Breathe (Bondi rescue fanfic)

Chapter 31

Today was the day, and I was beyond terrified. I was meeting Chappo's family. They were coming over to the apartment in the evening for dinner. I mean, I knew his parent's would be lovely, they had to be seeing as they raised Chappo, one of the most beautiful human beings I'd ever met. 

Chappo had the day off, and I did too. He went to go shopping for food for the evening, but wouldn't let me come with him as he wanted it to be a surprise. I spent the entire roll from the apartment to the tower repeating the info I knew about his family over and over in my head. His mother's name was Julie, and his father's was Anthony. His sisters names were Heather and Michelle, they were both older than him. His dad was an electrician and his mom was a retired nurse. His sisters both worked in healthcare. I wanted his family to know I was interested even if I didn't know that much about them. When I reached the tower,  I met up with Whippet, Azza and Deano. We were going down to Tamarama to relax in the sun for the day. I had them instructed to give me pep talks throughout the day. I needed all the reassurance I could get, I really wanted to make a good first impression.

We picked a spot on the beach to chill for the day on. We laid out our towels, and the guys took off their shirts, already wearing their swim shorts so they were ready for the water. As far as Deano and Whippet were aware, I couldn't swim, so they had brought along a floaty ring for me to sit in. They were too cute. Azza gave me a look and I nodded. We were going to surprise the guys once we were a while in the water. 

On the walk down to the water, Azza supported me under one arm, and Whippet did the same with the other. Deano kept his hand on my back for extra support. It took us a long time, but I walked all the way to the waters edge. Deano, who had been carrying the floaty with his other hand, put it into the water and helped me sit down into it. As soon as I was comfortable he pushed me further out into the water, and all three of them followed me out, splashing about, just having a good time. By the time they reached me, as I had drifted out pretty far, they were way out of their depth, so were threading water. "Don't worry about being out of your depth, Tiff" Whippet said, "I'll keep a hand on the ring the whole time, so it won't tip over." I smiled and nodded, to show Whippet that I appreciated the gesture. The guys swam around for a bit longer, Whippet pulling me along in tow. When they stopped again for a break, and they were just threading water, I gave Azza the signal to let him know it was time to surprise the guys.

Azza swam over closer to me, and gave me a cheeky wink as he began talking to Whippet. "Whip, why don't I hold Tiff's ring for awhile, give you a break" He said, trying to suppress a grin I could see forming on his face. "Yeah, sure, ok, I don't mind" He said letting go, as Azza placed his hand onto the ring. Whippet swam over closer to Deano, and then it was time to start. Azza started splashing about, trying to get the guys to start messing around with him, and they soon did. Azza pretended to be getting really into it, and soon started acting like he was getting carried away, but this was all part of the plan. He subtly gave my hand a squeeze, to let me know I was about to go into the water. Azza tightened his grip on the ring and flipped it over, landing me in the water. "WHAT THE HELL AZZA!" Deano shouted, "TIFF CAN'T SWIM!" I could see Azza trying to stifle a giggle, as Deano and Whippet continued shouting. "HOW COULD YOU BE SO THOUGHTLESS" Whippet shouted. I then had to try and stop myself from laughing, Deano and Whippet were so caught up in giving out to Azza that they hadn't even glanced my direction to see me swimming. Suddenly I saw Deano's face drop as he turned to Whippet, and it was like a lightbulb went on. "WAIT!" they shouted, "WE FORGOT ABOUT TIFF."  Their heads scanned the water frantically until they both laid eyes on me, happy out threading water. Relief washed over them, but it was quickly replaced with a puzzled look. "Tiff, how, I mean what, I mean... uh... you're swimming?" Whippet stuttered out, and Deano beside him, slack jawed. "Why yes Whip, I am" I giggled, and soon me and Azza were in stitches. Deano and Whippet grew more and more puzzled looking as we continued to laugh. Azza eventually decided to come clean, "Guys" He said, "I've been teaching Tiff to swim, so she can surprise Chappo." The two of them looked from Azza to me and in unison sighed "Ah" I realised soon after that, that my legs were getting tired and I motioned to the floaty ring. Azza quickly grabbed it and swam over to me with it. He lifted me up into it, and started pushing me back to shore, still giggling.

Once back on shore the guys asked me more about how my swimming lessons with Azza were going. "Is it hard on your legs?" Whip quizzed. "Not so much, just kind of tiring I guess" I replied. An idea then sparked in my head. "When I'm back on my feet, and a bit more water confident, do you guys wanna bring me surfing?" I asked Whip and Deano. The glanced at each other and back to me. "Yes!" The both blurted at the same time "That would be awesome!"

Soon after the guys and I packed up our stuff and headed off home. As soon as I was in the door of the apartment I headed straight for a shower. When the hot water hit my back I instantly felt a little bit more relaxed about the evening to come. I sat on my chair in the shower for a good 20 minutes, just relishing the warmth of the water. After finishing in the shower I moisturized with a strong, rose scented lotion, and sprayed on some perfume Chappo had bought me. I could smell the dinner cooking from the kitchen, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Some sort of chicken, maybe. Sitting on the bed I took out my makeup and applied it all. Concealer, foundation, blush, bronzer, eyebrows, eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick and lipgloss. I'd been looking extremely tired recently, but I didn't want to appear that way infront of Chappo's parents for the first time. By the time I had finished my makeup, my hair was dry. I brushed out all the knots I could (my hair was pretty knotty) and tied it into a french braid bun. Lastly, I had to put on my outfit. I wore an above the knee lightwash denim dress, brown brogues and a small gold flower hair clip. 

Just as I slid the hair clip into my hair, I heard a knock on the door, and I knew then that there was no going back.

***

Ok, so yes, it's been like 2 months and I'm very sorry!!!

This is kind of an uneventful chapter but I hope you still enjoyed it!!!

Sorry again for the delay between my chapters, I really am sorry.

Please feel free to leave any comments/feedback :)

And you guys, 36.3k reads? What have I done to deserve this! I can't thank you guys enough!!!

-Niamhxoxo