The water rushed up over Nicole’s head, filling her mouth and nose and ears. She couldn’t breathe. Panic filled her lungs just as surely as the water that was going to drown her. Then she was back out in the open as the wave broke over her head. Waverly laughed as she resurfaced next to her. She obviously knew that their drowning was only ever going to be temporary.
“That was fun, right?” Waverly giggled. Then Nicole gripped at her, using her tiny frame as an anchor, “Are you ok? Hey,” she soothed as she heard Nicole’s ragged breathing and felt the fear in her grasp, “it’s alright. It was just a wave.” She pushed Nicole’s hair back from her face and helped her to stand up on the sand that really wasn’t that far beneath them.
Nicole’s breathing quickened and her grip didn’t loosen on her girlfriend. She looked up at the sky, down at the ocean, all around her, anywhere but at Waverly.
“Hey,” Waverly cupped her face, “Nicole. Look at me,” she almost commanded.
Hearing her name brought Nicole back into the moment and she focused on Waverly’s expectant brown eyes, “Sorry,” she whispered, “that wave kind of came from nowhere. I guess I panicked.”
“You don’t need to apologise. At all. Ok?” Waverly nodded. “Let’s get back to the beach. Dry off a bit.” She wrapped her arm around Nicole’s waist and supported her until they got back to their towels and the all important cooler full of snacks.
It was Waverly’s idea to go to the ocean. She’d never been before and from the moment they’d got together, Nicole knew that it was something she was desperate to do. When Waverly had outlined plans for date-day activities, Nicole had managed to veto a geoduck tasting session for very lesbian reasons but she hadn’t been able to come up with an excuse to get out of swimming ‘far into the ocean’. And besides, Waverly was so excited that she wasn’t sure that she wanted to.
***
Her upbringing had been so all over the place that lots of childhood standards had been missed. She never had birthday parties or went away to camp. She didn’t get enrolled in the girl guides or join sports teams. A lot of these she’d made peace with, either by replicating them as an adult or accepting that perhaps they were over-rated. She’d dealt with missing out on summer camp or sports teams by getting really good at rock climbing. The academy had helped give her the sense of camaraderie that came with Guiding and adults don’t really need birthday parties. The one key skill that she felt her childhood really had failed in providing her was swimming. She could thrash around convincingly enough in the pool at the academy to pass the swim test but she was glad that a lot of the water in Purgatory was frozen most of the time so she never had to prove her skill for real.
***
On the beach, Waverly grabbed one of the towels and wrapped it around Nicole, kissing her forehead until her teeth stopped chattering and her heart stopped racing.
“I’m really sorry,” she said eventually.
“It’s ok, sweetie, it really is,” Waverly said, rubbing her arms, “did it just take you by surprise or…?”
“It just kind of came out of nowhere and knocked me off my feet,” Nicole explained.
“Waves do that,” Waverly smiled, “even I know that and I’m very new to this whole swimming in the sea thing.”
“I know. But, it’s just. Well…” Nicole struggled for the words.
“What is it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she mumbled.
“Do you not like the water?” Waverly prompted.
“No, I mean, water’s fine I guess. I’m just,” she swallowed, “I’m just not that great at swimming.”
“Oh sweetie,” Waverly said and pulled her in close, “why didn’t you say?”
“You were so excited. I didn’t want to ruin anything.”
“You drowning would have ruined everything,” Waverly tried to keep her voice light but the panic was creeping in.
“You don’t need to tell me that,” Nicole grinned weakly.
Waverly sat up properly, staring out to the horizon, “So,” she said carefully, “can you swim?”
Nicole picked at a frayed edge of the towel she was wrapped in, “a little,” she said eventually, “I mean I passed the swim test at the academy but that was literally all I could manage.”
“Didn’t you learn when you were a kid?”
“No…”Nicole admitted, “did you?”
“Aunt Gus made sure of it. She said it was the only sport that could save my life. I was even on the swim team for a bit at High School,” Waverly said brightly, “Until the pool burnt down.”
“How does a pool even burn down?”
“No idea but I have a feeling that you’re trying to avoid the subject,” Waverly teased, “How comes you never learnt? I always imagined you’d be amazing at it. You know with all that rock climbing and those amazing shoulders,” she planted a kiss on the shoulder that had slipped out of the towel.
“I always thought I could be good at it but it’s not really something that people pick up when they’re an adult. I guess once you’re a teenager, you can either swim or you can’t.”
“I don’t see why you can’t learn now.”
“I don’t like to do things I’m not good at...” Nicole said, “I like to feel like I’m in control,”
“You don’t need to tell me that,” Waverly grinned.
“And when I’m in the water, I’m not in control. When I’m climbing,” Nicole clutched at her towel, “I’m the one who decides where to put my feet, where the best hand holds are. Everything. If something happens, it’s my fault. But with the water, especially out there, anything could happen and there’d be nothing I could do to stop it.”
“Oh baby, I had no idea,” Waverly said. Tears were forming in her eyes. “I reckon you’d be really good if you gave it a try. You’d just need to be patient. Cut yourself some slack.”
Nicole swallowed, “Do you think you could help?” she asked quietly.
“I’d like nothing more,” Waverly said and hugged her once again.
They spent the rest of the day at the beach. The sun shone consistently and warmly and they were soon dry from their first foray into the ocean. Waverly had packed a huge array of snacks and drinks and they ate until they were more than comfortably full and then lazed in the sun until the salt water dried into crusty trails across their skin.
“Do you want to get back out there?” Waverly asked, trailing her hand gently across Nicole’s stomach.
“We could…” Nicole said, raising an eyebrow, “but I remember you telling me that you’d rented one of these beach huts so we could make a weekend of it… and the direction your hand is heading is giving me other ideas.”
“Oh is it?” Waverly said, her hand moving closer to the waist band of Nicole’s bikini bottoms. Then she snatched her hand away abruptly, “No! Nicole Haught, don’t try and distract me. We’re going to get you swimming!”
“Why?” Nicole started to snake her hand around Waverly’s waist, “when there’s another much better way to get wet,” she grinned.
Waverly jumped to her feet, “No!” she said, wagging a finger at Nicole, “You will not distract me. Even when your distraction is so very appealing. We are getting back in that damn water and we are getting you swimming.”
“I’m going to learn to swim so damn fast, Waves,” Nicole said and practically sprinted towards the water.
Waverly followed swiftly behind and hand in hand they danced into the water. She was careful not to go further than the shallows and the water never made it past their knees. The water lapped at them and splashed; she watched Nicole carefully to see how she reacted but she was far more relaxed now. She tentatively splashed Nicole gently. So gently that the water barely reached her face but Nicole exacted her revenge with so much velocity that Waverly was literally swept off her face. She spluttered to the surface, spitting mouthfuls of water out with shock. Nicole was stood over her, frantically grabbing at the water, her face pale with shock. “Baby, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to splash you that hard. Are you ok? Oh god, that was so stupid. I’m--”
“Hey!” Waverly was already on her feet and grabbing both of her hands, “It’s fine! It was funny. We’re having fun, ok? You don’t need to spiral. It just means I can splash you a little bit harder next time too.”
“Ok,” Nicole said slowly, “but remember I can’t really swim and you don’t want to be the one who’s responsible for me drowning.”
“Don’t worry! I’ve got my life saving certificate.”
“Of course you do.”
In response, Waverly moved backwards and charged at Nicole, bringing her to her knees in the shallows, “You know, you can probably float here. Lie back, I’ve got your head. It’s ok,” she moved behind her and helped Nicole to ease backwards into the water. She held her head and looked happily down as Nicole let her body be supported by the water. “You look so beautiful like this, even upside down.” Nicole’s red hair had spread out around her head like a fiery halo. The sun was slowly starting to slip down past the horizon giving everything a calming orange glow.
“You look beautiful too,” Nicole smiled, “I so rarely get to look up at you.”
“Too true.”
“How’s my swimming lesson going?” Nicole said, closing her eyes as she spoke, “do you think I’ve mastered enough for a reward?”
“I don’t know. I was starting to think of ways you could thank your teacher…”
“Interesting,” Nicole said, “but first, do you think my teacher could tell me how to stop floating?”
“That’s the easy bit. Just put your feet on the ground.”
Nicole let her legs sink down and carefully stood up, “huh, it really is that easy.” She said, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“It really is. Are you ready?”
“Oh yeah!” Nicole grabbed Waverly’s hand and they clumsily staggered through the water back to the beach. They wrapped their arms around themselves as they sprinted up towards the beach huts.
The towels and cooler lay abandoned as they ran past them. Waverly pulled the door of the hut open and Nicole was there kissing her even before it was closed behind them. The interior was minimalist with the bed taking centre stage and fairy lights were hung artfully around it. The bed was sprinkled with rose petals and a box of chocolates were sat proudly in the middle. These were quickly squashed as the pair fell onto the bed. They were still wet from the water so the petals soon coated their skin.
“You know this is going to get caught in some real awkward places,” Nicole said as she brushed petals out of Waverly’s eyebrow.
“I really don’t care,” Waverly smiled, looking down at Nicole.
“Oh good,” Nicole stretched up to kiss her. Waverly relaxed her full weight onto Nicole as Nicole stretched her arms around and undid the back of her bikini. She flipped her over so she was on top and Waverly fumbled with Nicole’s bikini with an almost fervid desperation.
***
The following morning they awoke entwined in each other’s arms and coated in rose petals. Their bikinis were mostly on the floor but Waverly’s bottoms were bizarrely wrapped around Nicole’s ankle. The sun was seeping through the cracks of the hut, casting an ethereal glow across both of them.
“Good morning, sweetie,” Waverly murmured.
“Good morning,” Nicole smiled back, “You know, I’ve just realised. We didn’t bring any of our stuff in with us.”
Waverly’s face fell as she realised, “You mean--”
“Yep,” Nicole nodded, “all we have in here is our wet bikinis and a rather squashed box of chocolates.”
“That could be breakfast,” Waverly suggested.
“And I was thinking… there’s not much point us both going out there so…”
“So?”
“The car keys are in the cooler…”
“And you’re going to get them?” Waverly said.
Nicole sighed, “yes.” She peeled a sheet off the bed and wrapped it around herself like a toga, “I really hope those keys are still there,” she muttered.
She moved quickly across the sand wincing at how cold it suddenly was on her bare feet. She shoved the towels into the cooler and thankfully found the car keys in an outside pocket. She then had to scramble back up the rocks which was not easy in a toga. After one grazed knee and a complete loss of dignity, she made it back to the hut. Waverly hadn’t moved at all so Nicole dropped the bags dramatically onto the floor.
“Sweetie!” Waverly exclaimed, “you made it.”
“Yep,” Nicole said, “but I don’t think we’re gonna need those clothes for a while.”