Paradise City (10 page)

Chapter Eighteen

I was woken by the slamming of an elbow between my shoulder blades, the piercing pain only outdone by the heavy dead weight pinning me to the mattress, crushing all the breath out of me. My cries were muffled by my pillow. I was getting used to being woken up in the most random of ways, but this was ridiculous.

‘Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!’ singsonged Amanda, who was now jumping up and down on my bed. Was she drunk?

I winced, crawling myself upright, glancing at the clock which read three a.m.

‘What the hell?’

I pushed aside the curtain of hair that covered my eyes, squinting at the still-open window, the very one Amanda had obviously just crawled through.

Amanda bounced up and down on my bed before letting her legs give way and bouncing onto her butt, breathless and laughing.

‘Oh my God, Lexie, I wanted to kill you. Like seriously maddening homicidal tendencies and then . . .’ Amanda broke off with a deep, dreamy-eyed sigh.

I wearily crossed my legs into a sitting position under my covers, not feeling warm and fuzzy about her rather lighthearted confession.

‘And then?’ I asked, with a curve of my brow.

Amanda’s lips spread into a blinding, if slightly unnerving, smile. One I hadn’t seen since I arrived here.

‘And then he kissed me.’

I stilled. My breath hitching in my throat, a fear stabbing me in the pit of my stomach.

‘He?’

Amanda sighed again, snatching up one of my pillows and hugging it to her chest like a child. ‘Boon,’ she said.

My shoulders slumped in relief.

Oh, thank God. Boon.

‘Wait, where did you meet up with Boon?’ I asked, confused.

Amanda shrugged, manoeuvring herself to mirror my cross-legged position. ‘The Wipe Out Bar.’

Bloody traitor.

So Boon ditched me and headed to the last place he said he had intended to go. My insides burned by his betrayal. He was so full of crap. I wondered if he was just trying to get a reaction from me by insinuating that one of his mates had said something about me, assuming of course that whatever they had said was something I wanted to hear.

Before I had the chance to ask who else was at the Wipe Out Bar, a pillow thwacked against my face.

‘Boon told me you said I liked him.’ Amanda held the pillow above her head ready to lash out for round two when she paused. ‘But . . . how did you know I did? I never told you.’ Amanda lowered the pillow, genuinely perplexed.

Oh, great, way to go, big mouth Boon! And it wasn’t as if I could betray my source as Laura, so I went with what came to mind.

‘It’s kind of obvious.’

Amanda bit her lower lip. ‘Oh God, is it really?’

‘Only to me. I guess I just know you better than anyone else, that’s all,’ I offered lightheartedly, even though it wasn’t entirely true. The Amanda of old I knew. The Amanda that I had met in Paradise City was a complete stranger to me, and yet there was something in the Amanda I was looking at now, the very one that sat with her legs crossed on my bed. The light of excitement that sparked in her eyes, the way she looked as though she was about to share a thousand secrets with me. It was the same look we shared when we were young; my heart clenched at the memory, hoping it would last.

‘So, Boon, hey?’

Amanda’s smile spread wide, lighting up her whole face. ‘Daniel Boon,’ she crooned, before throwing herself on her back and muffling her elated squeals with her pillow.

I leant against the bedhead, folding my arms. ‘Wow, that good, huh?’

She yanked the pillow from her face, regaining her breath once more. ‘Oh, you have no idea.’

A moment flashed in my mind – Boon stepping closer to me, surely about to kiss me until I blurted out Amanda’s secret. I’d seen the lines of confusion etched in his brow as he slowly registered what I’d said. Then it obviously registered on a deeper scale as he made his way to the Wipe Out Bar where Amanda was and, well, the rest was history. I just hoped that by morning Amanda wasn’t also history. She was completely smitten. I had only experienced a small sample of serious heart palpitations over Ballantine so I totally got the hysteria.

Amanda rolled onto her side, leaning her head on her hand. ‘I have liked Boon for so long. I can’t even think of a time when I didn’t. It’s like he is the sun and the world is just so grey and dull, and then he comes along and changes everything.’

I sniggered. ‘That’s how I feel about Paradise. Red Hill was so mundane and bloody awful. Then I came here and it’s like I have seen the sun for the very first time, and that’s just geography.’

Amanda’s brow rose. ‘Wow, if you feel that way about a location I hate to think what you’ll feel about a boy.’

I smiled. Oh, I think I knew how I felt about a boy, a particular boy.

‘I’m sorry I’ve been so mean to you.’ Amanda’s words surprised me; she blurted them out so randomly I froze. ‘I just worried maybe you’d be such a square you might tell on me for my midnight window hopping or something. I thought you’d be this lah-de-dah little miss; instead, here you are breaking and entering, getting detention and planning lunchtime escapes. They really should have put you in Kirkland.’ She nudged my leg with her foot.

I took in what was a real-life apology, shaking my head, and revelling in the absurdity of it all. I was completely humbled and relieved that she had, in her own little way, begun clearing the slate.

I burst out laughing.

‘What?’ Amanda asked, straightening from her recline. ‘What’s so funny?’

My laughter subsided into a sigh of contentment, as I looked my cousin in the eyes. ‘You should kiss boys more often.’

•

Maybe it was all a dream? The adrenalin-pumping antics of my first sneak-out to hang with the cool kids hadn’t exactly been anything to write home about. A fluttering, heart-stopping moment of eye contact with Ballantine and he was out of there, not to be seen again. But in terms of something worthy happening, sharing a moment with my cousin, laughter, giggled gossip in the night, well, that meant more than anything. It was a feeling of such familiarity, I never wanted it to end. But like all things, inevitably the night lifts and the sun rises. I turned fitfully in my sheets away from the window that would no doubt be shining a new day onto my face. But instead I received a whack to the face by a pillow, again and again, until the final blow was stopped by me clutching it and yanking the pillow from Amanda’s hold.

Had she woken up with a change of heart? Or was her icy facade slamming back into place while she bludgeoned me with her pillow?

‘What are you doing?’ I croaked, squinting through sleep-encrusted eyes, half expecting to see her glaring down at me. So when I was met by a blinding grin my surprise was marked by my eyes opening further.

‘Wake up, bitchtits!’ she chimed.

Amanda was fully dressed in her school uniform and ready to go. I glanced at the window, confused by the fact that it was still dark outside. Would this night never end?

‘Am I getting a sense of déjà vu?’

‘It’s morning, you idiot, early morning.’

The clock read 5.30 a.m. and, quickly calculating my lack of sleep, I flung myself back down, covering my head with my pillow; if this was some kind of sick joke I wanted no part of it. ‘Ugh. Go away,’ I mumbled.

‘Okaaaay, but I just thought you might want, oh I don’t know, to go watch the boys surf?’

I ripped the pillow off my head, flinging it comically fast across the room as I sat up to attention, quickly gauging if Amanda was telling the truth or not. But she was deadly serious, despite the grin she was sporting.

‘Get dressed.’

•

My dad, the early-rising farmer, always told me you haven’t lived until you see the sun come up, that it was the best part of the day. But I could claim even better than that. You haven’t lived until you’ve sat on the beach with an apricot Danish and a coffee, watching the sun come up and glimpsing the distant flecks, the silhouettes of surfers, outlined against the glow of a tangerine horizon. In tireless surges they paddled their way out, straddling their boards, laughing and chatting but ever watchful of the building waves, judging them, waiting and then positioning themselves. Reading not only the rolling water but each other, yelling words of encouragement.

‘Yours, Boppo; take it, mate.’

I inhaled a breath of crisp morning air, almost holding it for ransom until the surfer was up, positioning himself to stand in one fluid motion, slicing across the path of the tumbling masses. He teased it, flirted on the edge, taunting to the point where I was certain he’d fall, and then he violently twisted his torso, pushing his board out and in, riding, riding until inevitably the wave caught him. Peaking and barrelling out of his momentum, he was collected and recycled as nothing more than the ocean’s debris. I was of two minds. Firstly, fear. I breathed out in relief that it was over and that Boppo had broken through the surface. Stomach on his board again and being pushed back inland with what was left of the dying wave he had just tried to tame. I knew it was just a means for him to reposition, turn around and do it all over again. So, yes, first and foremost I thought them mad. But more than anything, as the sky lightened and the ocean’s surface reflected the glittering gold of the sun, I sat transfixed, unable to take my eyes off the black specks that dotted the horizon, playing with mother nature. This was the other part of me that thought them simply magnificent.

No-one more so than when Ballantine paddled into motion; faster and faster he glided his way into the rising wall – it was an angry power that intimidated me from the shore, but not him. He was fearless. Even knowing nothing about surfing, as an outsider looking in, Ballantine rocked. I knew it wasn’t just bias that convinced me that he sliced through the waves effortlessly, and owned the barrel in a way that seemed longer and larger than anyone else. Believe me, I was paying attention. Watching him skim along the horizon in a series of twists and turns had the word magnificent whisper from my lips.

‘Yeah, he’s pretty bloody good,’ said Amanda, sipping on her coffee and shielding her eyes against the rising sun. She laughed. ‘Did you see Boon’s wipeout?’

I laughed, not wanting to admit that I was really only watching one person out there – one person who caused the hair to rise on my arms, tingling sensations to run down my spine, and my lower lip to indent in anxiety wondering what each ride would bring. The ocean was such a foreign place to me, it was not anything I would want to run into and do battle against. The very feel of the sand slipping away underfoot and the force of the waves rushing over my ankles was enough for me.

Nope, I would be just fine here, watching and waiting for them to do what they had to until enough was enough. And just when I thought I could watch on forever, to my surprise, one at a time, they rode into shore. Ballantine was one of the first, planting his feet and scooping up his board under his arm. My heart started racing knowing that he was headed our way, towards the boys’ towels we were sitting near. Did he know we’d been watching? Could he see us from out in the waves? Did he even think to look or was he in his own world? Boon was not far behind him; carrying his board at a run he raced past Ballantine, closing the space between us before coming up short, unwrapping the strap from his ankle and wedging his board in the sand. Not sure if he was going to bid us any notice, I almost felt sick for Amanda, hoping that she wouldn’t suffer humiliation at the hand of the boy she so desperately liked. But in true Boon fashion he turned to us, smiling boyishly as if he was happy to see us, then walked over and stood over us, ruffling salty drops from his shaggy, sopping hair.

‘Dooooon’t!’ we shrieked in a series of squeals and giggles.

Boon laughed loud and goofy, taking sheer delight in making us squirm. He stepped back, taking us in with his mischievous eyes and shaking his head. ‘Chicks, man. We’re out there riding the waves, busting our rump, while you eat pastries and down lattes.’

‘It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.’ Amanda tilted her head, opting for flirty-adorable.

‘You should be out there instead of us, burning off those calories, hey, Ballantine?’

By now, much to my heart-stopping delight, Ballantine too had unstrapped and wedged his board in the sand. He now stood tall and impressive next to it, his wetsuit peeled down to his narrow waist. He was lean and muscled, corded in all the deliciously right places. His skin looked brown and smooth and his dimple flashed as Boon posed the question to him; he turned towards us as if seeing us for the first time. His eyes landed on me before he shrugged one shoulder, slow and casual.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he said, wrapping up the cord to his board. ‘I can think of better ways to burn calories.’

His gaze was dark, his smirk cheeky, and the heavy insinuation only encouraged his fellow surfing mates to call out in howls and laugh in a way that said they more than agreed.

My cheeks tinged with heat, glancing away from his eyes, which had landed squarely on me when he’d spoken. I don’t know if he was deliberately trying to unsettle or embarrass me but it had worked. I shifted uneasily, my stomach flipping in delight. In a way he had acknowledged me, even if it was in reference to a joke, a notch on his belt to be the hero among his mates; well, two could play at that game.

I lifted my chin, looking him directly in the eyes so that he couldn’t mistake my meaning. ‘And what way would that be exactly?’ My eyes were devious, challenging, as I arched my brow in innocent wonder.

Ballantine saw it immediately for what it was; the sniggers from his mates and their watchful gazes didn’t go unnoticed. He stared at me for a long moment, trying to stare me down or, in fact, thinking of a comeback. ‘Well, seems like you’re not accelerated in all subjects.’ He smirked.

It was like a war waging between the two of us. I could sense Boon’s and Amanda’s heads flicking between us like a tennis match. The tension crackling between us with each exchange.

‘Well, if I need tutoring in cryptic innuendos, I’ll be sure to seek you out.’