He looked up at the sky, and a sail appeared. Four months had flown by in the blink of an eye. We were tearing across a bay, just a few hours north of Sydney. Salty sea spray peppered our faces and splattered our mouths, which were laughing in giddy exhilaration.

We'd been staying at a friend's holiday house for the weekend with a big group of Jesse's mates. I was tempted to work all weekend, but had agreed to go up the coast on the condition that I could work during the day without being teased.

But the weather had been nice, and the sun was calling, and the previous day Jesse and I had spent nearly an hour playing with a pod of three dolphins that had followed our boat. They were so close we could reach out our hands and touch their soft skin as they laughed and swam beside us, and in front of us, and below us. Come this way, they'd silently squeal. Then we'd tack and catch the wind and follow their lead. At one point, the dolphin cruiser found us, and all the patrons stood up on the big boat's deck, taking photos from afar as the dolphins frolicked with our little catamaran.

"Wanna go for a quick sail?" Jesse had asked the very next day.

"I do, but I've got all this work to do."

"Come on," he coaxed. "Just twenty minutes. We left the boat setup from yesterday, so it'll be quick. Just have a lunch break, and I'll get you back here before anyone notices we're gone." He glanced at my screen, where I was busy hacking away on a project. "I've got plenty of work to do too. I promise we'll be quick."

"Okay," I agreed. "Just a lunch break, though."

And so there we were, the sun singeing our sweaty arms and the sea spraying our giddy faces.

The wind was incredible! We were flying! I don't think we'd ever gone this fast before! I looked back at Jesse to see him taking it all in. He was in his element; a big grin etched into his features. And then...

Bang!

What was that?

Something was wrong.

A second later, the entire mast fell down and hit the hull of the boat.

The bearing had snapped. Damn physics.

We stopped moving.

"Well, this is awkward," Jesse joked. We looked around and realized we were halfway between the heads that lead out into the vast ocean — an infinite sea of nothingness for thousands of miles. Oblivion.

"Maybe the dolphins will come and save us," I suggested. No one seemed to be around. Where were all the boats?

The quickest route to land involved turning directly towards the heads, but we watched as big, aggressive waves pummelled angry rocks on the shore. We agreed to aim for the beach — a longer route, but definitely a safer one.

Jesse began paddling at the front of the boat, and I held the rudder in place. He had nice athletic arms. I was happy to watch.

"Be careful of the sharks!" I yelled.

"Thanks for reminding me!" he yelled back. The bay was a known breeding ground for underwater monsters.

After twenty full minutes of non-stop paddling, I noticed something peculiar. "Err... Jesse?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we've gone backward." I looked out towards the vast sea of nothingness. "We're getting sucked out into the ocean!"

"Shit," he cursed. We'd been laughing and joking since the mast fell, thinking it was all pretty funny. But for a split-second, nothing seemed funny about being stranded on a little catamaran surrounded by infinite sea.

And then, that split-second was over. "Oh well. At least if we die, we'll have fun doing it," Jesse said. "You wouldn't be the worst person to die with."

I sighed. "We could just fade away into oblivion together. Wouldn't that be a romantic tale?"

He agreed.

"Okay, team," I said. "Problem-solving time."

We both held our hands to our faces, shielding them from the sunlight as we swiveled around, surveying our options.

"I think our best bet is landing on those rocks." I pointed in the direction of the furious waves. "It's either rocks, or sharks, or oblivion."

"Fuck oblivion!" Jesse said. "It will be a treacherous journey full of ups and downs, but I think we can make it."

"Yes," I agreed. "Let's save ourselves from the oblivion of non-realization."

I grabbed the rudder and turned it towards our dangerous quest. Jesse knelt down again and paddled. And paddled. And paddled.

As we got closer to the shore, we could feel the up and down rhythm of the powerful beast beneath us. We were at the mercy of nature — two kids who had just wanted to feel alive for twenty minutes on a lunch break.

The final stretch approached. I could see it coming. I gripped the vessel as our boat rose vertically upwards, with its front at the crest of a large wave. And then, in an instant, it tipped vertically down, smashing into a bed of solid rock on the shore.

Jesse jumped off the front of the boat, being careful to avoid the sharp knicks and oyster shells embedded in the rocks. "Nikki! Get out! Quick!"

I scrambled to the front of the catamaran just as another wave crashed over us, smashing the hull into the rocks again. I held on, and as the water retreated from the shore, I grabbed Jesse's hand and jumped out. We ran off the rocks and up onto the gentle sand.

"We didn't die!" I yelled in triumph. "You saved me. You're my hero."

Jesse kissed me. "It was a team effort," he said.

Sure it was. All I did was hold the rudder.

We turned around to survey the damage.

The catamaran was destroyed — torn sail, broken bearings, holes in the hull. Chaos.

"It's the end of an era," Jesse sighed. "Poor Nacho Cheese."

I giggled. "That was always a terrible name for a boat."

"What?! It was hilarious! A yellow boat named Nacho Cheese? Brilliant."

I could see the black letters of the boat's name peeling off the hull in the distance as waves rhythmically smashed the dying vessel.

"Nikki! Nikki! Just answer me one question: what do you call cheese that isn't yours?"

"Nacho cheese!" I cried as we both burst out laughing.

Jesse took one last look at his comrade. "And now, our time together comes to a close. Goodbye, old friend. It's been real."

And with that, he grabbed my hand and turned in the direction of civilization.

The beach could easily be mistaken for a deserted island full of harsh Australian bushland. We wandered along the shoreline and eventually found a woman who lent us her phone. Jesse called his friend at the holiday house, who doubled over in laughter when he heard what happened. He agreed to tow us back on his motorboat in an hour.

We walked further along the beach until we found the original spot we had hoped to land the catamaran.

"What should we do now?" Jesse asked.

"Well," I replied, "option one is, we go for a swim. Or option two is, we make out. Or option three is, we simultaneously go for a swim while making out, like one of those steamy reality TV shows, y'know? Where the couple is on a private island in Fiji or something, and they end up kissing in the water for their entire date. And while you're watching it, you're just zooming out in your mind and imagining all the cameras and crew voyeuristically perving on them on their 'private' island."

"Is that what you're thinking about when you watch those terrible shows with Pandora?"

"Yeah. It's just story-telling. It's all an illusion. So, which option would you like to select?"

"Option three."

"Excellent choice." I grabbed his hand, and we ran into the water. Then he kissed me under the warm sunlight as the sharks roamed offshore.

Before long, the dolphin cruiser came by and honked its horn. "Oi!" a crew member yelled. "We just followed a pod of dolphins out there by the rocks and noticed a shipwrecked catamaran. Do you know anything about that?"

Jesse flushed bright red. "Yeah, mate. It's ours. We're okay. Just waiting for a friend to tow us back to the other side of the bay."

"Right-o," the crew member said. "We called the maritime police when we saw it, so we'll let them know."

As the cruiser jetted off, I turned to Jesse. "See! I told you the dolphins would come to save us. I wish they'd arrived a bit earlier, though."

"You would have lassoed them, wouldn't you?"

"That was my plan," I grinned. "They could have towed us back to the shore!"

Jesse chuckled.

A moment later, the maritime police were floating in front of us.

"Oi!" the policeman yelled. "Do you know anything about that shipwrecked catamaran up on the rocks?"

"Oh my God, this is so embarrassing," Jesse whispered out of the side of his mouth. "Yeah, mate. That's ours. We got sucked out through the heads after our mast fell down."

"Well, I'm glad you're both safe. We'll call off the search-and-rescue helicopter." The policemen spoke into his radio as Jesse facepalmed.

"We failed big-time, but that was quite the adventure," Jesse said as we sat on his friend's boat and watched Nacho Cheese miserably chug through the water behind us.