Garden | j. green

EPILOGUE

THREE MONTHS LATER.

june 17th, 2020
2:18 pm

NOELANI TOOK IN A DEEP BREATH then turned to look at her boyfriend.

The two were on the beach near Anela's home, both holding surfboards, side by side.

The couple had been in Hawaii together since March, getting reacquainted with each other and each other's families.

It had taken some work but Kai, Makani and her cousins had grown to tolerate him.

After a month of begging, Jalen had finally broken down and agreed to a couple of surfing lessons.

But now Noelani was starting to regret pushing him so much because Jalen had a nervous expression and it was starting to make Noelani nervous as well.

"Can you swim?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"How well can you swim? Because the tide can be fast."

"I'm good, baby. I promise." Jalen assured her, taking her hand and then kissing the back of it.

Noelani smiled at him then fixed her gaze on the horizon.

A wave rose from further out and Noelani peered at Jalen again, "It's totally fine if you don't get it your first time. Everyone wipes out at least once. Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I think so." Jalen nodded.

"Okay. Lay on your stomach and start paddling." Noelani nodded towards the wave.

Jalen started to paddle towards the incoming wave as Noelani stayed on the warm sand.

She watched with a proud gaze as Jalen managed to stand on the board.

"You got it, lovebug! Bend your knees a bit more!" Noelani called out to him.

Jalen followed her instructions but over extended himself a bit as he tried to ride the wave.

"Relax! Relax! Re-." Noelani watched with slight horror as Jalen fell into the sea.

She waited for Jalen to pop up but after twenty seconds there was still no sign of her boyfriend.

"Oh shit," Noelani dropped her surfboard and ran into the water, a lot more panicked now.

Noelani pushed herself to swim as fast as she possibly could underwater until she finally reached to where he had fallen from.

Her hair floated up around her as she looked for Jalen.

She finally found him unconscious and laying on the sand near a coral reef below her.

Noelani put Jalen on her back with a struggle but managed to pull him back to the beach.

Jalen's back was on the pristine sand, the surf board still attached to his ankle and Noelani undid the cord and then pressed her ear to his chest to check if he was breathing.

He wasn't.

"Oh God. Okay. CPR, CPR, CPR.." Noelani tried to force herself to remain calm and remember enough lifeguard training in order to save him.

She put two fingers on his neck to check his pulse then breathed a sigh of relief upon feeling one.

Noelani lowered his swim shorts a bit then forcefully pushed on his abdomen and blew oxygen into his airway.

"Please, please, please." Noelani sent her pleads up above.

After a couple more pushes and breaths, water emitted from his mouth and Jalen turned to the side to start coughing.

"Oh, thank God." Noelani was hovering above him, a relieved expression on her face.

"Jalen, you scared the shit out of me! Why didn't you say that your ass can't swim?" Noelani demanded.

"I can," Jalen coughed a bit, "That wave took me by surprise."

"No more surfing for you. It's not for you. Damn near had a heart attack watching you drown." Noelani stood and wiped the sand off of her bare abdomen.

Jalen coughed a bit more, "Agreed. Can we just," He continued to cough.

"I'm gonna have to drive you to hospital." Noelani nodded as she sank to her knees beside him.

Her fingertips brushed against the wet curls plastered to his forehead so that Noelani could press her lips against his damp forehead, "Can you stand?"

Jalen nodded and then rose unsteadily, "No.
No hospital, I'm good. Can we go get poke or something? I'm starving."

At that Noelani smiled up at her boyfriend, "Yeah. Let's go."

Jalen held out a hand to her which Noelani gladly laced her fingers through and together the couple trekked back up to Anela's house.

NOTE FROM KY
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