Chapter 5
Tobin pulled up to the roadside lunch shack. She had been surveying Alex for two days and had finally come up with a plan. She had followed Alex this morning from her apartment to the beach where Alex had surfed for almost two hours before coming to work. Tobin took one last deep breath, adjusted her backwards baseball cap, got out of her car and walked in. There were a few diners at the tables. A man was behind the grill. Alex was at the register, counting money. Tobin walked over.
“Can I help you?” Alex asked without looking up.
“Shrimp and fries”, Tobin said.
“Anything else?” Alex asked, still counting money.
“Your number?” Tobin said and smiled her best smile.
Alex stopped counting. She looked up into Tobin’s smiling face. It took her a moment to register the familiarity, and then she frowned. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a scowl. Then she tilted her head back towards the kitchen and yelled. “Serv – shrimp and fries", then added "to go”.
“I want you to teach me how to surf”, Tobin said.
“What?” Alex asked confused.
“I said, I want you to teach me how to surf.”
“Why?” Alex asked, crossing her arms.
“Because I really want to learn.”
Alex looked at Tobin and said, “I don’t get it.”
“Well, you either teach me how to surf, or I’m going to teach myself, and well, we both know how that’s going to go. You don’t want someone dying from a drowning accident at your beach, do you?” Tobin asked. She tried to hold a serious face but couldn’t help cracking a small smile after a few seconds. Alex saw it and pointed her finger at Tobin.
“This is a line, isn’t it?” Alex asked, eyes narrowing.
“What? No, it’s not.”
“Yes, of course it is”, Alex said. “Really? You come in here, to my work, trying to pick me up, and you can’t do any better than that?” She huffed at Tobin and said, “I should come around this counter and throw you out of her myself.”
“No, look, please, listen”, Tobin said, putting her hands up. She took a deep breath and then began. “So…here’s the deal. All my life, I’ve done things for other people. My dad was a soccer player, so he wanted me to play soccer. So I did. Started young, summer soccer camps, extra practices, the whole nine yards. Then my mom wanted me to go to college to be a lawyer, because she was a lawyer. So I went to college, pre-law, on a soccer scholarship-.”
“Hey, is this going to take a really long time?” Alex asked impatiently. “I need to get back to work”, she motioned to the guy who had just come in and was standing in line behind Tobin.
“Wait, just listen”, Tobin said. “So, there I was, in college, playing soccer, on my way to becoming a lawyer. I graduated an NCAA All-American with a law degree. So I’m a hero to my mom and dad. Great. But then, BAM! They’re killed, in a car accident last year.” Tobin paused and stared at Alex. She saw Alex’s eyes go wide, and she knew she had struck a chord with the beautiful brunette, who was staring back at Tobin with big green eyes, now paying full attention to Tobin’s story. Tobin exhaled and then continued. “You…you can’t imagine what that’s like, what that does to you. It’s like, your whole life changes. And I realized that everything I had done, all of my goals, had been my parents’ goals…”, she said, drifting off. “So after I realized that, I wanted something for myself. So I come out here from New Jersey. And I go to the beach. I’ve never been in the ocean before. Any ocean. And I’m mesmerized. Totally mesmerized.” She leaned in towards Alex a bit and then said, “I want to do what you do.”
“Hey, quit holding up the line”, the guy behind Tobin whined. Tobin froze for a moment, contemplating knocking the guy out, but then she heard the order bell ring and another idea came to her.
“Is that my shrimp and fries?” Tobin asked Alex. Alex looked behind her at the bag that Serv had just put on the serving window counter and then nodded. She picked it up and handed it to Tobin.
“Here”, Tobin said to the guy, handing him her lunch. “It’s shrimp and fries. Now buzz off.” The guy looked in the bag, then looked at Tobin, shrugged his shoulders, nodded his head and walked off. Tobin glared at his back as he walked out and then turned back to Alex. “Please”, Tobin said. “Teach me. I want to do what you do.”
Alex looked back at the attractive tomboy in front of her, not quite sure what to say. When she had woken up this morning she certainly hadn’t imagined having a conversation like this, with this woman, of all people. As she continued to look at Tobin a wave of empathy and understanding washed over her. Of course she knew the feelings of despair following the death of her own parents, as well as the emptiness from having pursued all of their goals, and then the longing inside of her to find something for herself. What this woman in front of her was feeling was exactly what she herself had felt five years ago. It’s why she had started surfing herself in the first place. Her eyes dropped as she looked down in thought, and then she looked back up at the woman in front of her. “Okay”, Alex said softly.
“Okay?” Tobin echoed, a smile creeping across her face.
“Yes. Okay. I’ll teach you”, Alex confirmed.
“Awesome!” Tobin yelled and pumped her fist in the air.
“Tomorrow. 6am. At the beach where I rescued you.”
“Okay. I’ll be there!” Tobin said, excited.
“If you are one minute late I am gone”, Alex said.
“I will not be late. Thank you”, Tobin said and smiled her best smile. “I’m Tobin, by the way.”
“Alex”, Alex said. She gazed at Tobin for a moment and then smiled slightly. “So, are you buying lunch for everyone, Tobin?” she asked, motioning to the line growing behind Tobin, “or can I get back to work?”