Something Else Entirely

6 - I've been running from shit my whole life, baby.

It took everything the three of us had to stop Sadie from bursting into Byron's hotel room demanding to speak to his mother immediately, which Byron found hilarious when I explained to him Sadie's reaction to the news of their names. He must have added me on Facebook when he got back inside after our little meeting downstairs, as I had a friend request from one Byron Fyre when I stepped into reach of the hotel Wi-Fi.

Byron: So, what's the deal with your family, dude? Your dad seems a little young to be the father of someone our age. You said before it was a long story . . .

We'd been talking for an hour or so, just shooting the shit about nothing in particular. Among other things, I'd learned that he was only a month shy of turning 18, in his last year of high school like me, as mad about footy as we all are, and that he only lives half an hour away from our place back home. Talk about small, minuscule, colliding worlds.

Jet: It is, haha. I'll explain it to you tomorrow. Probably easier to do in person as it'd take me a while to type it all out and I'm beat.

Byron: All good, mate. You don't have to explain yourself if you don't want to. I was just curious, is all.

Jet: It's not that. I'm just half delirious with sleep deprivation and it's a fairly complicated story. I'll tell you tomorrow. We'll probably get down to the beach around midday, if Dad and Madden's snoring is anything to go by haha. If you want to meet us downstairs then, we can head down together?

Byron: Haha, sure thing, Jet. I'll catch you tomorrow!

- - -

It didn't take me long to fall asleep once I put my phone down, but that didn't stop me from waking up at my usual, ungodly hour of 6 o'clock, international time zones be damned. My body just didn't understand the concept of holidays or sleep-ins, it would seem.

To my surprise, however, Sadie was also up and ready to get started on her day. Wasting daylight on something as boring as lying in bed was one of her biggest pet peeves.

"Morning, Jetty. You feeling up to joining me for a run on the beach and a coffee?" she asked. Dangling caffeine in front of my face this early in the morning was a smart move on her part. I'd agree to just about anything if it involves me getting my fix.

"Sure, Sade," I agreed, silently creeping back into my room where Madden was still sound asleep and retrieving a shirt, my sneakers and a cap to save myself from the eruption of more freckles on my tanned face. Sadie was always jealous of my natural tan. Her face, aside from the thousands of freckles, of course, was pale as shit.

She hadn't been running long in the grand scheme of things, only a few short months to be exact. She was feeling like she had packed on some "relationship comfort/stress weight" with all the recent wedding planning and preparing things at her work for when she was away for a whole month, and was feeling a little self-conscious about it. She didn't need to worry about all that, though. She was gorgeous, and Dad had certainly never been more attracted to another woman more in the time that I'd known him. The grotesque bulge in his crotch gave that away every time he saw her unzip her wetsuit after a surf. Thankfully I've learned to block that out by now . . . mostly.

Even though she hasn't been running for all that long, she is surprisingly good at it, and I'm the one left behind lingering in her shadow, despite my many hours per week training with fully grown men in a highly intensive sport, daily surfing, manual labour and occasional weight lifting and boxing at home.