Until You (Westshore Series #2)

04| Magic Cocktail

☼Kenji ☼

"Why is the first girl you are actually interested in, one that wants nothing to do with you?" Warner asks, standing above me as my spotter at the gym.

I was working out to get Hailey off my mind and he just had to bring her up. I ignore him and lift the bar, getting my last reps in. I don't speak until I'm done and now all I am picturing is the fiery brunette that left our house yesterday.

I have never met a woman like her. Someone so self-assured, so driven and confident. She was tough and every smile I earned, and every laugh I got from her was like some kind of award.

"We don't know that. She could just be playing hard to get." I grunt, switching spots with him.

"She's not. She just doesn't want you." Warner grunts lifting the bar up and starting his reps. He takes his training so seriously I am surprised he is gossiping during it.

He signed with a professional soccer team in his second year of University and since then he has worked hard to be the best. Being voted captain this year only made him train harder and more often. I on the other hand just work out for fun, that seems to be my problem. It is my senior year and while my friends have job prospects and sports teams lined up I have nothing I am passionate about. I'm doing well in my business classes and with Hailey's help I will still graduate near the top of the business program. But I still don't know what I want to do. Sure I will inherit my dad's business but I didn't work for it as he did, it is just being handed to me. 

My dad was a businessman who wanted me to follow in his footsteps and start my own business one day, something I was passionate about. I had always hoped that when I did graduate and start something, we could build one together. I used to research ideas every day, my dad and I would brainstorm together in the basement of our old house. We called it our research cave. I couldn't go down there after he died, couldn't face all the plans we made together. This year when my mom was moved into a care home, the house was left empty. My mom didn't have the heart to sell it, there are too many fond memories there for her. But I haven't been back, I stayed away and even after transferring here, I haven't been able to face that house, that basement.

I was sure I could find something I was passionate about without looking at old ideas. I could come up with something new.

The problem was nothing seemed to keep my attention long. I used to be filled with ideas, things I wanted to improve about my dad's business as well as ideas of my own. But now my mind is blank, and my goals seem to have diminished over time. Instead of brainstorming in the basement on weekends, I started going out with my friends instead, going to parties. I went from being the smartest kid in class every teacher loved, to the class clown. I told myself it was because I wanted to enjoy life, I didn't want to waste it working on weekends. That worked for a while but now it feels like I am just the guy people look for when they want comedic relief, not the owner of a business. Certainly, not the kind of man people would follow orders from like my dad.

A small voice in the back of my head tells me that a guy like me will never be able to get a girl like Hailey Gomez. A guy with no goals, and no ambition. What could I offer someone like her? Besides a joke or two. The thought alone makes me want to do something and work to be a bit better. To be someone she would give the time of day.

"I would love to meet this girl." Adam pipes up from the machine next to us.

Adam is the assistant captain of Warner's soccer team, also Warner's other best friend, the less handsome one of course. I get a bit panicked thinking about Adam and Hailey meeting though, not that I'm threatened. But the thought of her giving him the time of day makes me feel a bit sick.