Page 36 of Head First
‘Just me and you then,’ Hugh says, sitting down next to me.
‘Yep.’ Absent-mindedly, I twirl an escaped curl around my finger.
‘You having a good holiday? You know, apart from your sister . . .’
A seagull’s caw pierces the air just as a breeze ruffles across the deck. ‘How could I not be?’ I ask him. ‘We’re in paradise.’
Hugh nods. ‘It’ll end too quickly.’
‘You’re telling me. At least you live here.’
‘Well, I don’t live here, I live in Sydney. It’s not as close as you’d think.’
‘I know but . . .’ I trail off, looking wistfully at the horizon.
‘It’s a lot closer than Columbus,’ Hugh agrees.
‘Something everyone seems dying to point out to me lately.’
Hugh laughs. ‘The commenters on our articles can be a real pain in the arse.’
‘I know,’ I agree.
‘So . . .’ He trails off and gestures at the ocean. ‘What’s your favourite colour?’
‘My favourite colour?’ I burst out laughing.
‘Never mind.’ He blushes, leaning away from me slightly.
My breath hitches in my chest.
‘No, no, I liked it,’ I say quickly. Hugh shoots me a look, narrowing his brilliant blue eyes. ‘My favourite colour is blue, but you could have gone with a more normal get-to-know-you question . . . like . . . tell me about your family?’
Hugh grunts. ‘I don’t see the difference, but I guess we could talk about that.’
‘OK,’ I prompt. ‘You start.’
‘I have a brother named Shaggy, we’re really close.’
‘Shaggy?’ I ask, howling with laughter.
‘You are impossible to talk to,’ Hugh says, but I can tell he’s trying not to smile. ‘That’s not his real name, it’s just a nickname that stuck.’
‘So does your mom call you Scooby?’ I tease, ignoring the last bit of what he said. ‘And by your mom, I mean Daphne. Or is she more of a Velma?’
‘She doesn’t call me Scooby, thank you very much. And her name is Gracie.’
‘OK, OK,’ I say, my giggles subsiding. ‘Well, as you know I have one sister, and we are also really close. We live near my parents too, so we see them quite a bit.’
Our next dive approaches too quickly. Hugh’s only just started to explain how much of his childhood he spent looking after his little brother. Both of us seem to put our siblings first, even at the expense of our own best interests. When I met him, I thought we would never be able to agree on anything, that I would never be able to tolerate being around him. But I’m starting to feel like I may have been completely wrong.
Chapter 15
After our conversation is interrupted, Hugh and I buddy up quickly for the afternoon dive. Everything goes according to plan. I relish the feeling of jumping in, when every other sound melts away, and it’s just me and the open ocean. It’s also nice to get off the small confines of the boat.
Wonder Reef was spectacular, vibrant and teeming with life. Everywhere I looked there were flashes of colour and whirls of movement. But I didn’t see anything specifically of note, and I didn’t see a single butterfly wrasse. Instead of being disappointed, I try to use the hour underwater to make me feel more comfortable, mentally preparing myself the entire time for entering the sea later, under the cover of night.
As we set up for lunch, I go through my pictures of the staghorn coral from our four dives so far. I have taken about a hundred and fifty. There are only two that show promising hints of what could be a butterfly wrasse, but I can’t tell for sure, which means it won’t be conclusive enough proof. Identifying fish means you have to see their unique characteristics clearly, and butterfly wrasse are the easiest to identify by the extra fin they have on their underbelly. Neither of the photos captures an underbelly. I just have one fish face that has purple scales behind it and one tail that’s purple with a yellow stripe. Both could be butterfly wrasse, but they could also be something else entirely.
