A Chance Encounter

• Zoe Huang, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2017

The sea. It called to her. The satisfying smell of the salty sea air that inevitably came with fishing brought peace and tranquillity. Such a small and insignificant task yet it whiled away the unfilled hours in which Zarine would inevitably start pondering the inner mechanisms of men. The crashing of the waves as they raced each other to their undoings drowned out the tha-thump of her heart whenever she thought of him.

Unbidden, the image of his hazelnut eyes twinkling with amusement rose to the forefront of her mind. Since laying her eyes upon Nathan – the new guy at school – she had not been able to scrub the image of his heart-warming smile framed by his shoulder-length hair from her mind’s eye. Shaking her head with a growl, Zarine firmly and resolutely pushed away from the image of his face. She didn't even know him.

Her rod dipped, once…twice. Glad for the distraction, she jerked the rod to snare the fish before reeling it in. Immediately she felt a difference, it wouldn’t budge, refusing to move in any direction from the unseen threat that had him hooked…literally. It was like she had caught a whale. She strained, pulling at the rod. Sweat broke out on her forehead. Hands started to lose their grip. Abruptly, it stopped. The tension vanished. Zarine flew backwards, into the sand.

Frowning, she pulled herself painfully to her feet, wading towards her line. It wasn't far, her eyes followed the line to the tumble of rocks on her left…to a branch – driftwood – clasped in pale, trembling hands.
"You sure put up a hell of a fight…is it, Zarine?"
The pained voice, it was familiar.
"Nathan?"
"Sorry I freaked you. I slipped, I couldn't get up and I saw your line…I needed to catch your attention," he laughed weakly.
Holy heavens. That laugh. It filled corners of her soul that she never knew existed. He shivered, the wind was getting stronger, whipping his gentle curls into a wild frenzy. Zarine felt like her heart was trying to match their dance.

"Okay," her voice wavered, "which foot is hurt?"
"My left."
"I’m going to help you up, lean on my shoulders, okay?"
Not giving him time to respond, she slipped her arms under his slender shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position, letting him tuck his right foot under so he could stand up. The wind hit him in its full force, raising goose-bumps on his arms. She prayed that he couldn’t feel her racing pulse.
"There's no way you can get back up those rocks, we'll have to go around, back to the beach. What were you doing here anyway?"
"I wanted to be alone…the way those guys at school fought for my favour, I felt like a dog up for adoption.”

In that moment, she knew. She wanted him, to be with him, laugh with him, and cry with him.
“You can sit with me…if you want.”