Swimming With Sophie

1. WHERE IS HE??

Sophie

"Can you bring me another Mai Tai?" My hand sways back and forth as I ask. I've already had four. But whatever.

The pool-side waiter nods his head then hurries away, like they all do. Everyone, not just the waiters. Apparently I'm the scary lady at the pool now. One tantrum and the world doesn't let you forget.

But I've had the Mai Tai's, so I'm better now.

I sip the last bit of drink number four, the straw making that obnoxious slurping sound that indicates your drink is gone. Just like Luc. Gone.

I can't really blame him. He's put up with so much. All of my weirdness and my moods. He's been such a trooper and really doesn't deserve the way I push him away.

Looks like I finally pushed one too many times. And check me out! Dropping the final blow just before our destination wedding! I rock at perfect timing. It's like an art form I've perfected. You can't teach this stuff. There's no college course on how to irritate your fiancé until he snaps.

And dang if Luc didn't snap. Epic snappage.

Where's that Mai Tai?

I look around for the waiter. "Waiter!" I call, because I'm not scary enough yet. I need to have another full blown outburst to cement my status as resident pool wacko. Once again, whatever. As soon as I get home I'm buying a cat. Then I can start building my crazy cat lady rep.

The waiter finally heads over to me, Mai Tai in hand. I snatch it the second he offers it and remove the stupid paper umbrella. I add it to the paper umbrella graveyard under my lounge chair.

If only I had a huge floppy hat. I could pull the hat down and pretend none of these people are here. Hide.

Oh, that's a great idea! I need to hide. Because as soon as Lacey finds out about all of this, she's going to launch into Ms. Fix-it mode, and let's face it. There's no fixing this issue. I can't be fixed. And clearly I'm the problem.

I don't know how to hold on to the good things in life. It seems like I expect the hammer to fall, so instead of waiting for it, like a normal person, I ram the thing myself.

Queen really knew what they were talking about. I can hear Freddie singing "What the hell we fighting for..." and I'm thinking, exactly. There's nothing to fight for anymore. I made sure of that.

I can't remember all of the words Luc and I slung back and forth at each other this afternoon. And to be honest, I was the only one slinging them. Relentlessly. It's like the off button on my mouth stopped working. Do I even have one of those?

All I do remember are the last five words he said. He didn't even really say them to me, more like about me.

"I can't do this anymore."

If that isn't a declaration of the end, I don't know what is. If he can't do 'this' anymore, we must be over. And if we're over, there's no point staying at this luxury resort with the full wedding package that Luc got with a Groupon.

Damn Groupon's ruined my wedding. And my relationship. And I was already living with Luc, so it ruined my home too.

Ah crap. That was me. I ruined it with my big freaking mouth and my overwhelming anxiety. Go me. At least he pulled the plug before we actually got to the alter.

Silver lining.

My phone pings with a text but I don't have the energy to read it. It's got to be Lacey. I can't let myself hope that it's Luc. I don't have that kind of luck.

I suck down Mai Tai number five and cut myself off. Grabbing the towel off the back of the lounge, I pull it over my head and roll onto my side. It's a good substitute for a floppy hat. I need to buy one of those soon.

^^^^^

They're back agaaaaaain!! Are you as excited as I am? And Part 3 includes all four POV's throughout the entire story. It will follow the CWT and LWL format: 16 short chapters then the YouTube episode transcript and 4 epilogues, each with social media clickbait!

Updates will be TWICE WEEKLY!! What?!? Wednesday and Saturday are planned for now.

And your first clickbait is up next!