The Tour

twenty four / you're my date

I walked up to the front door of Will's house at 6:17, already running slightly later than I had promised. Rachel came to the door and welcomed me in, a smile bright on her face.

"You look beautiful River, sorry I think that Will should be ready in just a minute, Noah is just helping him with his shoes."

"Thanks, that's all good," I replied, moving to the side of the living room and leaning up against the couch.

Rachel sat down on the couch that faced mine and clasped her hands while she glanced at the closed door of Will's bedroom. "Thanks for inviting him, he's been pretty bored recently." She pursed her lips as she said it, clearly still adjusting to the change in her son's lifestyle.

I laughed a little. "He's doing just as much a favor to me. Probably more honestly, my management is making me go, and even though it will probably be fun it will be nice to have someone there who isn't making me think about work all of the time. That, and I didn't exactly want to bring Evan."

She laughed slightly at that before looking down the hallway quickly where a door had squeaked open. Noah exited with a grin. "He's all yours."

Will emerged a moment later, dressed in a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and navy pants. He gave me a half smile when he turned into the room. "Do I meet the dress code?"

"That's perfect, you look great," I smiled at him. I wasn't lying either- he did look good.

"Did you hear that, mom? I better never hear another comment about how I need to make more of an effort again," he shot a look at his mom with a triumphant grin. "She thinks I'm not putting enough effort in and that's why I haven't gotten a girlfriend yet," Will explained, looking over at me.

"Oh, Rachel, I can promise you that's not why. He had plenty of girls in his hospital room ready to take care of him a month ago," I laughed.

"What can I say, they go for the messy-jock type," he said with a shrug.

"Okay, okay, I'll let you dress the way you want to as long as you don't make River look bad. She still looks better than you, but I'll let it slide if she does."

He raised his eyebrows, "I mean she always looks better than me, I'm not sure how you want me to compete there."

"There are some competitions that you just can't win, Sanders," I shrugged at him, "Anyway, we should probably get going then."

"Okay, did you take all of your medication for the evening?" Rachel asked her son as he pushed himself towards the door.

"Yeah," he called.

"And you have any pain meds in case you need it?" She called again.

"Thanks mom, I'm all good though. See you later."

I offered her a sympathetic smile before following him out the door. Will was already on the passenger's side of the car, using the car and chair to push himself into the seat. He pushed the wheelchair over to me, veins still visible on his exposed forearms, and I quickly placed it in the back of the car.

The drive to the venue went quickly, and within fifteen minutes we were pulling up to the large warehouse that had been decorated with outdoor lighting and posters for the film. It was a relatively small crowd, mostly just people of interest from the surfing community and locals.

Will and I approached the entrance, and one of the surfers from the film approached us. His name was Leo, and I had worked out with him before.