Out of the Blue

19

Stephanie woke up the next morning in her bed. She called off work yesterday after the whole...incident...saying she was sick. Tears stained her face. How is she supposed to go to work today? She checked the time on her phone. 5:00 a.m. She needed to clear her head, her shattered heart. So Stephanie quickly got ready and grabbed her board. It was a twenty minute walk to the aquarium. Stephanie passed the building and followed the path that led to the beach.

  Stephanie deeply breathed in the salty air. Walking down to the edge of  the tide she sat down and laid her board across her legs. Waves pulsed up and down her legs. The coldness made her feet tingle. At least she could feel something else besides pain. After another deep breath, Stephanie stood up, ran into the water and began paddling. The waves were larger then usual this morning. In the distance Stephanie scoped out a massive swell, growing larger as it thundered towards her. She's going for it. Stephanie began to paddle with all her might towards the monstrous wave. Making the one eighty turn the wave lifted Stephanie up and she began riding. Carving up the massive swell filled Stephanie's body with adrenaline. Skimming her fingers across the inside swell felt like all of her troubles were escaping through her fingertips and vanishing in the water.

   The wave finally died down and Stephanie wadded in the shallows. Letting the rhythmic waves ease her tension. Stephanie closed her eyes, finally feeling at peace.  But as soon as her eyes shut, the memory of her foot being stabbed by the coral and Andrew saving her from bleeding out flashed behind her eyelids. Beginning to panic, Stephanie began paddling towards the shore.

   Reaching the sand Stephanie instantly checked her surroundings, no blood pooling around her. Then she checked her foot. No gash, just a large jagged scar on the bottom. She touched the scar, there was no physical pain, but tears began rolling down her face. How could he do that to her? The morning after she gave him everything! She loved him... She still loves Andrew but her heart was too shattered to smile at his name. He looked so worried, the same worry when he helped her aid her foot.

   Stephanie didn't know what the worried look meant the first time but she did now. Loss. It was worry of losing her. "He damn sure lost me now"  Stephanie muttered to the sand. Not knowing how long she had been out, Stephanie rinsed off and headed back to the aquarium.

Going into the break room, Stephanie expected to see Andrew, but he wasn't there. She walked over to the clip board and read the chart. Andrew's name had been crossed out for Tuesday, today, and above his name was penciled in "sick". Bull. Complete bull, Stephanie thought. The bells of the front door chimed Stephanie peered her head out of the break room. With a sigh of relief Stephanie smiled at the wise face of Ms. Darla.

  " Hello dear! Are you feeling better today?" Stephanie nodded her head and smiled. She waiting for Ms. Darla to flip the "closed" sign to "open" but Ms. Darla kept walking towards Stephanie.

   "Aren't we going to flip the sign?" Stephanie asked, very confused.

  "Not today dear, we are closed due to not enough hands around. Andy took a sick day, must of caught the same thing you did" Ms. Darla raised her eyebrow and drilled her knowing eyes into Stephanie's. All she could do was turn to the ground with burning cheeks.
" Do you want to talk about it?" Stephanie looked up, biting her lip to keep it from quivering. She nodded.

Ms. Darla and Stephanie sat down on the couch in Ms. Darla's downstairs living area. She gave Stephanie a pint of black raspberry chunk ice-cream, her favorite, and while Stephanie ate and sobbed, she explained to Ms. Darla what happened. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Now that doesn't sound like my boy Andy. When he dated that bottle blond Barbie brat bitch a couple years ago, I never approved." Stephanie smiled at the nickname Ms. Darla gave Anna, " Andy later broke up with her because he found out she cheated on him with that meat head Caleb. Boy, was your Ms. Darla mad! I wanted to throw her in with the Sharks! After that Andy didn't really date anyone. He was never interested. But you, my dear, you brought that spark back into his eyes! That's how I knew you were special. You'd bring him back to life. The last time I saw that spark in his eye was when his mother Miranda was still alive, " Ms. Darla paused. Then looked Stephanie dead in the eyes with a smile, " last week Andy told me something that I would never expect him to say. He came up to me one morning before work and with the biggest smile on his face and told me he loved you. And I said I love her too but he said "No, this is different. When I look at her I see my mom. I am in love with Stephanie" and darling was he serious. Now I'm not saying that you should give Andy a second chance but if you love that boy back, do not, I repeat, do not let him go. Listen to his side. "

Stephanie placed her ice cream down and began to cry. Ms. Darla embraced her, rubbing her back as Stephanie sobbed into her shoulder. Over and over Stephanie repeated "What did I do?" Ms. Darla soothed her, telling her everything is going to be ok. Stephanie hoped it would.

Later that evening after a long day of feeding the fish and animals, cleaning tanks and exhibits, Stephanie was beat. It's been a eventful day. She sat down on the dolphin tank deck and clicked for Mila. The graceful dolphin torpedoed her way to Stephanie, bobbing her head back and fourth, greeting her with squeaks and click. Stephanie smiled.

"Mila, what have I done? What do I do? My mind is racing with so many questions and thoughts I don't know what to believe." Stephanie stared over at the ocean, mesmerized by the array of colors painted by the sunset. Stephanie and Andrew used to watch the sunset ever night during work. Stephanie laid herself flat on the deck and watched the sunset slowly fade to navy.

As the sunset was going down Andrew watched Steph out in the dolphin tank deck through the aquarium windows. The constant lump in his throat got worse.

"Young man, this is none of my here business but you damn well better tell me you did not cheat on that sweet innocent girl" Ms. Darla stood behind him, arms crossed and knowing eyes darting at him. Andrew turned around and let a few tears slip.

" I'd never do anything to hurt her. EVER. You--"

"Don't do your explaining to me. Tell Stephanie and you make sure she listens and believes you." Andrew nodded to her and turned back to watch Stephanie. Her back was now facing the deck and he could hear her singing. He recognized the song. It was "Somewhere Only We Know" by Kaene. He smiled watching her belt out the song. He could tell in her voice she was crying. Too many tears have been wasted.