The alarm clock rings precisely at 5:45 am. Aimee opens her eyes and rolls in bed. She stays there momentarily, undecided if she should get up. Eventually, she takes the bedsheet away from her body and rolls out of bed. She gets ready and walks slowly outside the house, avoiding waking anyone up, and heads to the garage where the surfboard has been stored since Liam gifted it to her.

Once outside, she glances at her watch and sees it's 6:05 and he's nowhere to be found. She kicks herself into thinking that he would keep his word. Especially after she repeatedly yelled at him. She grabs the board to place it back in her uncle's garage when she sees his car pulling down the driveway.

Liam stops the car and leaves the vehicle. "Morning." He takes the board from her hands and puts it in the back. "Get in. We don't have the whole day."

She rolls her eyes at his comment while opening the car door.

Liam starts the car and drives to the beach. The drive was silent, only interrupted by the music playing softly on the radio.

Once they get to the beach, Liam parks the car and points towards a booth on the left-hand side.

"I'll take the boards. You can change over there."

Aimee takes her wetsuit from her bag and trudges to the shack. Her mind overthinks the last thirty minutes of the morning. Liam has exchanged no words with her apart from barking instructions at her. Maybe he has regretted his offer? Probably he has, and most likely annoyed that she was waiting for him, like the idiot that she is.

Once she steps inside the shack, she had decided. One surf lesson today, and never again.

She quickly changes into her wetsuit and ties her hair in a ponytail. She leaves the shack and sees him with his wetsuit, carrying the two boards to the sand. Aimee approaches him and sees he is inspecting her board.

"I need to teach you how to wax your board properly. Whoever did this has no clue what they were doing."

"It was Callum," she blurts.

He gestures for her to approach her board that is now laying on the sand. "We need to improve your pop-up. Lay down on the surfboard."

Aimee obeys.

"Now do a push-up."

Aimee pushes her arms but grunts with the activity, clearly not used to the physical exertion.

"That's the problem here. You need to be faster than that. The longer you take with your push-up, the worst your stance will be."

Aimee lowers her arms.

"Again," he says.

Aimee repeats the movement.

"Again."

She grunts and repeats.

"Faster" he commands.

Aimee's arms waver with exhaustion. She grunts and falls down. "No more," she begs.

Liam lowers himself to meet her eyes. "You want to be out there? Your stance needs to improve. Again."

He gestures for her to rise in a plank position. Aimee huffs angrily, but obeys his request.

They carry on for around an hour. Aimee's arms are numb and in pain from the incessant push-up drilling.

"I can't do this anymore," she exhales.

"It's not good enough," he says, his voice ice-cold as the water in front of them.

Aimee gets up, frustrated and in pain. "I know that drill sergeant, but I'm trying here!"

"You're not trying hard enough!" he ignores her sarcastic comment.

"Get off my back, man! How many push-ups have I done this morning? This is not the effing army!"

Liam glares at her mercilessly. "Okay, let's go."

Aimee gets up and sees him picking up his board and making his way back to the car park.

"Are we not going in the water?"

"Not until you are faster."

Aimee steps in front of him. "Are you telling me I've been here this whole time doing these stupid push-ups and I'm not even going there?"

"Not until you are faster."

She waves her arms. "This is bullshit!"

Liam drops her board. "No, it's not. It's what is going to make you a surfer."

Liam marches towards the deep blue. He lies on the board and paddles effortlessly. Aimee sits on the sand with her arms draped over her knees, feeling utterly exhausted. Liam finds the right peak and, in a swift move, positions himself on the board, gracefully, effortlessly, beautifully, just like her father in the Portuguese waves. Aimee's eyes widen at his stance and she realises she never noticed his surfing style. Liam rides a few more waves until he comes back to the sandy beach.

"Got it now?" He plops next to her, out of breath. "Those can be some of the most dangerous waves you will ever encounter in your life. You need to have a good stance."

Aimee huffs, "Yes, drill sergeant!" She mockingly salutes Liam.

"You're a child, you know that pommie?" he retorts.

"And you're an idiot. You commanded I was outside the house at 6 am, but yet you were late."

Liam raises his eyebrows at her and is about to respond, but she cuts him off.

"And, then... then... you drag me here barely speaking a word to me, and only barking orders like I'm some cadet in the army or something... Again!" she mimics his deep voice.

"I was only five minutes late. You pommies really get hot under the collar about timekeeping, hey?"

Aimee raises her index finger at him. "Stop calling me that! What does that even mean?"

"Chill! I'll stop calling you a pommie if that bothers you so much! But you know you are one?"

Aimee glares at him.

"It means a Brit. I'm calling you a Brit. That's all." Liam snickers. "Boy, you have a temper on you..."

"Well, the joke is on you. I'm Australian." Aimee gets up and takes her board and starts making her way back to the car park.

Liam quickly follows her. "Wait! What do you mean you're an Australian? Were you born here?"

Aimee puts her board back in the car and takes her backpack. "Yes. I'm going to change."

"Is that all I'm getting?" he shouts.

"Yes!" she shouts back, walking back to the shack.

The ride back is noiseless, and once he pulls to the farmhouse, Aimee is determined to thank him for the class, shake hands, and walk away.

"Thanks for today, I guess," she says, gathering courage.

As if Liam is reading her mind, he interrupts her next thoughts. "I'll take your board and wax it for tomorrow. Later in the week, I'll show you how it's done."

"Tomorrow?" she shakes her head. "No, we're done."

Liam huffs, "Don't be a quitter now. You'll get it right."

"I'm not a quitter! But, clearly, we drive each other insane and I really don't want to learn to surf with someone screaming in my ears all the time."

"So you're a little princess that can't handle some tough love?"

Aimee huffs, "You're impossible!"

Liam snickers, "Me?" He glances at his watch. "I need to go now. See you tomorrow. Same time."

"There's no tomorrow! This was the first and last session!"

"I'll be on time, I promise. I need to go now." Liam gestures to her to leave the car.

"I won't be here!"

"I'll drag you out of your bed if I have to."

Aimee opens her mouth to protest, but Liam huffs and quickly manoeuvres the car around back to the road.

"Hey! I'm still in the car!"

"You didn't leave, and you seem intent on fighting with me and I really have a meeting that I need to get to on time." He stops the car and gestures for Aimee to leave the vehicle. "Either do it now or ride with me to the office."

Aimee glares at him for a split second and quickly opens the car and gets out.

"Tomorrow, same time," he repeats and drives away.

"Asshole!" she screams loudly.

Five days of the gruesome routine of waking at the early hours of the morning, accompanied by hours doing push-ups in the sand, have gone by. Every night Aimee decides tomorrow is the day she will put a stop to the training, but as soon as the red pickup truck stops outside the farmhouse, her resolve fades away and she endures yet another morning.

On the sixth day, Aimee lays down her board, once she has changed into her wetsuit, and places herself on the plank, ready for another drill routine of planks. She hears his feet approaching her face.

"Better. Much better." Liam lowers himself to meet her eyes. "Let's go. Today you're with me."

Her eyes widen. "But, my push-ups..."

"Are much better. Not perfect, but enough for you to be fast enough." Liam takes his board and starts walking towards the water. "Are you coming?"

Aimee gets up and picks up her board. Aimee catches up with Liam and they paddle together past the breakpoint.

"Once you see the whitewater, point your board towards the shore, lie, and paddle. I don't want you to get up, I want you to ride the wave laying down, feel it move underneath you, so you can sense how it behaves with the water beneath it."

Aimee does as instructed, paying careful attention to the board movements, and notices that it has a tendency to wobble on the right-hand side. She paddles back to Liam. "It wobbles on the right."

"That means you need to use your weight on the left to balance it out. If you put too much weight on the right, you'll fall. Paddle before the waves get to you, before it breaks, got it? Once you feel the board gliding, push up and stand up, one foot at a time."

Aimee positions herself on the board and waits for the wave. Once she finds the one she wants to ride, she does as Liam instructs her. She paddles towards the peak and pushes her body upwards. Yet, her balance was off on the left-hand side, and as quickly as she stands, the board wobbles and Aimee loses her balance and falls on the water. Aimee tries three more times, unsuccessfully. She emerges from beneath the water and coughs, trying to release some of the water that she inhaled. Liam paddles towards her.

"I can't do it." She shakes her head. "I'm not doing this right."

"You're not balancing it out. You need to feel the waves beneath you."

"I can't do it." Aimee gets up on her paddle, still coughing.

"Remember what you said to Izzie the other day? It's the same. Don't overthink this. The same way that you feel the piano, feel the waves underneath you. Just take a deep breath, focus, and try again." Liam offers Aimee an encouraging smile. "Don't give up on me, pommie."

He smirks, and Aimee rolls her eyes at the nickname.

Aimee looks at the ocean and takes a deep breath. She paddles and waits for the next perfect wave. When it finally emerges, she paddles and positions her board towards the sand, and paddles. As soon as the board glides underneath her, she pushes her body up and places her right foot as an anchor and her left on the front. She feels the board shift and re-adjusts her position and starts noticing the difference between her previous surfing stance and now.

With a firm grip, Aimee rides the wave and cheers on loudly. She completes the wave and her thirst for more emerges. Aimee paddles back towards the deep blue. Liam joins in and they surf together.

One hour later, both of them head back to the sand together and fall exhausted on the shore.

"That was amazing. Is it what it actually feels like?" Aimee asks while recovering her breath. "That's an amazing feeling! Woo hoo!" she cheers.

"Yeah, it's the best feeling in the world," Liam says, laying next to her while his eyes look at the sky above them.

"Second to the piano," she remarks, clearly displaying the hierarchy of her newfound hobby with her long-standing affair.

"Second to sex" his confession makes her cheeks blush. "So, you now owe me."

She raises an eyebrow at his statement.

"Were you really born here?"

Aimee laughs. "You're not letting this go, are you?"

Liam shakes his head adamantly.

"Fine. Yes, we're born in the Bay. Adopted by my dads and taken to London."

"So, you're a fake pommie, although the accent is pommie enough." He taunts her.

"My turn."

Liam cocks his head towards her.

"Oh, you don't think you can insist on asking me a question and you won't get one in return?"

"One question," He obliges.

"Who taught you to surf? Your dad?"

"Nah. Charlie. By the time I was born, dad was too busy to do anything with me. Charlie was the one that took me here and taught me to surf. We still surf together every Sunday."

"Everyone in your family surfs?"

"Dad and Matt, not really, but they used to. When things were simpler." Liam gets up. "All rested?"

Aimee nods in response.

"Good. Let's go. I need to show you something."

They pass a group of surfers and Liam waves his hand to them with the Shaka sign. "That's the Shaka sign."

"Yeah, I know. Dad taught us."

"So your parents are Australians? I mean your adoptive dads."

"Dad was Aussie, but my other dad is Portuguese. I guess my birth parents were Australian... I don't know, don't really care."

Liam walks beside her. "Portugal has wicked waves."

"Yeah, dad used to love it there because of the waves. Every summer we were there to catch some waves. You've been?"

Liam nods. "Every summer when I used to live in London."

"You used to live in London?"

"For university. I studied there for a few years. Got little study done though..." His brow creases at the memory.

"London wasn't a happy time?"

Liam seems thrown at her observation.

"I'm an excellent observer. The way you said it..." she clarifies.

Liam's jaw tightens. "It's complicated."

"I get complicated. My life is complicated." Aimee sighs.

"Did he teach you how you know if it's safe to go out there?" Aimee looks at him, puzzled.

Liam smirks and walks over to a wooden board with a chalk centre. In the chalk, there are two wavy symbols on top of one another. "When you're surfing, always come here first. This means the water is fine. If you see only one of these, it means the current is strong, so be careful."

"Got it. One wavy thing is bad, two is good."

He draws an inverted v with his hand. "This means there's a white pointer."

Aimee frowns.

"A shark. Don't get in, no matter what. Even if you feel an impulse to annoy me."

"Haha," she laughs sarcastically.

"Whenever you're surfing, always come here first. Check the water, get to know the other surfers. This is a brotherhood." Liam walks over to the car and places the boards in his car. "Go get changed so I can drive you back home. Tomorrow, I'm going to take you somewhere where you can learn to wax your board."

Author's Note:

Photo by Frank McKenna on Unsplash