Lunch was a quick sandwich at the restaurant at the country club, then they all sort of crashed for a short rest - or nap in some cases - before going back into the water. Chris and JC were surfing again, this time without the contest, and even Justin got up occasionally. Joey was watching the shoreline as much as he was watching the water, and Marissa happened to be looking at him when he stiffened and froze. The waves washing over his shoulders didn't seem to have any effect on him. She touched Anika's arm and they moved slowly towards him, fighting the waves.
Shouting distracted them, and they looked to see as, almost in slow motion, Justin's board - having abandoned Justin - leapt out of the water and hit Joe on the head. He dropped like a rock.
"Joey!" Marissa screamed, and tried to run to where she could see him floating face down in the water. Anika was right behind her. They reached him about the time the lifeguard did, and helped pull him onto the beach. It didn't take long for him to come back around, coughing up the water he'd breathed and moaning about a headache, but by the time he had, Justin was next to him, white faced and trembling.
"Joe, man, I'm sorry," he said when Joey finally focused eyes on him. "I can't control that thing yet. I didn't think I was that far in."
Joey blinked at him, not really ready to get up, his head pounding. "'s okay," he finally slurred. "Anyone got any aspirin?"
"I've got Advil," Marissa said gently. Lance touched her arm and gave her a tremulous smile that made her feel a little better.
The lifeguard gently felt the back of Joe's head. "What's your name?"
Joey paused, horror on his face, then sighed. "Joe Fatone." He sounded almost resigned.
The man turned to Justin. "You?"
"Justin Timberlake," he said carelessly. "He's going to be okay? I didn't mean to hit him."
"Do you know him?" the guard asked.
Justin nodded. "Yeah. We're friends."
The lifeguard nodded. "I need to talk to you." He set Joey's head gently back on the sand. "When you feel well enough, you probably ought to go home," he said, and beckoned Justin to follow him. They stepped away from the group as JC and Chris arrived, surfboards in hand.
"What happened?" Chris demanded.
"Justin lost control of his board and it hit Joe, I guess," Marissa said. "At least, that's what it looked like. Joey wasn't paying attention; he was focused pretty hard on someone out here." She gestured at the beach.
"Let's get him up to the blankets, at least," Anika suggested, and Chris, who had been scowling at Marissa, turned to his downed friend. He and JC helped him up and walked him carefully to their blankets, and Marissa dug into her bag for the Advil she knew she had. Joey swallowed four of them and lay back down as Justin arrived, looking downcast.
"Man," he mumbled.
"Justin," Marissa said quietly with a smile. "Next time, aim the board at me. At least that injury wouldn't get in the way of your career."
He stared at her, mouth opened, then smiled a little wistfully. "Yeah, maybe I will."
Lance slapped him lightly on the back of the head. "No, you won't. You don't do that to ladies."
"I don't know that you could call me a lady," Marissa grinned. "A real lady might very well take offense if you tried to call me one."
JC laughed at Lance's stunned expression. "We'll have to see about that," he said.
"What was Joe looking at?" Chris asked.
Marissa glanced around the beach, then got up and walked towards the water, going in as deep as she dared. After a minute, Lance followed her, watching in some confusion as she stood in the water, trying to guess where he'd been looking. "Whatever it was, it was in that direction." She pointed off to her left. Lance followed her finger, and he went still. Marissa gave him a shove. "Don't do that. The last one who did got hit with a surfboard."
He stumbled out of the water and strode up to where the group was gathered, Marissa right behind. "He saw Gina," he reported, and Chris muttered a curse.
"I didn't even think. This is where they met, after all," he said.
"Why don't we get him home?" Anika suggested. "He'll be able to rest better there."
"I'll be fine," Joey muttered, but didn't open his eyes.
"Did you know she'd be here?" JC asked.
"No," Joey said softly.
"I think getting him home is a great idea," Justin said nervously.
"Don't crucify yourself, Justin. It was an accident," Marissa said firmly. "I hate guilt trips you put on yourself, and it couldn't be helped, so just stop it."
Joe laughed softly. "And if I didn't have this headache, I'd say the same thing."
Marissa turned and started packing up the blanket she and Anika had been using, pulling her clothes on as she found them. She was almost done when Chris grabbed her right arm, in the exactly same place he had that morning. She winced; she was really going to have bruises. It had been pure luck no one had noticed the ones she'd gotten that morning - or else they hadn't turned blue yet.
"What was that for?" he demanded softly.
"What?" she asked, honestly confused.
"That tone with Justin."
She glared at him. "Look, Chris. I'm really sick of this. Are you going to tell me that Justin wasn't going to just wallow in guilt for at least the rest of the day? Because that sure looked like what was going to happen. I hate hanging around people like that. Don't even say it," she added as he opened his mouth. He closed it with a snap. "He needed to hear it, and the sooner the better. I'm not going to let you chase me off this time, so get used to me." She pulled her arm from his grip and turned to finish picking things up. He turned away from her, stalking across the sand to where his own stuff was. Marissa sighed softly and rubbed at her arm. No more swimming, at least not with these guys around, until the bruises were gone. She finished packing everything into her bag and straightened.
No one seemed to have seen the exchange between herself and Chris, for which she was grateful. They were focused instead on a very pretty, bikini-clad young lady who seemed to want to talk to Joey. Marissa drifted close enough to hear Joey say, rather too loudly considering how he winced, that he didn't want to talk to her. Anika turned and looked at Marissa as she stopped next to her. "Who is that?" Marissa asked.
"I don't know, but none of them like her much," Anika told her.
Marissa paused. "Go tell Chris to get Joey out of there. I don't think I ought to talk to him any more than I have to."
Anika looked at her in some consternation. "What happened?"
"Just today, a ton of things. I'll tell you tonight. Maybe. Go tell him, okay?"
Anika nodded, and it wasn't long before Chris had Joey up, arm slung over his shoulder, and the two walked down to the car. The girl tried to follow, but JC blocked her. "Gina, he doesn't want to talk to you. Just leave him alone."
Justin took Marissa's arm as Lance offered his to Anika; to Marissa's surprise, they'd managed to get everything of theirs picked up as well.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asked Justin as they walked up to the street where the car was parked.
He glanced at her. "Yeah, I think so. What did Chris say?"
She paused a minute. "This morning? I thought we went through that."
"No, just a minute ago. I saw him heading over there, then we kind of had to guard Joey."
"Who was she?"
"Chris told you about that friend of Joe's he found out had been boasting that she knew him, right?" She nodded. "That was her."
"Oh... How did he find out?"
"His brother heard about it. Steve almost didn't tell him, but I guess he figured it would be better coming from him than through the grapevine."
"Was it?" she asked softly.
Justin helped her into the car. "I don't know," he said slowly. "Ask Joey." Marissa nodded and settled into the seat next to Joey, relieved she'd managed to deflect Justin's question. "I'm going back with Chris, so we might be a little late, but we'll meet you there," Justin announced.
"You sure that's a good idea?" JC asked from behind Justin. Anika smiled at him, then turned to look for the girl. Gina, they'd said her name was, stood on the edge of the beach, arms folded, but she was too far away for Anika to see what her expression was.
"Yeah. I gotta talk to him." Justin flashed JC a brilliant smile that only made JC look more uncertain.
"Okay, but don't antagonize him."
Justin shrugged, turned away, and ran over to where Chris waited for him.
Anika touched JC's shoulder. "He'll be okay, won't he?"
JC grinned and helped her into the suburban. "Who are you asking about?"
Anika paused, then shrugged. "Both, I guess."
He laughed. "Chris is okay, just.... going through a bad spell."
"Do they usually last months on end?" Marissa asked. "Because this one seems to be lasting forever." Silence filled the car. "Ah, so the truth comes out. It's my fault. I rather thought so." She smiled brightly at them. "Let's get Joey home before he falls asleep and hurts himself more."
"Hey, that wasn't my fault," he muttered.
"You're the one that told me I should always keep at least one eye on the waves and the surfers," Anika said. "How am I supposed to learn if you don't even follow your own advice?"
"Because he got whacked in the head with a board," Lance said.
"Oh, right...." Anika grinned, and patted Joey's leg gently. "You shouldn't allow that to happen, you know. It's frightfully embarrassing."
"Not to mention painful," Joey added.
The drive back was quiet; JC drove carefully to avoid as many bumps as he could. Once inside, Joey vanished into a room as everyone else spread out around the house, most of them napping.
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