Chapter 1

Maui, Hawaii

2019

Ellie

The bright sun scorched my back as I laid on my surfboard. Mmm, nothing like some good vitamin D. I screeched as I fell, someone had pushed me off my board. I surfaced and spit the salty water out, looking for the person who dumped me into the water. I found myself looking at my bestie Naomi sitting casually on her board like nothing had happened, an innocent expression on her face. I smirked, she was in for it. I swam over to her, dragging my board, then I let go of it and dragged her into the water. “Ellie!” She shouted. “You’re ruining my hair! I just straightened it!” She whined. I grinned, and splashed her more. “Then why are you in the water if you don’t want to get wet?” I asked, but I knew why, she always did this. Naomi gave me a look. “Isn’t it obvious, there’s hot boy’s over there.” She said gesturing towards a group of boys surfing. “Seriously Naomi?” I said. “You may be oblivious to most boy’s but that doesn’t mean I am.” She said. I grimaced, I was not oblivious to boys, there was just more important things to do than worry about that. I mean I really was busy, I had lots of academic work to do, I was on a competitive swim team, which took up a lot of time, and I surfed in my free time. I climbed back onto my board. “Come on, let’s catch the next wave.” I said. Naomi smiled. “Okay.” She said relenting, probably cause she was already wet. I saw a nice big wave coming up, I started paddling toward it, going over a few smaller waves. Naomi was right beside me, we turned around as the wave neared and paddled forward. Just before the wave curled over we stood up, at the end of the wave I curved up to the top and dove into the water. As I surfaced, Naomi splashed water into my face. I gagged as inhaled the salty water. “Showoff!” Naomi said, splashing more water at me. I grabbed my board and climbed on. I noticed some of the boy’s had come near us, I recognized most of them from school. Just as suddenly as I got out of the water I was pushed back in. I popped up quickly to see who the culprit was this time. “Ethan!” I growled, swimming at him, I climbed up on his board and tackled him into the water. When we surfaced I found him grinning at me. He splashed my face. “What are older brother’s for little sis?” He said. I glared at him. Someone grabbed my shoulders and hauled me out of the water, onto their board, and wrapped me in an embrace. “Not for that.” A husky voice said. I turned around to be face to face with Leo, my brother’s best friend. My face heated, I had liked him for years, probably since he was always around, but he was also hot, sandy blonde hair, sparkly emerald eyes, golden skin, and know he had me pressed up against his rock hard abs. Leo glanced down at me, giving a breathtaking smile. “Hey Ellie, nice surfing, you got skills.” I smiled back, trying not to blush, I probably looked like a tomato. “Thanks.” I replied. Then I remembered, I needed to get to practice or I was going to be late again. I squirmed out of his arms. “Um, I gotta go, I have practice.” I said, moving to get off the board. “Yeah, so do I.” He said. My face reddened even more, I had totally forgotten, what was wrong with me? I wanted to slap myself. “Do you want a ride?” He asked. “Uh, I, I, my stuff is in Naomi's car and I was going with her. But thanks for the offer, maybe another time.” I said stuttering. Then I swam to my board and paddled to Naomi as fast as possible. “Naomi!” I shouted. “Come on, we're going to be late!” She turned and we started paddling to the shore. We scrambled to get to her jeep, chatting along the way, we were going to be so late. I threw our surfboards in the trunk, and climbed into the passenger seat. Naomi started driving, she turned to me and grinned. “So, you and Leo, eh, does he like you now, you two looked pretty cozy back there.” I snorted. “Yeah, no, he probably just thinks of me like a sister, he is my brother’s best friend, Naomi haven’t we been over this already?” I said I had already told her this many, many times, sure I liked him, but it just wasn’t going to happen, and eventually, the crush would fade. “Yeah, you’ve told me, but he’s never done thing’s like this before, I mean he was basically hugging you, and he asked if you wanted a ride.” She said raising an eyebrow. I thought back to all the times I had been around him. “I guess not, but still, it doesn’t mean anything.” I said not entirely sure I had even convinced myself, that it meant nothing. “Oh well, we’ll find out eventually.” Naomi said grinning.