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Nate’s more graceful on water than any of us are on land.
There’s electric cheering from the bar, but Laney and I remain enraptured in silence.
She drops the binoculars into her lap and starts to cry.
“Laney, honey…” I wrap my arms around her.
To my delight, she collapses into my chest, a torrent of tears caught on my linen shirt. “He did great, you don’t need to cry.”
She lifts her head, eyes glinting in the sunlight, her tears almost creating rainbows. “I’m just so happy.”
Her smile says it all, glimmering with pride.
Nate cameout near to the top with an average of eight-point-one, giving him third for the day.
Laney and I were prepared to give him the “It’s okay, there’s always next time,” talk, but Nate has been ecstatic ever since judging.
“It’s better than second!” He grins when people approach him in the bar with condolences. “Then I would have really been kicking myself!”
A lot of his old surfing buddies are here, marveling at his strength and endurance that seems to be superhuman given how long he was out of the game.
He’s even got strangers coming up to him at the bar, remembering his accident from the papers.
“I couldn’t have done it without Laney, though. She’s the real winner today,” Nate says to all of them.
Laney’s been on his arm since he returned from his heat.
I’ve kept my distance.
If there’s something I don’t like about our arrangement, it’s other people. They can’t wrap their mind around not only being in a relationship like ours but being proud of it. Today is Nate’s big day, and though I want to be here, close to my friend and celebrating with him, I don’t want to take away from that because I want to be close to Laney too.
I go to the bar to grab another beer.
The night sky is painted with twilight, and the briny ocean smell wafts through the bar. It’s a perfect night.
I just wish I could share it with my girl and my best friend.
Sonia leans over from her seat at the bar and taps my shoulder.
“Yes?” My eyebrows raises as I smirk.
“What are you doing over here?”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Your girlfriend is over there?” She jerks her thumb toward Nate and Laney who are now just talking to each other, leaned up against a pole that’s decorated with fakefabric flowers.
“We don’t have to be together all the time, Sonia.” Which is true. The balance of giving each other space is an interesting one. Some instances are harder than others.
Right now being one of those harder times. Not only because of Laney’s dress, that isn’t even half of it. It’s how much she needed me today. Needed my support and care.
It’s strange how much caring for her feels like caring for me too. Where do I put this energy that I have stored forher?
“I know, but like, kind of a big deal for your little throuple, don’t you think?”
I hate the word throuple. Makes it sound like some sort of game we played in PE. “Yeah, but it’s a big deal for all of us.”
Sonia sighs, glancing back at Nate. “I mean, yeah, you’re right. It’s a major milestone for him.” She smiles. “I mean, you should have seen Edwin, he was so freaked out I thought he might lose his lunch.”
