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Lucy stood on the beach and looked out of the ocean, the sun had just risen, the air felt fresh, but it was early, too early for Lucy’s likening. She let out a small breath, and she looked over at Kate, who was already in the ocean, sitting on the surfboard. Lucy knew that she was waiting for her, and she should really get into the water, it was the last step of their lessons. For the last week they had been out to the beach before people arrived, and Lucy had gotten private surf lessons from Kate. It shouldn’t be that hard, they had gone over it more times than Lucy could count on land, and now she just needed to apply what she knew in the water.
Lucy took a deep breath and she tugged on the rashguard shirt she wore, it didn’t feel right but she knew why she was wearing it. She slowly walked into the water, and she made her way over to Kate. “Shouldn’t I have my own board?” she asked, hands rested against the board, and she looked at Kate how had straddled the board with her feet in the water..
“Later,” Kate replied, “first we will ride a few waves together,” she said, “and then you’ll ride alone while I’m in the water.” She held out a hand for Lucy to take, and Kate held on to Lucy as she helped her up on the board.
Lucy felt how the board moved under her feet as she tried to stand up still holding on to Kate. Lucy hadn’t expected it to be as hard to find her balance as the ripples of the ocean moved under the surfboard. “You didn’t say that it would be this hard.”
“Bend your knees,” Kate replied and she moved a hand to one of Lucy’s hips, “and then try and find your balance point,” she explained, “you might have to bend forward a bit, and don’t have your feet next to each other,” she said, "remember how you stood on the board while on the beach.”
“It didn’t move this much when we were on the beach,” Lucy mumbled under her breath.
Kate couldn’t help the smile on her lips when she heard Lucy. “Just stand still, and don’t move.” Kate slowly got up and she made sure to stand behind Lucy, her hands on Lucy’s hips, she used one of her feet to push one of Lucy’s feet forward a bit. A hand slowly slid down Lucy’s arm and moved it a bit, helping her find the balance, “now bed your knees,” her lips were close to Lucy’s ear, her voice a soft whisper, her lips lingered longer than needed, “like this.” Kate made sure that Lucy bent her knees.
Lucy took a deep breath, she wanted to close her eyes, but she had a feeling if she did she would fall down in the water and she didn’t want to fall. She tried to listen to what Kate said but it was hard to do with Kate pressed against her back, her lips against her ear. It might have worked if Kate’s hands hadn’t also moved over her body, helping her get into position. “So what now?” Lucy asked, she turned around and looked up at Kate, a small smile on her lips, her tongue darted over her lips.
“Now, we wait for a wave,” Kate said, a hand on Lucy’s hips, “we’re waiting on a small one that we can ride and reach the shore.”
They waited for the wave, Lucy knew that it was Kate that would decide on what wave to choose, and she had almost gotten lost in being as close as she was to Kate that she hadn’t really heard what Kate had said.
“What?” she asked, and looked over her shoulder to Kate with a small smile on her lips.
“I said that we’re taking the next one,” Kate replied, “you better be ready because it's the one that’s coming now.”
Lucy felt that the wave changed under the surfboard, and she listened to the instructions that Kate told her as they were riding the wave. It didn’t really reach all the way into shore but far enough, and Kate got off the board helping Lucy off.
“So what’s next?” Lucy asked and she felt the small ripples from the ocean against her legs.
“Next is you getting up on the board by yourself,” Kate began, “and then paddling out,” she looked at Lucy, “sit on the board, looking out for a wave you can ride and then get up on the board standing and ride the way.”
“I can’t do that,” Lucy said and looked between Kate, the board and the ocean.
“You can,” Kate replied, “I’ll swim out with you and I’ll help you with picking the wave,” she said, “or you tell me when you have one you want to ride and I’ll let you know if it’s one that you should take.”
“I don’t know…”
“You know, and I promise that nothing bad will happen.”
“I didn’t know that was something you could promise,” Lucy replied, and looked over at Kate.
“I can promise a lot of things,” Kate said, she looked at Lucy before she looked over at the surfboard, “so why don’t you paddle out and I’ll follow and when you’ve ridden a wave all on your own I promise to take you out for breakfast.”
“I’m going to hold you to that promise of both nothing bad is going to happen to me and the breakfast after because I’m getting hungry.” Lucy climbed on to the board and began to paddle and she looked over her shoulder, “Are you watching me right now?”
Kate smirked and nodded her head, “I’m beginning to understand why you like being on the beach watching me,” she made a motion with her hand, “you can paddle a bit more.”
Lucy continued to paddle a bit further out, and she moved so that she was sitting on the board legs dangling in the water, she felt how the board moved as the waves came in, one after the other, she looked over at Kate, and she was met with a thumb up, and Lucy knew what that meant. She was supposed to catch the next wave. She looked over her shoulder and she saw the wave getting closer, and she began to paddle, and when she felt the wave getting closer she stood up. Her legs felt shaky, and it took a couple of seconds to find her balance but she hadn’t fallen off the surfboard. She steered the board as well as she could and she was still standing when the wave started to lose its speed and height.
“I did it,” she called out and jumped off the board into the water, and she looked at Kate who was getting closer.
“You did,” Kate replied and she wrapped one arm around Lucy’s waist, and she cupped her cheek with the other, “and you looked really good out there, almost like you actually knew what you were doing.”
“Hey!”
Kate leaned down, capturing Lucy’s lips with her own, stopping her from saying anything else, “you did good,” she whispered against Lucy’s lips, “and you’ll be even better if we continue on with these lessons.”
“Only if you promise breakfast after each lesson,” Lucy replied, her arms resting around Kate’s waist, “and that we end each lesson like this.”
“That’s one promise I can keep,” Kate said, she took a small step back and held out her hands for Lucy to take, and she linked one of her hands with Lucy’s and she grabbed the surfboard under her other arm as they walked out of the water.