“Leah?” Devyn asked reluctantly from the doorway, he sounded different. So different that I couldn’t stop myself from opening my eyes and turning my head in his direction, his shoulders were slumped, his head hung a little and he fidgeted with his fingers.

“Are you okay? Your mom screamed when you went under, she tried to get in the water to come and save you when you didn’t surface.” I scoffed, I don’t know why but it upset me that my mom would try and save me before Devyn. Maybe it was better that we break up? He clearly didn’t care for me as much as I cared for him, what was the point of carrying on like he could?

“I’m fine.” I said flatly, the more I kept my sentences short the less chance I had of crying.

“Leah...I’m sorry. You were right, I was being a dick at breakfast but I was jealous. Every time you laughed with Max I felt like punching him in the face and dragging you off somewhere so I could be the only guy that heard you laugh. I think it runs in the family because Emma wanted to claw your eyes out.” Devyn laughed at that but I kept my mouth tightly shut, I did remember what Annie had said. About making him work for my forgiveness while doing the same, but that was a damn riddle in itself and made absolutely no sense to me.

“I really am sorry Leah and...I don’t want you to surf anymore. You’ve got no idea how panicked I was when you didn’t come up, I was already standing knee deep in the water when the diver brought you up. It was worse than the wildfire because you vanished right before my eyes; you were under the water so long that I thought I had lost you for real this time. Can you forgive me?” Turning my head in Devyn’s direction, I eyed him. He had moved closer while talking and had even knelt by the stretcher I was on.

“You’re crying?” I asked, confused by the sight before me. In all the time that I had known Devyn I had never once seen him sad, angry and frustrated yeah but never sad and never to the point of crying like he currently was.

“Because I’m begging here, I feel like if you turn me down now that we’re over and I can’t stand the thought of going back to the ranch without you. I love you Leah, it took me a while to realize just how much. But I am in love with you and the thought of us breaking up and me having to go back to just being friends or strangers is the worst thing I can think possible. So please, give me another chance?” Okay, what is a girl supposed to do when her boyfriend is hurting worse than a neglected puppy?  Guilt bloomed in my stomach when I realized the inner turmoil Devyn was feeling, I had blocked out most of what I had been feeling since our tiff before my run.

“You love me? Really? I can’t break up with you Devyn, you doofus! I was scared as well that this would be our ending...but I’m not letting you go now!” I wiped the tears away from Devyn’s cheeks and eyes before pulling him into a hug, his laugh began as a snigger but gradually grew into a sound I hadn’t heard in a long time.

“You know, you sound absolutely crazy right now?” I asked, pulling away from him. It wasn’t until Devyn reached up to wipe my cheeks that I realized I had begun crying too.

“I know, but I don’t care.” Devyn shrugged and I smiled wider. We pulled apart though when the medic came back into the tent to see how I was doing. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped and he gave my cuts one more wipe down before wrapping my ankle and discharging me from the tent.

Devyn walked slowly beside me as we headed off in search of my board, “I want to finish the competition Devyn, like you did with your bronco riding.” Devyn stopped walking, I continued on a few steps before stopping and turning to look at him.

“If it’s what you want to do, then you should do it. But I hope you’re not injured more than you are right now, I’ll come and drag you out of the water myself if you are half drowned again.”  Nodding my head, I silently agreed with him. If it made Devyn feel any better I would agree with him on that and would endeavour to stay on top of my board for as long as I could.

“Devyn? Thank you, for being patient and understanding. With everything, from my mood swings to the stuff with my mom, Peter and Caleb. I think any other guy would have run by now, but I’m glad you’re the first guy I’ve properly dated...you were worth the wait.” It was the truth; whenever I turned a guy down there had always been a niggling thought in the back of my mind that I would forever be alone.

“We don’t make it easy, but we make it work...don’t we? Sometimes you make me angrier than a bucking bull but I wouldn’t have it any other way, because I’ve got the prettiest girl in my arms.” Devyn draped an arm over me and pulled me into his side, I went willingly as I felt the same way. Our emotions were a rollercoaster ride, but whose weren’t at the age of seventeen?

“Sometimes I think we’re so mature about how we interact and stuff and then other times I think that we’re so immature together that it’s like, who’s the adult here? And I mean, like I’ve had so many accidents just in this summer that I think I’m a lovesick puppy or whatever people call it. You know?” I asked, glancing up at Devyn. I had spotted my board down the beach next to Killian, Jenna and Annie and had decided that I would steer Devyn in that direction so that I could introduce him to more friends.

When we came closer though I noticed Killian was nursing a fresh black eye, when he looked up to see Devyn and I walking closer his eyes narrowed just a little bit.

“Sorry about the eye,” Devyn said outright before anyone could say anything. My attention snapped towards him and I gasped in disbelief, what had happened? Looking down at Annie and Jenna I waited for someone to explain, Jenna just patted the sand next to her and I set myself down beside her, dragging Devyn down with me.

“Lover-boy got a bit panicked when you didn’t surface right away; dear old Killian tried to restrain him on the beach and earned himself a black eye for his efforts. Though I think Killian has learned never to restrain a love-sick male from saving his female ever again, haven’t you Killi?” It wasn’t funny but I found myself laughing, the way Jenna spoke about and to her twin brother was amusing and it had always been that way.

Annie and Jenna joined in on the laughing and so did Killian eventually, at first he looked as if I were mental and refused to laugh. But as soon as Annie leaned into him while trying to stop her laugher he immediately burst out laughing too. The look of dislike and annoyance was gone, the atmosphere in the group was happy again but Devyn was the odd one out as he sat there looking at all of us.

“Don’t worry about it Devyn, if it were Annie I was trying to get to then I think the tables would have been turned. Besides, I can’t stay angry at Leah’s boyfriend. Me and Leah go back a long way, did she ever tell you that she flat out rejected AND embarrassed me in the same breath? Oh yeah, don’t look so surprised. Though, we were six I think so it was a real long time ago.” If looks could injure then Killian would have more than a black eye, he seemed to know that and relished in the fact that I couldn’t reach him from where I sat and that I wouldn’t do anything violent in public.

“You deserved it; he threw a mud pie in my face right before asking him out. What did I say? If you can’t make a good mud pie then how are you going to be a good boyfriend? That was it? Wasn’t it? I remember your mom nearly choking on her lemonade.” I remember that day clearly because all the adults had thought it the funniest thing a kid could say, it wasn’t until I was fifteen that I understood why they had thought it the funniest thing in the world.

“That’s a good one Leah.” Now Devyn was laughing, the group started laughing yet again but Killian and I just sat there looking at each other, making funny faces.

“Oh Leah! You’re up again! Good luck, please don’t get caught up again.” I felt dread in the pit of my stomach as soon as the announcement went out. Was I really ready to surf again? Taking a deep breath I smiled when I felt Devyn hug me to him and kiss me on the cheek.

“You got this Leah, just don’t think about your first ride...think about us just laughing now. That’s what settled me down on the bronco that time, I just thought about you and I swimming, riding the horse while I gave you a tour and helping you wash the horses down.” I smiled as Devyn whispered all those things to me, Jenna had a sly smile on her face and winked at me as soon as we caught each other’s eye.

“Okay guys, wish me luck! Thanks Devyn.” I leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips before standing up to grab my board and hobbling down towards the water. My ankle didn’t pain me as much now, the tape was helping to hold it steady and I could only hope that it worked while I was out on my run.

I smiled; either Jenna or Killian had waxed my board again.

Paddling back out I couldn’t help but smile widely when I stopped near Jen and Ellie. “Wow that was a bummer of a first ride kid! But then I think the waves are a bit too sloppy to get good marks,” Ellie didn’t stick around for my response as she paddled off towards the break.

“She’s only saying that because her title is in danger of being taken by another girl, Jenna Lancaster? Heard of her? She’s pretty unknown but got pretty good marks while you were in the tent.” I laughed when Jen said Jenna’s name and I nodded my head.

“Yeah, I know Jenna. Is she really a threat to Ellie? I’m surprised, Jenna doesn’t really compete. Her brother is Killian Lancaster, know him? He was the junior champ a couple years back,” Jen nodded her head, her expression showing that she understood why Jenna might be as good as she was.

“Oh yeah, she totally is...if you don’t pick your game up you might be knocked out.” Jen said, winking at me before leaving me in the back group as well. I think, subconsciously I had made up my mind that I was just going to surf as well as I could without getting enough points to progress to the next round.

When I was given the go ahead I caught the second of two good waves, did my usual routine then paddled my board right into the beach. My ankle wasn’t too bad when I stood at the beach; Devyn was there to meet me and took my surfboard from me. It amused me so much that he was there, waiting to help me back up to the beach. If he continued on carrying that surfboard the way he did I was sure someone would mistake him for a regular competitor.

“You’re throwing the comp, aren’t you? That wasn’t even a good run,” Jenna didn’t even wait for me to sit down before she asked the question. She wasn’t stupid, I doubt most surfers here had believed my run to be genuine but throwing my run through surfing simply was better than outright quitting.

“Yeah, I don’t want to scratch so I’ll just throw it. Heads up by the way, you’re unsettling Ellie. She thought I’d be the threat today but it’s you.” Jenna seemed a little shocked by that statement, I didn’t blame her. When she and I were kids we used to watch Ellie all the time, back then she was our idol and superhero. To us she was the best surfer we had ever seen, I still had a photo of Ellie and I posing at my first actual comp.

“No way! Ellie knows who I am? Oh my god, maybe she’ll ask for my autograph one day...what do you think? Do you think she’ll pose for a photo with me?” I shook my head at the question, the smile that had been on Jenna’s face dropped almost immediately.

“I don’t think Ellie will want to pose next to the girl that’s going to beat her this year.”  The smile was back on Jenna’s face almost as soon as I had finished saying what I did. She probably didn’t think she was good enough to get a placing with all these other surfers around, but really. If she could manage a decent score on the waves that were being dealt out then she was as capable as Ellie of winning the competition.

And I was right, Jenna didn’t come first that day but came a close second to Ellie. Jen wasn’t bummed to come third overall and knew that Jenna could only get better and better if she stuck to surfing. The good news was that I didn’t come last in attempting to throw my scores, but it was close enough.

Devyn and I decided not to stay for the prize giving but I did give my congratulations to the winners before departing. “Take me home cowboy!” I exclaimed to Devyn as I climbed onto his back, he seemed fine with carrying me that way until we reached my car.

“Seriously? This is your car?” Devyn didn’t seem pleased with my Mini, I didn’t blame him. It had a few knocks and dents in it from mine and others poor driving, but it was still good on gas and drove relatively well. Though I think that was a matter of opinion.

“It’s tiny, will I fit in there? Where’s the board going?” I pointed to the roof rack that stood out a mile away; it wasn’t in the best shape either. When driving down town I had forgotten that it was still on there and had driven around things and gotten a little caught up. It was so embarrassing when that happened but I had learned from most of my mistakes and now didn’t get caught up so much.

 “Let’s go, I’m so tired.” Devyn said as he climbed into the passenger’s side, I didn’t argue with him as I was fairly tired as well. We had been on the beach all day; Devyn was definitely sunburned and probably a little dehydrated as well. The coast was a lot different to the country, which I think Devyn was beginning to understand.

Our journey back to the house was a little on the quiet side, there was no radio sing along from me and Devyn was asleep by the time I pulled into the garage. “Come on Devyn, we’re home.” I said, nudging him hard in the shoulder.

I couldn’t help but smile when he pulled away from his safety belt; he had dribbled in his sleep but wiped it away as he opened his eyelids. He seemed to have a bit of difficulty waking up so I leaned over to kiss him fully on the lips, it didn’t wake him fully but it put a smile on his face as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Come on, you can sleep in my bed with me.” There was no way he or I were going to do anything other than sleep. Today’s surfing had been good, a nice workout but settling our relationship as well. It set me at ease and I didn’t feel so nervous about being in the same room as Devyn, or even the same bed.

“Love you,” he muttered as he settled into his side of the bed and drifted off to sleep again. I only gave him a kiss on the cheek in response and curled myself around him before I too drifted off to sleep.