The Beautiful Truth

// 177

When I'd initially set out for Laguna Beach, I'd just gotten back from what appeared to be my final round of interviews in LA following my introduction to Hollywood's entertainment society at the Academy Awards. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have anywhere to be at any specified time, and I think buying my place in the OC was some sort of attempt at throwing out an anchor, as if to say 'Sawyer Fitzgerald is slowing down, damnit!'

The ride was exhilarating. I'd met people I'd never dreamed of meeting—Jeff Bridges, hello?! I was on TV and in magazines, and I had, oddly enough, a little stack of fan mail waiting for me at ACG Talent Management. Seems I'd struck a chord with a few teenage girls across the country—those that felt like I had, before I realized what was actually possible if I opened myself up to chance...and maybe even the hand of fate. I planned to write them all back personally, of course. Sawyer Fitzgerald wasn't big enough to have a personal assistant and a form letter fan mail response.

Although she was dangerously close to that point, what with referring to herself in the third person.

I smiled widely, looking out over the vast expanse of ocean in front of me while the sun continued to rise behind me. Living directly across the street from a small strip of beach made being part of Dawn Patrol irresistible—after watching the other surfers out there the last two mornings from my new balcony, I'd decided to join them today.

The waves were few and far between this morning, so not many of us were out. There were enough to make me happy, though, and now that I'd gotten my fill, I'd retreated to the shore and sat down to do something I hadn't gotten to do much lately—just pause to appreciate the world and all its beauty.

So many times I'd been asked since the Oscars, what's next? In the immediate sense, I knew I would finish school. I still had a room and most of my things at Chase and Travis's house in Berkeley. Dr. Bovich had set up a summer study plan for me that would just about get me back on track to graduate next May, and I was looking forward to the normalcy of it all. But at the same time, I was going to miss The Truth—I'd been so afraid to let it come to life that it seemed silly that I was sad to leave it behind now. We'd been able to give it a little more life, you know, winning an Academy Award and all, but now the media frenzy was over, it was time to figure that out...what's next?

Well, I would figure it out, I supposed. I always had. And for now, I had no reason to be in a hurry. I leaned back on my palms in the sand and took a deep breath and remembered a song.

I pretended to see across the water
To what the tides had waiting for me
But I never guessed there in the shade of palm trees
This life would twist and lead
To where I am today