Permanent Memories

Olivia

"Come on beautiful, the water is perfect." Luke calls from the ocean below me.

It's a Saturday afternoon in February. It's still stinking hot. Everybody is down at the beach today. Luke and I had decided to go jetty jumping. I watched him take his shirt off and hand me his towel and phone. I then watched his tall frame sprint down the jetty and jump off the edge into the water below. The water is okay when its shallow, because the water is warm. Where Luke chose to jump was freezing cold. I refused to jump in. Ash, Carter and Miles came to join us and torture me. I have no intentions of getting in the water.

I put all the boys clothing and technology into my massive beach bag and crawl to the edge and poke my head over to see what all the arguing was about. It's no surprise when I see the boys wrestling in the water.

"C'mon sweetheart. Just jump. It's not that hard." Miles says grinning up at me, which results in Luke dragging him under water, Carter and Asher staring up at me.

"No thanks, I prefer it up here, where it's warm, and dry."

I rush back to where I was sitting on the jetty and pick up my bag when I see Asher climbing the ladder at an alarming rate. I back up against a light pole as he walks towards me slowly. I rummage around in my bag grabbing his phone and holding it over the edge of the jetty.

"One more step and your phone becomes a mermaids desire." I threaten, my bag held to my chest and Asher's phone in a tight grip in my hand.

He puts his hands up in surrender, "Liv it's okay. It's okay. You don't want to swim, I get it." He takes a small step towards me and I almost have a heart attack when he reaches out towards me and gently wraps his hand around my wrist and prys his phone from my death grip and then takes my bag. He sets them both down and then hugs me. His skin was cool to the touch but the water beading on his shoulders and trickling down his stomach as warm. I didn't actually mind it, he wasn't as cold as the water even though there was a gentle breeze that blew hot air around.

Asher steps back and smiles at me before turning and running down the jetty and disappearing off the edge once again.

I walk back to my non-existent seat close to the edge of where they were jumping from. Before I sit, I take my sarong off and put it in my bag so it doesn't get wet.

I feel myself starting to cook, so I grab the small tube of sunscreen from my bag and squeeze it into the palm of my hand, not even worrying about how much I use, I feel like I'm being cooked alive under the Australian sun.

I stand up and lean against a pole and cover my legs. When I close my eyes to put sunscreen on my face, the muscles in my face relax and it feels like I've been tensing them all morning.

So with my eyes closed I reach into my bag and blindly search around for a pair of sunglasses, I don't care who's they are, I just need sunnies.

While patiently waiting for the boys to finish playing, a group of younger boys are coming around the corner of the jetty snickering at each other and announcing who is doing what job.

None of it being my business, I sit and try to ignore them; when shadows are cast over me, my heart starts thumping and they reach down and pick me up.

"One! Two! Three!" one of the boys shout, and on three, they toss me over the edge and into the water below.

"LUKE!" I scream just before I hit the water.

My head bobs above the water as I feel two sets of arms around my waist and under my arms pulling me up the ladder. When the water clears from my ears, I hear boys yelling back and forth between each other.

"Liv, you okay?" I hear a muffled voice. I open my eyes and see Luke staring down at me. My towel is wrapped around me and he sits stroking the back of my hand. I nod up at him and curl my body around his. Then I realise we aren't on the jetty anymore, the sun isn't blinding my eyes and it isn't hot.

"Where are we?" I look around confused at what is going on around me.

"Carter's. He drove us back after him and Miles fought with those boys who threw you in." He runs his fingers through my hair. "Why didn't you want to get in?" He presses his hand against my thigh, sharp pain jolting through my body.

"Ouch, shit, Luke, what happened?" I say trying to sit up and avoid the question.

"You cut your leg on coral, you're okay though, doctor stitched you up, just gotta keep cleaning the wound and changing the gauze. Now answer the question, why didn't you want to get in?" He sits me up against the couch and pulls the blood stained bandage off my leg replacing it with another one, putting a gauze over it and then covering it with cotton wool and another bandage.

I sigh and cross my arms across my chest, knowing I haven't avoided the question. "I can't swim..." I mumble. Luke looks up at me in confusion. "I can't swim, Luke." I say louder and clearer.

He finishes tying the bandage around my pained thigh. "That's why? Olivia why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's a stupid reason."

"You went in the water down the 'shallow' end. You surf? I don't understand."

"Yeah but I'm not required to swim down the shallow end. I can float on a surf board."

Luke nods and kisses my head. He puts the TV on and hands me ice-cream with Milo on top. "We have band practice now. I'll teach you how to swim babe, I promise. I've got my phone hooked up to the speakers, if you need anything text me, we will be able to hear it over the music. Love you."

"Love you too Luke..."

I watch Luke walk out the room out to the garage, where I hear them begin practice a few minutes after discussing the fact that I can't swim. They are all apologising telling Luke they didn't know I couldn't swim and that they wouldn't have teased me if they had known that vital information.

I hold my head gently and close my eyes. I feel like I'm going to pass out. I hoist myself up with help from the couch and the coffee table and waddle over to the freezer. Upon opening it I find microwave meals upon microwave meals and frozen casseroles and meals Carter's mum has prepared for him in an attempt to keep him eating healthy. After digging around I find a half empty bag of frozen peas. I limp back over to the couch and sit down gently, placing the bag of peas on my head watching Bondi Vet. Last thing I see is Doctor Chris Brown pouring liquid charcoal down a puppy's throat after the little Golden retriever had swallowed rat bait. Who the hell enjoys baiting dogs. It makes me sick to even think someone could even go through with hurting a puppy, let alone being happy about it. It disgusts me so much I decide to change the channel to watch Spongebob Squarepants.