What was there to say about Miami that day? The sky was blue, again. The sun was out, again. And Teddy Pullman was surfing, again. The usual. He headed back to the beach with his board, ignoring the usual looks that someone of his stature and physique got, and walked out to his truck in the parking lot for a beer. Mmm. Beer. Today was going to be a nice, calm day... He seemed to be needing them more often nowadays.
Everyone needed a chance to get out of the house now and again, and while it was still oh so wrong to the Oregon born mortal to have ocean water that was actually warm, Alana couldn't help making use of the chance to actually go to the beach and get herself out of her house for at least a bit. Seeing the familiar truck of Teddy's, she found a spot for her own not far off and got out. Ah, there was the giant now. Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she strolled up to him, then paused, and grinned. Oh, to be minorly evil. She waited until he was starting a drink, and gave a wolf whistle.
He poked his head back up from the back seat, sandwich stuffed into his mouth and two beers in hand. "Hewwo?"
She neared the vehicle, arching an eyebrow at the two beers. "Hope ya aren't planning on driving, officer."
Teddy arched and eyebrow at her before letting the sandwich fall onto the top of one can. "Never said I wasn't walkin', miss."
"Plannin' on just leavin' your car here then? Should I ask for your keys?" She shifted to lean against the frame of the door, peering at him curiously.
He stuck his tongue out at her. "Depends, would I ever get them back?"
"Maybe. Depends on how much I liked your ride." Alana glanced down at the sandwich he had, and realized she should have brought some of her own food. Eh, there would be something close.
He noted the eying and handed it over. "Can't eat if I'm going to be swimmin'," he said as an excuse, giving her a wink.
She took the sandwich without hesitation and bite into it, chewing and swallowing before answering. "Thanks. That what you're out here for?"
Hope she liked ham and cheese. "Surfing, actually."
This wasn't the most picky girl in the world. Her eyebrow went up at the mention. "Yeah?"
Nodding, he gestured his head to the large board beside him, colored blue with a red lion adorning it. It looked old, but loved. "It's my zen thing, again."
"How many zen things you got goin'?" she asked, finishing the sandwich with breaking it into pieces.
Herakles grinned at her with a chuckle. "Given my past record of breakdowns? Alot."
"Smart. Maybe I should find a good gun range and find my own zen outlet..." She glanced to the waves and the beach, trying not to make a face at the bikini clad bodies that were way to thin by her standards. "Is it hard?"
Good to see she and Herk had similar standards. Yes, they looked fairly good, but when it came down to it, he liked to have some flesh to touch and not bones. "Is what hard?"
"Surfing." She nodded to the board to clarify her statement.
"Hm, guess that depends on the person," he said in return, "like any sport. I like it. You really have to focus and be careful. S'good when I don't want to think too hard."
She gave him an odd look. "You do somethin' ya really have to concentrate on when ya don't want to think?" she repeated back, a small hint of amusement to her tone.
"Yeah." He blinked at her. She didn't get it? "If you're focusing super hard on one thing, kinda hard to think about other stuff, ain't it?"
"But it's still thinkin'," she pointed out. She pushed away the frame. "Think ya can teach me?"
Teddy's eyes went wide with delight. "I can teach anyone," he said confidently.
Alana grinned in return. "We'll see 'bout that. Got time now?"
"If you do!"
She shrugged. "I've got some time."
He tucked his beer cans into his pockets, picked his board up with one arm, and offered her the free one. "Let's go, then."
An eyebrow arched at the taking of beer cans with him, but after a moment of thought, she accepted the arm to follow him down to the water.
Never part a man, or god, from his beer. Setting them down into the sand, he put the board flat into it as well. "Stand on it."
Alana blinked, then slipped her shoes completely off and rolled up the hem of her jeans, before moving to stand on the board, and glancing at him for the next set of directions.
He glanced at her body, then shook his head. "Almost..." Kneeling, he adjusted her stance, small but precise changes from head to toe. "there."
Her body moved as he adjusted it, not fighting the changes and trying to make it feel right. Once he had her in place, she considered, trying to put it in her memory, then stepped off and back on, trying to get back into the same position once more.
This time, he only adjusted her knees. "Just like that," he praised.
Alana wrinkled her nose. The balance felt funky. Well, she'd deal with that later. "Alright. Now what?"
"Do the stance again, for now," he said. Plopping down into sitting, he popped open a beer. "Practice makes perfect."
".... I may have to try to hurt you later," she mentioned, but did as told, stepping off of the board, then back on, taking the position again.
He laughed and nodded. "You did it just right that time."
"Good. Means I can act'ly learn." This time she jumped off, landing in the sand next to him before stepping up on it again.
He chuckled and nudged her with his elbow. "Hey. Do as your teacher commands."
She shifted her pose and bowed toward him as gracefully as she could. "Yes, master."
"Good job, grasshopper." He handed her a beer.
She stepped off the board and sat next to him as she accepted it, popping it open and taking a drink. "If I go out there, you won't let me drowned, right?"
Teddy paused to rub his chin, seeming to consider it. But then, of course, "Certainly not."
"Good, cause I'd kinda rather not die drowning." Of all the ways that were possible for her die, somehow, that seemed... anti-climatic.
The god chuckled and shrugged. "Worser ways to go? Drowning seems pretty quick."
She gave him a look of slight disbelief. "Quick? You're choking on water and suffocating to death. How the fuck is that quick?"
He arched an eyebrow at her. "Faster than burning to death."
"Not as quick as decapitation," she shot back, taking another easy drink of her beer.
"Let's avoid that sort of stuff then, kay?"
Alana shrugged. "You ain't the one who's gonna die someday," she muttered, but let the topic drop. "So, candy canes and lollipops?"
"Mmm, candy canes." Consider the topic dropped. "What brings you out to the beach?"
That was one way to drop it. She shrugged. "Just gettin' outta the house. You?"
"Like I said, zen, surfing, etc." He looked at her in her jeans and t-shirt, tugging at the sleeve curiously. "You gotta be the only woman on the beach with some decent clothes on, too."
She swatted his hand away from her sleeve. "Maybe cause I'm one of the only ones tryin' ta stay 'way from the meat market." But his comment made her glance around and see what the others were up wearing. "I got my swim suit if I plan ta get wet enough for it to matter though..."
Teddy paused as his brain immediately conjured up an image of Alana in a bikini. Whoa, stop that. He shook his head a bit and sipped at his beer before answering, "Well, you'll get to do that. We'll start you off on a boogey board first before we give you a real board."
"Sounds good to me." She watched some of the people for a moment more, almost cringing at how burned a pair looked like they already were before straightening up enough to pull her shirt off and reveal the tank top like swimsuit top she wore. No. No bikini for this woman.
Whoa. Even if it was just a tank top, it was more revealing than a shirt. His face flushed a bit, Teddy turned his attention to the beach. Less boobies. More bachelor... ness. "So what's next for our dance thing? The macarena?"
"Fuck no! I pull out that shit and I'll never live it down." Ugh. The horror. She stood up so she could shed her jeans to the swim short type bottom that she wore. All together, it was like a one piece that had just been cut in half. "I was thinkin' either swing, or seein' how you'd do with what I can only call club style."
Gack! Shorts! His eyes demanded they scope out the muscular lady legs, a perfect combo, but he did his best to be polite. And single. "Club style?"
"Yeah. Less an actual style, mostly free form and tryin' ta prove you have some sense of how to dance." She shrugged, and piled her clothes together as she grabbed a hair tie from the pocket of her pants. Might as well get it into a pony tail now.
"So kind of just flailing around," he guessed, looking up to her face. And just her face. Rock on.
She peered down at him and grinned. "Flailin' around with style."
Teddy laughed. "Okay, how about we go with swing? I was around for that era."
"I'll teach ya what I can, but we'll prob'ly have ta find some place local ta get ya any good at it. I only know the basics," she mentioned.
He shrugged and went back to his beer, looking at the ocean quietly. Not because of the conversation, he just liked being quiet once in a while. But he did pat the spot next to him, inviting her to sit by him.
She arched an eyebrow at that. Hadn't she just stripped to go out into the ocean? But she bent and grabbed her own beer again, moving and taking a seat on the board, rather than the sand.
"Hm." He closed his eyes and laid back into it. What was a bit of a sand? "S'nice."
Alana peered at him as he laid back, fighting the urge to kick sand on him. Instead, she leaned back on one arm herself, and peered out at the beach around them.
He opened an eye, giving in to the urge to look. She looked... nice. "Wanna make the surfing a regular thing?"
She tilted her head to the side to consider. "Would I need to buy a board?"
"Nah. I can get one for ya, consider it my treat."
"I can get one, seasonal bonus and all, but I wouldn't know what ta look for or anything. Might wanna just do it a few times to see if I like it first," she returned.
He arched an eyebrow. "You're not one of those ladies who likes it when guys offer to get stuff, are ya?"
She blinked at him. "Offers to get stuff?"
"Like paying for dinner, or a surfboard in this case, and stuff," he clarified.
"I can cover my own way," she mentioned seriously. "The old man doesn't exactly pay minimum wage."
Herk quickly flew up some hands in gesture of surrender. "Just checkin'. Some girls seem to think that's super offensive nowadays."
"Super offensive, to have stuff bought for 'em or for stuff not to be bought for 'em?" Cause Alana had met at least a few girls who thought it was their given right to be spoiled silly just for smiling at a guy.
"Both. Some say women should buy their own stuff, and that men paying for meals and such think they're weak. But other girls say men should do it 'cause it's polite." He shrugged.
"All depends on the people involved," she mentioned with a shrug of her own. "No reason for you to be buying me shit when you've gotta worry 'bout enough ta keep food in the fridge." Alana grinned as she said this, then stood and stepped onto his stomach briefly. "Come on, ya gonna teach me ta surf or what?"
He laughed and stood, shaking himself off a bit to get rid of the sand. "Sure. Stay here. I think I have a boogie board in the truck. We can start with that before we throw ya into the big waves." Giving her hair a rustle, he headed back to the truck, returning with a bright blue, plastic board not even half the size of his own.
"Hey!" She gave him a shove as he turned away, forced to take her hair from the pony tail and fix it so that it would actually lay flat again. By the time he got back, she was ready, and walking in the direction of the waves.
He just chuckled and handed her the board. "Okay, stand like I taught you on this one," he instructed, laying the board flat in the wet sand.
Alana went and stood on the smaller board as instructed, glancing at him once she had done so.
"Think you're ready?"
"Won't know till I get out there," she grinned.
He gave her an approving smirk. "Atta girl." With that, and a few more instructions on keeping her balance, he gave her a push, sending her board speeding out at a controllable speed through the light surf.
Alana headed out into the surf, keeping in mind what he had said, and working her way further out to the actual waves. She used the small board to just ride them a time or two, getting a feeling for them, and working her way back out before making any attempt at standing. As predictable, her first attempts were failures, but she kept returning to try again, until she thought she was getting somewhere.
Teddy remained positive, pointing out a few of her faults kindly but sternly, and continued the practice for almost an hour when he noticed that people were beginning to leave, and the sun was near the horizon. "That might be enough for the day."
As he called her in, she rode the final wave in, then shook the water from her face as she stood up, bringing the board with her. She handed it to him, and reached to wring some of the water out of her hair. "Thanks."
The god smiled, and reached over to tuck some of her stray hair back. "No problem."
The gesture caused Alana to rake her own hands through her hair, getting all of it back and out of the way. "So, think I can be trained inta an actual surfer?"
"I don't see why not. You've already got the body for it," he complimented.
She arched an eyebrow at that, wondering just what a surfer's body would be, before letting the comment go. "Ya gonna have the time ta give me more lessons?"
He laughed and shouldered the board, replying, "For you, I can make time."
"Gee, I feel so special!" she tried to gush, sarcastically mimicking some start struck high school fan girl before relaxing and smirking, heading back toward the rest of their things on the beach. "When ya got the time for it?"
He snickered. "We could do it before or after dance lessons. Or on my other day off. Your choice."
"I'd say rotate the two, but I'd kinda like to get in more time than that on the board... When's your other day off?"
"Monday."
"How 'bout we meet at about three then?" she offered. It'd give her time to get off work just a bit early, and she could put in extra time on Saturday to make it up, or just stay later on another day.
He nodded and handed over the board to her. "M'kay. Meet you here?" Pausing for a second, he added with a laugh, "You're monopolizing alot of my time."
Alana grinned. "Hey, not my fault ya ain't any kinda a social life ta keep ya away from me." Or her from him. But she wasn't one to turn down dancing, and surfing had always looked fun. "Ya can always tell me ta fuck off if I'm bein' a pain in the ass."
Teddy laughed and shrugged, turning to head back to his car. As if he was going to turn down either of those, either. "So can you. Need a ride, or did you drive?"
"Naw, I drove. Wasn't expectin' ta find ya here." She carried the board back to their spot, and grabbed her clothes as best she could, as well as the empty can of beer, before heading back up toward his own ride, to give back the board she carried. He could worry about carrying the other one himself.
And he did, guessing her intentions. "Keep it. Or I'll just hunt Dad down and have him give it to ya," he threatened teasingly.
She blinked and turned to look at him. "Don't you need it? I mean, it's your board..."
"I have more," he shrugged. "Consider it a late Christmas present."
"Naw, cause then I'll feel like I have ta get you one." She grinned and resettled the board in her grip. "Thanks though. You'll have ta teach me how to properly treat it."
Herakles grinned back. This could be fun. "See ya later, then."
"See ya later." Alana waved at him as she changed her direction and began to move toward her own truck, and the dry towel that was within it.
Summary: Alana finds Herk at the beach and he gives her some surfing lessons.