Page 127 of Fighting With Light
Aelia tries to pull her hand from mine and I won’t let it go.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Will you come with me?” I ask her. I’d rather have her on my side of the beach than with spectators. Especially now, and especially because of what we did in Colombia.
“I thought I had to stay on this side,” Aelia says.
I nod. “You should, but I don’t care about the rules right now.”
“Liam, I don’t want to mess up your process, or affect your score or something. I’ll be fine on the spectator side.”
“Aelia, please?” I ask her.
She looks into my eyes and says, “Okay, if that’s what you want.”
We walk hand in hand to the competitors’ side of the beach and drop our stuff. “I’m going to go get checked in. Can you stay here?”
She nods again. I just want her close. They don’t usually like girlfriends or family members in the competition area, but I don’t care, and if anyone asks, she’s my physical therapist that just so happens to enjoy kissing me.
Girlfriend.
I’ve never had a girlfriend before.
After I get checked in and grab a pass for Aelia, I return to our spot. She’s sitting on the sand with her legs crossed looking around. Sometimes I almost trip over myself when I look at her because I still can’t believe she’s mine.
“You know…I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”
She smiles and lifts her sunglasses so I can see her eyes. “Well, I’ve never had a real boyfriendbefore, either.”
“I don’t know why, but I’m glad I can be your first,” I tell her and kiss her cheek.And I will be your only.
She leans forward and fixes the edge of my wetsuit shorts that flipped up at the knee. “I’m starting to like this wetsuit on you.”
I chuckle and lean back on my elbows. “You just like looking at my butt in it.”
She giggles and lifts her shoulders. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. So, do you know who your first match is?”
“Not yet, I have to wait for two more matches. I have a feeling it’s going to be Cooper Thompson from Australia, fourth seed. If I beat him, then I’ll be in the final against Antonio Oliveira for the title.”
“You’ve got this,” she says and kisses my cheek. I smile and start stretching. A couple of other surfers here to watch walk past us, saying hello. This sport is serious, but everyone is generally frothy about the competition. It’s hard not to be. The sun is shining, the surf is macking, and it’s a perfect day to go surfing.
I stand up, pull my wetsuit over my shoulders and pull the zip before I slip my shirt with my number over my head. I check my board again, and the next step is to wait. The judges have to determine if the surf is competition worthy, it is, but it still has to be approved. After that I have to wait until the first two matches to compete.
Aelia follows me to the edge of the water to watch. The surf is thrashing with big waves which will get bigger pay off. There’s low wave deterioration and some nice barrel opportunities, too. I just hope the ocean cooperates with me and she stays like this. The first match is called and the fourth and fifth seeds go out for thirty minutes.
Both performed well, there were some nice breaks, and they caught some air, too. Overall a good ride. Sure enough, Cooper beat his competitor and moved up to the second match.
After the short break, Cooper goes up against the third seed from the States, Damon Jones. He’s a good surfer, I competed against him in El Salvador.
The waves were judged acceptable for surfing, but they got punchy and ended up throwing Damon off his board. The change in waves can sometimes comeout of nowhere which is part of the ability of a surfer, to sense the change and adjust accordingly. But sometimes you simply can’t adjust fast enough and Mother Nature throws you.
Unfortunately, that made him lose the match, which means Cooper and I will be going head-to-head. I stand and go back to my gear and Aelia quietly follows.
After the break I go back to shore and look at the waves. They settled a little compared to the second match, but they are still prime for winning.
Cooper comes up to my side and I hold up my fist. “Hey, good luck, man,” I tell him.
“Yeah, you too. Let’s go out there and shred,” he says excitedly. I grin and look over my shoulder at Aelia. Her sunglasses are up and our eyes meet. She winks and blows me a kiss and for some reason, that’s all the encouragement I need. I take a deep breath waiting for the okay.
