“Any questions?”
They all shook their heads.
“Great. There isn’t much of a crowd, so let’s get in and get a feel for paddling out with our arms.” Nimita turned and led the way. She was wearing a one-piece bathing suit the color of the ocean. It showed off her smooth, deep brown skin and toned muscles. The muscles he had already met, but the curves and the skin were new to him. Pleasantly so.
He was more than aware of Vishal and Karan watching him closely, so he was grateful for the sunglasses but made sure to not let his gaze linger on her too long all the same.
“Are you getting this, Roshan?” Nimita was talking to him. He had no idea what she had said.
“Um. Yes. Paddling.” He stole a glance at the other two. They were lying in position on their boards, ready to paddle. And of course, they were smirking at him for being distracted by her.
Nimita rolled her eyes at him. “Stick with us, please. The ocean is not the place for you to daydream or day study or whatever it is you do. It’s not the moment to lose focus for the first time in your life. Keep up, or you won’t be the best.” She glanced at his side. “You’ve got enough bruises.”
He pressed his mouth into a line and copied what Vishal and Karan were doing. All while ignoring their smirks. Any hope he might have had about Nimita forgetting what he had said back then to her was clearly gone.
Nimita walked them through the basics of surfing, and within the hour, Vishal and Karan were able to pop up and catch the white wash. Roshan was unable to maintain a standing position on his board for more than a few seconds.
Roshan might have been team captain and the goalie because he was tall, but Vishal was lithe and flexible, making him an awesome striker, as well as surfer, apparently. Though his love of snowboarding probably didn’t hurt, either. Karan was cautiously adventurous, so it always took him a minute to catch up, something Roshan and Vishal always gave him a hard time for. Karan had been an excellent midfielder and had made Roshan’s job much easier. But midfielders rarely got any glory.
It turned out that even though Karan was taller and debatably more muscular, he was also more graceful than Roshan. Roshan could barely even stand up long enough to catch any kind of wave. Unlike his friends, he was clumsy and awkward on the surf.
“Looks like you might need private tutoring,” Vishal murmured to him.
Roshan ignored him.
“You two practice here.” Nimita nodded at Vishal and Karan. “You.” She jutted her chin at Roshan. “Come with me.”
“Might as well, Roshan. She taught you chemistry in high school, after all.” Vishal laughed.
Roshan was not embarrassed about having had a tutor—hiring her had been his idea in the first place. When Malini got sick, he’d spent so much time researching cancer and his focus had quickly become getting into a premed program in college. He was fine with most sciences, but chemistry had never been his strong suit. To excel at premed, he had needed a better grip on the principles of chemistry, and she had been the best. His focus had always been on being the best. Everything else was just a means to get there.
He had no idea why he felt the heat creep into his face. “Happy to have a great teacher again,” he said quickly to counter the flush.
Nimita kept quiet, barely looking at him. He had no idea if she heard his comment or not. “Let’s go.” She dragged her board across the water to a slightly more shallow, less crowded area without looking back. She clearly assumed he would follow.
He glanced at his friends who both grinned widely and waved him off.
Roshan grabbed his board and prepared to be pummeled by the ocean. He shook his head at himself. His friends were thinking that he was faking incompetence just to have time alone with Nimita. He really wasn’t. He had no idea how to fake incompetence. But he wasn’t exactly complaining about having a few minutes of her undivided attention.
“Let’s work on balance,” she said, going out just a bit and standing up on her board with no effort. She wasn’t even wobbling. And he would know, he was studying her every muscle.
Roshan copied her and promptly found himself in the water.
“Try again,” she said. “This time I’ll help.”
He lay flat on his belly and paddled out until his board was parallel to hers. He popped up, and she put out her hands to him. He took them, and she helped him balance. It worked for maybe twenty seconds. She let go, and he went down, somehow taking her with him. They both ended up underwater.
“You are definitely an on-the-ground athlete,” she commented as she surfaced. Water droplets glistened on her deep brown skin. It was too cliché, even in his head, but it was true. He had a sudden desire to trace the path of the droplets over her body.
What?
He laughed to cut the tension building between them. “You’re not wrong.” The laugh sounded fake, even to him.
“Go again?” she asked, her expression not wavering.
“Yes.”
He lay flat on his board and popped up at her command. She reached out to him, and this time he stayed upright longer.
