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True: Good morning, Beautiful. I Miss You - Blink 182
My phone vibrated in my hand maybe thirty seconds later
Amara: I miss you, too.
My heart rate skyrocketed because she'd never responded like that before. She'd never told me she missed me. Not once. Great, now I'd be in my head for the rest of the day obsessing over what she meant, and of all days, I couldn't do that today.
My parents had an epic love story of their own and had been married for thirty years today. We'd celebrate with a barbecue at my childhood home. All the guys would be there, which meant I'd be under the intense questioning gaze of Zen. I couldn't hide shit from him. I needed to get my mind right, and the best way I knew how to do that was to hit the waves.
I brought up the group text on my phone.
True: Meet at the break?
It wasn't quite dawn yet, and I was ready to hit the beach and spend a couple hours focused on the waves. Harrison was my usual surfing buddy which honestly was really unexpected at first. The Brit hadn't grown up with the waves like I had, but he'd taken to it fast, and now he was almost as good as I was. Almost.
Grayson was a new addition. Since he'd moved down to LA a couple months ago, he'd been tagging along with us. He was catching on fast.
Harrison: Be there in 15.
Grayson: I'm in.
Throwing on a tank and some board shorts, I glanced at myself in the mirror. My disheveled blonde hair looked like I'd spent hours trying to get it to look perfect when in reality, I'd be rockin' some serious bed head to the beach. The only person I cared to impress wasn't around, so I didn't give a shit. I hadn't been getting a lot of sleep, so I had bags under my blue eyes, but otherwise, if a stray paparazzi happened to find me at the beach, I didn't look too bad. Surfing most days kept my body in good shape, and the occasional lifting session with the guys kept me defined.
I wasn't covered in tattoos like Zen, but my own little rebellion was the small silver hoop I had in my left nostril. Every time I looked at myself in the mirror, I smiled at the memory of my mom freaking out about it.
I slid on my flip flops and jumped in my Jeep. My surfboard was already strapped to the frame from yesterday. The top was off, and the warm Southern California air wrapped around me, blowing my hair as I drove to the beach by my house.
There wouldn't be anyone there this time of the day. I parked and pulled my board off my Jeep, and dropped down on the sand. While I rubbed wax onto the deck, Harrison and Gray approached out of the corner of my eye. Both of them nodded at me, Harrison giving me a cocky smirk. "A little early this morning, no?"
"I like the waves this early. There's no one else out here."
"Yeah, the quiet's nice," Grayson agreed.
We sat in comfortable silence, getting ready to swim out. When I was done with my board, I attached the leash to my ankle and waded into the surf. The waves were perfect today, just the right size. I laid flat on my board and paddled out to wait for a swell. This moment was one of my favorite parts of surfing, floating on the board with my eyes on the horizon watching the swells roll in.
The sun was halfway up, streaks of yellow-orange light played across the brightening blue sky. I adjusted my sunglasses so the sunlight wouldn't hurt my eyes.
The water splashed behind me as they guys swam out. We sat floating on our boards in silence for a few minutes before Grayson broke the quiet.
"Okay, what's up with you lately?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You're normally fun and loud and have a shit-eating grin on your face every time I see you. Ever since the wedding, you've been all broody and shit."
"Broody?"
"You know what I mean. You're acting more like Maddox than yourself. Anything you want to talk about?" Both of their eyes were on me, Grayson's eyebrow raised.
"No, I'm good. Just girl problems, you know how it is." I wasn't about to talk to anyone about Amara, least of all Grayson. He was like her unofficial brother. I saw how protective he was of Kennedy. He didn't need to know that I'd taken Amara's virginity and was a mess over her. I couldn't imagine a positive outcome to that conversation.
"Fine, but you need to figure your shit out before it destroys you."
I turned my head toward Harrison. "You want to pile on?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I'm just here for the waves, mate. You can figure your own shit out."
I chuckled. "You're such a dick."
