The First Summer of Forever

Chapter 35- Riptide

Conrad
Age 17

I stood on the beach frozen in time. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my eardrums, and it was momentarily drowning out the loud waves crashing on the shore. I was alone. It dawned on me that no one else was coming to help.

Moments before, we had just finished an impromptu beach volleyball game, and Jere and Steven had gone to get cold virgin pina coladas at the beach bar to cool off. Mom and Laurel had been gone on one of their walks for a while. Belly had decided to dive in for a swim, even though the water was rough today. I didn't feel like doing any of those things, so I decided to hang back and keep an eye on Belly. She was a strong swimmer and I knew she would more than likely be fine, but I wanted to hang back, just in case. I watched her closely from the sand, examining every move.

She swam out to the sand bar quite easily and quicker than expected, but I just chalked it up to her becoming a stronger swimmer this year on the swim team. She had always been a natural. I watched as she began to turn and come back to shore.

After a few minutes, I sensed something was all wrong. She should be closer to shore by now. And then I realized: she was caught in a rip current. Rip tides are no joke- you have to know how to swim out of them. I only know from a few years of surf camp, but Belly is used to swimming in still water. She's a strong swimmer, but in pools- not waves like this.

Most people don't realize they are in a rip current until it's too late-and they tire out, running out of energy, and are unable to keep going. But luckily I was there and caught it early enough to recognize what was happening.

I looked to my right, checking the lifeguard stand, and it was empty. Shit. It was after hours-no lifeguard on duty. I suddenly felt like my chest was about to explode. I yelled for Belly. "Swim diagonally!" I screamed as I motioned with my hands. But it was no use. Why did I think she'd be able to hear me from that distance over the deafening sound of the crashing waves?

Shit. I swallowed hard and pulled my shirt off, throwing it down in the sand as I felt my body involuntarily moving towards the shoreline. My feet were pounding the sand, kicking it up at every stride. My mind was saying no, while my body was already reacting to the situation. Every fiber of my being was bounding forward to help one of the people I cared about the most, but I felt like I was going entirely too slow-like I was stuck in slow motion.

I crashed into the water and paddled towards Belly. I used the current to my advantage because I knew it was going to be a struggle to get the both of us in.
I knew what I was doing was risky- people die all the time from trying to help a drowning person, but I was hoping my years of surf camp training would come in handy, as well as last year's lifeguard experience. I had to get her. Watching her struggle from the shore wasn't an option, I don't care what it costs me.

I made it out to her quicker than expected. She was still paddling but I could tell she was giving out. I swam up close to her and said calmly, "Belly, I'm going to help you get back to shore but I need you to be relaxed okay? This will be harder for us both if you're not." She didn't say anything, just looked at me with a panicked expression- but I thought I saw a quick nod. "Can you do that for me? Just let me handle everything okay? Don't worry. I've got you." I said as I swam around to her back, snaking my arm under hers, wrapping it around and gripping firmly under her chest.

As soon as she was in my arms, she went limp, and I could feel every muscle relax, which alarmed me at first- but I could surprisingly still feel her chest rising and falling despite the waves crashing around us. I realized she was doing exactly what I had asked her to do. I held her above water with my left arm while paddling with my right, making sure to swim parallel to the shore instead of trying to paddle straight ahead. It was the only way to get out of a rip current. First, you had to swim out of it sideways, and then head to shore diagonally. Belly was coughing, and I realized she must have swallowed some water. There was nothing I could do until we reached the sand.

My breathing was hard and heavy, but I still managed to get the words out. "Belly, I've got you. We're almost there. We're gonna be okay. We're almost there," I just kept repeating the words as often as I could. Thankfully, I soon felt sand beneath my toes. I dug my feet into the sand as soon as I was able and used it to my advantage, gripping the sand beneath my toes and pulling myself forward with my legs. Soon enough, I was able to stand, and began moving faster towards the shoreline. I was exhausted, but had to keep going. I swung Belly up into my arms and carried her to shore.

Finally, I reached the sand and laid her down as soon as we had some space between us and the waves crashing on the shore. Belly was coughing again, and now that we were free from the water's grip, I realized how bad she was coughing- she had probably swallowed a lot of water. Without taking another second to think, I rolled her onto her side and gave her three heavy blows to her back in between her shoulder blades with the heel of my palm. She coughed again, but this time water was evacuating her lungs and spilling out over the sand. "Good, get it out, Belly." I said without even realizing it.

After a few more seconds of this to make sure it was all out, I rolled her onto her back and placed my hand under her head, lifting it up as I leaned over her, scanning her face. We were so close that our noses almost touched, and I could feel the hot air of her breaths hitting my face. I realized I had never been more thankful. She was safe. She was okay. She was alive.

"Are you okay?" I said in a low voice. She looked at me for a long time. Her eyes were wet and red, but I wasn't sure if it was from the salt water stinging her eyes or tears. " I'm okay." She let out. "... all thanks to you," she said, looking into my eyes.

My eyes moved from her big chocolate brown eyes down to her soft, cloud-like lips and back up again. I wanted to kiss her, I realized. I hadn't wanted to kiss her this bad since two summers ago when she walked away from me at the boardwalk. I thought I had gotten her out of my system, but I was wrong. Very wrong. One small move and our lips could be pressed together.

The empty space between us seemed to pull me towards her without even trying, just like the riptide we escaped. I moved towards her literally only an inch, and I thought, just for a second, that I felt her start to close the gap between us when I heard familiar voices. I snapped up.

"Belly!!!" "Con, is she okay?" I heard my Mom and Laurel yell from a few yards away. They were running towards us, and then I saw Jere and Steven trailing behind them. " We saw everything from the shore. We were on our way back, and started running as fast as we could." Our moms said.

"She's okay, I think," I said. Belly sat up. "I'm okay, everything's fine, thanks to Conrad." Belly said softly. "Isabel. How many times have I warned you about going out too far?" Laurel snapped. "Mom," Belly started, but I didn't let her finish. "She didn't mean to, Laur, she got swept out.", I defended her. "But still- Belly, we've talked about beach safety several times. You know when you shouldn't be in the water." Laurel finished. "I know, mom. I'm sorry. I just wanted to cool off for a minute, I didn't mean to go so far..." She turned to look at me then. " Thank you, Conrad, for saving me. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to get back.", she said, her eyes reaching out for mine. "Belly. It's" ,she cut in then.

"No, it's not. Thankfully, you saved me, but you could have gotten hurt too. I'm sorry, it won't happen again. Thank you." She said earnestly, and all I could do was just listen. I was in awe of how mature she sounded. "It's okay, Belly, I'm fine, really. I would have done it for any of you." "I know", she said, and looked away from me. She didn't look at me again after that. I hoped she was okay. We never talked about that moment between us on the sand after I pulled her in. I'll never be certain that she was going to kiss me that day, but I'd like to think that if everyone didn't show up at that moment, that she would have.