He couldn't see where he was now, he only knew where the rip was trying to take him, and he knew where to swim. But did he even have the strength, anymore?
"Come on!" he called at himself through gritted teeth, more water coming in his mouth, gagging at the salt.
Another stroke, and another, he pushed himself to the limit.
"Come on!" he called again as he fought to keep his head above the choppy waves that were trying to suck him down, desperately knocking his feet together again and again, and again... come on, one more time...
Suddenly he could feel he was free. As if nothing bad had ever happened the water around him was instantly calm, innocent now as a wave he couldn't have anticipated anymore crashed over his head, making him splutter once more to spit out the salt. He forced himself to make a few more long strokes until he was pretty sure he was far enough away from the rip. Then he turned on his back and allowed himself to float for just a moment.
The sky above him was clear and blue, and the sun was innocently beating down on him just like it had been all day. Nothing was any different at all. He breathed deeply once, twice, three times, just trying to gather the strength to swim on. His lungs were burning beyond belief and his heart was pounding in his chest, but he was there, he was safe.
He was still there.
One more deep breath and he was turning back around to swim to the shore. He raised his head. He was quite a ways from the beach, but to his great relief he could see Ian, some way in front of him and swimming strong. He must have found a better spot to cross the rip. He quickly followed him, forcing his smarting muscles to flex and relax once again.
He may not win this race but hey, he wasn't dead, either.
It was probably only a minute later when he dragged himself up the beach and fell down on the sand. Brett was beside him instantly and Lily was standing a little bit over, her face pale, her hand in front of her mouth.
"Jesus, Eddy, you okay?"
He nodded with his eyes closed.
"Do you need anything?"
He opened his eyes and managed a smile. Then he cleared his throat. He was pretty sure his voice would hold.
"An anti-stupid pill? Don't ever let me do that again, okay? That was probably my stupidest stunt ever."
Brett sat down on his hunches, his hand on his belly. Eddy was grateful that it was approaching dinner time. It had been busy on the beach, earlier, but everyone had left by now. There had been no one but his friends to bear witness to how he had almost gotten himself killed.
"Ian okay?" he gruffed.
Brett nodded as Todd appeared beside them.
"Are you good, Eddy? Do we need to get you checked out at the hospital?"
Eddy shook his head.
"Nah, I'm good." He forced himself to sit up, just to prove his point. "I swallowed some water but none got in my lungs. Seriously, I'm okay."
He looked around him. It really was just their little group, now, and they were pretty well hidden here, sitting down behind the little dunes up ahead. Suddenly he couldn't care less anymore. He leaned over slightly and kissed Brett on the lips. He didn't care that the other guys could see them just fine, he didn't care that Todd was right there, that Matt was right there, he didn't care that they had never seen them do this before. He needed this. Brett was surprised for just a milisecond, he could feel it, but then he let out the tiniest groan and responded, kissing him back with abandon until the world faded away.
He could feel how worried Brett had been in the way he thrust his tongue in his mouth, urgent, insistent, the taste of his mouth sweet with just a hint of the coke he had been drinking earlier.
"Fuck." Brett groaned as he kissed his lips, coaxing them open again, hungrily, devouring him, then letting him go very suddenly and leaning into him. "Fuck, Eddy. You had me scared there."
Their foreheads were together as they both tried to catch their breath. Anyone who had seen this would have no hesitation that there were together, that was obvious to him. He didn't care though, not right now.
"I had myself scared there, to be honest."
He could never tell Brett how close to drowning he had come, how close he had been to losing him.
Todd's grin behind them was soft but somehow he could hear the relief in it.
"We should get back, guys. Head out to have some dinner."
Eddy looked up at him. Lily and Matt were already heading over to the tents. He grinned back. He didn't know what had gotten into him today. First the scary swim, and now he was about to say this? But he looked Todd right in the eye and said it anyway.
"Yeah, we're both gonna need a minute before we can walk over the campsite in swim shorts without attracting awkward attention."
Todd threw his head back and roared with laughter.
"Yeah, that was some kiss. Alright. See you in a minute then."
He turned on his heel and walked off with Ian, after Lily and Matt.