The Seaside Retreat

Chapter 38

Violet's POV

Seth and I ate dinner quickly. After scarfing down a ham sandwich, I kissed Seth goodnight. He told me he'd call me later. After saying goodbye to Seth, I then went to relieve my parents of the dinner shift, but not before asking them if I could spend tomorrow with them. They both agreed and then left.

Since I was doing a shift by myself, I was glad dinner at the Seaside Retreat  tonight was pretty slow.  It was nice only having to get food and clean up tables for a couple people. I still found it hard to believe that this was the last dinner I would serve at the Seaside Retreat for a long while. I tried not to dwell on this fact too much, afraid that if I did, it would make me regret my desicion. And I didn't regret my desicion. If I wanted to get into the hotel business, I had to take up this oppertunity. I would be stupid if I didn't.

After the last family had left the dining area, I went into kitchen to clean up. Because of the small amount of diners tonight, it didn't take me much time to wash and dry all of the dishes. Looking out the window, I saw that the sun was starting to go down over the horizon, the sunset fastly approaching. I sighed in contempt, wondering if the sunset would look the same in California. I had a hard time believing it would be. 

I decided  then that I wanted to go watch the sunset from my normal spot on the beach. This would be my last chance to do so, and I couoldn't pass it up. I had put my hair up into a messy ponytail and slipped on some good running shoes (I was going to need to jog in order to be able to watch the sun before it disappeared over the horizon.) and was about to open the back door when I felt a hand on my shoulder. 

I instantly froze before spinning around, seeing who had touched me. I was surprised to see it was only Mason. I couldn't help noticing how good he looked. His dark brown hair was windblown, and he was wearing a black leather jacket. The word "bad boy" instantly registered in my mind.  I instantly relaxed and felt myself giving a sigh of relief. "Mason, I didn't know you were there." I told him, trying to hide my surprise.

"Yeah, sorry about that." His voice was quiet and something else I couldn't quite identify. He almost sounded nervous! Nervous! ha! Even though I'd only known Mason for about a week, I kenw he wasn't the type of guy to get nervous. At all. When we first met at the Italian restaurant where Seth and I were having our first date, he had seemed so confident and so sure of himself. The first few days he had flirted with me often, but I didn't think too much of it because I knew he was a player. He probably flirted with a ton of girls, just because that was how he was. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it at times, I suspected. But in the last few days he'd changed. He turned polite, his teasing was less consistent, he became more quiet. He was nice to me and to everyone. And I found it extremely weird that he was constantly going out of his way to avoid Remmy. Even though they broke up and everything, I still thought that he would flirt with her a little. It was the natural Mason thing to do.

"Hey what's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked him with concern. He wasn't looking at me, instead choosing to stare down at the floor. He didn't respond. "Hey." I said again, shaking his arm. "What's wrong?" He finally looked up and when his eyes met mine, I felt like I was looking at a different person. His usual happy-go-lucky nature I was so used to was gone, replaced by a serious one and his eyes reflected this. Usually his green eyes were bright, teasing, and guarded. Now they were dull, pleading, and vulnerable. As Mason stared at me, I suddenly felt vulnerable too. What had happened that made him suddenly so different? 

Before I could get too distarcted by his eyes, he spoke up. "Violet, can I talk to you about something?" His voice was still low and almost pleading sounding. I instinctively looked over toward the back door. I thought about the sunset, and how soon it was going to be setting. If I wanted to make it on time, I was going to have to leave pretty soon. 

"Um, actually Mason, I really need to get to the beach right now. The sun's about to set and I really want to watch it. It's so beautiful, with all the colors that light up the sky.." I stopped, realizing I was caught up in a fantasy. "I wouldn't want to miss something so beautiful, you know?"

His face changed then, and he almost looked pained, but he nodded in agreement. He turned around with a sad and defeated look on his face. "Wait!" I called to him. He turned back around, the dejection in his eyes visible. "Could we talk tomorrow sometime? I'm really sorry I can't talk tonig-"

He cut me off, his voice sounding flat and devoid of life. "It's okay. I understand." He gave a small smile, but I could instantly tell it was fake. It looked too forced and his eyes gave him away. They were still unhappy. "But we can still talk tomorrow right?" I urged. I really was honsestly curious about what he seemed so focused on telling me. Plus, I hated to see him sad like he was now.

"Sure." He replied, his fake smile still forcibly plastered on his face. "Okay. Awesome! And thanks for understanding Mason!" I smiled up at him before giving him a hug.

I don't know why I gave him a hug, I just did it without thinking. My natural instinct is to hug someone when they're sad or look like they need some cheering up. It was the nice, natural thing to do right? 

At first, his body was rigid, obviously as surprised as I was that I was hugging him. After a moment, however, his arms wrapped tenatively around me, returning the hug. I knew that I should pull away now, because I didn't want him to get the wrong idea or anything, but I found I couldn't. His chest was so warm, and when I had looked into his eyes, so vulnerable and sad, something had changed inside of me. 

Seeing Mason tonight had made me realize that he wasn't invicible. As much as he tried to look tough and unaffected, always carefree, I now finally understood that he was a person too, with feelings. And sometimes his feelings showed, just like they did with everyone else. I don't know why I found it so shocking. I guess I just sometimes forgot.

Finally, I was able to pull away, but I found that  a part of me longed to slip into his embrace again. The security, the safety, the warmth. I banished these thoughts and made myself focus. "I'll see you tomorrow!" I told him cheerfully, hoping the hug had wiped away some of his earlier sadness.

He looked a little happier, though not as much as I would have liked. His smile looked a little more natural now, but his eyes still held the same gloominess as before. 

I then remembered the sunset. "Oh my gosh! I'm going to miss the sunset! I'll see you tomorrow Mason!" I waved at him as I ran out the door, shutting it behind me. I was going to have to sprint to make it on time. I knew if I wouldn't have tried to cheer Mason up I wouldn't have had to hurry, but I found I didn't regret my decision. I knew I would've felt terrible if I'd have left him like he was. Whenever anyone was sad, I always tried to cheer them up. 

I started to run faster, hoping I would make it on time. As I ran, I was surprised to find that I was eager for tomorrow. I was really curious about Mason was going to say.