South of Nowhere 1. Rip Tide

The sea foamed like a rabid dog waiting to rip apart anyone crazy enough to attempt conquering it this day, the sand whipping across the ankles of Ashley Davies, stinging her flesh as if she were being bitten by a colony of ants, but she ignored the faint irritation. She even ignored the warning signals her brain was attempting to send her through the fogy haze that had overtaken her. This was her competition, and no way was she letting some newbie steal it away from her.

"Davies, look," her best friend Aiden stared worriedly from the chopping waves, to the determined set expression of his friend's face, "maybe you shouldn't go out there. You're still recovering from your accident last season and…those waves…"

"Aiden," she turned her head away from the sea long enough to cast a quick glance to her left, briefly locking eyes with him before looking away, once again becoming lost, "I need to do this." She pulled her board from the sand, tucking it under her arm, jogging up to the shore's edge, "besides," she threw back over her shoulder, "this girl just moved to L.A. and I refuse to be beaten by some rookie."

Aiden didn't respond, just watched her go. He had been skeptical about her entering this competition in the first place, feeling that it was too soon. The weather did nothing to assuage his fears, the dark, heavy clouds perfectly matching the ominous mood he just couldn't seem to shake. Not to mention the new kid, Spencer Carlin, had just been signed to the same surf company, _Rip Curl_, which currently sponsored Ashley, so her competitive streak was far stronger than her body at this moment. _Please just be careful_…he sent up a silent prayer to whatever benevolent being may have been listening, knowing that if Ashley had her way, once she hit those waves, her safety would be the farthest thing from her mind.

_Okay, I can do this._ The waves rolled violently towards her, bringing with them the smell of the sea she had missed for longer than she cared to remember. It had been little over a year, the after her twenty-first birthday. She should have known better than to attempt surfing in The Crag, the roughest part of the beach, the day after partying like there would seriously be no tomorrow. Ashley Davies though? She was cocky, always had been, and to hear Aiden tell it, she always would be. She had believed she was fully capable of tackling the monstrous waves that pounded the shoreline mercilessly, and she had been proven wrong. Proven wrong, and reminded of her inadequacy everyday for fourteen months. _Whatever_, she snapped back into the present, took a deep breath then raced out into the water, paddling her way away from land, and the safety it offered. Her arms sliced cleanly through the water, and she forced herself to ignore the pain that coursed its way through her shoulder.

"Hey."

Ashley spun on her board, trying not to roll her eyes. _It's that Carlin kid. Wonderful. _"Uh, hey," she ran a hand across her face, trying unsuccessfully to wipe away the salt water that ran from her hairline down into her eyes, "I don't think people usually talk out here. Not in the middle of a competition anyway."

"You don't like me much, do you?" The blonde's hair seemed darker, since it was wet, her eyes that much more blue because of the gray backdrop of the day.

"To tell you the truth," Ashley stared off into the distance, "I don't even know you. You're just some other rook who thinks they're hot shit because they've just been sponsored. How long have you been surfing?" She raised an eyebrow, her hand trailing restlessly through the water. "Two years? Wow…that Ohio surfing must have been something incredible."

A smile stretched across Spencer's face, and Ashley found herself more than annoyed by the fact that she found this blonde newcomer more than attractive. "Actually, I've been surfing for two year and _three _months, but I'm gonna leave you here to brood. I've got a competition to win." She winked over at her frowning rival before paddling away in order to catch the next set of incoming waves.

_She's annoying, bubbly, and blonde; she's been kicking my ass in all the heats…and she's cute. Damn it all to hell if she isn't cute._ She looked over just in time to see Spencer go down under a massive wave. _At least I have a chance of winning now…_the water lifted her slowly, rolling beneath her board. Ashley shot a look over her shoulder, waiting for the perfect set to come in, before focusing once more on the spot where Spencer had disappeared. Slightly alarmed at not seeing the blonde's head reappear, she could hear voices screaming from the shore, people shouting and waving their arms around frantically. _Son of a bitch. _She instantly knew the problem, having seen the same reactions from the footage of her accident, the rookie wasn't anywhere to be seen, and that could only mean when she went under, something happened, something knocked her unconscious. _I hope I make it…don't inhale. Please Spencer, don't breathe, not yet. _Ashley reached the spot faster than what should have been naturally possible, searching the surface, finally spotting Spencer's board floating away on the tide, having been ripped away from her. Rolling off the top of her board, she dove beneath the churning water, searching its murky depths for any sign of the blonde. Any movement at all that didn't fit in with the sea.

_Where are you? _She knew she was pushing the bounds of her own limits, her lungs beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen, she frantically searched for any sign of the girl. A flash of gold caught her eye, and she reached out, her hand finding flesh, kicking her legs, trying to reach the surface before they were both lost. Ashley burst through the water, dragging Spencer along behind her, throwing the unconscious girl over her board.

"Ash?" Aiden shouted down from the seat of a jet-ski, the concern clearly evident in his eyes.

"I'm fine," she spluttered the words out. "Just get her out of here."

Aiden nodded, pulling the blonde up, laying her across his lap, "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Yeah man…wait…the standings?"

"Sorry Ash, they didn't even score this heat. You lost this one."

_Great…and I thought the saying no good deed goes unpunished was just a myth. Right…_

**CYW**

"Yo, Ashley?"

The brunette looked up from the board she had been polishing in the middle of the surf shop, _her _shop, _Bikini Sands_. It had taken her six years to save up enough money to buy the spot, it had been a dream she fantasized about as a teenager, but never believed would come true, at least not so early. "Hey Aiden," she didn't look up from her job, still trying to smooth out the abrasions the board had taken the past weekend at that competition she didn't even want to think about. "You come to work?"

"Oh, yeah" he responded sarcastically, leaning against the glass counter, "that's what I love to do. Work. You're a slave master, you know that?"

Ashley looked up, smiling a bit as she snapped her work towel at his arm, "Well, how else do you expect to learn the value of a dollar?"

"Whatever. Hey, do you mind if---"

"No."

"What? How're you just gonna say no like that? You don't even know what I was gonna ask! How you just gonna try my gangsta?"

"Your…gangsta?" Her eyebrows drew together in a frown. "Aiden. You have to be one of the whitest people I know. You're in a Hollister's shirt, plaid shorts, and rainbow flip flops. You _have _no gangsta to be tried."

"But---"

Ashley kept right on talking, as though he hadn't uttered a word. "If I dropped your ass off in Compton right now, you'd die."

"C'mon Ash, give me _some _credit." He seriously looked hurt by the possibility that he had absolutely no street cred. "I'm not that white!"

"Dude, yes you are. Look at your clothes. You're either incredibly white, or an incredibly masculine lesbian, one or the other."

"I don't know why I hang out with you."

"You love me. It's okay, you can admit it." A wry grin pulled at the corner of her mouth as she stood, wiping her hands down her blue board shorts, kind of wishing she'd remembered to bring a t-shirt for when she'd finished her morning surfing. Now, however, she was standing in the middle of a store in a bikini top. _At least it's a store for surfing…I _could _be stuck like this in the Christian bookstore. I don't think they'd be amused…_

"Excuse me?"

They both turned towards the new voice, stunned to see Spencer Carlin standing in the shop doorway, surfboard tucked beneath her arm.

"Carlin?" Ashley spoke first. _What in the hell is _she _doing here?_

"Yeah…um," the blonde stumbled over her words, pulling almost nervously at the _Billabong _hoody she wore, "I heard this was your shop, and I just wanted to come and say thank you…you know, for um, saving my life I guess."

"No thanks needed." Ashley turned away busying herself with putting away the board wax she'd taken out.

"Is there anything I can do to say thanks?"

"Well," she pretended to think, rolling her head to the side, "you _could _give me that ten thousand dollar check you got this weekend for that so-called win they awarded you."

Spencer laughed, rolling her eyes, "how about something that won't bankrupt me? Dinner, maybe?"

Ashley spun back around. "I'm not really into the whole, hanging out with people I barely know thing…"

"Please?" Blue eyes peered at her hopefully.

"Fine, but I get to pick where we go."

"That's cool…I'll drop by later to set up plans and whatnot. I kinda want to hit the beach before the waves die down."

"You're going back out there?" Aiden shrieked, in manner _very _unbecoming of a man, clearing his throat before speaking again. "I mean, uh, you're going back out there?"

"Yeah, I figure I should, before I lose my nerve or something…anyway, I'll see you guys later."

"You think she's hot." Aiden announced, the moment Spencer had exited the store. "You're probably thinking up all kinds of things you could do to that body, aren't you."

"What? No, I think _you're _the one thinking the dirty thoughts. I'm only going because I know she's gonna feel like she owes me something if I don't."

"She could owe you some ass?"

"Aiden!"

"I'm just saying…" he trailed off, waggling his eyebrows as he did so.

_She _does _have a pretty nice ass…_


	2. Friends and Acquaintances

"Alright, so where are we going?" Ashley shot a glance at the blonde woman pedaling next to her, _…she's probably luring me to some secluded spot where she can break my leg or something_.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" She winked, her blue eyes shining with amusement, "it's not much further. What, the big bad surfer babe can't keep up?"

"You think I'm a babe?"

"So what if I did," she shot back over her shoulder, as she sped away, "I only go for people who can keep up with me."

_I think you're gonna go for me Carlin_, Ashley let out a whoop as she shot past Spencer, her dark hair trailing behind her, her laughter being carried away by the ocean breeze, "and that," she yelled as she braked her bike sharply at the stop sign, "is why I'm still the best." Her eyes scanned the street, searching for any sign the rookie, knowing it was next to impossible for her to have disappeared, _where the hell…_

"Not so fast Davies," Spencer came bursting from the side bushes, the expression on her face joyfully wild, "there's a reason I beat you this weekend, and it wasn't just because the last heat didn't count," she blew a kiss in the direction of the stunned surfer, before pedaling ahead and leaping onto the bike's seat, holding her balance perfectly, "it's because the judges think I've got a nice ass."

"Cocky little…" _…stop thinking about her ass!_

CYW

"Sammy, Maria, Jonah, this is Ashley Davies," Spencer beamed proudly, as though she had just delivered a plate of food to a starving child in Ethiopia, but as her friends stood slack jawed, something made her think that a starving child would have given up a better response.

"Uh, hi?" Ashley waved, barely preventing herself from slowing her speech, "you guys talk or…?"

"Oh, we talk. We talk _all_ the time," Sammy was about to continue, when he seemed to have realized that what he said wasn't too impressive and blushed a shade of red that nearly matched his hair.

"What Sammy is trying to say," Maria stepped forward, hand outstretched, "is that it's nice to meet you?"

"Really nice," Jonah put in, the look of awe still on his face.

"Super, incredibly—"

"Sammy," Spencer interrupted him, "you should probably just let it go now."

"It's just, do you _know_ who she is? She's a fucking phenomenon! She is the Jesus of surfing!"

Ashley stuck a hand in her pants and began patting around, a confused look etched on her face, _Jesus, really?_ "It must be here somewhere…somewhere…how do you lose something like that?" Jonah and Sammy stared wide eyed, drool beginning to leak from the corners of their mouths as they witnessed what could be nothing short of a miracle.

"W-what are you doing?" Mariah took a step back, wondering if whatever Ashley had was contagious.

"What do you mean what am I doing? Seriously, you people…" she heaved an exasperated sigh, "I'm trying to find my penis…I mean, I have to have one if I'm being told I'm Jesus, and I just don't understand how I've missed it for twenty-two years."

"You. Are. Ridiculous," Spencer shook her head chuckling lightly as she walked towards the grill, "so, are you guys going to get the barbeque going, or am I gonna have to butch it up and start slinging meat myself."

"You do realize you just said—"

"Yeah, I know what I said," Spencer grabbed the charcoal from the ground and began emptying the bag into the grill, "you, Sammy, have the mental maturity of a teenage boy."

"I always tell him, if he thought more about school than his dick, he'd be like Einstein," Maria headed toward the house, "I'm going to get the lighter fluid."

"You, uh, you need any help," Ashley sidled up next to the blonde, her eyes lowering beyond her control, _whoa, _and_ she's got a nice rack._

"Ashley?"

"Yeah?"

"My eyes are up here," a smirk rested on her lips, and her blue eyes twinkled mockingly, "unless, or course you're enjoying the view…" she winked as a blush crept up the dark-haired girl's neck, before settling in her face.

"Right, you know what, I'm just gonna go and uhm, shuck some corn or something."

"You do that."

_Will you get a grip?! She's not even…okay, she _is_ that hot, but that's not the point._ "So," she looked from Sammy to Jonah, suddenly regretting agreeing to what had turned into a neighborhood date, "is there anything I can do?"

"You just keep being epically awesome," Jonah nodded so quickly she was afraid his neck would snap, and he would still find some other way to show his enthusiasm.

"You could have totally taken Spencer at the last tourney," Sammy mock whispered, "she probably just pretended to get knocked out to get you disqualified."

"I can hear you," the blonde sang out from her place in front of the grill, taking a step back as flames leapt into the air.

"Why, _why_ would you use so much lighter fluid?" Maria turned worried eyes to her friend, "we've probably just widened the hole in the ozone layer about five thousand feet."

"I'm hungry, so, the Coca-Cola polar bears are going to just have to hope for the best like the rest of us," she replied, dropping several steaks and a rack of ribs into the flames.

"That is totally going to burn." Ashley rolled her eyes, _so, awkward date and I now I'm not going to get anything worth eating_.

"No it's not."

"You just lowered unscarred meat into hellish temperatures. It's going to burn."

"Is not, now just shush," Spencer's brows drew together in a frown and she turned questioning eyes towards the fire, glaring, daring it to do anything she hadn't expected.

CYW

Ashley stared forlornly at the charred hunk of meat on her plate, poking it with her fork as though it would jump from the table and bite her, "I told—"

"Don't say it," Spencer was eyeing her food in much the same way as her dark-haired competitor.

"Well," Sammy looked up and speared a tomato from among the greens on his plate, "my salad is pretty damned good."

"Right," brown eyes glanced briefly in the direction of the blonde, the laughter behind them mocking, "would have been a good day to go vegetarian."

"No kidding," the steak on Maria's plate looked more like a tarred piece of firewood than anything edible, "Spence, we could have set sixty-five bucks on fire for all the good this," she tapped the meat and watched as several dark flakes fell to her plate, "is gonna do…"

"Well, I didn't see _you_ trying to get anything done today," Spencer's eyes narrowed, and her hand twitched near her fork, as though she were thinking more of stabbing her friend than trying to salvage her meal. She looked down at her plate, growing a little angry at the entire situation, even if it was technically her fault, _it's not like they offered to help._

"You know," Ashley's voice sounded choked and dry, "it's uh…it's not as bad as it looks if you can just," she waved what had once been a rib, around before tearing off another piece, giving an audible swallow, "get past the uhm…"

"You don't have to eat it. I know it's not good."

"No, really," she reached for the beer near her right hand, took a heavy swallow, and winked into blue, "it tastes like outside. If that makes any sense, maybe? Pass the hot sauce, would you?"

Jonah slid the container down towards the brunette, the look on his face making clear how skeptical he was about the entire situation, "I know they say hot sauce fixes everything, but dude, it can't fix _that_."

"What are you talking about," she didn't look up but continued dousing her food with the red liquid, "hot sauce only fixes things that need fixing." She glanced up, and caught Spencer watching her, the look in her eyes unreadable, and cleared her throat, breaking contact, "and you guys are just too spoiled. Eat."

"Ashley's right, it's not bad at all." Sammy nodded around at everyone, and happily chewed on a carrot.

"Oh shut up," Jonah muttered, kicking his friend beneath the table, "you're eating a damned salad."

CYW

"You didn't have to do that, you know."

Ashley cracked open an eye, and stifled a yawn, "do what?" She asked sleepily, from her spot in the hammock. The sun had begun to set, masking the sky in purples and reds as it began its decent into the sea, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The food, well, what was supposed to be food," Spencer tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and smiled down at the slightly confused expression on the surfer's face, "you didn't have to eat it."

"I mean," she sat up and stretched, noting the way the blue eyes strayed as her shirt rose above her jeans, exposing her stomach, "it was that, or starve."

"Har, har. Scoot," the blonde sat down, and bumped Ashley with her shoulder, "thanks for coming out here. Even if the food kind of sucked."

"I really didn't think it was bad," a smile played around her lips, and she ran a hand through her hair, "I eat all my food out of a box, so, anything that doesn't need just a cup of milk or a tablespoon of butter to actually be a meal is pretty good in my books."

"You're nicer than you let on."

"I think you just wanna believe that, Carlin, cause I think," and she leaned in, planting a kiss on the other woman's lips, barely holding back a laugh at the shocked look that lit up her eyes, "you've got a bit of a crush on me." She stood, and walked towards Sammy who sat around a small pit fire they had lit in the backyard to ward off the cool ocean breeze, "what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" His hands stilled on the guitar and he felt the color rising to his cheeks from no reason, "I'm jammin man. I'm the next Jimi Hendrix."

"Maybe if Hendrix played with his feet…"

"Shut it Jonah," he looked suddenly nervous, "I'm just learning, or trying to. Do you play?"

"Yeah, you want me to show you?"

"Right on," Sammy passed his guitar over as Ashley sat next to him.

"First think you need to do is learn your basic chord structures…"

Spencer still sat in the hammock, her fingers resting lightly on her mouth, unsure of how to deal with what had just happened. _She's just a flirt. We compete next week...she's just trying to distract me…_

"So, I saw that."

"Saw what?"

"Don't play dumb," Maria crossed her arms, and looked down at her friend, "she kissed you."

"Whatever, she's just full of herself."

"And what's your point? You liked it. You like _her_."

"No, I don't," she pushed herself up, and headed towards the fire, "can we just drop it?" She called back over her shoulder, "you ready to go?" Her foot tapped impatiently, and she frowned down at the dark haired girl, waiting for a response, and growing angry when she was ignored, "Ashley, I'm talking to you."

"I hear you Carlin, and I'm trying to show your friend something, so, give me a minute, alright?"

"What can you play?" Sammy leaned in closer, ignoring Spencer as well, even as her exasperated sighs sounded in his ears, "I can only play Jingle Bells, and that's not exactly bringing in the ladies. I mean, elf ladies maybe but not the ones with—"

"Stop, really. You don't have to give me intimate details of your perfect woman," her hair fell down, shadowing her face, the flickering flames lighting the hidden gold in her brown eyes, "what kind of song are you trying to play for them?"

"Something to get in their pants," Jonah called as he cracked open another beer, his words slurring slightly, "something to make them want to do the sideways conga, or the hokey pokey boogey or—"

"Nothing that crude," Sammy shot his friend a sharp glance, "I don't know, what do girls like?"

"You guys…" Ashley raised an eyebrow, thinking for a moment, "alright, this one usually works for me."

"Are you really about to play a bootycall song?" Spencer's hands were on her hips, her face bunched up in annoyed anger.

"Why," a smirk pulled the corner of the brunette's mouth, "afraid it's going to work on you?"

"Get real."

"The song?" Sammy reminded her impatiently, "and you've gotta write down the chords before you leave."

"Yeah, yeah," she strummed gently, nibbling on her bottom lip as she leaned her head down, tuning the instrument, "cool, here goes…and Spencer, you might want to take a seat. Don't want you passing out from my charm."

"They're totally going to do it," Jonah drunkenly whispered, spilling some of his beer as Maria drove her elbow into his side, "what? It's true."

"You paying attention Sammy…" she looked up and winked at the blonde, "…_**had a little love, but I spread it thin. Falling in her arms and out again…made a bad name for my game around town. Tore out my heart and shut it down**_," she felt the blue eyes on her as she played, and could barely keep a grin from breaking out across her face. _Oh yeah, she likes me_… "_**nothing to do, nowhere to be, a simple little kind of free…nothing to do, no one but me, and that's all I need…I'm perfectly lonely, perfectly lonely, cause I don't belong to anyone, and nobody belongs to me…**_"

"You're swooning," Maria whispered into Spencer's ear, and knew she was right when the blonde's face darkened a shade.

"I…" her response trailed away as she watched the other woman playing, knowing that she would have to do something about this, and quick, before she really did find herself giggling uncontrollably at every look that the dark haired woman sent her way. _But her lips were so…soft…_

"Carlin?"

She hadn't even realized the lesson had ended, and her eyes snapped back, "Uh, yeah?"

"We can go now."

CYW

"That was fun," Ashley said, as they rode their bikes lazily back toward her house, "your friends are pretty cool."

"You're just saying that. You've probably got people lining up to get with you," she stammered, "I mean—like they—they want to be your friends."

"There's a difference between people wanting your autograph, and wanting to be you friend," the breeze from the ocean filtered across the sand, and she took a deep breath, wondering how she had managed to stay out of the water so long after her injury.

"There's that guy who wouldn't stop staring at my boobs?"

"Aiden," she laughed, "he's a good guy. Just a little challenge sometimes, but yeah, it's mostly just him. I can be difficult sometimes, that, and I don't want any distractions when it comes time to get ready to kick some ass."

"You can have friends and be a great surfer," she shot a winning smile in her competitor's direction, "just look at me."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm looking," Ashley pretended not to notice when the other woman's bike wobbled slightly, "but you're still never going to be better than me," she slowed as they pulled up to her house.

"And you know this, how?"

"Because," she put down the kickstand, climbed off, and walked towards Spencer, felt the electrifying blues watching her every movement, heard the breath catch slightly in the other woman's throat, and stopped with their faces inches apart, "if I kiss you, right before you go out there, you'll be too distracted to even remember what you're doing."

"You don't know…that."

"You're distracted now," she backed up, and raised her hands palm side up, and walked to her front porch, "but we can test it out next week if you want."

"You wouldn't…"

"There are plenty of things I'd do…" she leaned against the door, "_plenty_ of things that I would do to you."

Spencer gulped.

***The song Ashley played is John Mayer's _Perfectly Lonely_***


End file.

South of Nowhere, Humor, Romance