Falling Together

I Wont Leave Him

Dax

Maisie and I had been surfing all afternoon. Once she hit the water it was like she was a whole other person. She didn't seem to worry about her past, this morning, or being anyone else other than who she was when she stood up to ride a wave.

I sat up on my board resting between the sets of waves and watched her move. She would paddle out where I saw absolutely nothing building, and suddenly she was up. A huge wave carrying her back towards the beach. I thought she would smile as she surged but she didn't. Even on her best wave, spinning her whole board in a 360 jump as if she were a complete pro! She didn't smile. She just looked extremely focused.

On the beach I could see people watching her and recording her ride on their phone in awe. I bet she didn't even realize how amazing she was.

I paddled over to her and pulled her board close to mine, pulling her behind me as I headed towards the beach. "What are you doing?" She asks panting heavily.

"You're really sunburned." I say laughing. "And I'm starving. We could use a break Maiz." I say using Noah's nickname for her.

She looks at her shoulders. "Awe dang it.. I didn't even think of that. Now I'm gonna peel." She pouts.

"Don't worry. We will put some aloe on you and you'll be fine." I say. She lays on her board and takes over paddling till we reach a standing point. We splash down into the water and grab our boards. The people who were watching Maisie surf are smiling at her, but I don't think she's noticed.

"Masina Angela Collins!"

Maisie and I turn to see a big guy smiling ear to ear and looking right at her. He looks Lotto's age and holds out his arms like he's waiting for a hug. Maisie laughs beside me and drops her board. To my complete surprise she runs right up and actually hugs him.

"Boba!" She laughs. He squeezes her tight and she winces slightly as he touches her shoulder. Yeah that sun burns gonna hurt like hell in the morning.

He chuckles. "Still forget to put on sunscreen I see. You always did burn like a peach." He chuckles.

"It's good to see you Boba." She says looking over at me. "Dax this is Boba. Boba, this is my friend Dax."

"Nice to meet you son. This one here calls me Boba, but you can call me Zach '' He says holding out his hand which I take with a firm shake. He has a braided beard and a man bun. His dark tan skin tells me he is a local who definitely surfs a lot. The skin tone he has is one you only get from being out in the sun for hours and hours every day. I can't shake the feeling like I've met this guy before though...

"You looked good out there kiddo. It's been awhile but you still got it." He winks. I'm looking at them a bit confused and Zach seems to notice. " Maisie here is my all time champ. She was one of my best surfing students. Took the trophy home three years in a row you know."

"Ah, yeah I do think she mentioned something like that to me." I said with a chuckle. Maisie looks at me and beams like a kid with a 100 dollar bill in a candy store. My smile grows as I watch her.

"Thinking about rejoining the competition with the teen division this year?" Zach asks her with a wink

"No way. I was pretty good as a little kid, sure, but I'm no Bethany Hamilton." she laughed.

"Well if you don't want to compete maybe you'd be willing to teach? The kids center could use a few more teachers? We haven't won a competition in any of our divisions since you left and it sure would be great to have that trophy back in our trophy case." he says hopefully