Page 54 of Head First
The fist around my heart relaxes. Seconds later, I hear Vanessa call out to Aaron to come down into their room.
‘Norman for the late afternoon dive?’ he asks. I can picture him poking at a map.
I hear footsteps coming around the platform and close my eyes, pretending to be asleep. For a second, I think it must be Andrew, because I hear Pippa shift in the hammock above me.
I crack open one eye ever so slightly.
Hugh is seated right next to me, staring at me. He clears his throat when he sees me opening one eye.
Pippa climbs out of the hammock. ‘I’ll let you two catch up,’ she says, making her way into the shade of the captain’s room.
I stare at my feet.I should thank Millie for making me get a pedicure before this, I think.
‘You’re not very good at pretending to be asleep,’ Hugh says.
‘I wasn’t pretending. You woke me up,’ I reply, although my voice comes out a little higher than normal, exposing my lie. ‘You didn’t have to do that,’ I mumble.
‘Do what?’
‘Ask Vanessa and Aaron where to find the butterfly wrasse.’
‘Yes, I did.’
I pull myself out of my reclined position and sit up straight. ‘No, you didn’t. You don’t have to prove to me that you want to help me. It’s too late.’Why is staying angry at Hugh so hard?I think, watching the sun catch on the perfect slope of his nose.
‘It’s never too late,’ Hugh says matter-of-factly. ‘And I am not just doing it for you.’
‘Really?’ I raise my eyebrows. ‘Because I feel like you lied to me, then you tried to downplay it, then you realised,’ I drop my voice to a whisper, ‘Andrew wasn’t as good a buddy as I was, and now you’re trying to make up for it by helping me find the wrasse.’
‘Did you ever think that maybe I like to do things by the book, with integrity, and that means giving you the best shot at finding the butterfly wrasse even if that means proving me wrong?’
I pick at the hem of my T-shirt. ‘No.’
‘Well then. And—’ Hugh drops his voice low, ‘—yes, you are a better buddy than Andrew, and I was hoping you would consider trading back.’
I fight off a smile. ‘I’m still mad at you,’ I say under my breath.
‘Andrew,’ Hugh calls, getting to his feet, ‘we gotta talk, buddy.’
‘Looks good,’ I say, testing Hugh’s regulator and double-checking the pressure in his air tank. I gently pull on the straps of his BCD. ‘You’re all set.’
‘Now I get to do you.’ Hugh’s voice is low as he runs his fingers up and down the zipper of my BCD. A shiver runs up my spine. I try not to focus on howrightit feels that Hugh is back to being my buddy. I try instead to manifest spotting the butterfly wrasse through positive thinking.I can do this, I repeat over and over in my head.
Pippa had laughed when I apologised for abandoning her so quickly to be dive buddies with Hugh again.
‘I knew you two would work it out,’ she said, waving it off with one hand.
‘We haven’t worked anything out,’ I retorted back stubbornly.
She smirked at me.
Now she’s bickering with Andrew about how much weight he needs on his weight belt, convinced that he needs more to stop him from constantly floating upwards. Hugh must overhear them too because he starts to chuckle under his breath.
‘Let’s do this?’ he asks, holding out a hand to help me off the bench.
We approach the edge of the boat, and Hugh assumes his normal backwards, head-first somersault position. I stand awkwardly next to him, waiting to take a big step into the water.
‘Want to try getting in the fun way?’
