Surface

by Jody Morse

  An excited barking interrupted my thoughts. I could hear where it was coming from, but I couldn’t see it. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a Golden Retriever walking towards me, but I couldn’t see its owner just yet.

  As they came into view, I blew my whistle fiercely. “Dogs are not allowed on the beach!” I shouted.

  The guy, who looked like he was about my age and had short brown hair, took a step closer to my lifeguard chair. “I know they’re not allowed.”

  “Then why did you bring one?” I snapped at him. I knew that part of my job was to be friendly, but did this guy really think he had special privileges over the other beach-goers?

  “This is Bruno. He’s a service dog,” the guy said, pulling a paper out of his wallet and holding it up to show me. “Here’s proof, if you want to see it. It’s a doctor’s note.”

  I waved my hand at him. “That’s okay. I believe you. Just make sure you keep him under control.”

  “I will,” the guy replied, glancing up at me. His eyes, the prettiest shade of gray I had ever seen, seemed to be smiling up at me.

  I quickly looked away from him, hoping that he hadn’t noticed me admiring his eyes, and pretended to scan the beach in front of me.

  “You’re new here, aren’t you?” the guy called up to me.

  Glancing down at him, I nodded. “How did you know?” I asked.

  The guy shrugged. “Most of the other lifeguards know me . . . and Bruno.” Oh, so I was the only stupid one who didn’t know the dog was a service dog. Figures. It would have been nice if someone could have briefed me on that before I made an ass out of myself whistling at him.

  “Well, I apologize.” I met his eyes again. This time, I didn’t look away.

  “Apology accepted.”

  I wanted to ask him his name, but something inside of me kept me from speaking to him again. He seemed to be thinking the same thing, but before either of us said another word, he turned and walked away. I watched as he walked with Bruno down the beach until they both disappeared from my view.

  *

  The next day, I waited all morning for the guy to come back to the beach. I figured he would be back since he made it sound like he walked the beach a lot. How else would all of the lifeguards at Ocean Grove know him?

  As much as I thought about seeing him again, I didn’t let it interfere with doing my job. The day was mostly uneventful, though I did have to help a little boy find his mom. But when I wasn’t too busy, I couldn’t keep my mind off the guy and his friendly gray eyes.

  It was silly, really. Here I was thinking about this guy, and I didn’t even know his name. All I knew was that he liked animals. Actually, I didn’t know that he really liked animals — just that he needed one to guide him. And I wondered why.

  Sighing, I decided that it was useless to worry about what medical condition the guy did or didn’t have. I might never find out and if I could be honest with myself, it wasn’t any of my business. There was a chance that I might never see him again, anyway. I hoped I was wrong, though.

  Around four o’clock, all of my wishing throughout the day proved to be useful after all. I heard the sound of Bruno barking from behind me as they walked closer to my lifeguard chair.

  The guy came over to my chair and, standing next to it, said, “Hey there.” I tried not to act too surprised that he had made the effort to come talk to me. I had planned to admire how cute he was from afar, but I never expected him to actually talk to me again. There was just something about him that made me want to see him again—but I knew that I wouldn’t have had the guts to talk to him first.

  “Hi,” I managed to say, glancing down at him, pretending that I hadn’t noticed him until that very moment.

  “I was wondering . . . would you like to go out with me sometime?”

  I tried not to let the surprise that I felt show on my face. I had only been expecting to maybe say a quick ‘hi’ to the guy if I worked my nerve up enough, but for him to ask me out already? It seemed really sudden for us to go on a date. We still didn’t know each other's names!

  Then again, who was I to question it? I had been thinking about him ever since we met . . . Maybe that meant he had spent a lot of time thinking about me, too. When is it ever really the right time to meet the right person?

  Trying to compose myself, I said, “That depends on three things.” Of course I wanted to say ‘yes’ right away, but I had to at least make it seem like I was playing hard to get. Even though I had only ever been on one date with a guy named Kyle (who later admitted that he only asked me out at the persistence of Carrie because he felt sorry for me), I knew that it was never good to make it seem like you were too desperate.

  The guy stared back at me with an amused look on his face. “Okay, what three things? I’m always up for a challenge.”

  “First thing. Are you ever going to tell me your name?” I asked, trying to pass my question off as a joke.

  “Hmm, I was planning to leave you guessing,” the guy said, tapping a hand against his chin. “But since you must know, my name’s Tyler. What’s yours?”

  “Felicia,” I replied.

  “You’re the first Felicia I’ve ever met,” Tyler commented. “What’s the next thing?”

  “What are we going to do if I agree to go out with you?” I asked. Let’s face it: what he wanted to do if we went out definitely was going to factor into whether or not I said ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I’d never been a picky girl. In fact, I was even somewhat of a tomboy. If he wanted to go see a Star Wars movie or play Dungeons & Dragons, though, I knew I wouldn’t have a good time—and I really wanted us to have a good time if we did go out.

  “Now you’re taking away all the fun,” Tyler said, folding his arms and leaning against my lifeguard chair. “There has to be at least some surprise, doesn’t there?”

  “Fine, you get a free pass for that question,” I replied. I wasn’t about to kill the moment by telling him how much I really hated surprises. “My third question’s more important, anyway. Are we calling this a date?”

  Tyler had that amused look on his face again. “Do you want it to be?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I’ll decide once it’s over,” I said coolly. “When do you want to go out?”

  “Is tomorrow night okay?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow night is perfect.”

  Chapter 2

  “So, he just, like, came up to you and asked you if you wanted to go out with him?” Carrie asked, running her acrylic nails through her wavy hair. I’d invited her over to help me decide on an outfit to wear, but instead of giving me her much needed fashion advice, she’d spent the whole time grilling me about Tyler. “Don’t you think it’s also a little creepy? I mean, you barely know the guy.”

  Awkwardly tucking a lock of golden blonde hair behind my ear, I shrugged. “Maybe . . . I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. I don’t think he’s a creep or anything, if that’s what you mean. It’s actually kind of cute that he was brave enough to ask me out so soon.” I paused, trying to find the right words to explain it because even I knew it sounded kind of crazy, and the last thing I wanted was my best friend thinking that I was crazy, too. “I think we just have some sort of connection.”

  Carrie raised an eyebrow at me. “Don’t tell me you think this is love at first sight or something.”

  Love at first sight? The idea hadn’t even crossed my mind. Then again, I knew that I didn’t love Tyler. We had only just met. I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind since the first time I had seen him at the beach, though. There was definitely something between us . . . I just wasn’t sure what it was yet. “I don’t know what I think it is,” I told Carrie. “But I know that I don’t want to let the opportunity pass by without at least trying.”

  Carrie sighed. “Alright, but you better text me every hour so I know you’re not getting axe murdered or something. And if you want me to interrupt your date, text me your location with the code word lifeguard.”

  �
�Lifeguard?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

  “Yeah, a lifeguard rescues people,” Carrie replied with a duh tone to her voice.

  “I’m sure there will be no reason to. But I will if it goes bad. I promise.” I turned to face her. “How do I look?”

  “Good, because I would never forgive myself if something happened to you and I didn’t do anything to stop it,” Carrie said.

  I blinked back the tears that formed behind my eyes. Carrie sometimes felt like the sister that I had missed out on having for most of my childhood. If only my best friend knew that I hadn’t been able to keep my own sister safe. . . .

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  Carrie turned her attention to my feet. She’d talked me into wearing a pair of black ballet flats. Her theory was that they were dressier than flip flops, but not as dressy as heels, which might give Tyler the impression that I was either slutty or high-maintenance—neither of which I was. Her eyes traveled to my bare legs and my flowing knee-length flowered skirt before drifting up to the baby blue tank top I had on. Carrie grabbed a bottle of hairspray from the vanity and spritzed some on my hair. “There. Now your hair will stay in place. You look perfect.”

  I smiled. My best friend wasn’t the type to dish out compliments unless she truly meant them, so I must have looked okay. She also was never the type to enjoy playing dress up so I appreciated the fact that she was helping me get ready. “Thanks,” I said, glancing down to check the time on my cell phone. “I should probably get going now. We’re supposed to meet at Scoops in ten minutes.”

  “Okay. Don’t forget to text,” Carrie reminded me as she led me out of my bedroom. Once we were out the front door, she said, “And good luck!”

  “I probably need it,” I muttered as we began walking in opposite directions. Did I really need luck, though? Everything with Tyler seemed to be falling into place on its own . . . maybe a little too perfectly. Now that I thought about it, it was bound to go wrong sooner or later. I needed all the luck I could get.

  Scoops was a cute little boardwalk ice cream parlor with checkerboard tiled floors and red bar stools. All of the waitresses wore low-cut pink plaid uniforms with poodle skirts and roller skates, which gave it that tacky, but classic, old school feel. The smell of hot fudge and strawberry syrup wafted into my nostrils as I slid into a booth at the front of the parlor.

  I had only just sat down when Tyler strolled into the ice cream parlor. His warm eyes immediately fell on me. As he got closer, I realized that he had Bruno with him. “Hey,” he said, grinning. “Do you want ice cream?”

  “Isn’t that why we’re here?” I replied, giggling. I felt better knowing that he sounded as nervous as I felt. My stomach growled, and I knew it was because the only thing I had been able to eat all day was a piece of kiwi before work because I had been so nervous about tonight. Though, I wasn’t really sure why I was nervous about going out with Tyler. I really didn’t feel uncomfortable at all when I was around him.

  “I’ll go order the ice cream,” Tyler said. “What would you like?”

  “A strawberry shake,” I replied. Tyler nodded and, walking with Bruno to the counter, ordered our ice cream. When he sat back down, I said, “So, this was your big surprise? Ice cream at Scoops?”

  “You underestimate my ability to surprise you.” Tyler turned his lips into a pout, which made me giggle. “So, tell me about yourself,” he said. “Something besides the fact that you have a really cute laugh.”

  Blushing, I hesitated. I hated talking about myself. “I’m fifteen. I go to Ocean Grove High.”

  Tyler shook his head. “No, that tells me nothing about you. I could have guessed you were under sixteen since you’re a Junior Lifeguard. And you lifeguard in Ocean Grove, so unless you were visiting here for the summer, obviously you go to Ocean Grove High. I don’t want a textbook definition of you, tell me about you.”

  Looking down at my fingernails, which I had polished a pearly shade of pink, I said, “My favorite color is blue. I live with my Gram. I always think about trying out for the school swim team, but I end up chickening out at the last second. I love dogs . . . not a huge fan of cats. I love the beach, but it scares me.” I looked up at Tyler for approval. “Better?”

  Tyler stared at me for what felt like the longest few seconds of my life. His gray eyes caught mine, and I tossed my hair over my shoulder nervously. “It tells me a little more about you, but it still leaves me with some questions.”

  A waitress skated over to us and set our milkshakes down in front of us: my strawberry shake and his confetti shake—a vanilla shake with rainbow sprinkles. Scarlett loved confetti milkshakes. I don’t know what made me think about it in that moment; I usually tried not to think about what my sister liked or didn’t like when she was still alive. It made the memories too painful.

  “What questions does it leave you with?” I asked, turning my attention back to Tyler when the waitress left our table.

  He opened a straw and placed it in his ice cream glass. Taking a sip, he said, “Why do you always chicken out about joining the swim team?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, really. I just always think I’m not good enough.”

  “You’re a Junior Lifeguard,” Tyler pointed out. “You have to be good enough to make the cut if you were good enough to be a lifeguard. And you never know until you try. If you want to be on the team, you at least owe it to yourself to give it a try.”

  I nodded and smiled. “I’ll think about it,” I said quietly, hoping he’d just let it go. Even if I thought I could do it, I knew I would still chicken out the next time tryouts were held.

  “My next question is . . .” Tyler said quietly, “You’re a lifeguard and you love the beach. Yet you say you’re afraid of it. Why?”

  “I’ve lost a lot of people because of water,” I said quietly, looking down at my cell phone. There was one new text message from Carrie. Picking my phone up, I didn’t even read her message; I just typed: It’s going good so far.

  Tyler studied my face. “I sense that you don’t like to talk about it,” he murmured.

  I shook my head. “You’re pretty perceptive. So, now it’s my turn to learn some more about you. Does Bruno go everywhere with you?”

  Tyler nodded and laughed. “Literally! From the time I wake up in the morning, he’s by my side. He sleeps with me at night . . . He even waits outside the bathtub while I take a shower.” He glanced over at Bruno and scratched the dog behind his ears. “He’s a man’s best friend.”

  “I don’t know if this is weird for me to ask, and I know it’s none of my business but . . . why do you need him?” I questioned cautiously, afraid that I might be pushing the boundaries. From the look in Tyler’s eyes after I said it, though, something told me I hadn’t crossed the line. Not that it was surprising. Tyler didn’t seem like the type of guy who was easily offended.

  “I have epilepsy,” Tyler explained. “Bruno can sense when I’m about to have a seizure.”

  “So, say you were to have a seizure tonight. What would Bruno do?” I asked nervously, hoping that he wouldn’t have a seizure while we’re alone.

  Tyler raised his eyebrows. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I haven’t had a seizure in about two years. If all goes well, I should be able to get my driver’s license next year, at eighteen.” He paused and glanced over at Bruno, who was lying down on the tiled floor. “But, if I were to have a seizure, Bruno would start barking.”

  “He doesn’t bark at anything else?”

  “He’s a dog,” Tyler said, laughing. “He usually doesn’t bark unless there’s a stranger around or a dog he’s unfamiliar with. If I’m about to have a seizure, you’ll know it.”

  “Can you die from a seizure?” I blurted. I knew that it was a bit abrupt for me to ask, but I was genuinely curious. I was also sort of afraid. The idea of watching someone else, who I might come to really care about, die right in front of my eyes, scared me.

  “Probably not,” Tyler said, s
haking his head and slurping the last few drops of milkshake from his glass with the straw. “Seizures usually don’t cause deaths. When they do cause death or a serious injury, it’s because of something that you’re doing at the time—like driving or taking a shower.”

  “Taking a shower?” I asked, confused.

  “You could drown if you have a seizure while you’re in the shower or swimming in a pool or the ocean,” Tyler explained. He must have noticed the pained expression that crossed my face because he quickly added, “Let’s change the subject. This isn’t the best conversation for a first date.”

  “So, we’re calling it a first date then?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him playfully.

  “Oh, come on, you know you want it to be,” Tyler replied. I noted a flirtatious tone in his voice, causing me to blush.

  “Maybe,” I replied, deciding to continue playing hard to get. “We’ll see.”

  “Do you like being a lifeguard?” Tyler asked.

  I shrugged. “I haven’t done it long enough to know, but it seems okay so far.”

  “Have you had to save someone yet?”

  I shook my head. “Nope, not yet. The idea makes me nervous.”

  Tyler stared at me intently as I finished the remaining bits of my strawberry milkshake. Having those warm gray eyes watch me should have made me feel nervous, but for some reason, it didn’t.

  When I was done, Tyler stood up and asked, “Are you ready for the surprise part of our date?”

  I stood up, too, and elbowed him in the ribs. “We just decided that I’ll be the judge of that once it’s over,” I giggled.

  “Okay, fine, I’ll rephrase. Are you ready for the surprise part of our non-date?”

  “Absolutely,” I replied, trying to hide the fact that I was nervous to see what we were doing, and followed him out of the ice cream parlor. Deep down, I was praying that he hadn’t planned something too weird. I didn’t want anything to screw up this date. It was my first real date, after all.