Lou-Loi Surf Competition

Rusty Slater Short #2

The water was calm and the wind blew ever so slightly, and yes it was cold and I had a jacket on. I’m standing outside on the balcony of this girl’s house on the beach, the girl who invited me to the party, I’ve been for for about an hour and I’m already pretty buzzed. I killed an entire bottle of red wine earlier with Eddie, so I’m feeling pretty tipsy right now. I heard someone open the sliding glass door and come outside, I turn my head and I see Eddie. His blonde hair swayed to the left of his face as the wind blew, but his bandana kept his hair from completely falling out of style.

“I’ll tell you man, you really showed Snake yesterday.” Eddie said as he gave me a beer.

“Thanks, that guy is a prick am I right?”

Eddie chuckled, “yeah, but in all seriousness,” Eddie paused, “Did you really sign us up for the Lou-Loi surf competition?”

“Yes.” I opened my beer, “What’s one competition going to do to us? We can do this Ed. I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine”

“I’m not so sure Rusty. It’s pretty gnarlym out there, I wouldn't do it. Snake has been surfing before we could even walk. He was born in the waves, man! You’re not some hot shot surfer boy. You’re just Rusty Slater, a kid.” Eddie said. Look, here he goes again with his lecture, Jesus, I thought this guy was cooler than that. He’s right about Snake though. He is a very good surfer, I guess I just came down to the coast at the wrong time. My school is on Winter break so I decided to come down here and surf. I was just itching for the chance to leave my hometown, and December was the right time to leave The Northshore.

“Whatever man, we can do it anyway.” I walked back inside. I didn’t want to hear all of Eddie’s bullshit. Inside the house I could barely hear because the music was so loud. Most of the songs that played through the house were A Now this girl has a cool house, from where I was, a green velvet couch and coffee table were to my left, and to my right was the kitchen with wood and steel barstools. Her house was raised about twelve feet, because she lived right on the beach. I mean this house was so great! I met this girl the day I beat Snake Jackson. She ran up and hugged me. Look there she is, “Hey, Alana! Nice place you have here.” Her name was Alana Schell. She smiled and looked up at me, the girl was only 5’2, and her eyes were dark, but in the light I could that her eyes turned to a dark green colour. Funny, my eyes do the same thing. She was wearing cut off jean shorts, they fit her butt perfectly. I mean, hey she has a nice ass. What else can I say? She was also pretty tan and she wore a yellow bikini top, along with an unzipped white hoodie. One thing about this girl is that; she wears a flower in her hair all the time. Tonight she wore a pink flower and it rested on her right ear.

“Thanks Rusty!” She said, “Do you like my jacket?” She turned around to show me the back of the jacket, Oh wow! It’s a Rusty jacket. Now that I have a good look at it, the jacket’s primary colour was white, on the back there was a gray triangle with the word, ‘Rusty’ on it. Below the word was the year 1985 and the company’s logo, which was the letter R with two surfboards intersecting it. She turned back around and asked me, “So are you in the Lou-Loi tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Oh shit! I thought it was two days from now.” I said, but that can’t be right.

“No, it's tomorrow.” Alana took a sip of her drink, tequila. I could smell it from her breath.

“Then why are you having a party before a competition?” This is ridiculous. Why would she do that?

“I like to party, duh! And it’s not just a competition, it’s a surf fest! So there will be live music, food, art, and the end of the fest is the competition.” She explained, “Didn’t you do your homework? Alana was talking about my knowledge on the Lou-Loi, truth be told, I really don’t know anything about it, I just signed up so I could beat Snake Jackson.

“No, I--”

“Oh? Ya know this is a big deal around here?” Alana had a serious look on her face.

“I just jumped the gun a little on it, I didn’t know it was a big deal.” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. We both laughed. I heard the door open and someone cheered, I walk into the main hallway and you wouldn’t guess who it was, “What the fuck? Snake Jackson!” I yelled and the music stopped. Some kids started to crowd around us, Snake and I got close. So close that we could hear each other breathing. I could only see his eyes. Those dark green eyes were locked onto me. Kids behind him took out their phones ready to record a fight.

“You really think you’re something, huh?” Snake yelled in my face.

“I better not see you tomorrow morning!” I yelled back.

“You bet your ass I’ll be there pussy!I’ll be there to see you lose as I get the purple Lai! I always win! This is my beach, my town. My fucking paradise! I’m not going to have some little bitch like you win. Never!” Snake pushed me.

“Get the fuck out of here!” I yelled and pushed Snake back. He punched me in the face, I fell to the ground. People started to crowd around me and help. All I could see was a blur from that one punch. Man he really packs it, fuck!

“This kid is going down tomorrow! He doesn’t own this beach! I do, me, Snake Jackson!” Snake flipped a table over and he walked out the door. The table, along with everything else on it, flew up into the air. I heard bottles shatter on the floor and red solo cups hit the floor. I rested my head on the wooden floor.. I closed my eyes and laid there. I felt blood on my face.

“Rusty are you all right? Rusty?” I heard Alana’s voice. I opened my eyes and I felt her hair touch my face. I woke up in some bedroom, as usual to every other party I go to. I was laying on a bed and she was leaning over me. My head started to hurt as I moved to get up.

“Where am I?” I asked. I looked around the room. It was dim and there were small dim lights hanging over the pink bed. I smelled incense, which gave off a floral scent.

“You’re in my room.” Alana responded. Well, that makes sense now that I see the surfboard. It was a small board, a 5’10. This board would be great for taking on a lot of waves, “is that your stick?” A stick is a slang term for a surfboard.

“Yes, you can take a closer look if you want later, but I have to fix you up. Snake really did a number on you.” Alana got up from the bed and she brushed her hair back, “follow me.” We walked into the bathroom, she motioned me to sit on the counter by the sink. She took out some cotton balls and hydrogen peroxide, “I hope this doesn’t sting you.” Jesus! She poured so much that the cotton ball was drenched, and then she just slapped it on me!

“Fuck!” I moved away.

“Oh calm down! It doesn’t hurt that bad.” Alana touched up my nose and right cheek. Snake had a ring or two on and his punch cut my skin open. I looked at her and I noticed a scar on her leg and forearm, they were both pretty long, “There ya go,” she finished and threw the cotton balls away.

“Thanks,” when I got down from the counter, Alana was pretty close to me, “How did you get those scars?” I asked and pointed at the scar on her arm. It was keloid and long. The scar tissue was sightly a lighter shade of her skin colour. It traveled from her thigh to her knee.

“I was surfing one day up in North Carolina near a boneyard, I took a nasty spill and I got cut on my arm. Then the one on my leg is from a Jellyfish tentacle.”

“Looks pretty radical.” Looking at her scar made me wince.

“Yeah, it wasn’t really a nice experience,” She laughed, “I don’t really like them.”

“You don’t like your scars?” I asked her. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at me and looked down at the floor.

“Not really.”

“Alana, I’m sorry if I-”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just a few scars.” Alana said quietly.

“Well, I have a lot of scars too. I counted forty- three.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Forty- three! Jesus! What did you do?” Alana’s eyes widened.

“I’ll tell you one day, but not tonight.” I told her. We stared at each other for a while, an awkward silence filled the room.

“Um, we should go back to the party.” Alana walked out the bathroom and grabbed a box from her dresser in her room. I followed her out of the bedroom and into the living room, Alana walked over to the couch, “make room for us.” Alana said poliety to these guys sitting on the couch and I mean, it was her house too, so these two guys got off the couch and Alana took my hand and we sat down.

“What’s in the box?” I asked. I guess it’s weed or something, “wait is it weed?” Alana gave me a smile and nodded. She took out a joint and we sparked it right there on the couch. She gave a few puffs and then the joint started to burn slowly. She leaned her head back and blew the smoke into the air. The second time she took a hit, she inhaled all the smoke and coughed a bit and I tried to hide my laugh.

“So, Eddie told me how you took out Snake. How did it make you feel?” Alana passed the joint.

“I heard that he was an excellent surfer and when I met him that day,” I took a hit and coughed a little, “He- he was just such a prick and very rude. When he kicked me out of the water, I had to do something about it. So a friend and I paddled out and showed Snake who’s boss. I felt great that day.” Not going to lie, when I told Alana about the surfing incident I spoke with confidence. She seemed very interested in everything I had to say.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I saw you from the shore that day, you were giving it everything you got.” Alana rested her legs on the couch.

“Oh, I saw you too, your pretty face was distracting me though.” I laughed and

she tapped my arm, she was blushing, “Oh stop it.” We talked about nonsense for the past hour. We talked about hobbies, movies, books, surfing, and school. She went to an art school for fashion but she got kicked out of the school. In the hour I had talking to her, I became attracted to her. She loves music and she listens to old school tracks too like The Doors and The Beach Boys, but then again who doesn’t listen to the Beach Boys. I liked her a lot, “Hey Alana?” I looked away from the ceiling and turned to look at her. We are both high and sitting next to each other on the couch, I rested my feet on the wood coffee table, the only thing on the table was empty beer cans and a half full bottle of rum, “thanks for helping me out.” I said and she turned and looked at me. Her smile was just gorgeous. Her laugh lines extended to her cheeks and her eyes were so red from being completely stoned, but she was still beautiful. In those red eyes of hers, I could see the ocean, “your eyes are so blue, like the ocean.”

“Oh Slater, cool it.” She felt embarrassed and tried to hide her feelings but I saw her blushing again, I laid on my side and got closer to Alana. I placed my hand on her waist, I leaned in, closed my eyes, and kissed her. She kissed me back and suddenly she stopped, she pushed me back into the couch and laid on top of me. She got comfortable around me. She wrapped her legs around me and held onto me. She kissed me again and again. All of the sudden I heard a ding from a phone. I looked up and saw a kid taking a video of us. “You fucking prick!” Alana got so mad she grabbed a lamp by the end table and threw it at the kid. He ran out the house, “Jesus! What a fucking creep.” She calmed down and looked back at me. Her hair was hanging and touching my face. I saw the lamp, shattered on the ground.

“Alana! You just broke your lamp!” I looked up at her.

“Oh well, this place can get messy.” She laughed as she leaned in towards me and she gave me a french kiss, “Hold on Rusty.” She got off me and started to tell everyone to leave, “Everyone please leave! The party is over!” Everyone left and the house was a mess, but do you know what wasn’t a mess? Alana’s beauty. She walked towards me and held me hand, and we walked into her room. That was that.

The sun’s rays pierced through the blinds near the window to Alana’s bedroom. I’ll tell you what, there’s something about the beach that makes it feel so good. The wind, the water, the smell of the salt water, the “Skrt” sound that sand makes when you walk on it. Everything, I love it, I’m still in Alana’s bed. It is just so comfortable, and it’s better than my bed. Last night was great too.

“Boy! What are you still doing here?” Alana came out of the bathroom. I assumed she just got out of the shower. She had a towel wrapped around her and her hair was still wet, “You need to get going!” She removed her towel and threw it at me, then she ran in the closet to get her wetsuit. I removed the towel from my face and I saw her zip up her suit. It was a hot pink suit with white as the secondary colour. She put a white bandana on to serve as a headband to keep her hair out of her face. I got out of bed, “Um. Eddie has my wetsuit.” I told Alana, I hope Eddie is already on the beach by now. I looked out the window, and I saw a lot of people on the beach. “Are you ready?” Alana asked.

“Yes, let’s get down there.” Today is the start of the event and people are already out training this morning. Alana mentioned the Lou-Loi was a festival as well. The fest doesn’t start until 11:00, but the competition is at 3:00. Look there is Eddie and Tommy, “Hey there guys.”

“Bout time you showed up, hey Ryan called me last night to tell you that him and some other kids from The Northshore are heading over.” Eddie said to me. That’s nice. I wonder who will come. He handed me my wetsuit and I walked into the tent to change. My wetsuit was gray and black. I walked back outside of the tent.

“So we have some time to kill, Rusty do you want to check out the festival?” She asked me.

“I’m down!” I said with some excitement in my voice.

“Oh no sir! Why don’t you do at least a few runs in the water before going off with her?” Eddie pointed to me. Ah, he’s right. I should get in the water and practice a little before the real event. I’ll have time to chill with Alana later. She understood what was going on and she said, “well, I’ll guess I’ll see you out there then.” She seemed pretty bummed out, but it is what it is. I have to win this thing.

Welcome to the 2017 Lou-Loi Surf Competition! That’s what the big banner read as I walked on to the beach. Alright this is it! The competition will start in a few minutes, so I better go meet up with Eddie and Tommy. Wow, I never seen so many sticks all over the beach, you could see some contestants wax their board down, and then some people are just trying to congregate with the contestants. I saw Eddie with my stick and his.

“Eddie!” I walked up to him. He had a radio playing some Dick Dale, next to the radio was an ice chest.

“Here, take a bottle.” Eddie threw me a bottle of water.

“Thanks!” I grabbed my board from him and I looked back over my shoulder and I saw Snake. Fucking Snake. That guy gets on my nerves. Look at him, walking around like he owns this place. These are public waters! Look, I only did this whole thing just to beat Snake. I took him down once I can do it again! Oh, who tapped my shoulder?

“Hey Rusty!” It was Alana! I gave her a hug, but her hair was wet, “So are you ready for today? Hey what’s wrong?” She gave me a sad look.

“Oh nothing I was just thinking about--”

“Rusty look man, whatever is going on in your head,” Eddie pointed to me and looked me dead in the eye, “Just forget it man.” Look, Eddie is right, I just have to stay focused. Forget Snake right now,

“C’mon everyone is paddling out now.” Eddie said. He picked up his board and Alana and I followed behind him. The water was a little chilly. I saw about twelve surfers paddle out even further.

“Rusty we are going with this first group out.” Eddie and I followed them. We all waited for a wave...I remained calm and I started to paddle, I got on the wave and then I was flying man. I zoomed past Eddie and I managed to get a few carves in, I quickly managed to ride to the top of the wave and get some air. I did a tail grab while doing a 180 and that was the end of the run. After that I jumped in the water. I surfaced and saw Alana down by the shore. She took the wave all the way in. I waited for her to come back out. She flipped her hair back. She paddled up to me.

“C’mon Slater let’s go!” She glanced at me. I followed her out and we waited for the next wave. I looked to my right and I saw Snake not far away. It looks like Snake is going to take this wave. I looked back to Alana.

“Hey girl, heads up!” I warned Alana. She saw Snake too. “He might take this wave.”

“Slater don’t let him wipe you out!” Alana said and she turned her board around, preparing herself to paddle. I also did the same thing. She’s right. Snake cannot take me down. Not now, not ever. The wave came closer and I paddled. We got on the wave! Alana lowered her body once she stood up on the board to gain some speed, she went down and surfed up to catch some air, I went forward and kept making turns so Snake wouldn’t get past me. As I turned left, Snake whizzed past me and punched me in the stomach, I fell off my board and into the water, the wave rolled past me as I got tossed around in the water. I surfaced, and saw my enemy take the wave all the way in. Fuck! I got back on my board. I slapped the water out of frustration. I saw Eddie coasting near me,

“Hey man. Let’s take the next one.” Eddie said.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I said. Eddie and I paddled out to a group of riders. I counted five riders. We joined up with them as the wave was approaching. Eddie and I turned our boards and we paddled hard. We got up instantly and rode with ease, we even managed to surf past each other and give a high five. Eddie was doing some tricks here and there, I preformed another jump and it felt so nice, the wind just hit my entire body as I left the water. I bend my knees to comfortably stick my landing back on the wave. I hopped off and I heard a ton of people cheer for me. It was pretty cool! That was run two. One more run and the competition is over. I rested on my board and waited for the next wave, I looked to my right and saw no one. I looked to my left and saw Snake. It’s just him and I now! Here comes the wave, alright here we go! I got some good speed and I stood up instantly. Snake was right on my tail, I carved in and out to shake him off but I couldn’t. He lowered his body to increase his speed and he was neck-to-neck with me. I put some weight into my left foot and moved my hip to ride up the wave, but Snake cut me off. I was about to ride in close to punch him, but in a flash a surfer whizzed past both of us. Snake seemed surprise and not going to lie, I was too. Who the fuck was that? Snake moved in front of me and caused me to wipe out. He snaked my wave.

I got out of the water, and I felt so fucking exhausted, I can feel my lungs wither like a dying flower! I was breathing twice as fast. I unzipped my wetsuit down to my waist, I laid my board in the sand and walked close to the stage. A man with a white linen shirt came up to the stage, “As we wrap things up here at Lou- Loi Twenty Seventeen. We would like to announce the winners of the competition.” The man’s voice was amplified through the mic we had, I saw Eddie and Alana up front so I walked up near them. I tapped Alana’s shoulder and I continued to listen in, “And the winner of the twenty seventeen Lou-Loi surf competition is Max Terrier!” Oh what the fuck! The crowd of people cheered for Max. Now I know, the cheers I heard earlier in the water weren't for me. It was for Max

“Alana! That’s the guy who zipped past me and Snake.” I pointed to Max on stage, that fucking guy! The announcer raised the microphone to his mouth. “And second place goes to Alana Schell!” The people cheered and Alana walked up to the stage to receive her lai, which was yellow. Some people took pictures and she obviously posed for every picture. Well that’s it. I fucking lost. How terrible! Hopefully the night will make up for what happened today.

The moon was full, and yet there was a party on the beach, all the kids were out. Winter break just started so all the students from Alana’s school are out here as well. I was watching some people playing volleyball on the beach. Usually back home, kids would play beer pong. “So Alana, what are the rules again?” I asked Alana as I watched the players.

“The team that loses has to all do a kegstand!” Alana told me. Man, that’s crazy. I walked away from Alana to get another drink. I saw Max Terrier on the way over to the table. He’s the winner, and he looks like one. Golden hair, blue eyes, white teeth, and a fucking twinkle in his eye. He saw me and walked over to shake my hand.

“Hey nice job out there!” Max smiled at me, but I just pushed away his hand, grabbed two beers and walked back to Alana. When I kneeled to get the beers, I saw the purple lai around his neck. That could've been me wearing that, but I don't have anything.I walked away back to Alana. She was sitting down on the beach. So I decided to go sit next to her. Her hair was pulled over her right shoulder. I should feel happy right now, but I feel so bummed out.

“Rusty what’s wrong?” Alana asked. I didn't look at her. I was staring at the sand as I buried my feet in.

“I’m just so mad at,” I hesitated before I continued, “myself. I was so confident to take down Snake when I saw him at Lani’s that day. I felt it. I felt it Alana. The courage I had was all wasted on the competition. I didn’t even win.” I buried my face into my hands, “sorry I didn’t mean to go on I just-”

Alana raised her finger at me, “Don’t be sorry, look I know what it’s like to lose. Don’t be so blue about it.” Alana looked back as I heard a group of girls cheering in a crowd of people. “Let’s go dance!” She frantically got up and grabbed my hand, she yanked me up and we ran into the crowd of people and started to dance. Honestly her dance moves were so clean. We started to dance like fools among others who were dancing just as crazy as us! Alana got closer to me and we danced at a moderate pace. I could see glimmers of her smile that twinkled.A new song came on. The song was nothing but drums and steel guitars. She rubbed her hands near my chest and looked up at me. Her mouth was closed and her pupils were wide like olives. I think I just saw pure beauty from the sea. Right there on the beach Alana and I were dancing till we couldn’t feel our legs. We left the crowd and sat down by some chairs left out of the beach. “I’m so sweaty from all of that!” I laughed.

“I’m so tired.” Alana caught her breath, “Want to come to my place? ” Alana asked me. Fuck yeah I want to go to her place. She grabbed my hand and we walked back to her house.

Here we are, the two of us standing outside her back door and all I can think about is Alana. As I hold her in my arms; I just feel so damn happy. She’s just so sweet to me. The competition and Snake were lost in the ocean of my mind.

“Rusty? I know you lost today, but you won something important.” Alana was blushing.

“What did I win Alana?” I leaned in closer to her.

“You’ve won me.” She kissed me.