The Tour

forty / home

I just had to make it through the finals day of this competition before I could go home and see Will. This leg of the tour had felt like ages, but I had been abroad for months. I was surfing in the semifinals this morning and the final would be in the afternoon, providing that I made it there.

Almost everyone else on the Rip Curl house had already been eliminated, which was unfortunate but also nice because I didn't have to worry about surfing against my friends. However, my first heat was against the last remaining member of the Rip Curl group; my best friend Jaylin. Our little rivalry had mostly died down since I beat here initially, but there was still some tension there. Coach John advised me to ignore it, but I had become a bit stuck on beating her against my better judgement.

The morning looked cool outside the window, and I grabbed a sweatshirt to protect against the pre-sunrise chill. The waves were supposed to be the best in the morning, which meant a call time of seven am for my first heat. The boards were already packed in my black board bag, so I just needed to shove them in the car and start blasting the music in an effort to hype myself up before the competition.

I met Coach John on the beach, and he ran me through the aggressive strategy that we had discussed yesterday. We didn't want to give her any room to get a lead and feel good about herself. However, in the water, that turned out to be harder to execute than expected.
Jaylin and I padded out to get to the break after warmups, and she was already paddling hard while facing straight ahead. Her intimidation tactics didn't bother me, but I was surprised by the lack of trash talking. Her dark hair was pulled back in long braids, and she was focused on a whole different level.

The waves were pretty big, peaking at around ten feet and good for getting tubed. Once Jaylin and I reached the best area for catching waves the buzzer sounded and the heat began. I jumped on the first good set just as Coach John had instructed, making a few good turns before exiting. Jaylin had taken off on another wave in the same set, but the scores had hers at a 3.6 and mine at a 4.7. However, it was much too early in the heat to get comfortable.

It was five minutes before the next good looking waves appeared, and I chose another that looked pretty big. I stalled after popping up so that I could stay inside and wait to get tubed, but just as the wave started to curve over me it began to crumble. I was left with all of the water overhead collapsing down, pushing me under the water. The water swirled around as I worked my way to the surface, unprepared to go under. The next wave came crashing down a second later, and I lost at least five minutes working my way back to the surface after the set rolled through.

The announcer kindly waited until I had surfaced to announce that Jaylin had just posted a score of 7.3 for a toal of 10.9. That put me in the hole, which was the opposite of our original plan.

I paddled back into the lineup to see Jaylin smirking as she faced the flat horizon. Ten minutes to go, with nothing in sight. The beach was packed with people expectantly waiting to see if I would make a comeback. My mind skipped to the little girl who had told me that she was rooting for me before the heat. Things were not looking great for her, or me.

A few waves rolled past, but they were so small that I knew that I wouldn't score well on them. That left a decent group of waves that appeared on the horizon with three minutes left. The second one appeared to be the best, and I took advantage of my priority and paddled into it. One hard turn on the top sprayed water into the air, earning me cheers from the shore. I looked ahead, noticing that the surface of the wave had gotten softer, meaning I wouldn't get barreled or be able to complete an aerial maneuver.

The wave dissolved after I made three more turns, and the buzzer sounded a few minutes later.

"Ladies and gentleman, Jaylin Perez has won this semifinal heat with a score of a 10.6. She will advance and River Lancer will finish this competition with an equal third place. The final will begin in forty five minutes after the men's semifinal heat concludes.

I sighed, working my way up the beach and logging into my computer to book flights before I even showered. There was one ticket left for a three stop flight that would get in around midnight, and I bought it immediately. I just had to show my face for the awards ceremony, and then I could go home for the first time in months.

My phone buzzed, and I smiled when I read the message. "What time are you getting to the airport?" Will asked. I tapped the phone icon next to his contact photo, a gem of a photo from when he and Evan were joking in his hospital room while he was hopped up on pain medication.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite loser," Will's voice echoed into the receiver.

I attempted to suppress a smile, but quickly failed. "The waves were tough to read today."
"Oh yeah, it was completely unlucky. You're still way better than her. But we're over that because you're still top five on the tour and you can come home now. When does your flight get in."

"Around midnight tonight, but I'm going to call my mom because-"

"Don't be an idiot, I'll pick you up," Will interrupted quickly.

"I don't want you to be up that late," I protested. "You need your rest for school and baseball."

"Coach gave us the day off tomorrow because we played well this weekend. It's a Saturday night anyway, I'll be there at midnight. See you then, now go collect your medal or whatever they give you."

I laughed a little. "Okay, I'll text you when we land. See you soon, love you."

"I love you Riv."

△▽△

My heart was already racing as I pushed my way past the families getting off of the plane. It had been too long since I had seen my best friend, and the distance was harder than expected.

My backpack bumped up and down as I skipped to the baggage claim, surveying the area. There in the corner, with his hair swept back and bags under his eyes, stood the boy I could confidently say was the love of my life. He looked up at me and grinned, extending his arms out and lifting me up as I jumped into them.

"Hey," Will breathed as he buried his head into my neck. I clutched his white sweatshirt and his arms tightened around me.

"That was terrible," I said, "I missed you."

"Definitely not ideal," he agreed, lowering me to the ground and kissing my forehead.

I tilted my head up to kiss him for the first time in months, comfortably falling back into old patterns. We broke away when the baggage claim siren sounded, and Will took off to grab my board bag for me.

I laughed as he proudly walked back with it, although he still looked a little tired. The rest of my luggage came around on the conveyer belt a moment later.

"Come on, let's get you home," Will said, guiding me towards his car once we corralled all of the bags.

I slipped my hand into his where it rested on the console of the car. We spent the drive talking about his upcoming week, but I was guilty of a lot of staring too. The moonlight cast shadows across his face, lighting up his smile as he talked. Some things just weren't transferable through FaceTime.

"Welcome home," Will grinned when we stopped outside of my house.

"Thanks for the ride," I responded, kissing him on the cheek before turning to get out of the car.

"Wait, River-"

I paused and turned back around. He had a conflicted look on his face.

"Um, I think I made a decision, and I wanted to just tell you now instead of waiting," he paused, "It's not the greatest news, but I think that it could be really good for me."

——
I'm finally back :) it's been too long, but things were crazy this semester at school. And sorry to leave on a sort of cliff hanger, that isn't usually my thing but I should be back with an update very soon. I've seen so many new reads come through in the past few months, so welcome to all of the new readers and thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoy, I have big plans coming. Love you all.