Mon Unexpected Travel Buddies

First Dive Mishap

Scuba diving? Payton only required a refresher course, but Monisha had never attempted it even once in her life. Desperately wanting to live up to doing what’s out-of-the-ordinary, she tagged along despite having claustrophobia.

“Here are your wetsuits,” an odd-sounding young fellow with scruffy hair came out with, according to Monisha, what looked like superhero suits. He was the driving instructor. His accent was inconsistently American, Australian, and… Jamaican? “We’ll go over the rest of the gear on the boat when you’ve changed into them,” he continued as he handed them their suits.

“I’m sorry, but this looks a little too tight for me. I don’t think I’ll fit into this with what I’m wearing today,” reasoned an oblivious Monisha. She made sure to put on the baggy shirt she purchased from a souvenir shop as she was self-conscious about the two-piece bikini she had to wear underneath.

The driving instructor looked baffled. “You have to take your shirt off,” he pointed out. “You do have something under, right? Otherwise, you’d have to go commando,” he joked.

Monisha looked around. There were dozens of bikini-clad women lounging on the beach. But unlike them, she wasn’t confident about taking her shirt off in front of people she didn’t know. She didn’t know what to do. She was starting to feel anxious.

Payton noticed the discomfort painted all over Monisha’s face. At that instant, he not only worried about her, but he felt protective of her too. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

“They have a changing room. Do you want me to accompany you? I can just change outside. I can be your lookout,” he volunteered.

Monisha was keeping her thoughts to herself, but Payton was discerning. She nodded and lowered her head to avoid eye contact with Payton. She had the suit clutched tightly in her hand as he walked her to the changing room. She felt embarrassed that he noticed, but she was also thankful towards him.

I hope I’m not inconveniencing him. But I genuinely want to hang around him. I’ve never had friends like him. He understands women so well, and he’s so trustworthy, not to mention reliable.

“Mon?” called Payton, interrupting Monisha’s inner-thought rambling. “Are you okay in there? You’re too quiet.”

“Oh, uhm, yeah, Pay. I’m… urgh… okay. Just s-s-ugh-squeezing myself into this Black Widow suit. You got to give me a minute,“ she said to break the ice. She didn’t want to be a mood-killer, her friend didn’t deserve that kind of attitude from her. She wanted to be a go-getter for him today.

As Monisha walked out of the changing room, crouching her back, she was extra conscious of how her friend was looking at her. It was as if he was scrutinizing her from head-to-toe. This is what they do, she presumed. On the contrary, Payton was merely orienting his concupiscent eyes to her every curve. Damn. He was satisfyingly surprised with how she fitted so well in her wetsuit that he didn’t have time to even think of looking away.

“I’m no Scarlett Johansson, you know. I’m more like the Hulk except I’m still big even when the sun gets really low,” she sheepishly jest.

“What are you talking about? You look absolutely fine,” he rebutted.

Payton didn’t want to ignore the superhero reference, but he didn’t want to seem like he was overly enjoying himself. He also wanted to avoid making Monisha too conscious of her figure. He knew his stare was making her uncomfortable. He needed to chill the f**k out, so he refrained from engaging his eyes from looking and his mouth from talking until they embarked on the chartered boat that would take them to their diving spot.

The boat dive spot was about half an hour away from shore. The water was changing to a slightly darker shade of blue compared to the nearly crystal-clear water of the beach. They were sandwiched between the breathtaking views of a vast ocean and the many islands of Vanuatu. As they took in the salty air of the ocean, they all pondered on how great of a day it was to be out in the waters.

“We’ll proceed with the five-point descent when we jump into the water,” said their driving instructor as he concluded his introduction to scuba diving and their pre-diving safety check.

Monisha was thrilled to be scuba diving for the first time. She remembered the first time she saw snow as a child—it was that kind of thrill. She didn’t think of her claustrophobia; she was positive she had left all her anxieties on the shore. She had an enthusiastic grin she couldn’t keep to herself that she was starting to look like a weirdo.

Their diving instructor was first to get off the boat and into the water, followed by Payton, and lastly, the impossibly zealous Monisha. They went over their signals, oriented themselves with their surroundings, changed to their regulators, checked their devices, and initiated descent.

Compared to the two men, Monisha was descending much slower. They were far ahead of her, or should we say under? She wasn’t any good at equalizing, so in order to avoid any ear pain she wanted to take her time moving deeper into the water. As she watched her buddies drift downward to the ocean floor, she noticed water getting into her mask. Their instructor demonstrated earlier how to clear their masks, but oh, no. It was too late—a panic attack was ensuing. Though the mask wasn't filled with water, her vision was getting darker and fuzzy. She couldn't keep her eyes open. She needed to surface to the boat. There was weight resting on her chest, she couldn’t breathe. She helplessly kicked both legs to push herself upwards. She rushed to ascend, then gasped for air as soon as her head popped out of the water. She clasped her hands firmly on both sides of the boat’s ladder as she pulled herself upwards. She threw off her mask. She still wasn’t thinking straight, and her respiration was hard and fast. In a haste, she clumsily removed her wetsuit—oh no, she accidentally pulled off her flimsy bikini’s strap along with the suit.

“Oh, f**k,” was Payton’s first utterance as he emerged from the water. An expression befitting the predicament he found himself in. He didn’t want to relish a scene that wasn’t intended for his viewing. And yet, there he was with his eyes defiantly not blinking, as if freezing that split second to make it last longer.

Immediately as he snapped out of it, he covered his mouth with both hands, and quietly sunk himself back into the water. The water was cold, but there was heat rising in his body. He reprimanded himself for his unsavory thoughts, and repeated to himself to forget about it. But certainly, there are things that cannot be unseen in one's memories. More importantly, he needed to get past this inner scuffle with lustful thoughts, so he could get on the boat to help get her back to her senses. He was sure something was wrong, although he didn’t know what it was.

When Payton and their dive instructor ascended, Monisha had already put her shirt on. She was sitting in the corner—trembling and panting. Seeing this, Payton scurried over to find out what was wrong with her.

“Mon, what’s wrong?” was the neglected query of Payton. Monisha was inattentive, as though she was in a different reality. Payton grabbed two dry, clean towels from a pile they had on the boat. He wrapped his friend from the front and back with the towels.

Look at me, Mon. Please, look at me. Just try to look, Mon.

These weren’t her thoughts, but somehow they were resonating in her mind. Wait—what? It’s Payton, ascertained Monisha. She bawled her eyes out when she saw his face, his hands were on her shoulders. She could finally breathe again. She not only surfaced from the water this time, but she surfaced back to reality.

“I’m sorry, Pay—I’m really sorry,” she cried. “Water got into my mask, and I panicked. I couldn’t breathe, I thought I was drowning. I thought it could be a heart attack—”

Payton sighed inwardly in relief. “Hey, it’s okay."

"It's not okay. I-I—"

"I’m just glad you’re alright."

"Thank you, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry—"

"Do you want to head back now?”

“Y-yes, if that’s okay with you.”

“I don’t mind. The water was kind of cold for me anyway. I’ll talk to them.”

“A-also,"

"Yeah?"

"Could you ask them if I can keep one of these towels? My bikini strap snapped, and I’m not comfortable walking around in this white shirt with nothing under—it’s too revealing.”

Payton’s eyes went wide, and his eyebrows raised to the corners of his forehead. He quickly managed to look away and covered his face with a palm to conceal his now-crimson face. His heart was racing—he was on edge again. He was close to forgetting what he had seen, but now he was involuntarily playing it in his head… on loop.

“S-sure,” he stuttered.