Caramel Sundae

Four

~FOUR~

The funny thing about surfing is that you can spend all day trying to catch that one perfect, rolling wave that brings you right into the shore, and when you do, you feel like all the waiting was worth it.

I watched as the arching wave inched closer to me before hopping on the board and paddling, waiting for contact. When it rushed towards the tip of my toes, I pushed up with my hands and stood up, arms out for balance. I rode the wave- this was a good one, I knew it was.

It was going to bring me onshore- until my foot slipped from under me and I toppled sideways off the board into the blue-green water. I resurfaced, spluttering, as Keelan jogged back through the water with her board, grinning as her chestnut curls bounced around her face.

"Zara! You should've got that wave! It was the best so far!" She told me enthusiastically.

"Right," I said enviously.

It was another twenty minutes before I caught my perfect wave- it brought me in to skim the shore. I straightened up happily as it came to a halt on the edge of the squelchy, wet sand.

"Did you see that, Kee?" I shouted.

"See what?" Keelan grinned.

"What- don't tell me you didn't?!" I cried out. It was a sort of rule of ours that, if one of us didn't catch a perfect wave, they'd have to carry both the boards all the way up the shore which, when the sea was out far, was seriously hard, especially when your muscles were already aching from all the surfing.

"I'm joking," Keelan laughed. "I saw it- it was a good one."

I sighed, relieved I wouldn't have to drag the heavy boards up.

We stayed in for another hour, until our fingers went all pruny and wrinkly- you know, like when you stay in the bath too long. When I was little, I used to say that I was an old lady and show everyone my fingers. I thought it was hilarious.

We stripped off our wetsuits so we were left in our bikinis and just tied our towels around our waist, not bothering to put on our clothes again. There were plenty of people going around in their swimsuits. The beach was packed today, with locals and tourists alike. A group of tanned young men- probably in their early twenties- were playing a game of soccer very close to us, and I was pretty scared of being hit in the face with the ball.

"Imagine if Melody was here," Keelan chuckled, watching the men, who were all topless and most of them had messy blonde hair- they were pretty hot, I'd give them that- as we sat in the sun to dry off a bit.

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "She'd be drooling. She'd probably ask to join in with their game."

"Imagine Mel playing soccer!" We both laughed at that thought.

Our friend Melody was the biggest girly-girl I had ever met, and she was a little boy-obsessed. And by a little, I mean a lot. The thought of her playing soccer was so funny because Mel hated any sport that wasn't tennis- and even then, she complained that she kept chipping her nails.

We packed our towels and wetsuits into our bags for Katie's when I spotted Katie's mom's blue car in the beach car park.

There was already one or two people there when we arrived at Katie's house. It was large and white, with a glossy black door and window frames and a balcony on the second floor. Katie rushed up to us, wearing a simple white dress and brown sandals.

"There you are, guys!" She looked at our bedraggled hair, all stringy and limp from the sea water and salt, and our skin, which was wet and encrusted with sand and salt.. "You wanna get showered and changed before the party starts?"