“Can’t I do both?”

She shakes her head and starts toward the water without me. I quickly pull my shirt over my head and grab the new board, jogging a little to catch up.

“Do I need to wax this sucker or anything?”

Skyler laughs. “What? No, silly. Like I said, it’s completely different from surfing.” She walks into the water until it meets her knees before letting her board go, guiding it on top of the waves with her hands. I follow suit.

“Holy shit!” I scream when I hit the water. “It’s fucking cold!”

“Well it is February, genius.”

I shake my head. “It’s just weird. It’s not cold weather, but the water is cold.”

“It gets pretty cool during our winter months, usually doesn’t warm up until April or so.”

I watch as tiny goose bumps break out along Skyler’s skin, marching in a parade from her thighs to her ribs, making her nipples pebble under the thin bathing suit top she’s wearing.

Good God.

“We’re going to guide the boards out a ways, past the waves crashing, and then we’ll jump on. Start on your knees and then when you get out past the big waves, you can stand. Use the paddle to steady yourself.”

I nod. “Straight down to business, aye Ella Mae?”

She shoots me a death glare mixed with a smile. “I’m tired. Some stupid boy with a paper ring kept me out too late.”

“Ouch.” I feign offense and clutch my heart. “I saved up three months for that paper ring, thank you.”

Skyler just shakes her head again before jumping up onto her board, knees bent. I do the same and we paddle out a ways before both standing.

“I’m proud of you. You didn’t fall,” she says, eying me.

“Was I supposed to?”

“No, but beginners usually do when we paddle past the big waves. Or when they try to stand. You did good.”

“Thanks, coach.” I wink.

It takes a while for me to find my groove on the board. The arches of my feet sting from balancing against the waves and eventually my arms follow suit. Overall it isn’t bad, though, and I follow Skyler as she takes us along the shoreline. It’s a peaceful thing to glide along the top of the water, letting my body work and listening to the early sounds of the ocean – the birds swooping down for breakfast, the occasional fish jumping, the boats humming to life in the nearby port. The sun is bright in the sky now, slowly rising higher over the city. Skyler is just a little in front of me, which makes for a better view than the sunrise, honestly. After a while, she pulls back and we paddle side by side.

“Want to go to that sandbar?” she asks, pointing toward a small patch of water that looks a lighter shade of blue.

“Whatever you want to do, captain.”

“First I’m coach, now I’m captain?”

“Would you prefer I call you babe?”

Her nose scrunches up and she sticks out her tongue. “Ew, gross. Don’t ever call me babe.”

We paddle out to the sandbar and Skyler jumps off her board, grabbing a bottle of water from a bag she strapped to the front of her board. I’m salivating at the sight of it, realizing I didn’t bring anything at all with me. She shakes her head and grabs a second bottle, tossing it to me.

“Aw, you thought of me? So sweet.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

For a few minutes we just stand and wade in the water, taking small sips from our bottles. I pretend I’m looking out toward the ocean, watching as a few boats sail by, but I sneak glances at Skyler mostly. I watch as her hair blows down from her messy bun and into her face, try to see what’s reflected in her sunglasses as she stares the opposite direction back toward shore. It’s interesting how the morning light plays on Skyler. She looks more radiant, even more beautiful than she does at night. It’s strange, but amazing at the same time. I haven’t met a girl whom the morning light favored before.

“So what’s your story, Kip?” she asks, tucking her water bottle back in the bag. I hand her mine, too, and lean back with my elbows on the board.

“What do you mean? My story?”

She shrugs. “I mean why did you move out here? Why did you transfer to Palm South of all places? Where are you from? What do you like to do? You know, besides lick tequila off strange girls.”

“Hey, that was definitely not my fault. And who’s worse off here – me or the strange girl?”

She laughs softly. “I think I got the better end of the deal.”

“And I tend to disagree,” I say, letting my eyes fall to her stomach. I imagine trailing my tongue along her skin now, tasting the salt of the water mixed with the sweet taste of her skin.

Skyler smiles, but doesn’t say anything else, waiting for me to answer her questions. Which I can’t do without lying. Which makes me panic. I have answers prepared, of course, because I figured this would happen – but now that I’ve gotten to know her, now that I’ve kissed her, that I’ve felt her pressed against me – well, it’s a little harder to lie. Thank God she’s wearing sunglasses. Those baby blues of hers would melt my resolve in an instant.

“Let’s see,” I say, looking up at the sky. “I transferred to Palm South because I wanted to get out of the Midwest. And because Palm South has a pretty decent screenwriting program, which is what I want to do with my life. It’s not the last stop by any means, but it’s a good transition. It also helps that I could get away from my dad,” I add, a little surprised that those words found their way out.

“Uh oh, Daddy drama?”

I let out a short laugh. “Well, he’s an Army Major General, if that gives you any idea.”

Skyler’s eyes go wide. “Yeesh. Sounds fun.”

“Yeah, real fun.” If she only knew. “I mean I love him and everything. He’s my dad, he’s a good dad in the sense of the word, but he just wants to live his dream through me and I’m over trying to be what he wants. It’s nice to be out here away from his constant glare of disapproval.”

“What dream?”

“Huh?” I ask, a little distracted by the thought of my father.

“His dream? That he wants to live through you? What is it?”

Shit, did I say that? “Uh,” I stammer, panicking a little. I look around as if I’ll find words to speak somewhere in the water. “Being in a fraternity, college, the whole thing. He went straight into the service after high school and I guess he always wanted to go. So he’s had this big dream for me ever since I was little. Perfect school, perfect fraternity, you know.”

Whew.

Skyler chews on her lip for a minute before hopping back on her board. She lies back, sprawling out and letting the sun tan her skin. She reaches out her hand and like an idiot I just stare at it.

“Hold me so I won’t float away?” she asks, smiling.

I grab her outstretched hand in mine. The minute our skin touches, that same familiar spark generates, only this time it’s a dull electric current that keeps running between our interlaced fingers.

“So, if it were up to you, would you be in a fraternity?”

God, I hate lying to this girl. “Maybe, I guess I don’t really know. It’s just always been ingrained in me that I would go to college and be in a fraternity. I’ve never really had the chance to think if I’d actually like it. But, at least being here, I can do what he wants and still do what I want, too. I don’t have to live under his scrutiny, his constant judging of whether I’m doing the right thing or not.”

“I think you’ve got life figured out, Kip Jackson,” she says, exhaling a long breath with her face still turned up toward the sky. “At least, you seem like you do. You know what you want to do in life, you’re not afraid to be who you want to be – I think your dad should be proud of you.”

Her words slam into me harder than they should, but I’ve never heard them in the same sentence before and the combination makes me dizzy. Dad. Proud of you.

“You know, I liked the you that came out last night,” I say, trying to move the conversation to her. “The care-free, I-don’t-give-a-shit Skyler.”