Four Years Later

      It was Saturday, which meant no college classes and no work. Lovie was excited to go surfing, so she headed for the north shore, which was only forty-five minutes from where she lived. It doesn't take long to cover Oahu, because it's not that big of an island. Lovie always thought it would be even quicker to cover it if the speed limits weren't thirty miles an hour.

      She was pulling her surfboard off the roof of her car when she heard some loud talking coming from her left in the parking lot. Two guys and two blond women were getting out of a car, carrying a picnic basket and a bunch of sunscreen. Lovie knew that this beach got a lot of mainlanders coming to it because there was a hotel nearby called Turtle Bay, which was one of the most popular hotels on the island.

      She turned back to her surfboard and finally got it off her car. She began making her way down to the water, and as she was passing the group she heard something that made her stop walking altogether.

      "Do you really need that much lotion, George?" said the guy with auburn hair and black-framed glasses.

      "I don't want to sunburned, John," said the skinnier guy, lathering on the entire bottle of sunscreen.

    John and George, she thought, still frozen. What were the chances of two guys named John and George being together at a beach in Hawaii? She shook her head and continued walking. She was being stupid. It wasn't like there were only two guys in the entire world named John and George.

      She paddled out into the water, getting so far out that the four people on the shore were just little specks. She waited patiently for a big wave to come. She waited for probably ten minutes before she found one that looked gnarly. Lovie always felt so alive when she got up on a wave. It was the best feeling she ever felt. She took a deep breath and paddled for the wave.

* * *

      "Hey, are you okay?" came a concerned voice. Lovie's eyes fluttered open and she saw two beautiful brown eyes staring down at her. She coughed up water and sucked in a shaky breath.

      "I'm . . . fine," she said, sitting up, seeing her board laying a few feet away and the four people were around her with looks of concern.

      "What happened?" she asked the guy that had been leaning over her. She hoped he hadn't given her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

      He smiled crookedly. "You got up on that gear wave, but you lost your balance and fell. You didn't come up for a long time." She then realized he was wet. Oh, God. He must have gone and got her. She lowered her eyes, face reddening, absolutely humiliated.

      Wait. Had he just said "gear"? He had a British accent too. And his name was George. Lovie looked up at him again and studied him.

      "I'm George, by the way," he said sheepishly, noticing her gaze.

      "I'm Lovie," she said.

      Recognition flashed through his eyes and his smile dropped. "Lovie? My Lovie? From Wattpad?" "Your" Lovie? she thought incredulously.

      "Yeah, Wattpad," she said. He was handsomer than she'd ever imagined. His cheekbones were sharp and angular and his soft chocolate-brown eyes were full of kindness. His hair was thick and so beautiful. She wanted to run her hands through it . . . What was she thinking? They'd broken up four years ago! And there was a blond standing over there was probably his girlfriend.

      "Oh, this is her," said the guy who must have been John. He fixed her with an ornery grin. "Hi, Lovie. I'm John, nice to meet you."

       "Is this one of your old friends, George?" asked the blue-eyed, sweet-faced blond. Lovie immediately despised her.

      "Yeah, I met her on Wattpad," George said, looking back to Lovie. "Pattie, this is Lovie. Lovie, Pattie."

      "Hi," Lovie said flatly. She and this girl were complete opposites. Pattie had blue eyes and blond hair while Lovie had brown eyes and black hair. Pattie was very pretty; Lovie didn't even consider herself good-looking.

      "Hi!" Pattie said cheerily.

      "You're sure you're okay?" George said, helping Lovie stand up from the sandy beach.

      "Yeah," she said, a mixture of feelings banging around inside her. She went into another coughing fit and felt a headache pounding in her head. She wanted to leave, to get away from George and that girl. "I think I'll be going."

      "Going?" George echoed. "Lovie, I'm really sorry about what . . . happened. Please stay and eat with us." He gestured to their picnic basket.

      "I really shouldn't stay," she said, shaking her head. She just wanted to go home, sob her eyeballs out, pig-out on ice cream, and binge-watch Vampire Diaries. "It's nice to meet you, George, but I need to go home." She grabbed her surfboard started to walk off. She'd told herself that she was over him, but now that she met him she felt butterflies stirring in the pit of her stomach and whenever she looked at him she wanted to just gaze at him forever.

      George followed her and gently took her arm. Her heart jumped as she looked over at him. "We're staying here a week. Can you meet us here tomorrow around one?"

      She hesitated, staring into those eyes. His eyes made her melt, and she hated it. "Sure," she said and practically ran to her car.