full of mirth at his friend’s discomfort, “Don’t take it personal brah– Marina’s not your everyday kine surfer girl.”
Matt flashed a perfect smile and lifted his glasses, twinkling his baby blues at me as though I’d suddenly know him. I looked around in desperation.
“Didn’t you see ‘Tropical Thunderbolt’?” asked Gabe. I shook my head no.
“It was like, the biggest movie last year!” another surfer blurted out.
“Oh, I see,” I smiled with relief, “I was in India most of last year… I guess I missed it.”
They all seemed perplexed, and I was starting to feel a little odd, but I shrugged it off. I turned to Kimo, “What are you doing here?”
Now Kimo looked at me like I was crazy, “Dis my home! What are you doin here? Are you a swimsuit model now?”
I blushed, tightening the towel around my waist, “Not me! I’m here to surf. Do you remember Shayla?” I turned around to wave her over. She came scurrying up nervously, sporting a miniscule tiger print bikini; by the look on her face it was clear she knew who Matt Stone was.
“Hey Kimo,” she said, unable to keep her eyes from darting over to Matt, “Are you modeling in the photo shoot?”
“Naw, me an Matt come to spark the view.”
“Do what?” I asked.
He smiled down at me with amusement, laughing his hearty laugh again, dark eyes lit with sparkling humor.
“Uhm, Shayla, this is Matt,” I said. She looked too awestruck to speak, and he cocked his head at me, as if to let me know this was the expected response to his wonderfulness.
A photographer came trotting up, “Shayla! Let’s get some shots of you on the board now!” This was the moment we’d been waiting for. We looked at each other and squealed. I handed her a board and untied the towel, laying it alongside my bag. We hit the water before the guys even had the chance to kick off their flip flops.
The waves weren’t massive, but they were beautifully formed, and just what the doctor ordered. The photographer took up a position on the beach with a long lens on his camera and started shooting away as we took wave after wave. I did end up coaching Shayla, pointing out which ones to take to give her the best possible photo ops. It felt like we had the whole ocean to ourselves and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. We rested on our boards between sets, perfectly content.
“She’s a wave rider! She must be the one!”
“What?” I asked Shayla, shaking the water from my ears.
“I didn’t say anything,” she said, sitting up to see the photographer waving her in, “Gotta go!”
No sooner did Shayla surf her way back to the beach, than Kimo and his friend Matt came paddling up. I smiled, for surfing with Kimo had always been fun; his clowning around between sets and acrobatics on the surfboard were endlessly amusing. The three of us spent the next few hours surfing some beautiful waves, and Matt turned out to be pretty good.
“Seewad Imeen?” Kimo asked him when I paddled back to join them after the biggest wave of the set. Kimo still couldn’t get over the uncanny way I had of selecting the best waves, and I still felt no need to hide my talents from him.
“So how do you know the movie star?” I teased Kimo as we watched Matt take his turn. Kimo cupped his hands together and squirted a stream of water at me between his two palms, making me laugh.
“Workin’ wid him out on his latest flick,” he said proudly, “It’s called ‘Monster Riders’ an I’m da surfin’ consultant.”
I nearly fell off my board laughing.
I surfed till I was pleasantly tired and waterlogged, excusing myself to paddle ashore. Kimo followed after me, calling me over to a blanket he’d spread out in the shade of a tree growing right along the shoreline. I leaned back on my elbows, looking up to see clusters of red fruit hanging above us.
“What are those?” I asked.
Kimo smiled, jumping up to pick a couple and hand me one, “Hawaiian mountain apple,” he said, “Try it.”
I turned the shiny pear-shaped fruit over in my hand, inspecting it. If Hawaii was Eden, then Kimo was definitely playing the role of Eve. Ethan wouldn’t like this at all, I thought. I sat up defiantly. At least I never lied to him about being with Kimo. I bit into it.
“Good, eh?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said with a