God, Love & All Things Surf

Chapter 6: Love Like An Ocean

"Olives or sardines?" Malea asked her friend as they walked along the sidewalk, passing small shops and a number of stands selling food, jewellery and other souveneirs.

"Ew, olives." Thea answered without thinking as she fingering the tiny silver surfboard that hung from her necklace.

'Wait...' Thea thought, 'what does that have to do with dress shopping? Oops..'

"Really Thea? You could at least try and seem interested!" Her best friend complained for the 3rd time that afternoon. She pushed her thick black braids off of her shoulders. It was a sweltering day in the sun.

"I'm sorry Malea. I am interested, honest! I just can't help thinking about--"

"Max Theissen. I know." the tall Afro-Costa Rican girl finished, clearly annoyed. "The dance is tomorrow and you haven't tried on a single dress! At this rate the shops will be closed before you choose something and there’s no way you go dress shopping on Sunday."

"Ha, I bet I'll even buy a dress before you do." Thea stopped and jokingly held a short, skimpy, neon yellow dress up to herself. "Ooh, what about this one? It's nice, isn't it?" She laughed as she saw the look on Malea's face.

"Yea, I'm sure your dad would love to see that you buy that." Her friend commented, overly sarcastic as she took the dress out of Thea’s hands and placed it back on the rack.

"Come on, you know what it's like to be head over heels for a guy! Not even the best wave in the world could make anyone feel this good!" Thea stated, trying to loosen the tension between them. “On second thought, don’t hold me to that. I have yet to find the perfect wave. But it's like you always say; you're stuck trying to get over a big wave and because of it you can't see anything else... I remember when you and Comacozee--"

"Arimathea Tyler." Her best friend warned giving her a deadly look, "Don't. Even."

Thea couldn't help smirking as she sipped her cold lemonade. She could have so much fun with this... "So when is he coming to pick you up for the dance tomorrow?" She asked innocently as she shuffled through another rack of bright summer dresses. She jumped out of the way as her friend threw a playful punch at her. "So he DID ask you?" Thea gasped dramatically. "I knew it!"

"Shut up!" Malea joked, trying to hide her smile as she held a dress against herself and looked in a mirror. "It never came to anything before, and it won't now either."

"When did he ask you??"

"Yesterday. When you a Max were having your own chat on the beach."

Thea laughed. She never would have thought the two sarcastic squabblers would get together. But, stranger things had happened.

"I only agreed because he asked to come to church with us tomorrow morning, so I invited him to come to lunch with us before the beach party. I didn't want him to have to go all the way back home since the party is in the area--"

"Aha! So you pulled the sympathy card."

"What? No! Of course I didn't tell him that was the reason, I--"

"Oh come on," Thea once again interrupted her friend, "For once in your life just admit that you like the guy!"

"Oooh! What about this one?" Malea turned to face her, holding up a long, bright red evening dress.

Thea rolled her eyes. "Trying to change the subject, are we?"

Her BF flashed her an innocent smile.

Thea smiled back. She couldn't let her get off that easily, but for now... "Ya, that dress looks great! Why don't you try it on?"