Girls With Luv

FIVE Liya

One good thing about being a professional athlete is the freedom that comes along with it when it comes to time restraint. I don't have to meet deadlines, I don't have to deal with utter nutheads during business meetings, I don't have to come up with agendas. There are some profound headaches, but at least the deadline crap is nonexistent. Sometimes, when I look at April and Spencer, I get a strong urge to protect them with everything I have. Those innocent souls bust their asses to carve a successful work environment and I watch them crumble sometimes when certain blockheads refuse to cooperate. I don't understand why such people exist...

I watch soundly as my best friends head out of the cafe and rush towards their respective offices. The missed call from Coach Mitchel sits angrily as I take the last sip of my cold coffee. I know that I welcomed his wrath with open arms when I outright told him to get lost because my friend needed me. Plus, I was getting tired of the workout. Being an athlete comes at a cost of physical exhaustion, and sometimes, I just wanna escape. That's why I've been thinking about a vacation. Obviously, I haven't mentioned anything to coach.

Mrs G saves me from my mind spiral by sitting down in front of me with a smile that must be warm enough to melt the coldest of hearts. I smile back. She's one of those rare humans who would keep telling you that it's okay to feel the way you are feeling, as long as it doesn't drive you further in your shell. She encourages us to let things out instead of bottling them up and honestly, she even once suggested that we should drop a year of college and simply learn how to exist without the stress of meeting deadlines. Sometimes, just hearing an adult say that to you when you're slowly hitting rock bottom is enough to give you a ray of hope.

"What's going on with you these days? How are you holding up?" She asks and I'm taken aback. Why? Because the bustle of leading a monotonous life often erases such simple yet profound questions and you learn to not think about them with time.

"Umm..." I start and she stops me midway.

"You don't have to have an answer. This is my way of starting a conversation." She laughs lightly and I look at her in awe. April actually resembles her a lot.

"I just want to go somewhere and forget about everything else. Obviously, I want those two buffoons to accompany me, but I can't ask them to drop their work and follow me to the ends of the earth just because I'm sick of this city." I give out a tired sigh. "And they believe that I actually enjoy solo travel."

"Well, in their defence, you do sound super convincing when you say stuff like, 'I was made for solo travel, I can't handle company.'"

"Wha- I just didn't want them to feel bad..."

"I understand, honey. But if you really want to go somewhere with them, stop bringing up solo travel and give them a reason to think about taking a breather. God knows how much they need it." Mrs G shakes her head and we sit in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm actually thinking about dropping my agency." I blurt out. I haven't talked about this with anyone, not even April and Spencer, and this is majorly why I need a break... To think and decide what to do.

"What? Why?"

"Because they are too ambitious and keep expecting inhuman things from me. It's exhausting. I love swimming, but not like this. They're putting price tags and award slips on everything and refuse to accept the fact that I swim only because I love the sport and not because it is good money."

"Do you really not care about the money?"

"I have enough. Why is there a necessity to capitalize everything? It's not a crime to do something just because you like it, irrespective of the money."