I frowned, suddenly feeling annoyed and defensive. “You don’t know that. You don’t even know me! I’ve been surfing my whole life. I can handle it.”
Blake looked me up and down. She clearly didn’t mean it in a judgemental way, but it came off that way anyway. I bristled further.
“I may not know you, Finn Summers, but I know Leviathans, and I know you can’t surf those waves without someone to coach you.”
I was about to argue further when what I assumed was the manager walked into the bar and called Blake’s name.
She abandoned our conversation to head over to where the manager was starting to stock the bar, but she paused after a few steps and glanced back over her shoulder at us.
“Let’s meet up after work. I’ll take you to Leviathans and show you what I mean.”
“Deal,” I barked back, a little more abruptly than she deserved.
Turtle tossed his lifeguard/uniform shirt over his shoulder, his usually carefree brown eyes dark with concern.
“Well. She’s got the tea; I’ll give her that,” he said, shamelessly staring at her pert ass as it swayed back and forth in her little red Sharkies shorts.
“Apparently,” I mused, though I was much less interested in Blake’s ass than I was in her complete and utter lack of belief in me.
She didn’t evenknowme.
I wasn’t one to boost myself, but I wasn’t exactly a beginner. I knew what I was doing, and I planned on training all year to ride this wave.
However, when she came back and got to work teaching us the ins and outs of the restaurant and what would be expected of us in our new roles, I couldn’t shake the cold pit that had formed in my gut.
Had buying that shack been a mistake?
Had coming here at all been a mistake?
I watched Turtle flirt with Blake and did my best to keep up with what she was telling us, but I was too distracted.
Dead surf prodigies and the monster waves that devoured them filled my mind.
Clenching my fists at my sides, I felt a stubborn swell of determination roll through me.
No.
I was doing this. I was Finn Summers, and I knew I was born to surf since the first day I stood on a board by myself.
If this town wanted to see someoneworthyof living up to this Jake Whittling guy’s legacy, then that was what I was going to give them.
Alexa Play: Grow Up by Late Night Thoughts
Our first shift went quickly. It was on the shorter end since it was our first day, and honestly, it wasn’t complicated.
See a table with dirty dishes? Clear dirty dishes.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Until you die.
Just kidding, that’s a little dramatic, hahaha. But after my seventeenth lap to the dishpit, I was starting to see why Blake had warned us against ‘getting lazy.’
I was an adrenaline junkie, constantly on the hunt for my next hit of dopamine. Repetitive shit like bussing tables was the definitionof my worst nightmare.
Happily, Turtle was used to keeping my ADHD ass from getting fired, and he immediately turned it into a competition.
