Chasing Forever Down (Great White Surf Saga, #1) [Wattpad Featured Story] | ✔

Chapter 5: Honey Gold

"Haley, it'll be dark in a few hours. You can sleep then," Linzi says.

She hits the alarm button on the hotel's clock, sending shrill beeps through the air and over my eardrums. The red numbers say it's nearly five o'clock.

Linzi sighs. "I'm starving, and you know, it wasn't my bright idea to drive across the state of California at midnight."

She falls back onto her bed, holding her stomach as if dying from starvation.

I surrender. "Let me take a shower. Look into nearby restaurants and get directions."

I throw myself together in record time. Linzi chooses a pizzeria within walking distance of the Crescent Inn.

This morning's shock, awe, and exhaustion kept me from fully taking in the California scenery, but now I can't miss the sand, the ocean, the palm trees, and the overdone theme of crescent moons and stars on every corner.

The Crescent Cove Bakery, directly across from the hotel, advertises their crescent-shaped cheese biscuits in the window. Strings and Starlight, a guitar shop and obvious local hangout, is next door to the hotel. We dodge a sea of skateboarders in route to Isaiah's Pizzeria and Pasta.

I don't even know where to start now that we're here. Yeah, Barney was right. We found who we were looking for – now we actually have to find him, as in the breathing human form of him. My gut tells me this is hopeless, that I'm chasing after the impossible, and all I'll have left are memories and paper stars. I need more than that. I need freedom. I need dream chasing. I need to know all of his secrets and how I can find that escape too.

Our waiter leads us to a back booth with green leather seats. Black and white pictures adorn the walls. The photo next to our table is an old surf shack, wooden and rustic, right in the sand next to the ocean with surfboards leaning against the outside. I glance at the table behind us. Their picture is the original Crescent Cove billboard – old school paint job without the forever-chasing surfer. I take another look at the surf shack photo and accept it as a sign that we're going to find him. This table was meant for us.

"Where do we start?" Linzi asks over the menu.

"Appetizers?" I assume.

"No," she says. She lowers her menu, leans over the table, and whispers, "Colby Taylor."

I shrug. That's a great question. "I don't know. Maybe we can ask around?"

I grab my menu and scan the pasta list, trying to convince myself that I'm as starved as Linzi when all I'm really concerned with is finding the guy on the billboard.

"Can I start you ladies out with an appetizer?" Our waiter holds his head in that awkward tilted way that male models do in magazines when they're trying to show off their awesome jaw lines or high cheekbones.

Linzi flips into super flirty mode and tells him how we're not from here and that she's not familiar with some of their appetizers. He suggests garlic knots, and she orders a plate of them without even asking what they are.

He brings us a plate full of what looks like knots made of bread. They're drenched in garlic sauce and taste incredible yet they're so strong that we don't order anything past the appetizer. Linzi digs through her purse for gum while mumbling something about not having to worry about vampires. I stick one of those prepaid cards into the booklet with our ticket and wait for him to pick it up. My dad doesn't realize how genius these preloaded cards are. At least this way there won't be a statement in the mail showing I was in California.

"Here he comes," Linzi whispers. She clears her throat and smiles at our waiter. "You guys are crazy busy for a Thursday night. I guess business picks up when you've got a local celebrity, huh?"