Beach Bum Reunion

I looked back down at my phone and then returned my gaze to the shack in front of me. This cannot be right, I thought. We rented a six-bedroom beach house, not this one-story dilapidated hut. I rechecked the address and this was the right place, however the picture did not match what I was looking at.

Then my phone rang from my long-time friend Tavia.

“Hey, I just drove up and…”

“Yep, I see you. Drive further down the driveway about 200 yards,” she said.

“Are you sure?” I questioned, “It just looks like jungle back there.”

“I’m sure, don’t fret,” she replied, “See you soon.”

I shifted my stick-shift Jeep into drive and began making my way down the gravel driveway. I passed the hut and entered a thick coastal jungle. There were trees overhead covered in vines letting very little light though the canopy. I kept going, hoping Tavia knew what she was talking about, until the jungle opened up and I saw a grand three-story beach house right on its own private beach. As I parked my car Tavia walked out and gave me a hug.

“Let me help you carry your bags in,” she offered as I popped the trunk open.

“It’s so good to see you!” I said, “It’s been too long.”

“I know, I know, but I’m so glad we are all doing this,” she replied. “I saw your headlights and knew you would be as confused as the rest of us so I called.”

“Where’s Ben and the boys?” I asked wondering why there was such a small welcome.

“Ah, you know, they had to get out and surf first thing,” she said rolling her eyes, “Put your suit on and you can join them if you want.”

Less than seven minutes later I was running with my board into the waves. I hopped on my board and paddled out through the swells towards my friends. When I was almost there, Ben popped up and was carving down a wave right at me, so I rolled off my board and yanked it underwater with me to avoid the wave and his fins.

When I resurfaced, he was past me but looked back and threw a mischievous smile my way before riding the wave all the way into shore. I continued to paddle the rest of the way to the group before anyone else tried to run me over.

“Becca!” shouted Jacob, my closest friend in the beach crew.

“It’s so good to see you guys!” I greeted them as they paddled over.

“It’s about time, we’ve been out here for over an hour!” complained Mac jokingly. 

“Traffic, you know how Atlanta is,” I replied, “Caught any good ones yet?” Ever since I have known them the boys have been better at surfing and I always ask about their experiences. Since I grew up inland, I never lived by the ocean or had tried surfing until I met them. Since then I have practiced at every opportunity I could, but I never got as good as the boys who could go everyday year-round.

“Some swell but nothing like that last time we saw you at the beach,” Jacob said excitedly.  

“Ugh, that was horrible,” I said remembering being tumbled by the waves and fighting the longshore current. “The waves were just a little too big for me,” I added sarcastically.

“That’s the fun part, Bec,” said Andrew paddling over. He was the best surfer in our group, but always hung with us. When I first met him, he was quiet, but the longer I knew him the more he joked and can always make me laugh.

As the cautious one I had never enjoyed dropping down into waves as they formed barrels or riding double overheads, but those were the things these beach bums lived for.

“Did you think I was going to run you over?” Ben said with a laugh as he made his way back over to us after his ride in. “Remember, I’ve been surfing my entire life, I can steer a bit.”

“It’s good to see you Ben,” I said as I turned and smiled at him.

“Ah, I saw you a few months ago,” he said nonchalantly, “It’s no big deal.”

“Wait, what?” asked Mac alarmed. Ben and I laughed at everyone’s confused expressions.

I looked at Ben and asked “Wait, you didn’t tell them?”

“I didn’t see a reason to. I thought you would.”

“Well, I played a game at Chapel Hill and Ben came and watched. After we went to dinner to catch up.” My college soccer team played the women’s team at his school and he came to watch me play. What I didn’t share was that before dinner we stopped for a secret project.

“How come you didn’t tell me?” asked Jacob playfully punching his brother.

I caught myself smiling as broadly as I could because I felt happy surrounded by my summer friends. This weekend was going to be great.

After catching a few waves and successfully exhausting myself after my 13-hour drive, we headed in when we saw Tavia waving us in from the beach. As we trekked up to the house Tavia held hands with Ben and told us dinner was ready.

“Ooh, I’m starving. What’d you make?”

“Chicken alfredo. Something easy that will help y’all prepare for all the surfing you’ll being doing.”

For dinner we only threw on shirts, not even taking the time to change out of our suits. We sat around the table for hours sharing stories of our adventures and discussing the future. After, we walked the beach together under the light of the full moon.

It was such a wonderful feeling being around my dear friends again. I had missed them these past few months. We usually only saw each other in the summer but with college internships, vacations, and jobs we rarely saw each other. I happily slept that night dreaming of spending days surfing up in the clouds with all my friends beside me.

The next morning, I woke to my alarm. I reached over and grabbed my phone to stop the alarm, as I did, I looked at my phone in disbelief. It was 5am. FIVE. IN. THE. MORNING. Why, oh, oh why did I think 5am was a reasonable time to wake up after a late night spent with friends.

Well, I was already up so I headed downstairs for much needed protein. I entered the kitchen to see all the boys preparing to go surfing. One of the many reasons we chose this house was because there was 7-foot swell expected so it was our surfing retreat.

“Ugh, which one of you set the alarm on my phone?” I asked with what I hoped was a menacing glare.

“Guilty, but I thought you would want to join us,” confessed Jacob.

“You are so not my favorite brother anymore,” I mumbled as I looked in the pantry for a bagel.

“There is going to be a beautiful sunrise, plus we planned on heading way down the beach towards the inlet,” added Andrew, trying to keep this surfing adventure moving.

“I guess I’ll come, but isn’t the inlet three miles south?”

After walking six miles with my surfboard and three hours of harnessing the waves we stumbled home. I immediately crashed on the couch for a much-needed nap and woke up ravenous because I has missed lunch. After a delicious peanut butter sandwich, I went paddle boarding with Tavia and Mac’s sister Rachael. I love spending time with the entire group, but it was nice to be with just the girls for a while. We spilled all the tea about our college adventures.

That evening we had a bonfire with s’mores on the beach and sat around telling ghost stories.

The next day it rained in the morning, but we still went surfing and I got a run in. However, in the afternoon thunderstorms developed so we spent the day indoors playing cards, watching movies, playing games like Hide and Seek around the house, and doing puzzles.

Sardines was certainly my favorite game that day. It is backwards Hide and Seek, and I ended up hiding under the guest bathroom sink for twenty minutes before anyone found me. Andrew found me first and hid behind the shower curtain. Jacob found me next but was left hiding in corner by the toilet. Mac found us shortly after and gave us away to the rest of the group making too much noise trying to find a hiding spot. For the next round Andrew hid in the reading nook and Jacob and I were the last ones to find him. We were left wandering the house for ten minutes by ourselves. Eventually, Jacob and I both turned a corner and ran into each other.

“Ah, sorry,” I said picking myself off the floor.

“My bad,” he said offering me a hand. I took it and he pulled me up so we were standing close to each other. Really close. I could feel his breathe on my neck. He noticed too, and as responsible Jacob he stepped back.

“Guess we are the last ones left, huh?” he said rubbing the back of his neck. I only nodded unable to form words after being so close. We both slipped past each other in the hallway and went our separate ways, the moment over.

That night Ben and Tavia went out for dinner and Rachael and Samantha went shopping in the nearby beach town. Andrew, Jacob, Mac, and I hung around the house. I attempted making pies with the boys, but they ended up making a mess instead of helping. I made one peach and one berry pie with homemade whipped cream. I also made a special favorite of mine, homemade mac and cheese which was the perfect meal after a rainy day.

When everyone had returned home, I served slices of pie and we sat out on the porch listening to the rain on the beach.

 “Mmmm this pie is to die for,” complimented Andrew licking whipped cream off his fingers.

“I love your baking, Becca,” said Jacob.

“You know peach pie is my favorite,” said Tavia. I smiled.

“You know I love baking and if it makes you all this happy, I’ll gladly do it more often.”

Mac suddenly blurted out “Did we bring water guns?”

“What? Why?” Jacob asked not understanding how this related.

“Bec knows. Remember when we took your boat to the beach and we got caught in the worst pop-up storm and a car got struck by lightning?”

“When we went to John’s place?” I said vaguely remembering.

“Yeah. And all the surfers were leaving the beach so we sprayed their cars with the water guns.”

“That was such a fun day,” I said.

“Why weren’t any of us there?” asked Ben.

“Well, Jacob had work on the last day of summer so y’all went surfing at six in the morning for the 13-foot swell. Instead Mac, Rachel, and I went to the remote beach.” That was back when I was just beginning to surf and 5-foot swell was more than I could handle.

“So, do we have any water guns?” asked Mac again.

“I didn’t bring any,” I replied wondering why I would have thought to pack those.

“I think I saw a bin of toys downstairs. There might be some there,” said Jacob, the observant one in the group.

Ten minutes later we all had water guns and were running around on the dark beach. I ended up back to back with Jacob defending ourselves against the rest of the group.

“I think we win,” said Ben smugly.

“Never!” I yelled as I sprinted into the ocean successfully evading the others.

Jacob followed me and together we swam out away from the others.

“Ha, we showed them, didn’t we?” I asked Jacob when we stopped swimming away from the others, but I couldn’t see him in the dark water.

Suddenly, I was pulled underwater as dark water thrashed around me. I tried to push to the surface but was held back. I kicked with my feet to break the hold but was pushed farther under. I was turned and tumbled every which way so that I couldn’t even tell which way was up anymore.

As abrupt as it had begun, I was released and broke the surface gasping for breath. Seconds later Jacob popped up next to me and I swam to him. He was gasping for breath too but was lifelessly drifting in the water.

“Jacob?” No answer. “Jacob, can you hear me?”

“Come on Jacob,” I said beginning to worry. It must have been a rip current that had taken us. I looked for shore and realized we were hundreds of yards away. Who knows what could be swimming out here with us? I was a surfer, but I respected sharks and things of the deep, so I tried to steer clear of them as much as possible.

I grabbed Jacob under the arms and tried to swim us both back to shore. Thankfully, the waves were calm tonight, but we were so far out I knew we would not make it all the way in.

“Ben, Andrew, Mac. Help!” I shouted, worried that we both would be pulled out again, or worse, attacked by a sea creature.

Ben and Andrew immediately waded out into the water towards us hearing the fear in my voice. Mac stayed on shore to help direct the boys to us and to get help if needed. I knew he wanted to help, but we needed someone to know we were out here.

Ben and Andrew reached us in minutes and carried Jacob to shore while I struggled in. I had swallowed bucketsful of water when the rip current took me and was still reeling.

Ben pulled his brother up onto the beach and started CPR while Andrew asked me what happened. I tried to explain, but I was in shock and worried for Jacob. If he didn’t make it, it would be my fault. It was my idea to go into the water. I would lose one of my closest friends. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to swim at night. We were so stupid.

Jacob convulsed and water sputtered out of his mouth. Ben helped him sit up as he recovered and caught his breath. He was fine. Jacob didn’t die. I released a breath of relief and hugged him around the neck to reassure myself he was still here. I held him for a long time, knowing that my friend was safe in my arms.

We walked back to the house and sat with towels around our shoulders drinking hot cocoa. Not soon after, we went to bed, exhausted from the day’s ordeals.

The next morning Jacob, Tavia, and Andrew went into town while Ben, Mac, Rachel and I worked on our secret project. We spent hours out around the pool hanging lights, decorations, and cooking food for a grand feast. What Jacob, Andrew, and especially Tavia didn’t know was the main reason for our party.

When they returned from town, they walked out onto the pool deck and into the best party ever. And, in front of the doorway under the café lights and decorations, Ben was down on one knee holding a two-carat peach sapphire ring that we had picked out after my soccer game a months ago.

After many glasses of champagne, Andrew became DJ and I spun from partner to partner across the dance floor in the happiest moment of my life. I was surrounded by good friends, at my favorite place, and enjoying a wonderful party.

Next, Andrew cued a slow song and Ben and Tavia swayed to the music, very much in love. Jacob walked up to me asked me to dance. I said yes quite giddily, from either the champagne or something else, I didn't know. I just hoped he couldn’t see the blush on my cheeks as I took his hand and he whisked me away.