Destination Reached

SOPHIA

So maybe I had been the slightest bit overconfident about the whole sea cave thing.

Everything had started off fine. We headed inside, the water was so clear, and the lava rock looked incredibly cool as it bended in various arches overhead. I'd managed to adequately tamp down the worry thoughts that tend to circulate through my brain every 10-15 minutes, pushing through images of some undiscovered sea predator that lurked within the caves, or a sudden earthquake that caused everything to internally collapse and crush us both.

And I was glad I had. I got to see hermit crabs with beautifully patterned shells scrabbling along the sand, fluorescent algae crawling up the rock walls, and the multicolored fish swimming around me in the calf deep water. Fish I never would've seen otherwise, since I was terrified of snorkeling to far out in the reef, away from the shore. Plus, it was nice to spend time with Maia away from the boys, just the two of us. I'd had a lot of Jake time lately, between work and home, and he was great, but there came a point you just needed some girl time. Besides, things had been so confusing with us lately, and with Maia I got a break from overthinking every time I caught him glancing over at me and I felt my cheeks burn hot.

I missed Reagan. More than that, I missed my sister...I always missed my sister. I'd missed her since she'd run off to Hawaii six years ago, but this summer was supposed to be different. Our chance to reconnect. She was supposed to be home tomorrow. I hoped that was true.

This little sea cave excursion was exactly what I needed to clear my head, and it was just too wonderful seeing the look on Jake's face when I'd wanted to go. In fact, I felt a little thrill go through me now as I heard his voice in my head. Pleasantly surprised. I don't think I've ever surprised anyone in my life

Needless to say, I was pretty proud of myself. That is, until about twenty-fiveish minutes in, when Maia muttered something of the expletive nature under her breath.

"What?" I glanced over at her questioningly.

"Nothing, just..." Maia frowned, looking warily up above us through the opening in the top of the cave we were in. "I think it's starting to rain."

I followed her gaze upward, feeling a light drizzle on my face. She was right. The caves had grown slightly dimmer as we'd gone further in, but I had barely noticed. Maia was still frowning.

"Is that...a bad thing?" I asked, skin prickling slightly.

"Not necessarily," she swallowed, not meeting my eye. "We should probably head back, though. I didn't realize how far in we'd gone."

Her pace quickened slightly, just enough for me to notice. She was right. I couldn't tell you how far we'd walked, but I could tell you I didn't recognize anything around me. The beach suddenly felt very far away.

We kept moving, and my panic sensors were firing like crazy as Maia remained suspiciously silent. Maia couldn't be quiet for more than two minutes, and by my count it had been four.

The water was at our knees. I didn't recall it being at our knees before.

"Fuck." Okay I definitely heard it that time.

"Maia," I said, putting a hand on her arm. "Is something the matter?"

"No." She wouldn't look at me. Her feet had stilled.

"Maia..." I shot her a look, arms crossed.

She bit her lip, "You have to promise not to go all Sophia on me."

"What?"

"You can't freak out, okay?" She looked at me earnestly, babbling in her typical Maia fashion now. "And I know that that's like your prerogative. Freaking out, I mean. But you can't freak out when I tell you, because it's actually not that big of a deal. Like actually, it's very very fine, but it's going to be even more fine if you don't freak out. So can you try not to freak out because—"