Caught Inside

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" – 2 Corinthians 6:14

The swell that had provided fun waves for Alana's birthday was gone. Sunday morning brought gray skies, choppy water, and gusts of wind. Aside from whitecaps dotting its surface, the ocean was completely still.

Blaine frowned while he sat on his computer chair, spinning round and round with his laptop on his knees. He glanced one more time at the C Street surf cam before closing the screen. What was the use? There was no surf, at least not for the next few days. Besides, Blaine needed to get moving—church was starting in less than twenty minutes.

Since the gang's usual Sunday morning surf sesh was cancelled, Blaine had sent out a group text suggesting that they go to the second service, which started at 10:30. Then, after church was over, they could immediately head over to Scottie's for lunch. The plan had been enthusiastically accepted.

A knock suddenly sounded on Blaine's bedroom door. He spun around and saw Cole standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, hey," Blaine said. He cocked an eyebrow upon noticing his twin's dressier-than-usual attire. "Someone looks handsome this morning."

Cole just shrugged.

"So how did yesterday go?" Blaine asked curiously. The Disneyland squad had gotten back well past midnight. It was almost a miracle that Cole was even awake this early.

"Well," Cole said, scratching his head, "it was pretty crowded, but the rides were fun. And the food was great..."

"Come on, you're hiding a smile," Blaine coaxed.

The corners of Cole's lips twitched, and then he immediately grinned. "Okay, it wasn't just fun. It was amazing."

"I'm guessing you're not talking about Disneyland anymore."

Cole squirmed a little. "Yeah, you got me."

"What went down between you and Alana?"

"Something incredible. We were sitting in the rocket, and then the fireworks were going off, and—dude, it was just amazing," he said again.

Blaine watched his brother's wild gestures and huge smile and concluded that Cole was lovesick. Clearly their time at Disneyland had gone better than expected. The way Cole's eyes lit up with excitement showed that he was still running on adrenaline from last night.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" Blaine asked curiously.

"Not really," Cole admitted. "I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened."

"Which was...?"

"I don't know how to put it into words." He struggled for a moment before explaining, "Okay, it went like this: Alana told me I have this pull on her and she's still really interested in me. She thinks we're ready to take the next step in our relationship, but first she wants to talk and clear things up."

"Sheesh, how did you have that conversation in front of Maya and Tammy?"

"We didn't. We were sitting on this ride together, away from everyone else, and fireworks were going off above our heads—it was too good to be true."