Page 64 of Buzzer Beater

Colin

Time was running out. Each second brought us closer to goodbye and I couldn’t handle it. I needed to do something to drag this out. I waited until a respectable hour before knocking on her door.

Elena opened and actually smiled. That had to be a good sign, right? She was happy, so Lucy must be happy. “Good morning, Colin.”

“Elena, how are you?”

“Just fine. Although, I can’t say the same for Lucy.”

“What? Is she sick? Did she get hurt?” I took a step into the room, pushing past Elena but the room was empty. “Where is she?”

“Amber came over this morning, quite upset and took her somewhere.”

“Why was she upset?”

Elena pursed her lips for a moment. “Probably because her best friend and maid of honor disappeared for the entire day yesterday. We were supposed to get massages and facials. You know, forced bonding time. I tried to cover for her and tell Amber Lucy was sick, but she didn’t believe me.”

I ran my hand through my hair and looked around. I didn’t know what to do. I should apologize to Amber. This was her bachelorette party and I’d been selfish. Who knows what plans I ruined when I’d practically kidnapped them for the temple tour.

I cringed. “I’m sorry, Elena. I’ll try to find her and talk to her.”

“Don’t be sorry. Amber’s just a little crazy. I think she’s got cold feet.”

Hopefully that wasn’t the case. The last thing I needed was someone filling Lucy’s head with more doubts about love and commitment.

“Thanks.”

I hurried out and headed to the main restaurant, hoping they were just getting breakfast. I walked the entire hall but didn’t see them.

I was headed toward the beach when I ran into the Pride.

“Colin, what are you doing?” Madeline’s voice stopped me.

I turned and sighed. “I got Lucy in trouble. I’m trying to find her now.”

“What kind of trouble?” Emma sounded concerned.

“With Amber. I took Lucy sailing yesterday and apparently ruined Amber’s plans.”

The girls each sighed, groaned, or shook their heads. Perfect. That was reassuring.

“You’ve got to remember Lucy’s here for her own trip,” Chloe said, “not to amuse you.”

I glared at her. “I’m aware of that.”

Kendall shrugged. “It’ll be fine. You just need to talk to Amber and tell her how you’re trying to woo back her best friend. She’ll forgive you.”

I ignored the giggling from the pack. “I’m running out of time, though. Lucy leaves tomorrow. I need as much time with her as I can get.”

“So, ask her to stay.” Colby said it so matter of fact I almost didn’t realize how ridiculous that was.

“I tried to yesterday. I told her I didn't want to say goodbye, but she said it was inevitable.”

The group sighed. I narrowed my eyes. Did they rehearse this?

“That wasn’t exactly asking her to stay,” Chloe pointed out. “You need to be direct. Ask her to stay until we all leave. We’ll make sure she has a place to sleep and we’ll get her flight changed.”

The girls nodded in agreement with the plan. “Yeah, sure. I just have to get her to say yes.”