There was a little classroom with a whiteboard and a table on the side with all the different equipment. The instructor looked to be college age. He was a smaller guy, and I grinned when he saw me and puffed up. Brook gave me a sidelong glance and smirked. We found three other students, all men in their twenties, would be in the class with us.
“I see everyone’s here, so let’s get started. My name’s Steve, and my dad owns Fleishman Sporting Goods. I attended the University of Miami and took a SCUBA class as an elective. I expect you’d think there aren’t many places to dive around here, but you’d be amazed. Once you get in the water and experience it, you’ll never want to stop. It’s a whole other world, and a fun activity to do with friends.
“For this class, you will have two days of classroom instruction, followed by time in the pool. To complete the class and get your certification, you’ll need to do an open-water dive,” Steve said.
“Isn’t it a little cold?” one of the other students asked.
“With a full wetsuit, you should be fine. I find I only really get cold around my face area,” Steve explained.
The first part was a classroom session where Steve showed us the equipment and how it all worked. We also learned about dive safety and issues surrounding deeper dives. You could get decompression sickness where air bubbles would form in your bloodstream if you came to the surface too quickly, but that was only for much deeper dives. We wouldn’t have to worry about that. We would get dive computers—they look like wristwatches—that would tell us how quickly we could ascend. A controlled ascent gave the gasses in your blood a chance to reabsorb.
Then it was off to the pool. Brook Davis shouldn’t be allowed to wear that swimsuit around anyone but me. It was a one-piece that covered all the naughty bits, but it was cut so that her hips and side butt were on full display. It was good I wore board shorts, or the effect she had on me would’ve been readily visible. I glanced around, and every guy in the class had their eyes locked on her.
I smirked when she discovered she was attracting attention. She got a determined look, walked up to me, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. You could see the disappointment of her new fan club.
We each had to put on a tank, inflatable vest, fins, mask, regulator, and weight belt. Steve called the vest a ‘Buoyancy Compensator Device’ or ‘BCD,’ and the regulator was an ‘octopus’ or ‘octo.’ We learned different ways of getting into the water without killing ourselves. You didn’t just dive in, or your mask would smash your face. Steve showed us how to roll in backward and how to jump in and use a scissor kick to stop our descent.
They taught us how to use the weight belt and the BCD to help us stay comfortably at certain levels under water. We spent a lot of time learning how to clear our masks of water. The last part of today’s class, we learned what to do if someone ran out of air. It turns out the octo would allow a partner to share their air until they both reached the surface.
The next class was on Sunday. I met Brook out front when class was over.
“What made you want to do this?” I asked.
“I thought we might go somewhere tropical for spring break and go diving,” she said.
“Maybe I can talk Devin into doing a photo shoot in some tropical paradise or something,” I said.
“Or you and I could just go away for a week and get a tan, go diving, and do other relaxing activities for a week.”
She had a point. Devin would make me work, and I wouldn’t have near enough time for the other relaxing activities.
“Want to come to my house?” Brook asked.
“I’m driving you there right now.”
She gave me a flirty look, and I felt like a ‘stupid boy.’
“Yes, I would love to go to your house,” I said.
“I hear you have a new game.”
I glanced over, and Brook batted her eyes at me.
“Someone has a big mouth.”
“Puleeease. Surely you don’t believe we don’t talk to each other and compare notes.”
I knew they did, but I played along.
“What? I thought our time together was something sacred that was only shared between the two of us.”
Brook cocked her head, not sure if I was serious or not. Then I must have given it away because she punched me in the arm. She pointed to the side road that would take us back to the cabins. When we got inside, Brook stepped over to the fireplace and started a fire.
“So, what do the other girls say about me?” I asked.
“I’m not telling you. It’s just girl talk. I see how your eyes glaze over when we get started. You’re just hoping we don’t say anything mean about you,” Brook teased.
She had me there. While I thought about Halle talking to Brook about our little game, Brook left for a moment and returned with a big fluffy comforter and sheet. She laid the duvet in front of the fireplace, and I helped her spread the sheet over it.
“You lose some clothes, and I’ll be right back,” Brook said.
