One Stupid Thing

Like Riding a Bike

"Stella! Hey, Stell, wake up!"

I'm shaken awake as a cold hand presses into my shoulder and rocks me back and forth. I roll onto my back and when I blink my eyes open, JJ's blonde head of hair comes into view. I lift a hand to rub away the sleep that had blurred my vision.

"W-what?" I ask him. "JJ, what's going on?" I must've been dead asleep to not realize that he had slipped out of bed.

"We're going to the beach, baby! The swell is here."

In my still-half-asleep haze, it takes me a hot minute to fully process what he just said, but when I do, I instantly sit straight up against the headboard. "The swell?"

"Hell yeah. The conditions are perfect; hardly any wind, not a cloud in the sky, beautiful rolling waves..." JJ trails off and the animated gleam in his eye fades away. He takes a seat on the mattress beside me and gently places a hand on my knee.

"Today's the day?" I squeak.

"Only if you want it to be."

I stare down at my hand fidgeting subconsciously with the ring on my left one. The last time I surfed was in Lisbon. Ryan and I rented boards from a local shop on the coast and we made an entire day out of it. Margaret watched from the shore beneath the brim of a ridiculously oversized sunhat. Ryan's not a bad surfer by any means, but let's just say he spent more time paddling around in the ocean than standing up on his board. I remember how freeing it felt—ripping through the surface of the water and riding the wave until it reaches the shore. The moment when a beast of a wave catches your eye and your heart begins to race. Ugh, I'm getting the chills just thinking about it. I never realized how much I missed that until now.

I look back up at JJ with a newfound determination. It's clear that he notices the shift in my attitude because a small smile creeps onto his face. "Yeah. I think I do," I say, nodding firmly.

"Alrighty then." JJ claps his hands together and hops off of the bed. He looks so excited and I can't help but crack a smile. "I am going to make it my own personal mission to get you back on that board, but I just have one minor stipulation."

I swing my legs off the edge of the mattress and lean back on my hands. "And what's that?"

JJ places his hands on either side of my thighs and angles his head down to my level. "When people ask, you tell 'em that JJ Maybank was the one who got the 'Queen of the Waves' back in action."

I snicker in amusement. "Deal."  Reaching up, JJ captures my chin between his fingers and pecks my lips with his. When we come apart, my heart swells like the rolling tide just a few miles away. "I love you," I tell him.

"Love you, too, baby. We're going to get you through this if it's the last thing I do." He peppers me with a few more kisses and, randomly, dips his head down towards my neck and inhales. "Mmm, you smell like beer."

Catching me off guard, JJ's warm, wet tongue licks a strip up the side of my neck. "Ew, gross!" I exclaim, leaning away from him.

"You taste like beer, too."

JJ moves in for another taste, but I push him away, placing both hands on his chest. "You're disgusting. No, scratch that, I'm the one that's disgusting. I need a shower." I slip past him and head straight towards my dresser.

"You took a shower yesterday," he quips.

I turn my head and glare at him and the shit-eating grin he's sporting. "Don't the boards need waxing?" I point out.

The cheeky smile fades from his face and is replaced by a wide-eyed stare. "Yes, yes they do. I'm gonna go do that now." JJ backs towards the open doorway and darts down the hall.