Time; Don't Let It Slip Away

My Board Your Wave

After an hour of Beth and Lauren playing on the beach, little Beth became really tired, and needed to sleep. Lauren went and put her to sleep in her bedroom, and then came back down to the patio and sat next to Joe, as he cuddled her close. We were all so relaxed, sitting on the patio drinking breezers, and listening to the record player. Aerosmith, of course. 

"So.." Lauren began "Did you pick out a dress yet?"

"She was going too," Steven cut in, "But then she found that new hippie store in town.. And it all went down hill from there" He laughed

"Mia! You've got... What? Two weeks till the wedding?!" She asked, shocked. 

"I know, I know. I was gonna wait for you to get here, to do it." I sighed, looking down at my hands.

"If you want to run into town, we can get you a board, and then we can go shopping for a dress." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Of course!" She jumped out of Joe's arms, and walked over to me, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of Steven's embrace. "Let's go, let's go! We don't have a lot of time and finding a wedding dress is difficult!" She said, towing me behind her.

I heard the boys laughing behind us. I grabbed my car keys off the counter, and we drove into town. 

I pulled up to 'The Grateful Dreads' and parked the car.

"This doesn't look like a bridal shop." Lauren glared at me.

"It's not, but we'll go there next, I promise!" I smiled "We're here to get you a board."

"This doesn't look like a surf shop, either." She sighed.

"It's not, but they've got boards in the back!" I chuckled "Come on, just give it a chance!" I said, pulling her into the store. I know it seemed wrong, but I walked in hoping Dylan was working. I liked him, he was nice. 

I heard the bells ring on top of the door as we walked into the shop. I looked to the counter and saw Dylan's peircing blue eyes, smiling at me.

"Hey, Mia! Back so soon?" He grinned.

"Yeah! I'm here to get a board for my friend. I saw some, yesterday. Do you still have any?" I asked

"Sure they're in that back room right there, just past the records." He smiled and pointed to the back of the store.

"Thanks, Dylan." I grinned and walked to the back of the room with Lauren.

We shopped around for a bit, until Lauren found this beautiful blue, green, and yellow board. It was perfect for her.

"Oh my god, Laur! You have to get it!" we both grinned and brought it up to the register. 

"Ahh this ones beautiful. Care to grab some choice waves today, sister?" He asked us.

"Well.. I want to, but this one is dragging me to go to the bridal shop, and look at dresses." I laughed and rolled my eyes at Lauren.

"Oh Congratulations!" He turned to Lauren. "When's the big day?"

"Oh! I'm not the one getting married!" She chuckled "This crazy bitch, is." 

Dylan looked back at me, and something about his aura told me he wasn't too thrilled about it. 

"Oh, well congrats, sister." He said, with an obvious sting of less enthusiasm. Lauren and I just looked at each other, both picking up the bad aura he's giving off. 

We finished paying for the board, and then walked out of the store, with Dylan calling behind us.

"Namaste. Have a good one, you guys."

"Thanks, you too." I smiled back, but his eyes never met mine. 

We pulled the top to my beetle, down, and set the board in the backseet. Then we both got in and drove back to the house so we can catch some waves and then go shopping. 

"What the hell was that about?" She asked, and I paused, thinking about all that just happened. "Mia..?"

"I wish I could tell you." I sighed "I met him yesterday. He's a really nice guy and all. I just went there yesterday for the first time, and I went shopping and all. We were talking as I was ringing everything up, and he helped bring my record player out to the car, and I brought up Steven, but never mentioned that we were getting married. He seemed sad then too. And all of a sudden this happens? I feel bad." 

"I guess he's got a crush, or something." She giggled, as I pulled into the garage, and grabbed my board. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I really loved seeing you play with Beth." Lauren said as we sat on our surfboards about 100 yards from the beach, drifting around in the water. "Steven's right, you know. You'd be a fantastic mother." She smiled

I laid back on my board, stared up at the bright blue sky, and let out a long exasperated sigh.

"I'm not so sure about that." I choked up a little. "I mean, what if it doesn't like me? What if I can't be there for it, cause of touring or recording or something? I don't want to be that mother. You know... my mother did that to me when I was younger. She worked so hard, trying to provide a good life for me, and James, that I almost never saw her, until I was... what? 7 or 8? That's not the way it should be." 

"Mia, it'll be your baby. It'll love you unconditionally. And yes, it takes work. You have to make time for your baby, but it'll become easier over time. I mean, I'm not some big star trying to tour and record an album at the same time, but I managed to make time for Beth, and everything just fell into place." She smiled, remembering her first few months with her daughter. 

"I guess so." I smiled faintly, and then looked up at the sun. "It's getting a little late, we should clean up and go dress shopping if you still wanna go today." I sighed.

"Okay, let's go Mrs. Tyler." She giggled, as we paddled back to shore.