Meet The Coach

Lesson 19: Accept And Don't Reject

Lesson 19: Accept And Don't Reject

I was hoping that the expression on my face wasn't insulting Emilee. It was nothing short of a deer caught in headlights. My mouth fell agape like a fish out of sea and I blinked like a baffling idiot.

"What are you doing here Bree?" She asked astounded. I don't know why, but I was shocked when I heard her voice. Why had I expected it to change in the mere weeks we were apart? Or even from our call just over a week ago?

"On holiday?" I voiced in a strained tone. "As you are?"

I peered to the male beside her. He looked so familiar; I could swear I had seen him countless times. "Precisely. But I come here every year to see my Grandparents. What are you doing here?"

Realization stuck me. One: Emilee always came to Hawaii at the beginning of her summer holidays. Two: the male was Ryder.

Why is the world so small?

"Some friends and I... we won a competition and the prize was a trip to Hawaii," I mumbled incoherently. I looked into Ryder's eyes, they too were the same as I remembered. His crystal orbs never failed to mesmerise me, however, they paled in comparison to Carter's. Who, in my peripheral vision, was staring at the rest of us in confusion.

"Oh," was Emilee's response.

"Hey Bree," Ryder greeted as he ran a hand through his tousled hair. I could only wonder how that single movement once managed to captivate me.

"Hi... Ryder," I replied awkwardly. Carter coughed slightly to alert my attention. "Oh, I should introduce. Carter this is Emilee my former best friend and this is Ryder. My Ex." I gestured from Carter to the two before I continued. "Emilee, Ryder this is Carter my f-"

"Boyfriend," Carter interjected smoothly. I tried not to look confused. I had a straight face opposed to Emilee who looked like she had just been slapped. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too..." Emilee trailed slowly. "Bree, you never told me you had a boyfriend." That's because I don't.

"You never asked?"

"I suppose so. Well I guess I don't need to... I'm with Ryder now." I blinked three times wondering if I was just dreaming or that the girl who told me that Ryder was no good was actually dating him herself.

"Really?" Why do I sound hurt?

"Yeah. Well we need to go." Emilee pressed her lips into a thin line. "It was nice seeing you. Bye."

She turned around before I could reply. Ryder gave a weird look before giving me a little smile. He too walked away. I stared at them as they retreated, slowly they had reached for each other's hands.

"Uh. Bree? You okay there?" A far off voice questioned. A hand waved in front of my eyes, it blurred in my unfocused vision. I blinked a few times.

"Uh yeah?" I said feebly. "That was weird."

Carter didn't say anything. I looked to him and saw he was inching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Okay, what do you want to say? You're really obvious you know."

"So your former best friend right? I'm guessing that's the person you were talking on the phone too, not too long ago?" He guessed. He ran his fingers through his hair causing my already pounding heart to skip a beat.

"Uh. Yeah that's right. It wasn't one of the most comfortable of calls I've had."

"I could tell. So what went wrong?" He asked. He started to walk, which reminded me of the reason why we were where we were.