Unchartered Waters ✅

Chapter 6: The Reaction

Alex's POV

Thursday, April 1 – Dawsonville, Georgia

"Welcome to Dawsonville, Georgia..." I read the sign and take a deep breath.

Obviously, there was no turning back – wait there was as I guess I had a choice, but why come this far for no reason?

I had bought stuff from this buddy before, and sold him stuff – car stuff that is. Normally we just shipped it, or waited till the other was traveling along the same path. However, this time around, I told him I'd pick up on Thursday night.

That was my reason for coming to Georgia in the first place, but it wasn't the only reason. I had another motive that I didn't fully want to admit quite yet. I had come to see a friend.

Normally, I wouldn't come out this way to see Chase, but this was different. I hadn't talked to him since I told him about Isabella and Ryan's discussion. Sure, we had competition meetings together – but not a single drop of personal. To be truthful, he was a little drawn out – maybe that's why I wanted to make this trip.

Something kept saying that something was off with him, or there was more to the story. So I went with my instincts and decided to make the trip.

What's the worst that could go wrong here?

I pull into the driveway, getting out of the car and glancing over the house. I had been here before – not much, but a couple times. I could tell why he loved spending time here rather than close to everyone else.

It wasn't long before I was on his doorstep, knocking on the door, hopeful for some sort of answer. His car was in the driveway so he had to be here, right? Maybe I should've wanted him I was coming.

I got my answer, though, as the door opened shortly thereafter. Immediately I can tell I made the right decision as I glanced over him from head to toe, glancing in the eyes, followed by a look in overall appearance. Yep, you had a good reason for coming here.

It was an odd silence between us as we both processed each other's reaction. I hadn't seen this side of him before – upset, a little distraught, a smell of something, processing pain if you will. In the same token, I hadn't seen him outside of the usual spell that everybody was used to.

"Hey...." I simply say as I break the silence as he moves back, allotting me inside the house. What else was I supposed to say? I hadn't been used to finding friends in this state. He leads me to the kitchen, to which I found the source of the smell on his mouth. Intuition said to come see him, but now what do I do?

"Do you know what it's like to have your heart ripped out to you?" He asks, which just makes the heart sink further in seeing the scene before me. I knew the feeling – just ask my ex-girlfriend. Though that wasn't on my mind, but rather solely focused on him. What did Ryan say to him? How did their discussion go? Did something actually happen between Ryan and Isabelle?

"I do, but I also know that Jack doesn't solve all the problems even if he just numbs the pain for the time being." What else was I supposed to say? He had to know it was wrong – actually, I knew he knew that but was doing it anyway for some good reason, and it probably boiled down to what Ryan said.

"What's wrong with that?" I wanted to yell and scream, but I bit my tongue instead. I think we all knew the answer to that question and that wouldn't solve anything right now.

"Chase, talk to me. Are you okay?" I couldn't think of anything else to say. It may give me the answers, or more pointless bologne.

"I guess I'll be, eventually. I don't even know..." I just wanted to pull him close and hug him. I almost felt bad for starting this whole mess by saying something – but if something happened, he deserves to know. How would you feel if someone played you behind your back?

"I assume you talked to Ryan. What did he say?" The only way I was going to be able to help him is if I knew what he was dealing with.

"He told me they kissed. They met up after the discussion and kissed." I was waiting for him to say more – a lot more. However, that was all he had to say happened. A cheat was a cheat, but you'd think based on the glass of Jack Daniels it would've been more.

"Anything else happen?" A simple shake of the head in return. So what happened now?

"That's what he told me anyway. I don't know whether I believe him, though. What if he doesn't want to tell me because he's afraid of my reaction? What if he doesn't want to tell me because he knows he's wrong?" All those questions sound familiar – recall the face-off we shared ourselves together. There was certainly a reason to be suspicious and Chase was proving that right now.

"Did you ask him?" Again, I had to know. I didn't know whether I'd believe Ryan either way, anyway, as you don't go out of your way for no reason if you have nothing to hide.

"He insisted nothing else happened, but I couldn't bring myself to either forgive, move forward, do anything. I just left. He pleaded, but I couldn't listen to it. I've heard it before. I've played that game before. I don't want that again..." Each word just tore a bit more of my heart apart. Everybody knew things were ugly with Kaitlyn, but this just made it even more real. What all had happened with her?

I wish there was just a way to determine what happened, and get everything out there – so then we could all decide what to do. Anybody want to run a lie detector test?

"Clyde...." My heart breaking just caused me to reach out. I wanted to offer comfort, do something to make him feel better. I just hated to watch his world cave in and he feel like he was on an island as a result.

"Please, don't," he pleads with me, to my surprise. It was one thing to have a pity party, it was another to not accept comfort for that party. "It hurts to hear that. Ryan used to always call me that. it was his nickname for me, a way to be different from everyone else, feel special." Ah of course, the one time I try to do something nice and I screw it up because I don't take everything into consideration.

"I'm sorry...." What else was I supposed to say?

"To be fair, it's not even special anymore. So many other people picked me up on it and it made it lose meaning, or maybe it was the fact that I was losing him all together..." Could he dig the knife in my heart any deeper?

"Chase...." Again, what else was I supposed to say? I'd never been in this position before. "Did he tell you that you were done forever?" He shakes his head no, as I take a deep breath. I had one chance at this. "Then why don't you talk to him? See what he says about you, about Isabelle, about everything. Hear him out, really think it over, and then made a decisi-"

"What if he just feeds me what I want to hear, just like Kaitlyn?" So that's what she did – fed him stories and lies, manipulating feelings, to get him to twist to her demands and requests. That's why they were the perfect on-and-off situation, and that's why he's afraid to fall for it again. Ryan knew this – how could he do it to him?

"Then why don't you talk to Isabelle? Get a different perspective, see what she has to say. Maybe she'll tell you what you need to hear to make it more clear. Jack isn't going to give you answers – Isabelle may." I felt confident in my words. Isabelle was the only other person that'd know what happened, and she appeared to have a heart as Ryan kept saying she was worried about me saying something.

"Maybe you're right, Alex...."