Come As You Are Ch. 09

"No, that was the look of a boy who knew how and when to cash out." She glanced at Irina. "You didn't tell Gio what you saw last night, did you?"

"As far as he knows, you and Garrett managed to sleep through everything." Irina looked in the direction of the now-departed SUV. "So, despite your repeated assurances that you weren't going to chase boys this week, did you end up finding The Guy?"

Michelle motioned towards the house. "Let's grab some lunch and hit the road. I'll fill you in along the way. If we're lucky we'll be back in the dorm by midnight." She took a final glance towards the highway and thought she saw the SUV merging into a distant ramp. She watched the vehicle for a few seconds before it disappeared from view and she followed Irina into the house.

X X X X X

Colette had known the general story of Michelle's Blackcreek vacation. But the recounting of events and who was involved saw her currently leaning against the table, elbows on the tablecloth, eyes wide with amazement.

Brenda's face was a mask of shock, having never expected just who had been involved and what had gone down - technically who had gone down as well.

Sadie however...

"You filthy whore." The curly-haired brunette reached out and grabbed Michelle on the shoulder, squeezing a little too hard thanks to the amount of wine that the table had consumed.

"Be nice," Colette chided. "She just bared her soul to us."

"Shit, you're right. Sorry, Michelle. No offense intended. I'm just... I'm kind of in awe right now."

Michelle squeezed Sadie's hand before taking it from her shoulder. "No offense taken. Telling that story for the first time in detail makes me sound like a turboslut though, doesn't it?

"In the best way possible," Sadie laughed. "Sounds like Garrett picked up a few pointers between prom night and Spring Break. Was he that wild with you, Colette?"

Michelle raised a hand before Colette could speak. "Spoilers. So we all know what happened next..."

X X X X X

"You're making a mistake!"

"I am NOT making a mistake! I'm changing things up a bit!"

"No! You're ruining your life!"

Bihn Min put his hands up. He held them with their palms out towards the quarreling women. "Please, will both of you take a breath and calm down?"

"Absolutely NOT!" Tuyet Min jabbed a finger towards her daughter, who was standing in the kitchen doorway. "Our daughter is going to throw away everything she has worked so hard for on a whim!"

"It's NOT a whim!" Michelle was trying not to yell at her mother and turn the heated discussion into a full-blown screaming match that neither she nor her mother would back down from, despite her father's attempts to play peacemaker. "I'm still going to finish college, and I'm still going to get my bachelor's in accounting! I only want to see if being a ski instructor appeals to me more!"

"A ski instructor! As opposed to an accountant! You're great with numbers! You're incredibly smart and observant! You've wanted to be an accountant since middle school!"

"No, I PLANNED to be an accountant since middle school! But I don't know if I actually want to BE one! I want to try something different first, see if it's a better fit for me!"

"Do you know how much a ski instructor makes! And what happens during the spring and summer!"

"I'll get a lifeguard certification, maybe be a swim instructor too!"

"Oh, a swim instructor! You have it all planned out!"

Bihn took a step forward, putting himself between his wife and his daughter. "Michelle, you are being disrespectful towards your mother. Tuyet, our daughter dared to talk to us face-to-face about this matter. So both of you, take a deep breath, step to a neutral corner, and all three of us will talk about this as a family."

Taking a deep breath, Michelle answered her father. "OK. I apologize for yelling at you Mom."

Her mother's fists were clenched. She shook them in front of her as she tried to calm herself down. "I am sorry too, Michelle. But I need a few minutes to calm down before I can talk about this."

"Michelle, grab your coat. We're going to go for a walk." As Michelle picked up her fleece jacket from the coat rack, Bihn kissed Tuyet on the cheek. "We'll be back in...half an hour?"

"An hour. Please." Tuyet looked at Michelle. "I'm not mad at you Michelle. I'm just... I'm afraid you're going to make a huge mistake at a time when you shouldn't..."

Michelle felt the urge to respond, but her father's firm hand on her shoulder helped her keep quiet. "We will talk about this when we return." His wife nodded, remaining silent with a concerned look on her face as Bihn led Michelle out the back door of the kitchen.

"Where are we going?" Michelle asked.

"Just walk with me," he said to his daughter as they entered the crisp May air of central Colorado. "And don't say anything. Take this time to collect your thoughts and we'll talk when we get to our destination."

The Min's house was on the eastern side of town, on the relative flatlands that dipped down towards Castle Creek. Her father led Michelle into town, turning onto Pine Street. It was nearing the end of the ski season and the streets were crowded with last-minute guests taking a break from the activities up at Sapphire Drop. The pair weaved through the masses like the long-time locals they were. Michelle blinked when they arrived at their destination of Pike's bar and grill.

"Hey, Bihn!" The bartender, a stocky middle-aged male with thinning black hair, waved to the older gentleman as they stepped inside. "And I'm guessing this is Michelle?"

"Yes," he said, moving up to the bar and taking a seat. Michelle sat down beside him. They shed their coats before her father held up two fingers. "Two Coors draft, please." As the bartender poured the beers, Michelle looked around. There were many bars in Emerald Pines, but Pike's was the unofficial place for locals. Instead of the touristy kitsch the other bars had, the place was lowly lit, with a rectangular bar in the middle, three long tables in the back, various mirrors proclaiming a variety of beer brands, and a Golden Tee golf machine sitting in one corner next to a dartboard and a creaking pool table. The TV's on the ceiling showed various sporting events while the jukebox played a country tune Michelle didn't recognize.

"Here you are." Michelle turned back to the bar as the bartender put two draft glasses of beer in front of them. "Enjoy!"

Bihn turned to look at Michelle, a smile on his face. "I imagined buying you your first alcoholic drink in a much different circumstance, but life is funny that way, isn't it?"

"Dad, I've been twenty-one since November," Michelle answered.

"Allow a father to indulge in his delusions. To me, you're still the six-year-old girl strapping on a pair of skis at the top of a bunny slope with a nervous man who had more hair looking on." Bihn picked up his glass and lightly tapped it against Michelle's. "Cheers."

The beer helped to calm Michelle down. Both of them finished their drafts at the same time. After getting a second round, Mihn turned on his barstool to face his daughter. "What brought on this idea about becoming a ski instructor."

She took a sip from the fresh beer before answering her father. "You know I ran into Gio up during Spring Break. I also ran into someone else. Do you remember his friend Garrett West?"

"Not that I recall," her father answered. "But I know his parents. And his cousin too. Wait, wasn't he the skinny boy, always hung around with Gio?"

"Yeah. So Garrett's a skier, but he was rusty and had never been ice skating either. We hung out during the week and not only did I teach him to ice skate, but I got him to knock out some black diamonds and double black diamonds. He had never even done a triple black before I showed him how."

She took another sip, this one a little longer and a little deeper. "I was good at showing him what to do. And I enjoyed it, Dad. Showing him how to ice skate and watching him get it because he listened to me..."

Michelle trailed off, leaving a silence that her father stepped into. "You always wanted people to listen to you. You would step and take charge if no one else did, and even if someone else was in charge you made sure people heard your voice."

"Garrett said something like that." She sighed. "Dad, I know I'd be a good accountant. It's something I've worked hard toward and something you and Mom have supported me on..."

"And pushed you towards. We did what parents do. Push you towards what we think will make you a success in life."

"I would be a successful accountant. But I also think I'd be a successful ski instructor. And I think I'd be really happy doing it. I don't know if I'd be as happy being an accountant."

"Michelle, you don't have to like your job." After a second, he sighed. "But I don't want you to be miserable."

"You're not miserable, are you?"

"If my job made me miserable, I'd quit in a heartbeat." He studied her for a few moments. "So what's your plan? You wouldn't have come to your mother and me if you didn't already have a plan."

Michelle took a deep breath before beginning her explanation. "Finish my degree. Get a job near a ski resort. Use my free time to get certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America in Alpine skiing. Use that certificate to get at a ski resort, maybe the one I'm near, maybe one somewhere else." She began to speak with more confidence, warming up to the task at hand. "Use my free time there to get certified as a lifeguard so I'll have a summer job. Keep getting certified by the PSIA, cross-country, adaptive skiing, never stop learning. Eventually, get enough experience and certifications to get a job at a major resort. I might even be able to get certified as a swim instructor too."

"And if this plan doesn't work out?"

"Then I'll have an accounting degree to fall back on."

"You'll be several years behind the curve."

"Then I'll find a way to catch up. Night classes, certifications, whatever it takes. I'm not going to quit school. I've come too far. But I think I'd be good at... no, I'd be GREAT at being a ski instructor. You've seen how much they pull in at Sapphire Drop. Imagine what I could make if I worked at someplace like Aspen or Vail."

Bihn's response was to quietly sip at his beer. Michelle did the same. The father and daughter sat next to each other in silence, both of them mulling over the conversation as they drank. Her father was the one to break the silence. "You'll finish your degree," he said, "and give yourself three years. If you don't think you're going to make it as an instructor, you switch to accounting full time." He looked at his daughter. "That's a suggestion, not a parental order. You're twenty-one years old. You make your own decisions and own up to your failures and mistakes. If this is the path you want, then I can see if they need a lifeguard up at Sapphire Drop, and we can get you a head start on certification."

"But!" The firmness in her father's voice stopped Michelle before she could say anything. "If you do this, you have to commit to this. Fully commit. No half-assing. No quitting when it gets tough. If you want to do this, Michelle? Do this. Do we understand each other?"

She nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good." As he finished his beer, Bihn smiled at his daughter. "It hasn't been an hour yet. How about we go over to Mile High Pastries, grab a cruller, and walk around for a bit?" Bihn paid the bar tab, but as he put his coat on he was surprised by Michelle throwing her arms around him and giving him a tight hug.

"Thank you, Dad," she whispered.

"You're welcome." He kissed her on the cheek before stepping back. "Just remember full commitment. I've always believed you could do anything you set your mind to. Prove me right."

X X X X X

"You haven't mentioned Garrett in the past few years," Brenda pointed out. "Did you guys not stay friends?"

Michelle shook her head in disgust. "No, and I wish I knew why. The rest of that semester, we fell into a solid friendship. He wasn't clingy or flirty. He was... he was the guy I sat on a mountaintop baring my soul to. Then he texted me one last time..."

X X X X X

Brenda whipped her arm sideways. The rock skipped across the surface of the water several times before sinking. "Woohoo," she proclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, "check out that hand-eye coordination!"

"You're a natural beginner," answered Michelle. Her stone skipped beyond where Brenda's had landed, making it well into the large pond before fading from sight. "Have you ever seen Colette this happy?"

"Not even close. When Colette said she was 'deliriously in love' I thought she was exaggerating. But ever since they started dating, that smile's never left her face." Brenda gestured to the sprawling mansion a few hundred yards behind them. "Those two are in love. Not lust, not young love, love."

The pair of young women stood on the edge of a pond located on the Texas family estate of Theo Pearson, Colette's new boyfriend. The estate would be their home for the next several days as they, joined by Sadie tomorrow, got to know the young man their best friend had fallen head over heels for.

"We're going to be so scattered this summer." Brenda skipped another rock. "You're in Emerald Pines with Sadie, I'm going to be in Fort Collins, and Colette's going to chill down here. The four of us have never been so far apart for so long."

Brenda stopped speaking as Michelle wrapped her arms around her. "We're not going to drift apart. We've stayed together this long, right?"

As Brenda hummed in quiet agreement, Michelle felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled out her phone, thinking it might be Sadie. At the name on the caller ID, however, a happy smile crossed her face. "This is unexpected," she said when she answered. "Normally you just text me."

"I haven't heard your voice since Spring Break," Garrett replied. "Is this a bad time?"

Michelle glanced at Brenda, who was looking at her curiously. "I'm with Brenda right now." When Brenda silently asked who she was talking to, Michelle responded, "Garrett..."

"Garrett West?!? What the hell is he doing on your phone?!?"

"Trying to talk to me," Michelle chuckled. "Brenda says hi, by the way."

"I heard. Tell her I said hi. So look, Gio and I are back in Emerald Pines. Do you and Brenda want to come down to Pike's and grab a drink? I'm buying."

"You just missed us. We're in Texas right now meeting Colette's new boyfriend. We left town this morning. But we'll be back next weekend if you and Gio are still around. When did you get back?"

"Just this morning. Gio's back for the summer and I'm... the doctors said Ronnie's finally turned the corner, so I'm taking a two-week vacation before heading back to finalize a few things while I try to figure out what to do next."

She smiled on the other end of the phone. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks. Hey, do you mind if I say hi to Brenda?"

Michelle offered the phone to her friend. "Garrett wants to say hello."

Michelle blinked at the eagerness with which Brenda snatched the phone from her hand.

"Garrett West," she chided. "What are you doing harassing my friend? Uh-huh. You text her but not me? No, no, I'm kidding. So what's this about you and Gio being around? Uh-huh. Well, you better be around next weekend. You and I can catch up over a beer...no, you're right, over a glass of wine." Brenda's keen laugh caused Michelle to raise an eyebrow in interest. "If you and Gio are looking to hang out, Sadie's still in town. She's not driving down until tomorrow. Do you have her number? Cool. See you next weekend."

Brenda underhanded the phone back to Michelle. "So," Michelle asked, "next weekend then?"

"I think I can make room for you," confirmed Garrett. "Besides, I want to hear about how it went with your folks."

"I told you that already."

"Through text. I read about it, now I want to hear about it. Plus I could use your advice."

"If you want my advice, you're buying."

"I said I was, didn't I? Enjoy your time in Texas!"

After saying goodbye and putting her phone away, Michelle couldn't help but roll her eyes at the playful grin on Brenda's face. "What?" she asked, already knowing the question.

"Nothing. Just trying to process the fact that you had a pleasant conversation with Garrett West that ended with the promise of a shared drink."

"We're friends," Michelle insisted. "Nothing more."

"Hey, I'm just glad you guys made peace..."

"Excuse me, ladies."

Brenda and Michelle turned at the sound of the smooth voice. A handsome man was walking up to them, wearing a high-end dress shirt and slacks contrasted by a stylish-but-comfortable pair of boots. "Dinner will be ready soon," Colette's boyfriend Theo said with a resonant Texan accent, "and Colette tasked me with retrieving you while she freshens up. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Brenda shook her head. "Just skipping rocks across the pond."

Theo smiled as he joined them at the water's edge. "My father and I spent many an evening out here skipping rocks and listening to the bullfrogs. Once Sadie arrives tomorrow evening what would you say to a late night picnic with some beer and citronella torches?"

"I'll text Sadie and ask her to grab some Ruby Red from home." Brenda offered her arm to Theo, who took it with polite grace.

"Who were you talking to on the phone?" Theo inquired as they began heading back to the sprawling house in the distance.

"A new friend," Michelle answered, "who we've known for a very long time."

X X X X X

"And that was the last time Garrett ever talked to me." Michelle motioned to Sadie and Brenda. "We had drinks with Gio and Vienna a week later and they said Garrett headed back to Florida the next day. Some kind of emergency with the family he was living with, and then he ended up staying in Orlando." She shrugged. "I texted him a couple more times after that, but nothing. No response."

"Same thing happened to me," Sadie added. "Dead silence."

Michelle tapped her fingers on the table. "I've seen him, in pictures Gio puts on Facebook. Garrett... He looks haunted. Like something horrible happened that caused him to drop off the face of the planet. He's not on Facebook, Instagram, anything. If it wasn't for the fact that Gio posts pictures of him and Vienna, Garrett might as well be a ghost. And that sucks. I miss him. I never thought I'd say that, especially after high school, but I miss talking to him."

Brenda motioned to Sadie. "Did Garrett call you that night and invite you out for a drink with him and Gio?"

"Kind of. He didn't call me so much as he called on me."

Sadie's eyes shifted back and forth between her friends while she finished her glass of white wine. It was Colette who eventually planted her elbow on the table. Chin in her hand, she shot Sadie an amused smirk. "You hooked up with Garrett again, didn't you?"

A wide grin was plastered on Sadie's face as she nodded in agreement. "Seriously," Michelle scoffed. "Did anyone have a clue that Garrett held this much potential as a manwhore? What the hell happened?"

After allowing Brenda to refill her wine glass, Sadie began her supplementary tale. "It was the night you guys talked. It was after midnight and I was in the mood for a late-night snack..."

"I bet you were."

"Do you want to hear the story or not, Brenda?"

X X X X X

After some internal debate, Sadie nodded firmly. "Day old pizza and a can of Coke. The perfect late-night snack." Whistling cheerfully, she tossed the good in the microwave and popped open a can of Coke before dropping onto a chair. She sipped the cold soda as the slice of pepperoni from Joey R's rotated slowly behind the tempered glass.

Sadie had just woken up from a quick catnap. She had worked since sunrise that morning to finish her latest video. She planned to spend the next several hours putting the finishing touches on it before taking off for Texas at sunrise for a weeklong visit to Theo's ranch with the rest of the girls.