This waterfall, the first and largest of three along the slope of the hill, is one of the many things about living in Egret's Rest that makes me want to live here forever. From the moment we were old enough, our parents brought us out here on many Saturdays for a swim.
The Waltons always came as an entire crowd, parents, grandparents and all six of their children, of which Lurch is the third one... I think... I can't keep track anymore. He used to be so scared of the waterfall itself and, like Kira, only stayed in the shallows under the watchful eyes of our sunbathing mothers near this flat rock where we're now having our picnic. Nobody blamed Lurch for being scared; the guy was a little shrimp back then, despite his nickname.
We started calling him Lurch when we were in first grade because he was obsessed with the character Lurch ever since the day we watched The Adam's Family on DVD... I think he confused him with Frankenstein's monster because he was obsessed with him too, and was always staggering around mimicking him... Oh, and he referred to himself as Lurch.
Well, the guy eventually grew into his nickname. He might not be a... whatever Lurch was, and when it comes to his looks, he resembles Shaggy from the first Scooby-Doo live-action movie (we also saw on DVD) much more these days. Lurch swears he does not see it. It might be vague, but the resemblance is definitely there. He certainly got Lurch's height right, though, and is more muscular than Shaggy.
Barn's dad used to sit on the edge of the waterfall, with my dad directing our turns to jump off. Kira's dad and Lurch's parents, and his grandfather used to wait at the bottom to make sure we were okay. We only started jumping from the waterfall when we were in our second year of primary school; before that, we always just jumped from the huge flat-topped boulder near the left-centre of the pool.
Jet and Burlap came with my parents. There is no way Jet's parents will be caught dead at an unsophisticated place like the waterfall, and Burlap's parents are usually working on weekends and holidays when ours could bring us. There were many other parents with their kids too, and this is currently still a popular hang-out for families.
Across from where we're lounging, on the other side of the pool, at its deepest side, the waterfall tumbles in a staggered curtain over the flat edge of the brook. It is not a high waterfall caused by a raging river, but it is still nice to look at, and the brook has enough depth and water to make it a bit impressive.
I love being here with my friends, having the cool breeze in my hair and the droning sound of the waterfall in my ears. One day, I want to bring my own children here. I turn my eyes away from the cascading water and the clear pool to look at the girl quietly sitting in the shade next to me, eating a plum. The broken sunlight catches tendrils of her drying hair, picking sparkling reds among the chestnut strands. She turns her head and catches me watching her, a gentle blush colouring her cheeks when I smile at her.
One day, I want to come here with Kira and our kids and watch them while they play with their cousins and our friends' children. I don't want to lose this. Not ever! Though I like thinking about Kira and me and our three sets of twins (yeah, I want lots of kids and having twins will save time) playing here at the pool, I don't want to think about it too much because I don't know if Burlap is going to be here. His future is a bit sketchy most of the time, and the thought of him not being around is almost as bad as the thought of losing Kira.
It makes me feel ill.
Barn is definitely sticking around; he is always saying he has Egret's Rest's soil running through his veins. If he leaves, he'll wither and die. It's a weird idea, but I get where he's coming from; I might bleed this place's dirt too, and though I'm always griping about the heat, there is nowhere I would rather live. Not even Briar Cove, with its mild weather, though I love visiting my family there.
I know Jet and Lurch cannot wait to leave Egret's Rest, and there's nothing I can do to stop them from going...
"Ethe, my boy, you are one lucky dog," Barn chuckles, interrupting my train of thought that started out as fun and was quickly becoming depressing. I turn to look at him, and he grins happily, holding up one of Kira's fat, gourmet sandwiches. "Thanks, Kiki, you always take good care of us. I'm glad that's not changing just because you're dating this bastard now."
"You're welcome," Kira smiles, a little shy under all the appreciative attention, thanks and compliments she is now receiving from my friends. Seeing their reaction to the lunch she packed warms my heart. She's always saying that we're a bunch of Neanderthals, and she doesn't want to be around us for longer than five-minute sessions and preferably in shifts of two at a time and other nonsensical things, but she always packs a bag that contains everybody's favourites. No one asks her to; she just loves doing it.
She can say what she wants to, but the containers we always pull from the cooler bag tell the story of a girl who actually cares about us.
Today is no different. She made plenty of Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches for Jet, Tuna Mayo ones for Lurch, Ham, Cheese and Tomato for Burlap and chicken mayo and cheese for me, some with gherkins and some without (Jet cannot stand them). I don't really mind either way, I usually let her steal my gherkins if there are not enough to go around, but today there are plenty. There's also a stack of chocolate spread sandwiches because we all like them.
The sheer quantity of food she packed is meant to cater for Barn's dietary needs. His favourite is food and lots of it; he has no other preferences.
I'm not surprised to see a container with fruit and flasks of her signature homemade lemonade in the bag as well. I grin at Kira, wondering if she can see that the guys are more excited about the contents of her cooler bag than the pretzels, beer and chips they brought.
I'm on my third sandwich when she suddenly rises, stretches like a lazy cat and turns towards the inviting water of the pool and the gentle stream flowing out of it and down the hill to the bridge where we played earlier. We're all reaching a point where the sun is making us overly hot, and we'll need to jump in that pool soon. When we arrived here, the guys, Tonia and I, stripped down to our swimsuits, and we all had a quick dip; since we were already wet, it helped us get used to the cold water quickly. Now that we're almost dry, jumping in is going to be super cold again.
"Aren't you going to eat?" I ask, shielding my eyes against the sun filtering through the leaves above our favourite hang-out spot to see what Kira is planning. I think she wants to go for a swim. She's the only one still dressed, and her clothes are not all that wet anymore, but they might've kept her body temperature low enough to make it easy for her to re-enter the pool.
"I'm done, thanks."
I'm glad to hear that because the guys (and I) are really digging in, hungry after the rugby match and the quick swim we had. If Kicks is still hungry, she might be disappointed when she returns from her swim to find only empty containers. Tonia never eats much, and today is no exception; she's had some fruit, but she is oblivious to how good Kira's sandwiches are. There are enough of each kind for everybody to taste all of them.
My eyes widen, and I almost stop Kira when she starts to pull her T-shirt off, and then I see the black fabric of the prescribed school swimsuit appear from under it. I thought she said she wasn't wearing her bathers. Okay, technically, that was true because this is not that cute two-piece I love so much. This is the prototype for the dreaded Iron Maiden.
Deli and Kicks hate this swimsuit; why would she be wearing it? Surely, she doesn't think that now that we're dating, I'd get all hot and bothered if she wore her regular swimsuit. She's wrong... I've always been hot and bothered when she wore it; it would be nothing new. Besides, this suit might be unflattering and highly uncomfortable-looking, changing her lovely figure into a surfboard, but she is still taking my breath away.
I hear Jet doing some kind of seal impression... or he's just as surprised as I am and not as good at hiding it as me.
"You're wearing the school swimsuit? Really? Why?"
"It's comfy," Kira shrugs, lying her pretty head off, and I suddenly get it. She is feeling extra self-conscious today. Deli isn't here to boost her, and I'm suddenly her boyfriend, and the guys are gawking at her, mostly because they're confused, but I guess they're as disappointed as I am... which kinda pisses me off.
If they want to look at a girl in a sexy bikini, they can look at Tonia; she doesn't seem to mind being looked at. If she did mind, she probably wouldn't be exhibiting her tan and her curves so generously. I gaze up at Kira, seeing her eyes flit from Tonia to my friends and finally come to rest on my face, and I want to say something encouraging, but I'm not sure what to say.
"Seriously disappointing, Kira," Jet grunts, and I know those were not the words I was looking for, I glare at him, and yes, he really meant what he said; looking at her is depressing the guy.
"Stop looking at my girlfriend," I growl, and startled, Jet glances at me, looking guilty. I think he forgot that Kicks is now my girlfriend. I'll forgive him this one time.
"Sorry, Kira," he mumbles and digs into the cooler bag to find another sandwich. Amused by my sudden outburst, Burlap is chuckling, enjoying the show (bastard), causing Kira to giggle too. I just glare at the guy and at Jet when he looks up from the bag before hastily diving back in again and at Kira, which is only making her laugh even more.
Why am I glaring at Kicks? She did nothing wrong.
I decide to follow Jet's example and just find myself another sandwich. There's nothing like a good sandwich to make me happy, and I take a big bite, grinning up at Kira, my heart melting into a puddle in my chest when she flashes me her brilliant smile.
She is so friggin' gorgeous!
I see her turn apprehensive eyes towards Lurch, making out with Tonia, and I try to catch her attention to assure her that I'm not expecting that kind of PDA from her, but she is avoiding looking at me now, watching Barn devour everything in sight instead. The guy is a giant; giants need a lot of fuel to keep them big and strong, and those two words describe my friend perfectly.
Still avoiding looking at me, Kira turns away and wades into the pool, making that cute gasping sound she always makes when the water is too cold and then she sighs with relief, enjoying the break from the cloying heat. Maybe a swim by herself will help Kicks settle down and feel less overwhelmed by this new experience.
Hanging out with the guys and me is not what is new; it's just not one of her favourite activities; it's the doing it as my girlfriend part that is new and getting to her. I don't actually know what to do either. I've never really been in love with any of the other girls I've hung out with. For a short while, I thought I was in love with Amber, but it didn't last very long before I woke up from that fantasy.
I often hang out with Wendy, but she's never been my girlfriend. We're friends, and as our friendship grew, she'd stopped trying to make me one of her many willing love slaves. We mostly understand each other... I think... She is not good reference material for me to know how to handle Kira in this scenario now that she's my girlfriend. I don't want to act like Lurch and Tonia because it's a bit nauseating, and it will make Kira run away.
Deli and Sy are my best current examples, but they're not here right now, and they generally just act like normal human beings when there are other people around. They do hold hands all the time, and sometimes they giggle together like friggin' pre-teen girls, which is just disturbing.
Tertia seldom hung out with our group when Burlap was dating her. She lived in Silverview, and he usually went there to see her. The few times she'd been here, she'd tried to keep him all to herself, and we just let them be. None of us liked the girl, but there was no way we were telling Burlap that. He really loved her, and if he noticed that she was isolating him, he didn't care. I guess it would've been worse and more obvious to him if she'd been in our school and he never got to hang out with us.
Still, the guy was heartbroken when she left, and though I personally feel that there's someone much more suitable out there for him, I would've preferred that he didn't go through the pain of losing her. I supported their long-distance relationship completely, and when she decided to end it because she met someone else, I would've done anything to help my buddy feel better. He stopped moping months ago, but I know he still feels the loss very deeply. Burlap is not the kind of guy who goes about things half-assed. When he falls, he falls hard.
Unfortunately, he is as clueless as I am when it comes to how to act with your shy girlfriend in public because he didn't get much practice in that either, and his girlfriend wasn't shy; she was just possessive. Last night I asked Delia for advice, and she told me to act the way I always do with Kira, but that will bring us back to me being called an idiot and getting beaten up.
Kira's idea to make lists is starting to look more and more attractive.
For now, I'll just act normally, like a friend... and hold her hand as often as she'll let me. Only half listening to Barn and Jet discussing plans to practice for the Founders' Day boat race, I lean back on my elbows and study the canopy of leaves above our picnic spot. I love the play of light and push myself back into a sitting position to take my phone from the cooler bag's side pocket, where Kira and I stuffed ours at the beginning of our journey. I take a few cool pictures of the sunlight breaking through, colouring the leaves in a myriad of hues of green and yellow.
This picture will look awesome among the others on Kira's wall.
I take some pictures of Barn and Jet plotting a sailing plan with pretzels on the top of the beer cooler bag, of Lurch stretched out while the lovely Tonia is running her fingers through his hair and of Burlap asleep near me with his open book loosely dangling from his fingers.
I aim my phone at the pool to take a picture of Kira, and my heart stops beating when there is no sign of her. I'm on my feet before her head breaks through the surface, but she's only visible for a few seconds before she disappears again, and panic slams into my gut hard enough to make me want to hurl. She is in the deepest part of the pool. Kicks never goes that deep. She has a terrible fear of deep water.
I drop my phone on my clothes and run down the slope of our hangout, vaguely aware of far-off voices asking me if I'm okay. I call Kira's name as I wade into the water, starting to swim as soon as I'm deep enough. Fear is making me blind, and I can hear myself making weird-ass whimpering sounds. I need to keep it together, or I won't be able to save her, and this time I might really lose her!
Four years ago, Kicks almost drowned.
Delia, Kicks and I were searching for crabs on the shelf of flat rocks just off the main beach when a freak wave broke over us, flattening me. When it retreated, I saw Delia getting to her feet, her knees bleeding from the fall, and I was on my way to help her when I realised that there was no sign of Kira, and then Deli screamed.
She'd seen a flash of Kira's bright pink swimsuit in the thrashing waves, and we ran to the edge of the rocks where she'd seen it, but there was no sign of her. I wanted to dive in, but Delia held onto me, screaming at me that if I just jumped in randomly, we'll never find Kicks, and I would just be dead and of no use in searching for her.
It calmed me down just enough to try and spot any sign of her first. I was freaking out and a second from diving anyway when we noticed two jet-bike riders not far away. We waved them over, but they'd already seen what happened and were making their way towards where they'd seen Kira last.
Waiting for them to lift her from the water and bring her to the beach where we ran was the longest few minutes of my life, and when they laid her limp body on the sand, something inside me snapped. I vaguely remember trying to fight against restraining hands while the school's swim coach, Mr Applemore, who was on duty as a lifeguard, struggled to resuscitate her.
It is all a blur to me; all I remember is the black fear stripping away all reasonable thoughts, except for questions about how I was going to tell Uncle Joe that we've lost Kira and how we were going to survive the pain of not having her in our lives anymore. When she started coughing, the world came back into sharp focus and overwhelming sound, and suddenly Deli and I were on our knees next to her, hugging her between us, crying our heads off.
None of us have been quite the same since then. I've been selfishly comforted by the fact that she no longer swims in deep water. Kira is a good swimmer, but she's not strong. She was pretty mangled after that accident, and took a while to heal; it was months before she even tried to swim again.
Why is she in the deep water now?!
I dive the second I see her and swim to her as fast as I can. I think she'd become disoriented because she is kicking, fighting to go to the bottom instead of the surface. It sometimes happens with drowning people. This pool, with its clear water and the sun playing around in it, drawing intriguing patterns, can become mesmerizing and confusing.
I reach Kira within seconds, and wrapping my arms around her waist, I drag her to the surface, where I hug her, tightly holding onto her, relieved to feel her heart beating fast and her breath coming in gasps. She's alive. She's in my arms. She is safe. I am so relieved I feel like crying.
"What are you doing?!" she exclaims, working her hands between our bodies to press their palms against my chest, pushing away from me to be able to look up into my face. I am breathing as if I swam a mile when it had only been a couple of meters and took me less than a minute. My heart is beating at a dangerous pace, my skin breaking out in goosebumps as aftershocks of the panic attack shiver through my body.
"Saving you," I gasp, swallowing loudly, trying to get my breathing under control. I am slowly trying to move us into an area where I can stand; I don't trust myself to keep us both afloat, not in my current state.
"From what?" she asks, and really looking at her now, I can tell that she is startled, but unlike me, she is not in a panicked frenzy.
"Weren't you drowning?"
The sound of her laughter fills me with warmth, and the last of the anxiety starts to seep away, leaving me trembling in its wake.
"I'm trying to get a shell, but it's like I've got air in my butt; it keeps on dragging me to the surface."
"You were diving?"
"Ethan?" she tilts her head, looking puzzled now.
"You hate deep water, and you hate diving; it's terrified you ever since... I thought... I called out to you, but you didn't answer... and I thought... I thought..." My voice lets me down, and placing one hand behind her head, I hold her tighter against me, burying my face in her neck, taking comfort in the warmth of her skin and the smell of her hair and the knowledge that I'm the only idiot shaking in horror right now. Kira is fine. She wasn't drowning.
I guess I'm still suffering from PTSD.
After the incident, the three of us were struggling with all those near-death what-if kind of scenarios wreaking havoc with our minds. What if there were no Jet-skiers, what if there was no lifeguard, what if...? I still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare about that day.
"I'm fine," Kira whispers into my shoulder, her fingers gently stroking my hair, finally bringing me out of the clutches of the dark fear I've been trapped in from the moment I saw her disappear under the water in the deep end.
I lift my head to look down into her upturned face, and suddenly I'm just a guy treading water in a sunlit pool, holding the girl I love in my arms, and her eyes are bright, gazing into mine. The stones of my necklace glistening against the soft skin of her throat reminds me that, for now, she is mine, and I am hers.
♂♀