Page 33 of The Lucky Escape

‘My shoulders, you see. They burn.’

I took it from him. ‘Come here then,’ I said.

I squeezed some into my hand and he watched me before I signalled with my head for him to turn around. I rubbed the lotion between my hands so it wasn’t too cold on his skin, and then placed my palms on the top of his shoulders. They were firm, rippling beneath my touch as I went from the tops of his arms to the base of his neck in slow, long sweeps. He was firm and toned – all those bootcamp classes had made sure of it. It got easier to glide over his skin as the lotion spread, soaking in to make it shimmer.

‘Should I …?’ I patted further down his back.

‘Please,’ he replied. ‘Go for it. Everywhere you dare.’

He was so smooth to the touch, and everything tensed as he bent over slightly so the cream didn’t drip off his skin. I rubbed, oiling him, not sure how close to I should get to the top of the patterned swim shorts sat low on his hips, perching just above the slight arch to his arse. As I got to the base of his back and smoothed the cream out towards his front, circling around to his belly button to get the excess off my hands, he suddenly coughed, embarrassed, and said, ‘Right-o, think you’re done there, thank you. I’m going in now.’ He didn’t turn around before abruptly walking the short distance to the shore and stopping to stand at the water’s edge. He shook his leg a bit, as if he was expelling a bad feeling.

I watched him wade into the water until it came up to his knees. I could tell it wasn’t exactly warm, but he wasn’t putting up a fight. I spread cream over all the parts of my own body I could reach and decided to let it soak in before I went down to the water myself, enjoying watching Patrick’s head bob out in the distance instead. It was so wonderful just to sit and see the sand blow with the breeze. Big open water feels so relaxing. I could have stared at the horizon forever, until I was in a trance. In fact, whether it was delayed jet lag or the undeniable pull of sun and lotion and sand, eventually I lay back and closed my eyes, not thinking of very much at all.

15

‘Hey,’ I said, my sleep disturbed who knew how much longer later. ‘Something’s happening.’

Through sluggish eyes I’d noticed a group of people gathering down by the dock. The beach was so lazy and languid when we arrived – Bianca had said this was the part with the fewest people, which is how we’d decided on it – so now the sudden activity was jarring.

‘Patrick?’

He was asleep beside me on his front, snoring heavily. He looked so peaceful and, for a second, just like the teenager I used to know – but I was worried something bad was happening so persevered with waking him.

‘Mmmmm?’

I pointed. ‘I think there’s a shark or something. I don’t know. Look.’

Patrick rolled over and propped himself up on an elbow, his gaze dreamily following where my finger was pointing and scanning what was happening.

‘Stingrays,’ he concluded. ‘See the black thing in the water?They come here.’ He rubbed his eyes with one hand and searched for his sunglasses. ‘I read about it. Come on, let’s go and look.’

As we approached I could see a shadow floating on the sea’s surface.

‘Aren’t they dangerous?’ I asked.

‘Stingrays? Nah.’

‘Didn’t Steve Irwin die from a stingray …?’

A woman with a blue mohawk and septum ring overheard me.

‘He was pierced through the chest by a stingray barb. Freak accident. These fellas won’t hurt you, though. We’re lucky to catch them.’

‘That’s dreadful. Wow.’

The man next to her, also with a matching blue mohawk, only slightly longer and brighter, volunteered: ‘These lads are here to feed and look good, ain’t that right, guys?’

The thin black ripple in the water must have been as long as me, and half as wide. It was so strange to look at, like a black bin bag floating just below the surface, gleaming and glassy. It was slow, in complete control of itself whilst also seemingly at the whim of the current. It was so serene. I was enthralled.

‘What do they eat?’ I asked the woman, and then I felt silly for assuming she was some sort of stingray expert. The man spoke for her.

‘Crustaceans, mostly. The stingray senses the electrical current in their prey’s muscles and nerves, and then the prey is sucked into the mouth and crushed. The flesh is swallowed and the shell fragments get expelled back into the sea through the slits in their gills. As long as we don’t disturb them, we’re fine. You make sure to keep your distance, all right?’

‘Paul,’ the woman said to him, rolling her eyes teasingly.‘You just told her that as if I wasn’t the one who explained it all to you.’

‘Thank you both for sharing your collective knowledge,’ said Patrick, charismatically. ‘It’s kind of beautiful to look at, isn’t it?’

‘You tourists?’ the woman asked.

---