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Fifty Six

"Ooh, you ready for your tele debut?" Jackson asked as he rubbed his hands together.

He and Mouse had come over to a watch the show with the girls.

"I mean, are you sure they even kept it in? It wasn't even that interesting," Charley said.

"Yeah, nah, they kept it in," Mouse replied, sitting down next to her on the couch.

He handed her a drink and kicked his feet up as the opening scene of the show played.

"...and trouble on the beach when family gets hurt," the narrator said as Chappo and Reidy flashed across the screen, looking on in shock and Mouse raced out the tower.

"They're making it look worse than it was!" Charley pointed out, groaning.

"That's how it seemed to me," Mouse told her gently.

Charley glanced at her boyfriend. Up until that point, she hadn't realized how it had looked from his vantage point. To see his girlfriend being brought in on a rescue board by one of his best friends, to see her injured and not know what was wrong. She felt a bit guilty for not thinking about how it seemed from his side sooner. Reaching over, she rubbed his leg before blowing him a small kiss.

As they watched the first half of the episode, Charley grew incredibly antsy. While she loved watching her boyfriend on tv, she wasn't looking forward to seeing herself on the screen.

"Do you ever get used to seeing yourself on tv?" Charley asked the boys.

"Eventually you do, yeah. It was weird at first thought," Jackson replied.

The narrator said something about a lifeguard's loved one before the commercials flicked on and Charley knew she'd be reliving the events of her broken collarbone in just a few minutes time.

"As the temperature rises, so do the number of beach goers. With the crowd reaching nearly 30,000, the number of injuries increases as well."

As the narrator spoke, clips of scrapes and cuts flashed on the screen.

"The warmer weather and large swells draw the attention of surfers with all levels of experience."

"It's difficult when we get heaps of new surfers out here. They don't know surfer etiquette and end up just causing chaos for us. And that's exactly what happened." Mouse popped up in the screen, the screen cutting from the waves on Bondi to his interview.

"Look at me, dating a television star," Charley said playfully.

Mouse smirked and shook his head,
"Nah."

He didn't see himself as a television star. Just somebody who happened to be on tv because people had filmed him and his mates while working. Back on the television, there were a few clips of beginner surfers all falling off their boards before cutting to Emma and Charley. Bracing, she knew what was about to happen. The cameras had filmed her whole collision. Watching the young surfer barrel into her on tv, Charley winced. Reaching up, she instinctively rubbed her collarbone.

"Are you okay? Are you sore still?" Mouse asked, concerned.

Charley shook her head, "Just seeing it happen like this..."

Emma piped up, "I forgot how bad it looked. That bloke should have taken a few more lessens before going out."

"Is that Charley?" Reidy asked on tv, looking through his binos.

The cameras flashed to Mouse, who grabbed a pair of binoculars off the desk and fixated his gaze where Reidy was pointing. The scene cut back to Charley being brought back in on the rescue board by Whippet. She was thankful they had cut out the bit of her arguing with him and Emma about him helping her back in or not. As they came back into the shore, the camera flashed back to Michael running down the stairs and driving the Rhino down the beach.