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Natalie
I was finding out I had been wrong about Jason about many different things and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. He wasn’t as stiff and unbending as I thought he was. I could see that he had a fun side to him, one that he didn’t allow people to see. He was more like his father than he wanted to admit and I was glad I was witnessing it first-hand.
The stress and responsibility of running a show as successful and complex as Scavenge couldn’t have been easy for him. I was starting to see that I hadn’t made his job any easier. He was only trying to do what was right for the show and for his father. Now that I was seeing him in a different light, I was able to see even more aspects of him too.
He was handling the filming and direction of what we were doing beautifully. I had thought it would be hard for him to do without others to help but he was doing a great job. I didn’t want to admit it, but I knew the show we were doing was going to turn out great. It only allowed me to see him in yet another light that made me find him even more attractive.
I had never thought he would be such a good SCUBA diver. He had an ease in the water that I had seen with very few people. I had always taken to the water as if I had been born to it and felt freer there than I did anywhere else. I could see as Jason swam next to me during the dive that he was the same. Something I never thought or considered.
I was used to men being surprised that I not only liked diving but that I was good at it. I was also used to getting looks when I got dressed before or after a dive. I had learned to prove myself as a good diver by diving and earning respect that way. I found it more comfortable and easier to get in and out of the wetsuit wearing a bikini and it caused fewer wardrobe malfunctions than a one-piece. I just ignored the looks that I got but I found I liked the looks when they came from Jason.
He tried to mask them and I even had to hide my smile when I saw him give Rick a dirty look when he looked too long at my ass. I was more than capable of taking care of myself and was ready to say something to Rick or the rest of the crew if need be but I didn’t have to. It was nice to see Jason come and protect me, even if I didn’t need it.
Being underwater and SCUBA diving was one of my favorite things to do in the world. I never thought I would find someone who was as skilled or seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Seeing Jason’s face throughout the dive I could see he did and it only made my feelings for him grow and change even more. The attraction we had kept growing the more we were together and it was even more intense when we got back onto the boat. We didn’t say anything to each other, but we didn’t need to. I could feel it and when I saw him looking at me as the boat pulled into the dock, I could tell he was feeling the same way.
When we were back on dry land, Rick gave us a quick debriefing on the dive and then handed us another envelope. I had been expecting it but it was still a bit of a shock to see. I was starting to wonder when this would end and even asked Rick if he knew what the end game was or when.
“The journey is its own reward but at the end you might just find the greatest treasure of all,” Rick replied.
“Clear as mud,” I said but I wasn’t bitter.
“We’ll get there when we get there. Together,” Jason said and I nodded.
When we were all cleaned up and in dry clothes we headed to the car and opened up the envelope. Inside it read:
On this prominent road you will find the most famous one of these:
I can be chopped but I’m not a carrot
I have rings but I’m not an onion
I can be climbed but I’m not a mountain
I’m made of wood but I’m not a table
I have a trunk but I’m not a car.
“Well, if I had known that we were going to have to take a drive on 17-mile drive I might have done the dive from land,” I said.
“The boat was easier and less hassle. Plus we had a shower and a warm change of clothes after. Now we can do the whole road and really enjoy it,” Jason said as we got into the car.
He was right and as we headed towards the top entrance to the drive, I remembered how I had never done the drive but had always wanted to and had even suggested to Kevin that we do it as one of our hunts sometime. We never got around to it but maybe that was why I was doing it now.
The day was bright and crisp with only a few clouds in the sky. There were a couple other tourists driving along the road but for the most part it was deserted. Jason and I took our time, stopping at most of the stops along the road, getting out and taking a walk on the beach, or just sitting and watching the world go by.
We talked but not about anything big. We mainly reminisced about the dive and how cool it had been to see the wreckage.
“You forget how strong and powerful the ocean can be and what it can do to a ship,” I said.
We were sitting on a wooden picnic table at China Rock, one of the beaches just south of Point Joe. I was sitting on the top of the table with my legs hanging off the side while Jason was sitting next to me with his arm near my legs. He was so close that he was almost touching me but not. We had been sitting in the car together for days and I was used to him being close to me, but it somehow felt more deliberate or intimate while we sat on the table. I could have moved if it was bothering me, but it wasn’t, he wasn't. I liked feeling his arm so close to my leg and it made the hairs stand up.
“It’s amazing anyone even went out on the water or let themselves be subject to such horrors,” Jason said.
“They didn’t know what was out there. It was the excitement of what could be, what they could find that made them want to go.”
“You have that same drive, that same ambition and need, don’t you?” Jason asked.
“Doesn’t everyone?” I asked.
