Ride the Dangerous Waves

Her Lip Bite

♕

     "Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore, so do our minutes, hasten to their end" -Shakespeare

It's a beautiful day and we're ready to surf.

Vince, Carson and I rendezvous at the edge of the public access point to the beach. The whole thing is scattered with sand and a few dried-out shells. There's a couple showers there too, off to one corner. We pass all of this by and go down another set of stairs that lead to the beach. The stairs themselves are framed by a green plant that I don't know the name of, and its fronds reach out to knock against my arms as I walk past.

"I was on my phone lookin' at the waves in my first class and we're literally gonna be out there right when they're the biggest," Vince says excitedly, bouncing around on the balls of his feet with about twice as much energy as Carson and I combined. "I'm effin' amped right now, guys—effin' amped up."

We banter back and forth for a bit about what drugs he's on as we finally reach the shore. I feel my bare feet touch the warm sand. As I walk, I turn to look down the line of rainbow-colored umbrellas blowing indolently in the breeze and the entire beach unfolds before me. People dot the shores, girls frolicking around in clusters, giggling and staring as my friends and I saunter towards the water coolly. I shake the hair from my eyes unconsciously, wondering if I'll get any more numbers, today.

Back to the water—my eyes scan the waves cresting and crashing in the distance. There are smaller children playing in the surf as it hits the shore but the water is busy today—busier than usual. People bob around as black silhouettes against the rich blue surface of the water, clusters and groups of 10 and 20. I watch as three surfers manage to catch a ride on the same wave, zigging and zagging inside the crest as they fly towards the shore.

I can feel my heart hammering in my chest—I'm excited now. There's something about being so close in proximity to the water that just pulls you in. Maybe that's just the power of the ocean, but it's like a magnetism you can't avoid. The three of us throw our boards under our arms and run the rest of the way to the water.

It's luke-warm as we splash deeper and deeper and deeper, finally jumping onto our boards to swim as it gets too deep to stand. A wave crests overtop of us and the three of us dive underneath it in synch. As I emerge on the other side, I can taste salt on my lips and it burns a little in my eyes. We have to go farther out to avoid getting caught in the inside, which is the area in the water where all the waves break.

When the waves are big, the inside is dangerous because you can get pushed under and drown—duh. Probably don't have to tell you that but it seems important to say. I dive headfirst through a good size wave and paddle out farther before stopping to float. Carson is still beside me, but Vince is off a little to the left, talking to another group of guys waiting to catch a wave.

"D*mn, look at that," Carson calls to me as we paddle towards the line of surfers waiting to catch the best waves—I turn to look where he's pointing and find a girl with a white-blonde head of hair pulling off a pretty impressive aerial. She rides that wave like the great surfing prodigy himself, Mark Richards. She looksso great up there, balancing on the board like it's the easiest thing she'sever done. As she rides past, I can see every single muscle of her bare, bronzed legs as she maneuvers the water like a pro. We float over the top of the billowing wall of water and she flies out of sight before I can see her face. I turn to crane my neck over my shoulder to watch the girl lazily jump off the board and disappear under the foam.