Page 33 of Therapy Session: Session Two
“Do you have a fear of being in the ocean? Because we’re not swimming, we’re kayaking. You’ll have a vest on.” I assured her.
“I’m okay being in the water, as long as I don’t have to get in.”
The food came out a short time later while we ate, laughed, and talked about whatever random topics arose.
“Are y’all ready to go? Our time slot starts in five minutes,” I said, wiping my hands with the napkin and getting up to put my things in the garbage.
“Yeah,” they answered at the same time.
I stood and cleared the table, taking their plates to the trash.
We walked over to the place to sign the waivers and pick up the kayak, paddles, and life vests.
I put on the life vest, while Q helped Shareese secure hers. I laughed because it looked like she did not want his help at all, and he just didn't care and kept securing it. He had never mentioned it; he didn’t have to, but I know she was tough on him. When she said that they coparented without blurring the lines, watching them interact outside of sex, I wholeheartedly believed her. I could tell that she was feisty and kept him on his toes.When he finished hers, he turned to me and pulled the buckles of my vest, making sure they were secured, and then kissed my forehead.
Then he carried the kayak to the water and handed us the paddles.
“Breeze, next time let me be in charge of the activities, I don’t know what you got us doing,” Shareese protested, making me laugh.
“Sha, I’m just going along with it,” Quentin agreed as I laughed harder.
“This is fun,” I said once I composed myself.
At first, the kayaking experience was fine. We were mellow, enjoying the sea's calm. But the further we got; Shareese started to panic.
“Let’s turn around, we’re almost out there with the boats,” she said. I could hear the anxiousness in her voice.
“There’s a marker out over there that we can’t go past,” I yelled up to her in an effort to ease her mind.
It did not.
“We’re going to turn around, Sha,” Q responded.
As we were paddling back to the beach, a jellyfish attached itself to Shareese’s paddle. Not on her, not in the kayak itself, just on the end of the paddle. She freaked the hell out. It was almost like one of those bad ass kids who were scared of the smallest thing, like static from the television.
“Sha!” Quentin said sternly in an effort to calm her down, but she was not having it, and she wound up flipping us out of the kayak.
That was an even bigger issue, because she had just said she couldn’t swim and didn’t want to be in the water. As if the moment couldn’t get any worse, she proceeds to “drown” while wearing a life vest.
Quentin swam to her and held her up by each side of the vest.
“Calm down, Shareese. You’re not drowning,” he said in the most monotone voice while she literally had a panic attack. I turned the kayak over, grabbed the paddles, and got in.She stopped crying and allowed him to hold her. Quentin was exactly who I thought he was. He was a man’s man. And the way he reeled Shareese in proved that.
He swam over to the kayak with her, put her in the middle, and took her paddle.
“You okay, B?” He asked as I nodded.
“Shareese, you alright?” I asked as she got in the middle and folded her arms across her chest while we paddled back to shore.
“No, Steve Irwin, I am not okay,” she snapped. I held in my laughter until I was almost blue in the face.
As we paddled back to the shore, I got lost in my thoughts. This whole experience had been surreal. If I were honest, I don’t think that I wanted it to end. I was in a place doing the wildestthings, and no one knew me or could judge me for it. I wanted to feel this liberation and this freedom forever. But deep down, I knew this could never be my life.
***
The dinner went well; the food and conversation were good. I was more surprised that we were able to coexist like old friends rather than being awkward.
Shareese ordered a bottle of tequila from the restaurant, and we brought it back to the villa. Quentin had been adamant that on our encounter, we had sober experiences, and I understood why. He didn’t want me to wake up and regret anything that I had done or feel like he had coerced me into doing something I wouldn’t otherwise do. I respected that. But Shareese? She did not. She ordered a margarita, he objected, and she said, “Quentin, after I almost died today, please don’t piss me off before you’re floating in the ocean like a coral reef.”
