The Tour

five / bridges burned

The final wave of the heat arced over me nicely, allowing me to spend a few seconds under the sheet of water. The inside of a barrel never stopped being a magical place, no matter how often a surfer found themself inside of one. The crowd erupted when I managed to make it out in front of the foam ball, still cheering after I kicked out and made my way back into the lineup.

The expression of distaste on Jaylin's face was too much for me, and I forced myself to fall back into the water so that my laughs weren't caught by the reporters who were out in the water. The impromptu swim didn't seem to earn too much attention, which I was grateful for. If anything, it would probably make its way onto the internet as one of the rookie's cute mistakes.

The buzzer sounded shortly after, and the four of us made our way back onto the shore. I popped upon a nice small wave so that I didn't have to waste my arm strength paddling in, and a grin covered my face on the whole ride in. I had beaten Jaylin by a fairly substantial three points, and everyone knew it. There were plenty of heats left in the competition, but she wouldn't be advancing this time around.

Coach John offered his congratulations and slapped me on the back as I made my way up the beach. He had been alerted to my little exchange with Jaylin the previous day, and as a purely unbiased observer had been excited at the possibility of an underdog scenario playing out. With no outlet of his own for his competitive streak, Coach was happy to live it out through his surfers. He guided me through the crowd of people that covered the beach and back up to the tents.

"That was pretty nice, River. The barrel at the end was icing on the cake, but I thought that your whole heat worked pretty well overall," John said once we were finally in an area that no press could hear us.

"Thanks coach, I'm just happy that I didn't look stupid after talking myself up to Jaylin the other day, I responded. "Not that it would have been the end of the world if I lost, but this is better."

"I agree. And now that we have conquered that battle of your ego, we can move onto the actual surfing. It looks like you're going to have another heat today, and I think that you should focus on the angle of your board when you're snapping off the top. I know that you're working to drive hard and get your lower body around, but just make sure that you're getting the board as vertical as possible before coming back down."

I nodded before taking off my wet jersey and placing it on one of the chairs. "Sounds good, I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone for a bit then. You're back on at three and should probably start getting ready around two," Coach said before making his way back out to the viewing areas.

My phone vibrated on the table and I flipped it over, smiling as I saw Will's name light up over Facetime. His face filled the screen as I swiped to the right and sat down at the table. Only his college baseball cap was visible for a second before he realized that I had answered the call and he adjusted so that his face was in view.

"Did you just get out of practice or something?" I questioned while watching the sweat drip down his temples.

"Did you just get out of a pool or something?" Will retorted, his slightly red face breaking out into a smirk. He put his phone down on something and pulled his shirt up to wipe the sweat away, and I raised my eyebrows at the view.

"Very funny, that was a nice one. And you better call me back, I don't want you to be distracted from impressing whatever other female athletes are nearby by taking your shirt off."

He rolled his eyes and appeared to be grabbing his stuff and making his way out of the building, so I figured that he was heading back to his dorm after practice. "Good one Riv, I was thinking that you would be offended that I didn't call to congratulate my friend on beating one of the best female surfers of the decade. But now that you've made it clear that my girl-chasing agenda is as important to you as it is to me, I'll make sure to keep my priorities straight next time."

"Good, good, I'm happy to hear that. And what was that I heard about congratulations?" I joked with a smile.

Will rolled his eyes and pushed his hair out of his eyes as he looked back down at his phone. "You really are going deep sea fishing for compliments today, huh River?" I shrugged innocently at his accusation, gesturing for him to continue. "Fine, congrats dude, you surfed really well. At least the scores looked good, I can't vouch for the actual surfing because I was in the gym."

"As long as your notification center was filled with alerts from the World Surf League about me then I'm satisfied," I responded.

We chatted for a few more minutes before a voice was heard on the other side of the canvas wall saying "knock, knock". The temporary wall was pushed aside to reveal a tanned face with a head of dark hair. When I looked up, Enzo looked more nervous than I had ever seen him. As soon as I offered him a greeting he seemed to loosen back up to his normal confident self, and he stepped into the tent.

"I just wanted to say congrats on the loss of a friend today, that was some nice surfing. Definitely worth losing Jaylin's approval over. And sorry if I interrupted anything," he glanced at my phone that was resting against the table.

"It's all good, I appreciate it. And don't worry, it's just my friend from home on Facetime. No major brand deals or anything important," I said, hiding a laugh at the cross expression that had appeared on Will's face.

"Alright, cool. I'll catch you around sometime then," Enzo replied before ducking his frame out of the room.

My call of "good luck tomorrow" probably fell on deaf ears, but it made me feel better to yell after his figure than to leave him hanging. It seemed like it would be better to be on the good side of at least one of the most influential surfers on the tour these days.

"First of all, I would like to say that I think that I am just as important as any brand that could possibly be calling you now, or ever. And second of all, who was that because you didn't even have the manners to introduce us," Will complained over the phone.

"Enzo Santos, ever heard of him?"

"Dang girl, I knew that Evan was making jokes about using you for clout but he wasn't kidding," he adjusted his train of thought quickly after I shot him a warning look, "but hey, he seems like a nice guy. I'm happy that you have someone who has been on tour for a bit on your side. And feel free to get as close to him as you want if it means that I get an autograph," Will winked after getting the last part out.

"I hate you all," I groaned, unable to suppress another eye roll.

The next few minutes were spent discussing the upcoming baseball season and how things were going in Hawaii. Hearing the news that things were going smoothly without me was reassuring, yet surprisingly painful to hear that not much had changed in my absence. Eventually, Will was dragged off by a few of his baseball friends to eat dinner, leaving me to go find Coach John. My heat would be starting soon, and there was physical and emotional prep that needed to be done before then. Music blasted through my headphones as I gazed out at the foaming ocean before me, figures racing up and down the waves. The onlookers watched as each carve showcased the grace and power of the sport, a glimpse into this dance between humans and nature. A dance that I was determined to participate in for as long as possible. 

Thanks for reading, I love you all <3