"Ok Jamie, do you know how to dive under a wave?"
"Dive under a- is that even a thing?" He digs his feet into the sand. We're currently sitting on beach towles, watching the waves roll in from out to sea. Jamie has ditched his singlet and sunnies. The water is perfect, not flat like a pool, but not crazy-wavey either. Fair sized waves roll in and crash onto the shore, foamy whitewash fizzing and fading.
"Ok, so when we get in it'll get deep pretty quickly, but as long as you swim fast you'll be able to reach the sandbank, where the waves break, without getting smashed up tooooo much." I smile. Jamie looks genuinely nervous. "Sandbank?" He says. "The sandbank is a shallower part of the beach, you'll be able to stand. It's where the waves tend to begin to crash, and if one's going to crash straight on top of you, you need to dive under it." I explain.
"Ok, so... how do I do that?"
"It's easy peasy, just before the wave hits you, dive forwards under the water until you can touch the sandbank, wait a second for the wave to roll over, and come back up again. Simple!"
"Do I need to do it for every wave?" He seemed less nervous now.
"Nah, you'll be able to judge if you can just float over the wave than under." I stand up, and he follows me to the waters edge.
"So.. you said we need to be fast right? To get to the sand bank?"
"Yup." I eye the surf. "Just wait for this wave to crash, and we'll go." The last wave of a set smooths out into foam.
"Ok, ONWARDS INTO THE SEA!" I battle cry, taking Jamie's arm and plunging into the surf.
"For Narnia!" Jamie yells as the water climbs up to our waists. The sand drops from under us and I can no longer touch the bottom.
"Ok! Swim!" I shout. We paddle madly across the gully until I attempt to stand and am able touch the sand again. I grab Jamie's arm. His head pops up, wet hair plastered to his face.
"You can stand, now." I chuckle, he looks like a wet golden retriever, with only his head showing out of the water.
He stands, the water reaches just below his hips now that he's on the bank, my hips are submerged. "You did it!" I say. "I did it!" He joins in my celebration. I look out to the sea again. "Ok, under or over?" I ask Jamie, looking at an oncoming wave.
"What do you mean?"
"Should we jump over the wave, or dive under?" I clarify.
Jamie serveys the sea. "Over?" He glances at me.
"Correct!" I cry. "One..two...three!"
I jump, so the wave doesn't submerge my head. When I was a little girl, my dad used to be able to lift me high into the hair with his arms, and I'd giggle, flying through the air with my dad's embrace. My dad couldn't do that anymore, but everytime I jumped a wave, I'd get the same sensation, getting lifted into the air, defying gravity...
The wave passes, and my feet meet the bank again. Jamie has survived, it seems, he grins at me. "This is fun!" He says, splashing the water with his hands. "Totally!" I agree. My eyes are scanning the ocean again. "Never turn your back on the ocean." My dad would warn me whenever I went out by myself as a kid. "Uh oh, here's your chance to test out those diving skills, this waves coming straight for us!"
"Heidi I'm not sure I can-"
"Here." I hold out my hand to him. "On the count of three, I want you to take my hand and dive under with me, and then follow me back up. Ok?"
"Ok," He takes my hand.
I watch the wave draw closer. "Ready? One...two...three!"
The sound of the sea gulls and crashing waves dissapears into silence as I dive under the water, eyes closed, Jamie's hand in mine. A shadow passes over my eyelids as the bulk of the wave passes over us. A second of underwater serenity, and I'm pressing my feet to the bank and kicking off, draging Jamie up to the surface. Our faces break the water, gasping. "Wow." Jamie gasps, taking in breath. "That was incredible." He says, turning to me. "Easy?" I ask. "Easy." He agrees.
We continue our little game of under or over for a for a while, set after set of waves rolling in, laughing and splashing and jumping and diving. A set ends and the water is momentarily flat, not a wave in sight. I can see all the way to the edge of the horizon. Jamie suddenly submerges, and before I have time to react, two hands grasp my ankles under the water and jerk me, tripping me under.
"Aargh!" I cry, flopping into the water like a breaching whale.
"Gotcha!" Cries Jamie victoriously. He grabsme the minute I come up and cradels me against his chest, bridal style, except he's holding me prisoner. I struggle, and come free, wanting to be able to touch the bottom. I take me chance to spring off the bottom and onto him, pushing him under the water. "Payback!" I declare. Jamie resurfaces, shaking his hair like a dog. "Fair enough," he grins.
"C'mon, the wind is changing, we should head in." I suggest.
"Alright." He sounds a little dissapointed, but the wind change means the waters will get choppy, and that's no fun to play under and over in. "Come to think of it, I'm hungry!" He says. "Race you!" He says suddenly, lurching towards the shore.
Did he really think a London-er was going to beat an Australian? This guy is nuts. We swim back to shore, I use the waves to my advantage, letting them boost me towards the beach. I run to the towles and land on mine with seconds to spare before Jamie does the same on his towel.
"Victory is sweet." I declare as Jamie settles down next to me, somehow managing to cross his long legs on his towel.
"Mmm, and so are the sandwhiches I packed." says Jamie, pulling out two containers. "How's a sweet chilli chicken and luttuce sandwhich? It's my favourite."
"No, way, mine too!" I say, taking a container. Jamie clicks the lid off his takeaway container and takes a bite. "Mmm...'o 'ood" he gets out, mouth full of sandwhich.
"What was that? You were dropped as a child?"
Jamie swallows. "I was not! And that's not what I said, I said the snadwhich was good, not that I'm surprised by my amazing culinary skills..." He points at the unbitten sandwhich in my hand. "Eat!"
"You sound like you've defended being dropped as a child before..." I tease.
"You're such a bully." He whines in a child voice, and pokes my shoulder.
"Hey!"
He pokes me again, harder. I take a bite of my sandwhich.
"No you can't push me, I'm eating now!" I mumble with my mouth full. I swallow. "You wouldn't want me to choke, would you?" I chastise him.
"I don't know about that..." He mumbles, frowning mockingly at me.
"Well, this is a pretty nice chicken sandwhich, I'll admit." I scramble for his forgivness.
"Can a person who was dropped as a child make that good of a sandwhich?"
"Mmm... I suppose not." I smirk, and Jamie breaks out into an award winning grin.
"Just as I thought. Now, how about a drink for that delectable sandwhich."
You're just full of it, aren't you blondie?
"Don't call it a sandwhich, it's a sanga." I sass him.
"What?!"
"A sanga. It's aussie slang for sandwhich."
"I thought slang was when you shortened words?"
"It is?"
"Sand-which, sang-a," He claps for each syllable. "Two syllables each."
"Whatever, goldy locks."
"Just like this Golden Circle Pineapple juice!" He presents two plastic bottles from the basket.
"That was terrible."
"You brought it upon yourself." He passes me a bottle.
"Also, pineapple juice?" I question him.
"What?" He defends himself. "You bring the drinks next time."
"Next time? Ooooooh" I tease. "No, I like pineapple juice." I say, taking a sip. "You're very good at guessing what I like."
"Maybe I'm mind reader, like my little brother Sam."
"Your brother's a mind reader?"
"Not really, he just says that to screw with people. Sam is the living definition of the saying It's all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits."
"How many times has it reached giggles and shits phase?"
"Oh, too many times."
I look at him.
"I'm joking."
"I know, but I was hoping for a story explanation."
"Well, you're not getting one." He teases.
We continue our friendly bickering and our conversationg flows into more topics, my work at the hospital, his latest work in the television show Camelot, family, and his band, The Darling Buds. The sun begins to creep along the sky, turning it purple. I check the time on my phone, it's 5pm. I don't want to leave. I decide to make my own impromptu proposition. I break the silence we've had for the past 5 minutes, spent listening to the waves.
"Jamie?"
"Yes?"
"I'm kinda in the mood for an early dinner."
"And?"
"Sushi?"
"Sushi." He says with agreement in his tone. We gather up our towels and Jamie chucks his singlet back on.
"You gonna change into your dress?"
"Yeah in a sec, you start walking." I wave him off.
He shrugs and starts pacing up the sand. I take the chance to peel my rashie off and slip my sundress back on and catch up to him.
"Do you know any good sushi places?" He asks me.
"Yeah there's one about five minutes away, it's on the coast."
"Sweet."
We pile our sandy bodies into my car again and I whizz down the coast, to a line of takeaway food shops. Destination; A sushi shop called Zushi. I park the car across the road and we clamber out and cross the road. A bell chimes as we walk into the small sushi shop, japanese string music playing softly in the background. A chef nods at me as we walk over to the sushi bar.
"Hmm..." I gaze through the glass down at the trays of sushi. "I'm going to go for the chicken katsu suchi."
"I'll go for the tuna."
The chef has made her way to the counter. "Two takeaway sushi trays, please. One chicken katsu, one tuna."
The chef takes the trays and places them on the counter. "$15.00, please."
I go to take the money from my wallet. A hand stops me.
"I'll pay." He says.
"Nuh uh." I grin, and hand the money over. "Thank you." I say to the chef, and take the sushi trays.
"I should have paid." Says Jamie as we walk out of the shop.
"Why, is this a date?" I smirk at him.
"Well, in fact, it is." He smirks back at me. My heart jumps a little.
"Well.. the patriarchy is dead, so I paid for the sushi. Besides, you bought the picnic."
"I suppose so."
"I think we should just eat in the car. We can see the senset from here."
"Righto."
We sit in my car and eat, watching the sun set and make the sky turn a glorious pinkish orange.
"Not exactly a romantic restraurant." Jokes Jamie.
I laugh.
When we finish, I start up the car and we begin the trip home. This time I plug my phone into the radio and play Ed Sheeran songs all the way home, Jamie doesn't protest, and even sings along too.
"Today was really fun." I say, smiling over at Jamie as we walk across the carpark towards our building.
"Yeah it was fantastic! I can add diving under waves to my list of things I've learnt in Australia." He grabs my hand.
"Oh, may I ask what else is on that list?" We've reached the foyer.
He stops, turns, and looks at me. "What it feels like lay eyes on one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen." Is he blushing? I certainly am. I feel the warmth in my cheeks.
"Awww Jamie, you're so cheesy!" I play-punch him, "You're not too bad yourself, blondie."
We laugh and I pull him into the foyer and up the stairs. It's 7pm. I walk us over to my door, and reach for the keys in my bag to unlock it.
"Wait."
I turn around, back against the door, and Jamie is standing close in front of me. He takes a lock of my hair and strokes it with his hand, his fingers brushing against my face. I'm mesmerised by his eyes, watching them focus on my salty hair. His hand rests on my shoulder. No. My heart clenches, he's too close, and without thinking, I duck away from his hand. It falls to his side, his eyes flash with hurt, quickly replaced with confusion.
"Um, I'm sorry Jamie." I say awkwardly. "I didn't mean to do-"
"No, no it's okay," He takes a step back.
"I'll um, I'll see you tomorrow." I grab the doorhandle from behind me and twist it. "Have a nice evening." I say, pointlessly trying to soften my actions.
"You too," He says, traces of hurt still lingering on his face. I turn, step inside, and shut the door.
Once inside, I pace quickly past the kitchen, down the hall and into my room, dropping my bag near the door. I toss myself onto my bed, hands covering my face. I can't believe I just did that. What now? I take my hands away from my face and stare at the ceiling fan above me. I decide to leave what happens next to happen tomorrow. I'm dead tired. I get up, shower, brush my teeth, and change into my PJ's. My wet, freshly washed hair feels cool in the nighttime heat. I slide into bed and close my eyes. My heart still hasn't entirely unclenched since I left Jamie in the hall, the image of his face burning against my eyelids is the last thing I see before sleep takes over.
Hope you all enjoyed! xx