by Anthology
Lauren looked up, tears shining in her eyes. “I wish everything could have worked between you and Morgan.”
The sight of her tears made me feel awful. “Lauren, please don't cry.” Josh pulled her closer to him. “Morgan and I weren't meant for the long haul. I knew that going in. We both deserve to be happy and that's not going to happen with each other,” I told her, hoping to alleviate some of her guilt.
She nodded, struggling to fight back the tears. Morgan was her best friend and she'd felt like it was her fault when we called it quits. She'd been apologizing for months.
Caleb clasped me on the shoulder. “I get it, man. Just promise me that if you decide you want company you'll call. I'll come down and hang out with you.”
“I will.” I nodded. “Now can we change the subject and enjoy the wedding?”
“Definitely,” Josh agreed.
Caleb went over to the bar with Josh. It was nice to have the attention off me, as the girls grilled Lauren about their honeymoon plans. When the two of them came back a few minutes later, Josh had a tray of beers in his hand, while Caleb held out a tray of shots and a soda.
“Sorry, baby.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “They didn't have anything without caffeine.”
She laughed. “With all of this excitement, I don't think one glass of caffeine is going to hurt me.”
Caleb passed around the shots. The minute the scent hit my nose I groaned. “Really? Crown Royal. This shit tastes terrible. I should have known.”
He smirked. “Yet you're still going to drink it. Besides it's a tradition, so suck it up and drink.” Caleb raised the glass. “To new chapters in the book of life.”
Josh rolled his eyes, before throwing back the shot. “Dork.”
The liquor burned on the way down. No matter what Caleb said about that shit, it was gross. He was right about the new chapters, though. I hoped to gain a new perspective on things while I was away. Maybe I'd find answers at the beach. Whatever happened, I wasn't looking anymore. When the time was right, the woman for me would be there.
When Emily dragged me out to the dance floor, I knew she was up to something. There had been a time when she needed me and I'd been there for her every step of the way. At least until Andrew got his shit together, manned up and tried to fix what he'd broken. After all that time together, it was hard to miss the mischievous look in her eye.
“What are you up to?” I asked, keeping her eyes focused on mine.
“Nothing.” She focused her gaze over my shoulder.
“You are not shy, by any means so, fess up.”
She looked back at me, her eyes searching mine. God only knows, why. “Are you planning on man whoring it up down there or are you looking for something real and lasting?”
I rolled my eyes. “I'm not looking for anything. Just some time alone.”
She watched me for a moment. “What happens if you meet someone there?”
I groaned. “Please tell me you didn't.”
“Didn't do what?”
“Set me up on some blind date, while I'm down there.”
The warm, rich sound of her laughter filled the room. “I hadn't even thought of that. Now that you mention it . . .” Her eyes sparkled.
“Don't you dare! To be honest, Em, I need a chance to get away for a little while. Plus, I'll be back in a week.”
“I know. Part of that makes me feel like it's our fault you're running.”
“It's not. This is something for me. Who knows, maybe I meet a Jersey girl of my own.” I winked at her, knowing full well that Lauren and Josh were dancing close enough to hear what I'd said.
“What's wrong with a Jersey girl?” Lauren asked, her eyes narrowed while she stared at me.
Feigning innocence, I said, “Nothing, as long as you don't mind mouthy, bossy chicks.”
“Mouth? Bossy?” She took a step out of Josh's embrace and towards me.
“A Jersey girl? Trust me they can be crazy,” Josh said, smiling down at his new bride.
“Oh really?” Lauren asked, spinning back towards Josh, but just out of his reach.
Grabbing her hands, he pulled her forward and back into his arms. He gazed down into her eyes. “Maybe a little, but it's the kind of crazy I love. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
They were lost in each other's eyes, when I spoke up. “Lauren, you know I was just kidding about Jersey girls.”
She smiled over at me. “Yeah. You better remember how awesome we are while you're down there.”
“I will,” I winked.
She giggled and looked back at Josh. “I love you,” she whispered.
He sighed. “I love you more than you will ever know.”
Wrapping her hand around his neck, she pulled him down into a kiss. The kind to be shared between the bride and groom, so Emily and I danced a bit away. Once the dance finished, I returned her to Andrew, and was promptly dragged back out onto the floor again by Angie, and later by Lauren.
Morgan avoided me for a majority of the evening. Why, I couldn't figure out. It wasn't as if I blamed her for what happened. I knew, just like I told Lauren, the long run was not in the cards for us. By the end of the night, I knew it needed to end. We wouldn't be able to avoid each other forever. Our closest friends were married, which meant us being around each other at some point.
Seeing Morgan standing alone, I walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around and froze, her eyes darting all around the room, without stopping on me.
“Morgan, look at me,” I said.
When she lifted glistening eyes to me, I knew I'd made the right decision in going to her. “Nick . . .”
While I wanted to pull her into my arms and offer her comfort, it was not the time or the place. Instead, I rested my hand on her shoulder. “Why are you so upset?”
She sniffed trying to reign in her emotions. “I feel terrible about how I left things. I'm afraid you hate me.”
I shook my head and smiled. “I don't hate you. Trust me, I get it. We had fun, but we aren't meant for each other. You found someone that makes you happy and I hope that someday I'll find that too.”
Her shoulders dropped, the tension draining from her body. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Our friends are married to each other and we used to be friends once. I'm hoping someday we can get back to that.”
“I'd like that,” she said, turning shy for a moment, before she wrapped her arms around my neck for a quick hug.
It felt a bit awkward, but it meant that I'd made the right choice. Maybe we could move on and become friends again. Morgan released me and smiled. The first one that reached her eyes all night. She said her goodbyes and went to find her date, while I looked around and wondered if it was too early to leave.
The cake had been cut and my car was packed and ready to go in the lot. To be honest, I'd been ready to get on the road for the last hour. Josh and Lauren had already said their goodbyes to most of the people in the room. I'd been waiting for them to finish up and head out before leaving myself.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emily and Andrew walking up to me.
“Getting antsy?” Andrew asked.
Damn, he hit the nail on the head. “A little, but I want to see Josh and Lauren when they leave.”
“That shouldn't be too long,” Emily added.
Looking over, I noticed the two of them talking to their mom's. Josh's mom was wiping tears from her eyes and wrapping Josh in a warm embrace. She let go and pulled Lauren in for an embrace, their laughter ringing through the room. His mom was sweet and had done a wonderful job of raising Josh by herself. Finally, after a few more hugs, Josh and Lauren were on their way to their honeymoon.
Digging in my pocket for my keys, Emily said, “We'll walk you out.”
I nodded and waved at Caleb and Angie before leaving.
“Enjoy your vacation,” Angie called out over the noise in the crowd.
The three of us walked to my car, bot
h Emily and Andrew giving me a hug.
“I'll keep an eye on your place while you're gone.”
“Thanks, man.”
Before I unlocked the door, Emily leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Don't be afraid to try. Love's not easy, but it's so worth it, if you find it.”
Leaning back, she looked me in the eye. I nodded, not sure what to say to that. The road was calling my name. I removed my jacket and bowtie, before I climbed into my car and waved goodbye. Emily's words were swirling around my head. The thing about love . . . I was done looking for it. If it was meant to be, it would have to find me.
Chapter 2
Nick
The ride to the place I'd rented for the week hadn't been as awful as I'd expected. Probably because I'd left so late at night, I'd missed most of the traffic. Whenever my parents had brought my sister and me down for a week in the summer, I felt like the drive took forever. Part of that was my impatience to get there, the other part, the fact that we sat in standstill traffic nine times out of ten.
Those were still memories that had stayed with me over the years. Not the traffic, but our time at the shore. It was the place I'd learned to surf, something I refused to give up as I got older. Even though I had to travel for a couple hours for good surf, I was more than willing to do it. The ocean was one of the few places I could leave my troubles behind and just enjoy the weather.
By the time I'd arrived, I was too exhausted to do anything but drag my bags out of the car, strip down to my boxers and climb in bed. It seemed as if only a few hours had passed when the sun peeked through the blinds pulling me from sleep. Getting up early on vacation wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd been watching the tides all last week and knew that the best time to catch decent waves was early in the morning.
Pulling myself out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom. A shower could wait until later since I was going to end up coming back covered in sand and salt water anyway. I threw on my board shorts, packed a backpack and walked out the door. The unique smell of the salt air hit me instantly. There was something to be said about the calming effect it had on my state of mind. Taking in a deep breath, I let the sounds of the seagulls and the wind roll over me for a few moments.
Opening my eyes, I walked to the car to bring my board down from the roof. Thankful for my choice in places to stay and not have to find parking, I pulled my board down and began the short walk to the beach. The morning was warm, which would only heat up as the day progressed. My plan for the day included surfing the early morning waves, before grabbing breakfast in town when the tide rolled out.
Once I dropped my stuff in the sand, I pulled up my wet suit, knowing that without the full heat of the summer day, it might be a bit cool in the morning. The water called to me and in a blink of an eye, I'd surfed for a few hours. The beach was starting to fill up with families ready to spend the day building sandcastles and swimming in the ocean.
I carried my board out of the water, picking up my stuff along the way and returned to the house. After a long, hot shower, I walked down the street to a little cafe on the corner. Everything in the town had a 1950s doo wop feel to it. The small restaurant on the corner was no different. It was a quaint little place, with delicious coffee and donuts. Before I made it through the door, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Andrew: Em wants to know you made it there ok
I rolled my eyes. Twenty-four hours hadn't even passed and they were already checking up on me. The whole thing was going to piss me off if they kept this shit up the whole week. If that was the case, I'd turn the fucking thing off to get some peace.
Me: I'm fine. Just went surfing. Grabbing breakfast now TTYL
Shoving it back in my pocket, I stepped up to the counter and ordered. The teenager behind the counter promised to call when the order was up. I took a seat in one of the back booths to wait. There was one call I needed to make before I could follow my plan to ignore my phone for the rest of my time here. Dialing, I waited for her to answer, which only took two rings.
“Nick?” Mom answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Mom.”
“I haven't heard from you in a while. What's my baby boy up to?”
Why she still called me her baby boy, I'll never know. She claimed that no matter how old I got, I would always be her baby. Whatever, my mom was awesome and I knew it meant that she cared.
“Really, Mom? I'm not a baby and I'd have called you, but Josh's wedding was this weekend.”
They called my order. Keeping my phone on my ear, I got up to retrieve my breakfast, then sat back down in the booth.
“That's right. How was it?”
“Great. I've never seen Josh that happy and Lauren was beautiful.”
“Aww . . . the wedding sounds lovely. How about you, any new girls in your life?”
I took a sip of my drink. “No, Mom. I actually rented a house down in Wildwood for a week.”
“Oh! I love it down there. If your father would stop working so much, I could spend some more time down there.”
“Tell him to take a week off, he doesn't need to work that hard anymore. My college is paid for.”
She sighed. “I know, but he likes his job. He feels like he's giving back to the community.”
Dad was a captain in the local police force back home. He'd risen up through the ranks and worked hard to put me through college. Mom was a kindergarten teacher who was on summer break. She always wanted to travel when she was home. I think my dad put in so many hours to pay for school, that now he thinks if he doesn't work things will fall apart without him.
“You know he'll bring you down this summer. He probably already has it planned for your anniversary.”
“You're right.” I heard the dishes moving around in the background. “So what are you doing down there? Did you and Andrew decide on a boys' weekend?”
“No actually, I decided to come on my own.”
“Why would you want to do that? Won't you be lonely?”
I chuckled. “Now you sound like Emily. I wanted to clear my head and have a few days without third wheel status.”
“Oh, Nick. I know you didn't want Morgan that way, but trust me when I tell you that you'll meet the right girl someday. And you'll know it's her the minute you lay eyes on her.”
“Oh, no. Please don't tell me the story of you meeting Dad. I think I've heard it a million times by now.”
“Knock it off, smart mouth. I'll have you know that it was the first time I saw a man and knew that he was the only one I was ever going to want.”
“I'll keep that in mind. Look, I'm going to go eat. I just didn't want you to worry about me. I'm here and fine. I'll call you when I get home.”
“Okay. Have fun! And remember, first look.”
“Bye, Mom.” I rolled my eyes, Mom would never let that go.
“Bye.”
After hanging up, I finished my donut and coffee. Taking a nap on the beach sounded like a perfect way to wait for the tide to come in again. Once I had everything from the apartment, I went back to the beach. The peace and quiet wasn't something I was used to, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A good power nap and I felt ready to tackle the waves.
It had been the first time I'd felt completely relaxed in months. The waves were perfect, but the tide was going out and my stomach was screaming at me for food. Deciding to take one more wave before I went in for the night, I paddled out to where the waves were breaking and set myself up for the next decent wave. A few passed through, none of them worthy enough to ride. Then I saw the perfect one to end my day.
Paddling forward, I felt the wave propelling me forward and stood up on the board, loving the feel mist as it blew up into my face. Straight ahead was the horizon. While I wasn't the only one out in the ocean, there was a certain peace as I let the board carry me closer to the beach. Taking a deep breath of the warm salt air, I made my way out of the water to my stuff stacked on the beach. I laid my board in the sand and pick up the towel from inside of my bag
. In the middle of drying my face, I felt someone shove me from behind, causing me to lose my footing for a second.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” A melodic voice, raged from behind me.
Spinning around, I froze, my body unable to comprehend the avenging angel standing in front of me. Her long chestnut locks were pulled out of her face and into a ponytail. She had dark russet lashes framing the most mesmerizing golden eyes. The hands on the hips of her wet suit, combined with the narrowed brows, and sneer on her lips made it clear she wasn't there to say hi.
“Are you deaf or dumb?” she snapped.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, are you deaf or dumb? That's the only thing I can think that would make you steal someone's wave, taking them down in the process.”
“I didn't take you down.”
I'd have noticed her surfing anywhere within a fifty mile radius of me.
“Bullshit. You're all alike. You come down here for a day, a week, a weekend . . . it doesn't matter. You think you have the right to take over our beaches and surf without a care in the world for other people.” Her hands were whipping around with each word she spoke.
Between being accused of stealing her wave and then being a selfish asshole, that's when my temper flared to life and I let her have it. One cranky, although hot chick wasn't going to ruin my week by getting all territorial on me.
“I have never stolen a wave on purpose. And if I did, maybe you need to be more careful about which waves you try to surf. You had to be out of my line of sight.”
Her eyes widened. “You're going to blame me? Typical.” She gave a shove to my chest and walked away.
What the hell was that all about? Apparently, someone pissed in her Cheerios this morning. Blowing off the frustration of that encounter and letting the memories of the surf flood through me, I collected my things and went back to the house to get ready to go out for the night.
Chapter 3
Olivia
ASSHOLE.
That could possibly be the only word to describe the arrogant prick who thought the world revolved around him. Every year it was like this. And even though I'd grown up with the bullshit it still annoyed the hell out of me. But that was the price we paid to live at the beach. What didn't help matters was seeing Jake with his “arm candy,” as he put it, hanging off every word he said. She looked like a runway model on the beach. No one had a right to looked that good when the wind was flinging your hair around with sand and water blowing in your face.