Love is a Journey, Not a Destination

Chapter 5

Ryan McAden

Missy scooted over in the bench, "Come here and sit with me."

I left the swing and made my way to her.

"It seems like we've both been too busy lately because of our practices..." Missy trailed off, "I wanna do something that both of us will enjoy. uhmm... How about skating?"

"Sure." I said with a flat expression at my face. I turned my face to see her. "Look, babe, I'm sorry, we both know that the competition will be held nextweek. I've been too busy that I can't be with you as often as before." I said and lowered my head.

"I know." Missy said while wearing those tender expression that she'd been wearing whenever she wanted to comfort me.

"It'll be better soon, I promise." I said.

"Yeah, I know. I love you, boo." Missy said squeezing my hand.

"And I love you, too." I said smiling.

Then after, we both stood up and walked toward my car.

"Ryan?" I heard someone said.

"Ryan? Are you okay? You seemed to be in deep thought."

Oh yeah! I remembered. I forgot that I was with Maureen.

"Sorry, I'm just thinking about the upcoming vacation." I said lying. I didn't think if that would be that obvious or what, I just didn't care.

"Oh, I see. Do you have plans for the vacation?" Maureen asked.

"Yeah, we're planning about going to the beach." This time, I know what I was telling her was true. My friends and I was really planning about going to the beach this summer.

"Wow! Sounds fun. Can we come? Uhmm... I mean, Aubrey, Kyle and I?" She asked raising one of her eyebrows. I could reject her but I didn't. The more the merrier.

"Sure." I said. The fact that I missed Aubrey made me feel like they should really join us. It's been a week since I last saw her after the race. I started dating Maureen because she was always texting and calling me. She's fun to be with but I didn't like the affection that she'd been showing me. It was really obvious that she liked me.

"Don't worry about us." She said then sipped her soda. "We're fun to be with. We're not boring. Though, sometimes, Aubrey is, I can't blame her, she's not used to wild environment." She laughed then continue what she was saying. "And I bet she's still a virgin coz she never dated anyone since I knew her." She wasn't conscious about that 'virgin' thing. Did she already forget that she was talking to a guy? I could feel my face heat up so I faced the window for her not to notice that I was blusing. A guy shouldn't blush this way, I know. Fuck!

"Oh, sorry about the last words that I said. I think, I've already gotten Kyle's thing of being so tactless." She said laughing.

Oh, c'mon, I forgot that Kyle was a gay. I already said yes so I couldn't retract it anymore. We're going to have a gay company in the vacation. Stupid! I just hoped he's not a peril.

"No it's okay." I said smirking.

We talked for some more minutes before driving her to their apartment. She invited me in but I said that I was going to do something, thankful, she didn't force me to come.

Aubrey Osborne

I was reading a book when Maureen entered our apartment.

"Hei, how's your day?" I asked. She had been dating this guy whom I don't know. She didn't want to tell me who her date is. What's her problem?

"Great." She said then headed to the restroom to take some shower and change her clothes. She went out wearing her pyjamas.

"Aubrey, sweetie, I will tell you something but don't get shocked okay?"

"Okay." I said not looking at her and still reading.

"The guy I was dating was Ryan McAden." Hearing his name, I turned to face her and see her smiling expression.

"Wow, great!" I said. A small pang of jealousy striked my chest that caused pain. What? I was jealous? No. No. No.

"Yeah, he's a great guy. He likes us to join them this vacation. At the beach!" She said really excited

"I can't. I'm going home this vacation."

"It would only be for a week or two. Your parents will understand if you spend some of your summer vacation with your friends. You're already 19 for God's sake!"

"Okay." I said not wanting to argue with my bestfriend.

Then she talked and talked about her dates with Ryan. She's into him? Whoah! C'mon. Give me some earplug so I couldn't hear her stories.

Ryan McAden

I went to the shop after having a date with Maureen. She was really fun to be with but she wasn't my type. I got out of my car and walked straight inside the shop. I could hear ladies talking, laughing and teasing with my friends. Oh, I forgot that we were going to talk about the vacation that we're planning.

"Hi Ryan! Good to see you here." Anne said waving her hands.

Anne was Harvey's girlfriend, they were together for almost 5 years. She's a tall brunette girl with dark brown eyes. She's very cheerful and that's what Harvey likes about her the most.

"Hi Anne, same here." I said.

"How are you, single man?" Mae said teasing me again.

Mae was Harris' girl. I dunno if they were really together because Harris was still hanging up with so many girls but Mae was the one whom he was always bringing whenever we had trips to other places. She's petite with a blonde hair and bluegray eyes. She's fond of teasing me about being single. Stupid.

"Great! Just gotten here from a date and you're already teasing me? Bad ass." I said laughing.

"Dude, we're already about to leave. So you're already dating, huh? Good for you. By the way, we're going to the Malibu beach, Los Angeles. For surfing purposes, you know. Bring the girl you're dating." Mark said tapping my back and going out of the shop.

"Okay. See you, guys!" I said walking back to my car.

"Bye, Ryanie." Eishtha said.

Eishtha was Mark's wife. They just got married a year ago. They were a really loving couple, very supportive about each other's plans and decisions. She's also tall, had a silky black hair and dark brown eyes.

"By the way, say to the girl that you're dating to bring some of her friends, I'm tired of being alone, you know." Timmy said. I really didn't know why he still doesn't have a girlfriend. Maybe he's a gay. I laughed at my taught.

"Okay." I said sliding to my car and driving away.