The Tour

forty-three / eh

I dipped under the water to smooth my hair out of my face before exiting the wave pool. The Championship Tour stop in June was one of the more unusual locations- a man-made wave pool in Lemoore, California. This afternoon was an opportunity to warm up in the pool, and Alani and I had just finished our practice time. She had earned a wildcard spot in the event thanks to her success on the Qualifying Series, and I was happy to have her along for the ride.

"You want to do something fun?" Alani asked, running up next to me on the artificial beach.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

She thought for a moment before grinning. "There's a mini golf place outside of the hotel, we could go play?"

Alani seemed to have a goal of playing mini golf at every surf stop possible. I laughed at her obsession before nodding in agreement. There wasn't much else to do around here other than a few museums.

Alani wasted no time in getting us there, our hair still damp by the time we landed on the course. She had even gone as far as grabbing a score card, which was slightly unnecessary in my opinion. However, her action made more sense after she sunk the ball in the hole in two strokes.

We worked our way through the bourse, Alani clearly beating me on every hole. "So, you got any good gossip?" she asked after the fourth hole, clearly bored while watching me on my fifth attempt at the hole.

"Uh, not really, do you?" That question was pretty much rhetorical; Alani walked a talented line of getting everyone to talk to without actually engaging in any of the related drama.

"I heard that Kaylie is marketing an intermittent fasting program in some mainstream magazine to 'get a summer surfer body'. Meanwhile, the girl eats whatever she wants and just still has the metabolism of a hyperactive child."

I sighed in relief after sinking the ball before giving Alani an obligatory chuckle. The next hole contained a spinning windmill over the path to the hole, and I groaned. My friend grinned as she dropped her ball down, masterfully weaving it through the windmill arms on her first try.

"So, how about you and Will then?" She smirked.

"Eh," I said, bouncing the ball of the spinning wheel ahead of me.

That got her attention. "Eh? What did I miss? I am too invested in this to see it go downhill!"

"The distance has been really hard. And with him gone this summer and apparently going for the draft next summer I don't really know when the distance will end. I mean, I love him and we're getting along well, it's just that I want to get married and have a life at some point. And right now I'm not sure if that life could start for us when he graduates, or if it's going to be a longer wait than I expected." I sighed, additionally frustrated that every time I hit the golf ball at the tunnel the windmill arm would come and push it away.

"That is hard. I obviously miss Daniel when I'm gone, but it's not the same at all. In the end I have faith in you guys and being able to push through, but it is your call. I just know that there's a lot of love between you, even if the distance makes it difficult."

I nodded. "That's the other problem. The more I love him, the more I miss him. But I'll see him in two days, so that will be good."

Alani agreed before slinging her arm around my shoulder, leading me to the other side of the windmill. "Let's give you a pass on that one, you can drop your ball where mine is. You've already lost this game anyways."

Begrudgingly I did as she instructed. She wasn't wrong.

△▽△

The morning's elimination round had brought an easy win against two women who were ranked much lower than me on the tour. I squeezed my hair out in the towel before waving goodbye to Alani and Coach John who were watching the rest of the competition. My Uber was waiting outside to take me two hours South, an unfortunate repercussion of being too young to rent a car in the United States.