"Ok. Fasten that velcro strap around your ankle so you won't lose your board and let's go. Follow me and just do everything I do."

She fastened the strap around her ankle like he did and followed him out into the choppy ocean waves carrying her board under her arm and then laid down on it on her stomach and started paddling like he was doing. He was fast so it was hard to keep up with him but she did. He saw a big wave getting ready to crash into them so he yelled, "Get on the back of your board and tip the nose up out of the water!"

She watched and imitated what he did and the wave passed by her. They had to do that several times before they got past the choppy surf.

They straddled the boards and sat there in the calmer water and he said, "Ok. I'll take the first good wave I see. Watch what I do."

She nodded, breathing hard as she felt adrenaline going through her veins. She was excited to try surfing for the first time but nervous because the waters were really starting to get pretty choppy and the wind was picking up as some dark clouds moved in and the waves crashed harder against the shore.

Her brother was a surfer and she had watched him plenty of times so she knew these were perfect conditions for surfing but they could also be dangerous.

"Here comes a wave. I'm gonna take it!" he called out as he started paddling away from her out towards it. She watched as he laid down onto the board, moving quickly with his arms paddling. The wave got closer and he lined himself up perfectly before springing to his feet and he rode the long wave sideways, staying up the whole length of the wave and finally diving forward into the water at the end. He made his way back over to her

"That was amazing. You make it look so easy," she said.

"Are you ready to try one?"

"Sure," she told him with a mixture of excitement and hesitation. "I love trying new things like this. I just don't know if I can do it."

"You can do it. I'll talk you through it," he reassured her.

They sat on the boards and waited a couple minutes, the water lapping at their legs as their boards bobbed in the water.

"Here comes a good one for you. It's the perfect size. Take it!" he said.

She imitated what he had done and laid down on the board and started paddling out towards it facing towards the shore. As it got closer, she was trying to look back at it to see if she was in the right spot and he yelled, "Now! Stand up now!"

She tried to hop up to her feet but lost her balance and fell sideways, splashing into the water as the wave crashed over her head. She kicked and swam towards the surface, holding onto the surfboard and broke through above the water. She climbed back up on the board and paddled over to him.

"That was a good try. The reason you lost your balance is because your feet weren't far enough apart and your arms weren't out like I showed you. Try it again and this time stand up a little sooner before the wave gets so close to you."

"Ok," she nodded, wiping the water from her face and blinking. "I can do this," she told herself out loud.

"Here's another wave. Go ahead and take it!" he called out.

She started paddling out and jumped to her feet right at the right time and held it for a few seconds but she wobbled and lost her balance, falling head first into the water.

He gave her a high five and said, "Good job. You're making progress. You actually got up on your feet that time. Just work on standing on the board where I showed you so you won't lose your balance."

The next wave was a big one so he took it and she watched as he got to his feet and rode the wave all the way across again.

"No fair! You make it look so easy!" she said when he got back to her.

"It is easy," he said with a smile and wink.

She rolled her eyes and smacked him with a laugh.

He had a big smile on his face and she could tell surfing made him really happy.

"I wouldn't let it get you down. Surfing just takes practice and once you get a feel for controlling the board and balancing on it, it gets a lot easier. You'll get it one day if you don't give up," he said reassuringly.

"I won't give up. I'm stubborn and I never quit if it's something I really want to get good at. Ok I'm going to try this next wave," she said with determination.

She tried several more runs with no success but he gave her advice after every failed attempt on what she did wrong. Finally a wave came and she paddled out to it and jumped to her feet at just the right time. She remembered everything he had told her about keeping her head up and where to stand on the board and how to bend her knees and keep her arm out in front of her. She rode the wave for several seconds this time and she could hear his loud cheers in the distance before she fell forward into the ocean.

When she stood up out of the water he was cheering for her with his arms in the air and it made her smile. She was surprised he was so encouraging and such a patient teacher. It made her feel like he was going to be a good Dad one day to their future kids. That seemed so weird to think about because he was still mostly a stranger.

She paddled back out to him and he had a big smile on his face and gave her a high five.

"You did it! You actually rode a wave! That wasn't bad at all for your first time surfing."

She smiled and said, "Well I had a really good teacher."

"Yeah you did," he laughed, teasing her and she smacked his chest and rolled her eyes, laughing as she shook her head.

He smiled over at her with his straight white teeth and she smiled back shyly, feeling butterflies in her stomach. He sat up straight running both his hands up through his wet hair and she could see the muscles from his arms flexing as he did it and she bit her lip and looked away.

They stayed out there surfing for a while until he said, "It looks like there's a pretty nasty storm coming in and these waves are starting to get too dangerous for a beginner. You should probably wait for me on the beach just to be safe. I'd hate for you to get hurt."

"Oh. Ummm. Okay. You don't think you should come in too?" she asked nervously, looking up at the dark clouds in the sky. "It looks like it could be dangerous for you too."

"No. I just got started," he said. "This is perfect surfing weather for me."

She reluctantly said "Ok" and paddled back towards the beach, laid out her beach towel and sat on it. She watched nervously as huge waves crashed against the shore.

"Be careful!" she screamed to him with her hands cupped around her mouth and he gave her a thumbs up and a confident smile.

She couldn't help but worry. She had a strange feeling in her gut that something bad was going to happen so she kept an eye on him.

He was getting further out from the shore and a big wave was headed his way so he started paddling and jumped up to his feet at exactly the right time. He was able to ride the wave the whole way and at the very end he put his arms up in the air and cheered.

Even seeing how excited he was didn't calm her jittery nerves. He rode a few more huge waves all the way through and he looked like a pro out there. He was really good at this.

She noticed the small row boat that was hooked to the dock nearby was bobbing up and down pretty violently now with the waves getting stronger and the wind was really picking up. In the distance she heard a rumble of thunder and even darker clouds were moving in pretty fast.

She shouted, "Hey! I think it's time to come in! It looks like a bad storm is heading this way!"

She scanned the water and saw him sitting on the surfboard but it didn't look like he could hear her. She got up off the towel and started waving her arms to get his attention but he was too focused on the huge wave that was coming up behind him. He started paddling out like he did so many times before but Eva noticed that this wave was different. It was so tall that it towered over him.

That wave looked like a wall of water. He jumped to his feet on the board and rode the inside of that wave for a long time but it started closing in on him towards the end and crashed down on him hard, dragging him under the water. She saw half of his broken surfboard fly up into the air.

"Paulo!" Eva screamed, running towards the water and searching for any sign of him among the rough waves. "Paulo!" she screamed even louder, but there was nothing.

She noticed a long orange torpedo buoy like lifeguards use hanging from the boat dock and Eva grabbed it and started running into the ocean. She snapped on her goggles and pushed them hard against her eyes to suction them on.

She was an excellent swimmer and she knew if she could just get to him she could save his life. A hard wave crashed against her and she jumped up and dove into the water, swimming as hard as she could towards the area where she had seen the wave crash against him.

She swam out farther, fighting against the strong current and the waves until she finally reached that spot. She took a huge gasp of air before diving down under the water and searching for him. The water was pretty clear but with the dark clouds overhead blocking the sun it made it harder to find him.