Friendly Dating - Kira

Chapter 17 - Diving Quest

Something snakes around my waist and yanks me to the surface, and before I can scream and swallow water, I'm pressing up against a warm chest.

I first recognise the mother-of-pearl disk in the centre of the necklace lying against tanned skin, and then I recognise Ethan. I was so engrossed in my mission to reach the shell; I didn't notice his arrival.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaim, looking into his eyes. They are dilated, the blue irises just thin rings around the large pupils, and he is breathing very fast, his nostrils flaring.

"Saving you," he gasps, and I can feel his heart beating really fast against the palms of my hands, his skin puckered with goosebumps. Everybody stripped down to their bathers and took a quick dip in the pool when we arrived at the waterfall... well, not me... I wanted my clothes to remain wet and on me a little longer. It was refreshing.

Why is Ethan so out of breath and looking so freaked out?

"From what?"

"Weren't you drowning?"

I laugh, shaking my head. That is not very complimentary of my swimming skills!

"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?"

"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..." I have a vague idea of what he thought, and I guess I can understand why he is upset and my nose is now being crushed into his shoulder, a victim of a very tight hug. Still, it's weird being held like this, having his face pressed into my neck. He is shivering.

I guess I'm not the only one suffering from PTSD.

Four years ago, I almost drowned.

It was terrifying! One moment I was searching for crabs on the shelf of flat rocks just off the main beach, and the next, I got swept into the ocean by a freak wave, and I couldn't fight my way back. The water was milling me and spinning me, scraping me against the rocks.

When I finally coughed myself back to consciousness, I was lying on the beach with a lifeguard kneeling next to me and the twins howling in the background.

According to Delia, my first kiss was with our school's swim team coach, who volunteers at the beach as a lifesaver on weekends. I told her that being resuscitated is not the same as being kissed and that my life will jump to a new level of pathetic if my first kiss was with a man old enough to be my father... and I cannot even remember it, because I was unconscious at the time.

I later heard that Ethan and Delia saw the accident happen. They were further along the rocks and ran screaming to where they last saw me but couldn't find me at all. Dell had a massive struggle to stop Ethan from just randomly jumping in too. They needed to know where I was first.

I'm glad she kept her head.

A couple of jet-bike riders saw their desperation and came over when the twins flagged them down. They found me and brought me out onto the beach in the designated swimming area, where Mr Applemore was on duty.

The horror of not being able to fight the strength of the water and the pain of the many shallow cuts all contribute to my current problems with fear and anxiety when I'm swimming, but the thing that gets to me most is the knowledge that if the twins hadn't seen me fall in and if there were no jet-bikers and Mr Applemore, I would've been dead...

And perhaps Ethan, too, because he was on the verge of diving in to search for me when they saw the riders taking a break, idling in the swells nearby. The what-if factor drove me out of my mind for months... still does.