100 Writing Prompts Challenge

3. Sand

I approached my porch after my morning run, huffing and puffing so hard I thought I was going to pass out. I sat down, pulling off my shoes and dumping out the heaps of sand I had acquired while running along the beach. I loved my home of Hawaii, especially because the ocean was only steps away.

I ran inside, put on a neon pink bikini top and black bottoms, then pulled on my red swim shirt with the white cross and white athletic shorts. Another great part of living in Hawaii, a lifeguard is one of many typical jobs where your work clothes are your bathing suit. I grabbed my bag and ran out the door. My running shoes were thrown on top of my sandals, so I picked them up, tossing them on the chair on my porch. I slipped on my sandals and ran over to my bike.

I rode to the beach about half a mile from my house. There was a beach right across from my house of course, but the more popular beach that actually needed a lifeguard was farther down. I set my bike down in the shade of a bush and ran over to the lifeguard station. I signed in, grabbed my badge, whistle, and board, and dropped my bag down in the cupboard.

My boyfriend Nate was sitting on the lifegaurd stand, his sunglasses sitting on his head as he squinted into the sun.
"You know those are meant to be on your face so you don't have to squint, right?" I laughed as he looked down at me in surprise, he had obviously been very focused. He laughed, too. "Hey."

I climbed up and sat next to him, he wrapped his arm around me as I pulled my sunglasses on, then reached up and pulled his down onto his face. He laughed and kissed my cheek. There were only a few people out today: a few teenagers scattered around, two families with a couple kids, and an older couple with their chairs slightly in the water.

"Maybe that'll be us one day," Nate nodded towards the couple. "I hope so at least." I looked up at him and kissed his arm. He was certainly taller than me, almost a foot. "I hope so, too." I said, this type of statement escaping my lips for the first time. I choked when I realized what I had said. I was always the one in the relationship who was open about not wanting to commit long term, at least not any time soon.

But now, sitting with him with the calm sea in front of us, I knew it was time. I loved Nate and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. "Do you really?" Nate asked calmly. "Yeah," I laced my fingers through his. "I really do. I'm ready to actually do this. Maybe not get married or anything, but, like, advance in our relationship or-" just as I said this, the older woman had stood up and her chair blew into the water. She started running towards it, her husband trailing after her as a huge wave formed in the distance. "We'll continue this later." I said as we both took of our sunglasses and whistles and grabbed our rescue boards.

Seconds later, we were in the water, I was going for the chair and Nate was trying to get the couple closer to shore. The water was shallow pretty far out, but they had gotten far fast. I grabbed the chair just as the wave hit, and I ducked down, holding the chair tight. After the water settled, I stood up. That wave was super weird, this beach was pretty mellow. I looked towards the shore. The older couple were drenched, but fine as they stood in the very shallow water feet away from the shore. I waved to them and I thought they were waving back, but after a few seconds of being confused as to why they were waving so much, I noticed they were gesturing towards something in the water between me and them.

Nate. I realized he wasn't on the beach, he wasn't in the water that I could see, and he wasn't with any of the other people. He couldn't have gotten back to the lifegaurd station by now, so where was he? I waded around, dragging the chair with me. Then I saw him. He was on his knees coughing up blood. I ran to him, although it wasn't much of running because of the water acting against me and the weight of the lawn chair I was dragging.

I put my hand on his back, and he managed to whimper "call an ambulance." I knew he wasn't overreacting, he tended to be one of those guys who under-rated his pain. I nodded, and shouted out to the couple. "Call an ambulance!" Then I dragged the chair up to about six feet from the shore and passed it off to the old man, and I waded back out to Nate.

The paramedics carried Nate off on a stretcher, and I noticed that his little waterproof pouch that held his phone, keys, wallet, etc. was hanging out of his pocket. I unclipped it from his trunks so it didn't get lost and slipped it into my bag. As the started to load him into the ambulance, I kissed his lips and cried onto his face a little. I wiped them off, but it's not like you could tell through the sweat, ocean water, sand, and blood.

The doctor told me that he had a disease that Nate hadn't known about and when he had swallowed some ocean water it had triggered the whole coughing-up-blood fit. It had been 12 hours and he was still asleep. He wasn't unconscious, just mentally and physically exhausted, almost like he had done all that work on top of not having slept in 24 hours. I looked in my bag, wondering why it was wet in the corner. I realized that I still had Nate's pouch in my bag and I pulled it out. I unzipped it, hoping that he wouldn't get mad at me for invading his privacy.

The inside had gotten wet, which I hadn't realized. I went through the contents. Phone, keys, a few wadded up dollar bills, ring box, some change. Wait, a ring box? I gasped as I opened it up, and tears welled up in my eyes. The beautiful diamond was surrounded by wet sand. I pulled it out and washed it in the sink in Nate's hospital room. After I dried it off, I pulled it onto my left ring finger and it fit perfectly. I was full on sobbing now, and I walked back over to my seat next to Nate's bed.

Nate woke up two and a half hours after I found the ring. When he opened his eyes, I pressed the call nurse button and laced my fingers through his. "Hey." I said as he blinked at me. He looked down at my left hand and smiled as much as he could. He pulled the ring off of my finger.

"We're gonna do this right." Nate rasped. "Just no bending down on one knee. Can't really do that right now." I laughed a little though my tears.

Nate held the ring out and I pretended to gasp. "Oh, my! This is so unexpected!" I laughed a little. Nate did too. "I love you so much. Will you marry me?" I nodded as he slipped the ring back on my finger. I leaned down and kissed him. This is where I wanted to be, in his arms with his ring on my finger, wet sand and all.