chapter 13

I could swim before I could walk.

Mum made sure of it. When I was a baby and she was still on maternity leave, she took me for daily sessions in the children's section of the local swimming pool. By my second birthday I had migrated to the shallow end of the big pool, and by my third I was able to swim laps unassisted. It was around this time that mum started to take me to the nearest beach- a little pebbly shore an hour and a half's drive from home. We'd spend the day jumping in the surf, before getting ice creams and going home.

It was Mum's way of getting her seaside fix. She never wanted to leave Charleston, where she had grown up, but after meeting dad her plans changed. They decided to move up to the suburbs of London, where job prospects were better, to start a family.

Looking at the coastline as the boat sped off, I could understand why she was so reluctant to leave. There was something so enchanting about the ocean- it made you want to stay forever.

Miles slowed down the speedboat and suddenly the vicious wind that had been hurtling at my face died down. I brushed away a couple of tears that I noticed had rolled down my cheeks.

How pathetic, I thought bitterly. Three years on and you still cry about her.

Noah gave me a funny look from beside me. "You alright?" He asked softly, concern showing in his eyes.

I nodded. "Just the wind," I said, shooting him a smile.

Miles shut the engine off, causing the boat to remain stationary. We were about a hundred and fifty meters out from the shore, and the waves were a lot less choppy.

"It's ringo time!" Miles yelled, being met with a series of enthusiastic whoops by Tyler and Noah.

"What-" I began, turning to Noah in confusion.

"Miles will explain," Noah said, motioning with a nod at Miles and Tyler, who were joining us in the seating area of the boat.

Miles continued past us and onto the sundeck at the front of the boat. Opening the storage compartment, he pulled out a large, red, disc- shaped inflatable and tossed it into the water. He threw Tyler the end of the rope it was attached to, who then walked to the back of the boat to attach it on.

"It's quite simple, really," Miles said, returning to the seating and taking a perch. "You lie on your stomach on the ringo, holding onto the handles. Whoever lets go first, loses."

A smile broke out on my face, and I felt a seed of excitement in my stomach. "Sounds fun," I said, tying my windswept hair out of my face and into a messy bun on the top of my head.

"We'll do heats." Noah continued, my smile mirrored on his lips. "The overall loser has to buy a round of drinks tonight."

It was decided that Noah and Miles would go first, so that I could watch someone else have a go. As the pair jumped into the water and swam towards the ringo, I joined Tyler in the cockpit.

"Can you drive this thing?" I asked, nodding down to Tyler's hands on the wheel. "Wait. Is it called driving? Do you drive boats?"

Tyler laughed, eyes lighting up. I hadn't appreciated how cute he was until then- his dark hair was long and floppy, his dark eyes had a constant cheeky twinkle in them.

"I think you pilot boats," he said in response.

"Oh wow," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "you learn something new every day."

"And, yes, by the way, I can pilot this boat," he said in response to my earlier question. "Or, at least, I hope I can... I've been doing it for years."

He turned to look behind at Noah and Miles, who had mounted the inflatable and were gripping onto the handles. When they saw Tyler tooking, they both sent him a thumbs up, which Tyler took as a sign that they were ready.

"Ready, Lois?" Tyler asked. I nodded and braced myself, preparing for the sudden acceleration that occurred when Tyler pushed the throttle. As we sped off, I swivelled in my chair so that I could watch the action taking place behind me. The two boys successfully managed to stay holding onto the ringo as Tyler drove the boat along the waves.

"You need to go faster," I said to Tyler, shouting loudly so that he could hear me over the wind. "It's too easy!"

He nodded, and suddenly we were going even faster. The change of pace must have started Noah, as he flew off the back of the ringo and splashed into the water.

"We got him!" I cheered, turning to Tyler who slowed down the boat. As we gently circled back to where Noah had fallen, I ran to the side of the boat.

"You didn't last very long at all!" I shouted over to Noah, who was treading water by the side of the boat, looking extremely grumpy. "Although I bet you get that all the time..."

"Quite the opposite, actually." He shouted back with a grin. "I get amazing reviews. Girls say I last for hours."

I rolled my eyes but before I could shout back a response, Miles had joined me on the boat.

"Lois, you're up next with Noah."

"Sure," I said. I quickly took off my sunglasses and handed them to Miles, before jumping off of the boat, making sure to land close enough to Noah that a wave of salty water was splashed into his face.

"You're brave," he growled when I surfaced, starting to swim towards me menacingly. I squealed and started swimming away from him, towards the ringo. "Yeah, that's right," he shouted from behind me. "Swim away. I knew you were scared."

Ignoring his comment, I pulled myself onto the ringo, using one of the handles to hoist my body up. I felt the warm plastic rise under me as he got on, squeezing all the air out from under him and towards me. This meant that I was higher above the surface of the water than he was.

"Hey, that's not fair." I complained, looking down at him. "Your fat ass means it's easier for you to stay on!"

Noah rolled his eyes at me. "Tell someone who cares," he said, dismissively.

By the time we were both on, Miles and Tyler were looking back at us, awaiting our signal to start.

"Ready to lose, dimples?" he asked, raising his hand in a thumbs up.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing" I said, joining him in giving the boys a thumbs up.

Suddenly the speedboat accelerated and we were off.

The feeling was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. All I could hear was the loud wind and the rushing waves. Every so often, we would encounter a large wave that would send me flying off of the inflatable. It was all I could do to grab hold of the handles as tightly as possible, and brace myself to come crashing back down onto the plastic.

Hearing Noah snort after one particularly large wave sent me sky-high, I turned around to give him a glare. He wasn't being launched in the air like I was, however it seemed like he had his own worries. As his section of the inflatable was so much lower than mine, any waves we encountered splashed over him. Smiling smugly as a particularly large wall of water hit him square in the face, I turned back to face the front. We were on an even playing field now, and I was going to win this.

Suddenly I was catapulted into the air by a ginormous wave, however this time, I wasn't so lucky as to keep my grip on the handles. When I made contact with the inflatable again, I grabbed onto the first thing I could feel. As the water from the wave cleared, I saw exactly what that was.

It was Noah's leg.

Before he had the chance to shake me off, I grabbed onto one of the handles higher up on the inflatable. Not daring to move back across to my side, I stayed exactly where I was- straddling Noah's back, my body pressed flat to his.

That was when I came up with my master plan.

"Err, dimples, I don't think this is in the rulebook." Noah said, turning his head towards me, a hint of amusement in his voice.

I slowly moved my head down, positioning my mouth close to his ear. "Screw the rulebook," I breathed, trying my best at a sultry voice. Looking up, I saw that his hands had slightly loosened on the handles. I felt the blood rush to my face as I thought up my final move.

It's just for the game, I thought as I leaned back into his neck. Closing my eyes, I stuck out my tongue and gently licked from the base of his neck to his ear.

"What the fuck, Lois?" Noah yelled, squirming away. Seizing my opportunity, I pried his fingers off of the handles, and watched with satisfaction as he slid from underneath me into the water. I heard loud cheers from the boat as it pulled to a stop, and I stood up on the inflatable, pumping my fists in celebration.

***

"Hey, don't be a sore loser!" I said to Noah, who was sitting behind the wheel of the boat.

Several more heats had taken place since mine and Noah's. I had lost to both Tyler and Miles, and Noah had lost to Miles, meaning that Noah was the overall loser.

"I'm not," Noah replied bluntly, looking back over his shoulder at Tyler and Miles, who were the last pairing left to go.

"You so are," I said, rolling my eyes at him. Noah had barely said a word to me ever since I beat him. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to pick the most expensive drink for you to pay for. A glass of champagne, maybe?" I pondered, laughing as he rolled his eyes.

"Gee, thanks," he said, turning to notice that Miles and Tyler were ready to go. "Do you want to have a go at steering this thing?" He asked, glancing over at me.

"Of course I do!" I yelled, filled with excitement at the prospect. He rolled his eyes at my enthusiasm and dragged me by the shoulders so that I was standing in front of him, behind the wheel. It was quite a small area, and the front of Noah's body pressed into the back of mine.

"Just put your hands on the wheel, I'll steer for a bit and then you can take over." Noah instructed, pulling down on the throttle to make the boat accelerate. I quickly moved my hands to the wheel, conscious of Noah's arms leaning on mine. He let the wheel run between his fingertips, taking the boat through a series of gentle turns.

"Over to you, captain," Noah said, lips brushing my ear before stepping away. I instantly missed the sensation of his body pressed against mine.

Spinning the wheel between my hands, I looked over to Noah. "Look, I'm doing it!" I said excitedly.

"Keep your eyes on the sea," Noah laughed. "Now you've got the hang of it, do you want to go a bit faster?"

"Hell yeah!" I cheered, looking excitedly at Noah, who pulled the throttle to cause the boat to accelerate again.

Turning back to the wheel, I started to turn it sharper and faster. Within two minutes, Tyler had fallen off and Noah had taken back control of the wheel to pick the boys up.

"You're a natural." Noah said, giving me a smile. A feeling of pride swelled in my chest.

I sent him a quick wink, "I had a good teacher.".

***

"Miles, baby could you chuck me a beer?" Tyler called from his position sunbathing at the front of the boat. I let out a snort at the pet name.

"No chance, mate," Miles replied, not moving a muscle from his tanning location either. "Get off your arse and get it yourself."

Noah, who was sitting up, leaning on the side of the boat, rolled his eyes at their antics. So much for the stereotype of girls being the ones that spent all of their time tanning; the last half hour had consisted of Miles and Tyler insisting we stopped the boat to let them have their sunbathing time.

"Noah," Tyler called, changing target. "You work in a pub, surely you wouldn't mind..."

"Coming right up!" Noah said, to my surprise.

"Thanks, Noah. I always knew you were my favorite." Came Tyler's lazy reply.

Noah stood up and made his way towards the cooler of beer. In response to my confused expression, Noah put a finger to his lips and motioned for me to stand up. Instead of picking up one of the bottles, he silently made his way over to where Tyler was lying. I followed him. An idea started to form about what Noah was about to do.

Noah gave me one last look to check we were on the same page before we simultaneously picked Tyler up and threw him into the water. So preoccupied with laughing at Tyler's confused expression when he broke the surface, I didn't notice Noah's hands on my waist until it was too late.

"Noah!" I yelled, wriggling about to try to get him to loosen his grip on me. "I thought we had an alliance!"

He let out a smug chuckle. "You should know better than to trust me, Lois Wilson."

Accepting that my attempts to escape were futile, I shut my eyes, preparing for the icy water. Sure enough, he flung me backwards and I went flying into the water. I emerged from the water in time to watch Noah also push Miles off of the boat to join Tyler and I in the water.

"You're a dickhead!" Tyler shouted up at Noah, who laughed before diving spectauraly into the water beside us.

"Does anyone else think that the water feels a bit warmer?" Miles asked innocently as Noah surfaced.

"Has Noah got a bit nervous again?" I teased, referring to the story that the boys had told me this morning.

"Seriously Noah?" Tyler said, scrunching his nose up.

"Yeah, man, that's so gross!" Miles said.

"No, guys, it's just the currents," Noah said, finally catching on to our teasing. Our laughing only upset him more. "You're so immature. Of course I haven't- I hate you all." He scowled.

We only laughed harder.