He starts laughing and I know I’m fucked. With a capital, hellraising F. “Fuck,” I mutter, grabbing a towel to dry off. “Mask squeeze. So stupid.”
“You didn’t equalize pressure before you decided to be a cocky idiot,” he says. “In a few days you’ll look like Satan himself. Just in time for the mission. The bad guys will think the devil came to kill them in person.” He’s grabbing his stomach in hysterics. Others have joined in now that my stupid mistake is on display. We don’t fuck up often, but when we do, it goes down in a book for recollection at any given point, for the rest of time.
By not clearing my mask pressure, I gave myself a hickey, on the whites of my eyes. It will turn a dark red shade and be noticeable for weeks, sometimes even months. My friend Ben did it during a dive once, and the whites of his eyes were fucked up for a family reunion. His Grandma wouldn’t hug him.
Leif rises out of the water with a fish spear in one hand. He looks like Triton. “Did I hear Tahoe got a mask squeeze? That can’t be right. Love hasn’t made himthatstupid.”
It’s mild right now, but I can feel it. I know the blood will rush to the surface over the next few days, getting worse and worse until I look like a Berserker. It wouldn’t be so bad if the rest of my body didn’t match that description. Too bad it’s not Halloween.
“Does anyone have a mirror? A cell phone? Let me see it.”
Someone rustles up a cell from a dry bag and hands it to me. I turn on the camera and face it toward me. “Goddammit,” I mutter. “This isn’t good. Anyone remember how long Ben’s was?”
Everyone is telling stories about friends they know who have gotten mask squeezes and it makes me feel a little better, but then a thought hits me.
“Caroline.”
Leif cackles. “I bet she likes fucking a demon.”
They still don’t know I haven’t had sex with her. I’d catch a rash of shit if they knew I was professing my love before I’ve sampled the goods.
“Role play,” Aidan chimes in.
“She could be an angel. A white little nightie. Think of the possibilities,” he explains, holding one hand over his heart.
“Stop thinking about Caroline,” I mutter. “How long?” I ask, pulling up Google on the cell phone, and tapping my question into the search bar. “Maybe it’s just a little one,” I pep talk myself. A barrage of horrible, scary images glare back after my search all I can do is shake my head. With my light blue eyes, it might look a little less atrocious than if I had brown, because then the whole eyeball would look black, the iris blending with the blood shot white.
Leif stops laughing long enough to call my name. When I look up, he snaps a photo with his phone. “This is your right after it happened photo. We’ll take one every day until your whole eye looks like a hickey.”
I make a grab for his phone, but he’s too quick. “You guys are the worst friends ever,” I say.
“She’s going to be scared of this. Any normal person would be.”
Leif claps back. “Okay, Ben just texted back and said the one he got off the coast of Catalina Island lasted seven weeks. He also said to call him. He hasn’t heard from you in a while.”
Scrubbing my palms into my eye sockets I try to remember how many pairs of sunglasses I have.
Aidan walks over and puts a hand on my shoulder. “No one will notice.”
Such a fucking bullshit artist. “Fuck you, Aidan.”
Aidan’s eyes light up as he remembers something. “Oh, while I have everyone’s attention, or while Tahoe has everyone’s attention I’d like announce that we will be attending the local party at the spot tomorrow night. This will serve as the before mission celebration so tie on your mother fucking drinking shoes.” Everyone lets out a cheer in agreement. There’s always a shit-show of a party before a mission. The last hurrah. The importance of comraderie and brotherhood wrapped into a liquor festooned vomit session. It started when the war did because the unknowns are larger than the knowns these days.
“How did you manage that? Did they invite us?” Even I don’t believe that. Aidan probably threatened someone. The animosity aimed our way from the locals isn’t a secret. It’s not supposed to be. They honestly thought they could get the town hall to stop us from moving forward with plans for our base. While it was laughable, we’ve learned that a little respect goes a long way.
Aidan tells us he made friends with someone who was helping at the airport and he invited him, and that is basically the same thing as inviting all of us. Everyone agrees it’s a good idea merely from the standpoint of checking out the party place heralded as the most fun in Bronze Bay. I get a little excited at the prospect of letting loose. It’s been a long, concentrated month with all of my efforts zoned in on one thing.
“You can even invite Caroline,” Leif says. “I want her to bring her friend.”
“Which friend?” I’m almost positive he means Shirley. That one is down to fuck, one-hundred percent.
Leif describes her and I’m surprised he’s describing her other friend. “Malena,” I deadpan. “Why her?”
He tilts his head and starts listing things he likes about her using one finger at a time. The list is all physical, of course, but he’s remembered features about her that I didn’t, so he’s really into her. “Sure. I’ll ask,” I offer. Caroline might not be down with the idea at all. The last time we were all together at the bar those people ate her alive in that twisted frenemy way.
“They’re already darker, dude. I bet by tonight you’ll be a right fine monster,” Leif says, admiring my face.
Groaning, I tell them to take me back to land. “I need to work out or something,” I say. “So she’ll look at other parts of me instead of my face.” No one ever questions their vanity until something happens to their fucking face. I went and cock-blocked myself.
