Worst Impressions

Bonus Chapter - Meeting the Surfers

As it happened, one more day was a lot.

I'd barely eaten at dinner, hadn't slept at all, and had showered and dressed before breakfast. Charlie and Chantelle had arrived late the previous night; earlier than planned, but still too early for my liking. I knew I would be expected to spend time with them, to ensure that they were comfortable in our home and catered to, but I couldn't give either a second thought when my head was, once again, full of Beth.

Mandy knew exactly what I was planning when I left the house early and alone that morning. Almost from the moment that Beth and her father had left, she'd hounded me for as much information as she could gather. The conversation had halted when Chantelle had arrived and stuck to us like glue, not leaving us a single spare moment together to discuss any plans on how best to apologise to Beth, or whether I should try to pursue her as anything more than an acquaintance. Even at breakfast, Chantelle had been the loudest voice at the table, openly declaring just how she intended to spend all her time with me, and that I mustn't leave her alone in such a dull part of the country.

Thank God my mother saw the panic in my eyes at the very idea. She helped to facilitate my escape by helpfully reminding me of an imagined task in the town that I must undertake immediately and entirely alone.

The garage wasn't difficult to find in the tiny seaside town. All seemed fairly quiet. A few power tools burst intermittently into life and classic rock hummed from an ancient radio deep in the recesses of the premises. Beth's father was in his office with the door open, his feet up on the desk and a newspaper in his lap. It was eerily reminiscent of the way my own father had spent his mornings; with a paper and a cup of tea, and a desire to remain generally undisturbed until he'd been allowed to digest whatever was to be reported across the world.

'William,' he said, straightening himself in the chair. 'I didn't think you'd come by so early.'

'Sorry,' I apologised automatically. I didn't want to offend Beth's father as monstrously as I always managed to insult her. 'I was up and the weather's nice enough. I don't suppose Beth's in, is she?'

His face fell into an annoyed expression. 'No. I told her to wait in, but she ran off as soon as she was done with breakfast.'

My heart sank. It wasn't a shock that she'd wanted to avoid me, but I didn't think that she'd go so far as to disobey her father to do it. Then again, Beth had never struck me as the obedient type.

This was in character.

'Well, never mind,' I tried not to sound too disheartened. 'If you're ever back up at the house –'

'No, no,' Mr Bennett interrupted. 'I'm not having this. She knew you were coming by and she did a runner. My daughter's a lot of things, but I didn't raise her to be impolite.'

Clearly, Mr Bennett had no idea what his daughter was like when she was at school.

'I suppose I can come by again later?' I offered by way of a compromise. 'Honestly, I don't mind.'

'She'll be down at the beach,' he told me. 'Just listen for a group of noisy idiots and you should find her there with her friends. Don't worry about interrupting them. They'll just be splashing about in the water and being a general nuisance. It's all she ever does when she's back here.'

'Thank you, Mr Bennett.'

'Greg,' he reminded me.

I swallowed hard. 'Greg. Thank you.'

People didn't use the first names of their elders. It wasn't appropriate. Sure, I used Gideon's first name, but he was a worthless sack of garbage and I didn't consider him to be my superior in any regard. To speak so informally to Beth's father felt wrong in some way. Perhaps it was because I was always so brash when it came to his daughter that it felt insincere to accept his politeness. Whatever it was, I was decidedly unnerved when I left the garage and began my journey to the beach.

I spotted the group of surfers from a distance. They were waving at a man standing up at the café nearby. A brunette hopped up onto her surfboard and caught a wave that brought her back to shore. The rest followed her and they began to towel off there on the sand with little interest in anyone but themselves.

They certainly didn't notice me as I approached and I was forced to yell, 'Beth Bennett!' to get their attention.

As I neared, I observed that their ages seemed to vary. Most were older than Beth, while one boy appeared younger. The girl was with who I supposed was her boyfriend, who had slung his arm over her shoulders in a possessive manner. The tallest young man in the group was elbowing Beth. I could only surmise that they were teasing her, just as her friends at school did.

I hardly knew how to introduce myself to a group of people who'd just dragged themselves out of the sea, never mind how to properly greet Beth after everything that had happened between us. I settled for a safe, 'Hi,' by way of introduction.

'What are you doing here?' She did little to hide her shock and displeasure. 'And how did you know I'd be here?'

'Your father said that I'd probably find you here. You're soaked.'

'That's an occupational hazard when you surf, kid,' the oldest boy said. 'Gotta be in the water to do it. Water's wet.'

Again, I was unsure of social etiquette. I looked him up and down and, realising that he was probably also older than me, I offered him my hand to shake. 'William Darcy. You are?'

'You don't need to go all formal on us, kid. I'm Eric, I work for Beth's Dad. The blonde girly is Poppy. The guy glaring at you is her boyfriend, Max. And the scrawny kid is her little bro', Lewis.'

'Nice to meet you all,' I said stiffly. I didn't trust my ability to remember all their names. 'Beth, my sister was hoping you'd come up to the house for lunch.'

'You want to eat lunch inside when it's this nice out?' Poppy asked.

'Where else would we eat?' I replied as though it should have been obvious that we would go back to the house.

She motioned to the café. 'Ta-da!'

'What? No way,' Beth shut her down immediately. 'Look, I know what Dad said, but it's fine. Don't make yourself hang around me, okay? I'm going to eat up there with the guys, so apologise to your sister for me, and –'

'I'll text her,' I interrupted.

There was no way I was going to let this opportunity pass me by.

'Come again?'

I took my phone from my pocket and was already putting through a text as I spoke. 'I'll send her a message and tell her to meet us here.'

Beth did nothing to mask her displeasure and audibly groaned at the idea of us sharing a meal. True, I wasn't going to be her favourite person in the world after Christmas, taking Charlie away, and essentially everything that I'd ever said to her, but that didn't mean that we shouldn't at least try to be civil. I'd hoped that we could be more than that, but I didn't know that Beth would ever be ready to be my friend, never mind the object of my affection. If all that I got out of this one day together was a chance to spend a little more time in her company before we parted ways forever, then that would need to be enough to sustain me for the rest of my life.

Then, maybe, I would be able to let her go.