Harvey's life is an uneventful as it gets.
A great day for her consists of binge watching obscure shows, multiple series at a time, gushing over book characters and managing to avoid all four of her brother's all day long.
The last one especially...
"How come I've never seen you wear them before?" I ask Finn.
"Well, I'm only partially longsighted so I don't need to wear them all the time," Finn replies.
"Long sighted?"
"Ah, I think you guys call it farsighted?"
"Ahh."
"Besides, it's kind of hard to surf with glasses on," Finn says with a knowing smile.
"You could always get one of those goggle glasses type."
"I'm good, thanks."
"Could you guys shut up already," Hayden interrupts in a brash tone. "Some of us are busy here."
I narrow my eyes at him. "I was leaving anyway," I say. I'm not in the mood to start an argument. I exit the dining room and head towards the kitchen.
I'm getting myself a drink, when a couple minutes later, Finn walks in and leans against the counter.
"What's he doing anyway?" I ask Finn, pouring out a glass of orange juice for him as a peace offering.
Finn looks surprised, but accepts it nonetheless. He takes a small sip before he speaks, "He's trying to do a GCSE Further Maths paper because he didn't believe me that it was harder than what you guys do now."
I snort. "He's such a nerd. Who willingly does math over the summer?"
Right at that moment, Hunter walks into the kitchen.
"By the way, Finn," Hunter says, "I saw you surfing earlier today. You looked good out there."
"Oh," Finn replies, standing up straighter, "thanks."
"You said you wanted to enter that surfing competition, didn't you?" Hunter inquires.
"Yeah," Finn says. "I'm mostly self-taught so I was going to enter from the beginner level. I was hoping to get some lessons before I enter though. Except I haven't really found anyone yet."
"You should ask Harvey," Hunter suggests, taking a seat by the kitchen island. "She used to surf."
"Really?" Finn glances up to me. He gives me a look that seems to say 'your uneventful life argument loses more and more weight each day'. Or perhaps, I'm just reading too deeply into it. I go to the pantry to grab myself a snack.
"Oh yeah, she's a pro," Hunter says. "She used to win all the gold medals at the under 16 competitions. I think you even got sponsored for a while — right, Harv?"
"The key word is used to," I tell Hunter. "I haven't competed since I turned sixteen. And it's not like I can train him — I'm not qualified."
"It's not like you're doing anything right now, so I don't see why not," Hunter counters, reaching out to swipe handfuls of the mini pretzel twists from the snack bowl I'm assembling. "It's not like Finn is trying to enter professionally. Just brush his skills up to enter an amateur competition. I don't think he minds if you're technically not qualified, do you?"
All eyes are on Finn and now he looks a bit apprehensive.
"I mean, not really," Finn agrees cautiously. There's a hint of hope in his eyes as he focuses his gaze directly on me. "I'd appreciate any help I can get."
"See, Harvey?" Hunter pops another mini pretzel in his mouth.
I shoot Hunter a glare, snatching my snack bowl away so it is out of his grasp.
"No thanks," I decide. "I kind of enjoy doing nothing."
I try to ignore the disappointed look on Finn's face as I brush past him and walk out the kitchen.
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
A/N:
Had a mini meltdown while writing this chapter which delayed me updating by about two days. I was about 500 words in when I realised I wasn't following the chapter plan and I had to start all over again. *Sigh*
Surfing Lingo 101 🏄♂️ ROUNDHOUSE CUTBACK:
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
disclaimer: carmen knows next to nothing about surfing. please don't try to educate yourself on surfing solely through information given in this book. you will be laughed at by real surfers :(
