“I’m all right!” I assured. But then I started coughing again. “It’s just that as a precaution, they—”

Matt leaned down close to me, and the next thing I knew I was up in the air and horizontal. It was a bizarre feeling, being swept up like that, and a bit frightening until I wrapped my arms around his neck and settled my weight against his bare chest. Then it was… surprisingly comfortable.

Woah.

“What hospital do you think?” Matt asked Kali’s dad. His voice didn’t sound the least bit winded, even though he’d looked exhausted a moment ago. You’d think he was holding a newborn lamb rather than a slightly over— Well… let’s just say me. The two of them discussed their plan of action with no input from yours truly, and then Matt walked through a magically appearing hole in the crowd and began to carry me across the beach toward the parking lot.

I couldn’t seem to say anything. I was too shocked… and way too comfortable. If Ty had ever tried to carry me like this, I would have feared a broken tailbone. But with Matt I felt perfectly safe. Safe and warmish and wonderfully, fabulously… what, exactly?

I didn’t know. But it wasn’t good. I mean, it felt good, but it wasn’t right. I was taking advantage of something. The conflicting feelings confused me, but I was pretty sure that whatever was happening, I was going to regret it later. “Put me down,” I insisted, totally not wanting him to. “This is ridiculous.”

I was way too aware of the play of his shoulder muscles beneath my forearms, the firmness of his broad chest against my side. The arms that supported my legs and back were so steady, so rock-solid. I noticed all that and I felt like I shouldn’t and alarm bells were clanging all over the place.

“Matt, please!” I fussed, kicking my feet. “I am perfectly capable of walking!”

“I’m sure you are,” he replied. “Now be quiet and hold still.”

We joked together like that all the time, the playful bickering, and I gave as good as I got. But at that particular moment, probably because he was carrying me like a baby, I felt like I was being patronized. “Since when do I take orders from you?” I barked.

“Since never,” Matt admitted good-naturedly.

“So who do you think you are?” I fired back at him, my emotions reeling. I had the sudden, frightening feeling that something was different with him, that something had changed between us, and no sooner had those words left my mouth than I wondered myself what I meant by them.

“Good question.” His blue eyes locked on mine with a challenge. “Hey, Lace. You want to go out with me Saturday night? Like, on a date?”

My legs stopped kicking. My arms went limp and my cheeks got hot. He was joking with me, but whatever the gag was, I didn’t get it. Everybody around us had heard what he’d said, including Kali’s parents. We were a public spectacle right now. Was my brain foggier than I knew? Was I missing something?

Joking about taking me out on a date wasn’t the least bit funny. All I could think was that he must feel sorry for me. I’d gotten cheated on again, I’d nearly drowned, and now I had to go to the ER. Maybe he thought the prospect of a date with the hottie of Frederick High would cheer me up. Maybe he just meant that he would pay for dinner instead of us splitting the check. Or maybe he was angling for something else altogether, like trying to impress Tara by pretending he’d go out on a mercy date with a fat chick.

Wait. Strike that. I am not fat. But I couldn’t believe Matt was serious about a real date either. And the fact that he was making a joke out of it, out of me, made me furious.

“Yeah,” I fired back, deciding to trap him at his own game. “As a matter of fact, I do!”

So there. He’d worked all summer, he could afford to pay for one damned dinner. Served him right for saying things he didn’t mean.

“Well, good!” he answered. His voice sounded play-angry, but I could tell he was really fighting a smile. “It’s about time you dated a real man.”

What the hell? My face felt like it was on fire. Kali, Zane, Kylee, and even Tara were all smiling like cats who ate canaries, and I only just managed to swallow the cutting comeback on my tongue. Matt clearly didn’t realize that everyone else thought he was serious! Even worse, they had the gall to act thrilled!

We reached the parking lot and headed off toward our various vehicles. Matt carried me around to the passenger side of his car, set me gently on my feet, and opened the door for me. I hadn’t said another word to him, but I was dangerously close to boiling over with anger, embarrassment, and confusion.

And Matt, in true Matt fashion, was clueless. We buckled up and he started the car. His eyes were twinkling and he started whistling to himself.

“Matt!” I practically thundered as soon as no one else could hear us. “What is wrong with you? They all think you were serious!”

He shot a disturbed look in my direction. He had only just pulled out of the parking space, but after studying me, he pulled back into it. “Serious about what?” he asked, his voice cautious.

I refrained from groaning out loud. How could such a smart guy act so stupid? “About taking me out on a ‘date!’” I exploded. “You know you don’t mean that!”

He stared back at me. His face was unexpressive, but his shoulders slumped slightly. “I don’t?”

“You—” The rest of that thought escaped me. I had only to look in his eyes to know that I was wrong. Holy crap. He was serious!

“You want to change your answer?” he asked.

My mind reeled. Matt was thinking about me… that way? As more than just a friend? Since when? And why?

I couldn’t believe it.

I was speechless. Totally, completely speechless. And that doesn’t happen to me too often.

Eventually, Matt averted his eyes and blew out a breath. “Okay, fine. Forget about it.” He started to pull out of the parking spot again.

“No, wait,” I said quickly, reaching out and touching his arm. I wasn’t thinking rationally so much as reacting to the hurt in his voice.

He froze.

Self-conscious again, I pulled my hand back. “You’re not getting out of this that easily,” I teased, desperate to lighten the mood again. “Does this date include a free meal?”

He smiled and gave a half shrug. “Sure.”

“Then you’re on,” I agreed, trying hard to sound nonchalant, even as my heart pounded furiously. “You may drive me to the ER now.”

He smirked at me and returned to backing up the car. “Gee, thanks. You know, that’s what I told myself when I woke up this morning. I said, hey — it’s my first whole day off in a month. What could possibly be more fun than hauling Lacey Chambliss’s butt into an ER?”

“Oh, shut up!” I laughed. Unfortunately, laughing made me cough again.

Matt didn’t say anything else about the date. He just threw worried looks at me out of the corner of his eye while he concentrated on driving safely to Honolulu. But all through the rest of that drive, and all through the long hours at the hospital while he entertained me with ridiculous football-themed commentary about the slow-moving medical staff, I could not stop thinking about it.