Page 6 of Beyond The Break

“Fine.” My voice is brusque.

He lets go of me; his expression perplexed. “Fin!” Someone shrieks from behind him.

I look over Gabriel’s shoulder and see the rest of my team sitting together on the couch with wide grins, except for Koa – the grumpy bastard never smiles anymore, and coming from me, that’s saying something.

Maliah and Kairi, the only two females on the team and in the house, jump from the couch and charge toward me like toddlers seeing their favorite parent. I quickly drop my bag to the floor and open my arms to them as they crash into my chest, pushing me back a step or two, as the familiar feeling of my knee throbbing resurfaces.

“We’ve missed you so much,” Kairi says, her voice muffled as she hugs me tightly, her brown curls tickling my nose as she buries her face in my sweater.

“Yeah,” Maliah agrees before punching my shoulder gently as she pulls away to look up at me with sad eyes. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t let us visit you for the whole six months.”

“I’m sorry.” I say, barely audible as my voice cracks.

I didn’t want to see anyone during my recovery. I felt like a complete failure for letting my team down and as much as I craved their presence, especially on the low days, I couldn’tbring myself to face them. And now, although I don’t feel any less guilty, I’m prepared to push the feeling aside and focus on what needs to be done.

If I’m being honest with myself, I probably shouldn’t be back so soon, and not because my leg hasn’t fully healed but because I’m still holding on to so much anger about the accident. As much as I want to be the old Fin and joke around with my teammates, a bigger part of me wants to shut myself away and simmer until I’ve dealt with the suffocating feelings.

“As long as you’re back, that’s all that matters,” Kairi says, giving Maliah a look of warning.

“Yeah, man,” Zale says, standing up from the couch and walking over to us. “We missed you like crazy, but nothing beats seeing you back here.”

We hug, smacking each other on the back before letting go. He still looks the same, ivory skin, dirty blond hair, blue eyes. Nothing about him has changed in the slightest and the familiarity gives me some comfort.

When I glance over at Koa who stands in the living room area on his own, he nods once in my direction, and I do the same. His dark hair is a bit longer since I saw him last, waterfalling over his forehead and his wardrobe still consists of mostly black. We used to be as close as brothers but after Maliah broke up with Koa a year ago, he’s retreated into quiet solitude.

I look around and notice that one person is missing. Colton. The person that kept me away from this house a lot longer than I had initially planned to. A part of me is relieved he isn’t here because I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t have tried to kill him at first sight.

I’ve known Colton since we were kids but after his betrayal six months ago, I’ve started to feel like I never knew him at all.

“We missing someone?” I ask, trying to sound casual as I rub my nose and look around at the walls.

The team goes quiet, but I can sense the anger emanating from them.

“Ah yes, I must have forgotten to tell you,” Gabriel says, disappointment dripping from each word. “Colton left us about a week ago. Moved to the Rip Raiders instead.”

The Rip Raiders are dirty surfers one town over. They have a better beach than us, with waves so amazing that this year the World Surf Association has selected it as the beach for the Regional Surf Team Finals, giving them the upper hand. We have a natural rivalry with The Rip Raiders that carries over into real life, so to know that Colton has chosen to move there, of all teams to choose from, only fuels the rage inside of me.

I study Gabriel, watching as he looks around the house innocently. He would never forget to tell me something like that, and I wonder how much he knows about what really happened the day of my accident.

Nobody knows that Colton and I have fallen off, unless they spoke with him directly. I wouldn’t tell anyone the real reason I got hurt, and I don’t think Colton would voluntarily throw himself under hot water with the rest of the team either. But Gabriel has eyes everywhere so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did know what happened that day.

“Anyways,” Gabriel continues, “this is the perfect time to let you all know we’re having an impromptu team meeting in the conference room in five minutes.”

He walks down the hall towards the meeting room, Koa following not far behind him. I tell the others to go ahead without me while I bring my bag to my room. I wait until they all disappear down the hall before picking up my bag and looking around the room.

I’d forgotten how curated the decor is to the coastal vibe. Seashells used as decorations on table tops and shelves, Gabriel’s old surfboards hanging off the walls like artwork. Browns, beiges, and pops of color in every direction. It all feelsso familiar, but more like a distant memory, almost like a past life.

I make my way upstairs and walk into my room, dumping my bag on the queen-sized bed. My room looks exactly how I left it, tidy. I make a mental note to take down any photos I have of Colton and of Meghan. I don’t stay in there long enough to spot any of those photos, rushing down the stairs on a limp and into the meeting room to join the others.

“Take a seat, everybody,” Gabriel says as he leans over his laptop, pairing it with the smart TV hanging on the wall.

I head to a seat at the edge of the long table, but as I reach for the chair, Maliah’s slender hand grabs the back of it first. I glance up at her frowning face.

“I’m not sitting beside him,” she hisses. I glance over her shoulder to see the only other free seat is next to Koa.

“You guys still haven’t fixed your shit?” I mumble, stepping back so she can take the seat.

“There’s nothing to fix.” Maliah flips her hair over her shoulder, but I don’t miss how her eyes slide toward Koa’s direction.

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