Escape Read Free Page A

Lucy was the only one on her own.
    She glanced over at Stacy and Leanne, and they both gave her an apologetic half-smile and a shrug. No help there.
    “Oh,” Rachel said, looking Lucy up and down. “You don’t have a buddy. Not to worry, you can buddy up with me.”
    “Great,” she said, feeling she would quite happily have stripped naked, rather than buddy up with Rachel.
    Rudy stepped in. “That’s okay, Rachel. You concentrate on teaching the group. I’ll buddy up with Lucy.”
    Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but then shut it again. Instead, she forced a smile.
    “Of course, I’d be happy to,” she said.
    He approached Lucy, carrying the diving gear he want ed her to wear. Self-conscious , she stripped off her skirt and vest top, aware she was the only one in a one-piece whe n all of the other girls wore bikinis.
    Screw it , she thought. She hadn’t exactly had time to shop for this holiday.
    There was a lot of equipment: buoyancy vests, air tanks, face masks, weight belts. Luckily, they didn’t need to use fins in the pool, so she was at least excused of one humiliation.
    Rudy helped Lucy put on the dive gear, his hand reaching across her stomach to fasten the belt in place, his body close to hers. He helped her holster on the air tanks, before donning his own. Just the proximity of that gorgeous body , so close to her own, made her catch her breath.
    “Are you ready?” he asked .
    Lucy nodded and placed the mouth-piece between her lips, gripping its rubbe r with her teeth as instructed. She took a couple of deep practice breaths, the nitrous oxide mixture sounding hollow, like a bad imitation of Darth Vader.
    Feeling awkward, Lucy headed down the shallow steps of the pool, Rudy supporting her arm so she didn’t lose her balance. The cool silk of the water crept up her thighs and she gasped a little as it hit her che st. Then she acclimatised and sa nk into the water, relishing the sudden weightlessness of the equipment.
    Rudy gave her the thumbs down, the signa l to go under, and she lowered her head beneath the water, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut as she went. She fought to continue to breathe in and out, slow and steady, but her whole body tried to rebel, and she desperately wanted to hold her breath. Though she was only a couple of feet beneath the surface, she could feel herself starting to panic—her heart rate picking up, her breathing becoming faster. She had never even liked putting her face in the water before. Her heart raced and her arms started to flail, wanting to push herself up to the surface.
    Rudy’s fingers touched her arm and her eyes flew open. Beyond the mask, water swam before her eyes. But Rudy suspended directly in front of her and his brown eyes focused on hers, his impact managing to pierce through the panes of Perspex glass.
    Her breathing slowed and she followed his lead, breathing with the flow of bubbles filtering through his mask.
    Rudy pointed to his own mouth piece and then to hers, indicating for them to swap. The idea of having something that had be en pressed up against his lips, in her mouth, was enough to give her palpitations, but she held it together. Sucking in deep, she held her breath. Carefully, she took the piece out of her mouth, slowly blowing bubbles as she did so, and took Rudy’s mouthpiece from him. She put the regulator in, breathing as she had before.
    He put his thumb and forefinger together, the sign to ask if she was okay.
    Automatically, she gave him the thumbs up, but then realized she was signa l ling to him she wanted to go back up and changed it to an ‘okay’ sign. Lucy laughed through her mouth piece, creating a flurry of bubbles. S h e was actually enjoying herself, she realized. Even around the mouthpiece, Rudy managed to smile back at her.
    Th ough people surrounded them, they were in their own little bubble, focused only upon each other.
    Together, they practiced the different hand signals she needed to know and pretended