False Starts

Chapter 3

THE Sunday afternoon sun was still shining as Abbie lounged in the backyard of the small house she shared with two other girls. Carly, the youngest of the three, was in the chaise next to Abbie, both of them wearing sunglasses, bikinis and suntan lotion. “I wish we had a pool,” Carly muttered suddenly.

      Abbie looked up from her book. “Well, tell Ade,” she said, referring to their roommate Adrienne, whose mother actually owned the house, but rented it out to them at a low price, while she lived in Palm Springs.

      “I did and she doesn’t want one,” Carly replied, her eyes closed under the sunglasses. “She says it’ll just be another reason we’d never leave the house.”

      “Well, she’s right,” Abbie said, laughing softly. “There’s always the public pool. And this.” She gestured to the grassy backyard and the lounge chairs they had set up ages ago. Lazy afternoons like this were a treat for the housemates, as Carly and Ade were busy with school at UF and Abbie was always at work or on assignment.

      Carly repositioned herself on the chaise, trying to get the maximum amount of sun. “Charlotte must have been fun, you didn’t come back for nearly three weeks,” she commented.

      “If only,” Abbie replied drily. “I spent half of it taking pictures for Owen and the other half arguing with my mother.” Owen was her boss at the magazine.

      “Well, at least you got to spend time with Ryan. How is he?”

      Ryan had gone back to Gainesville the day after they went out, as his training started straightaway. “Busy training for trials,” Abbie answered, going back to reading. “I haven’t seen him yet and we haven’t spoken since he came back. He’ll come around, once he’s starts getting fidgety.” As if on cue, Abbie’s phone rang and she reached for it without taking her eyes off the page. “Yep?” she answered.

      “Meet me at the movie theatre in an hour?” said Ryan.

      “Sure.”

      “Oh, and pick up Kyle at the house. And Devon, if he’s there.”

      “Okey-dokey.”

      “And ask Ade and Carly if they want to come with us.”

      “Will do.”

      “Abs?”

      “Yes?”

      “I missed you. Welcome home.”

      Abbie smiled. “Thanks, Reezy.”

“So, I’ll see you next week, then?” Ryan said to Michael on the phone while he stood in line at the movie theatre. “How long will you be in town for? Just for the thing?”

      “I don’t really know,” replied Michael. “Bob said I can take the day after off, too, just to decompress. I said I’d think about it.”

      “Fair enough.” That was it, no more. It would be nice to have Michael around for longer but Ryan knew the pressure that his friend felt about doing well in Omaha. But they hardly ever talked about things like that and he wasn’t going to start asking about it. Besides, Ryan was starting to feel the pressure, too, which was why he, despite being bone-tired, was going to spend some time with his friends.

      Michael’s voice brought him back to the conversation. “Hey, how’s Abbie? Wasn’t she supposed to be back yesterday?”

      “Yeah, she got in around 3am I think. At least that’s when she texted me,” Ryan answered.

      “I called her when she was at her dad’s,” Michael went on. “She was supposed to come back earlier, but she stayed in Jacksonville for a while when she dropped her brother off. She said she took so many pictures on the road she had to change out her memory card twice.” Michael laughed then went on.  “I don’t know how she did it, man, in that car. And with just her little brother for company? If he’s anything like me or you, she would have gone crazy.”

      It took a moment for Ryan to say anything. He hadn’t properly spoken to Abbie since she got back, didn’t even know she’d been to Jacksonville, and here was Michael telling him things about his best friend’s trip home. “Yeah, well, if she can live with me for nearly eight years, she can probably handle her brother for eight hours,” Ryan finally uttered. He didn’t even think of calling to check up on Abbie while she was on the road. I was busy, he told himself. I was training. It’s not like she let me know how she was doing either.

      That wasn’t exactly true, though. Abbie did tweet pictures from her phone, tagging his username in every one. It was a roadmap in pictures, stops she said she’d like to make if they ever made the drive together someday.

      Ryan suddenly felt like he didn’t like Michael talking about Abbie, but it was too weird to even think about. He pushed the weird feeling down as he walked back his car.

      “I guess you’re right,” Michael conceded with a chuckle. “I wish I could’ve taken the drive with her. It would’ve been great to hang out with Abbie for that long. Anyway, it’ll be nice to see her when I’m in town next week.” When Ryan didn’t comment, Michael decided it was a good a time as any to ask him about Abbie. “Hey, Ry, I’ve been meaning to ask… Would it be all right if I…?”

      “What? Take a road trip?” Ryan asked, as he saw Abbie’s car enter the parking lot.

      “No, I mean, well… I might... If there’s time, you know… I was just wondering if I could – but if you say you mind, I won’t –“

      Ryan interrupted him with a loud laugh. “Spit it out, Phelps!”

      “I was thinking of asking Abbie out to dinner next week, if I have time.”

      A pause.

      “You know, if it’s okay with you.”

      Still, Ryan said nothing. He just watched Abbie pull into a space a few spots away from his Range Rover. Kyle was hanging out of the passenger side window, waving him over.

      “Ryan? You there, Doggie?”

      Ryan was caught off guard, but why it should bother him he didn’t know. This was an even weirder feeling than the one he had earlier. “Uh, yeah,” he managed to get out. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m… why wouldn’t I be? Ok with it, I mean.” He forced out a laugh. “I’m not her dad, bro. You don’t need my permission.”

      “You sure?” Michael suddenly sounded hopeful and happy.

      “Yeah. Go for it.” Ryan didn’t know what else to say. After a few moments of silence, he decided to just end the call. “I gotta go, man, Kyle’s here. We’re going to… something, I don’t know.”

      “All right, then, knock yourself out,” Michael said cheerfully. “Not literally, though. And, thanks. Later, man.”

      “Yeah, later.” Ryan hung up and jogged over to his friends, who were climbing out of the car. “’Sup, Carly, ‘sup, Ade,” he greeted Abbie’s roommates as he exchanged high-fives with his brother Devon and his childhood best friend Kyle.

      Abbie gave him a mock angry look. “You ask me to be here in an hour,” she said, “I’m here in an hour, and whaddayado? You ignore me.”

      Ryan turned to her and with the biggest smile, wrapped his arms around her. “I missed you, Spazzee!” he hollered, then gave her a sound kiss on the cheek. His voice dropped to a whisper as he leaned his forehead against hers. “I really did,” he said.

      “I missed you, too,” Abbie replied. “Hey, who were you talking to? Seemed serious.”

      Ryan shook his head as he released her. “No one,” he answered vaguely. “Just someone from Speedo. Come on, we’re going to miss previews.”