The men and women reunited in the early evening. The ladies were just finishing getting redressed after post-swim showers. Well, post-swim showers for four of them, Kelly's was post-lounge-in-my-sunchair-all-afternoon-shower. Not even Jordan and Kaylie's enthusiastic descriptions of their twisty rides down the curving slide of the sandcastle tower had coaxed the former gymnast out of her lazy-cat position.
"You really did miss out on the slide," Payson said to Kelly. The other woman just harrumphed and went back to defining her eyes. Payson resisted the urge to ramble about their pool time and forced herself to wander out to the living room area. A minute ago Kaylie had yelled that the men had gotten off the bus at the resort, so they were due back in their room any second now. Emily had left about ten minutes before that to head towards EPCOT.
"You're ok to go on your own?" Payson asked.
Emily nodded, a small but sure smile gracing her lips. "I am."
"I mean, I know you want to talk to Damon alone but I can go with you until you get there," Payson offered. "It's a long walk from the entrance of EPCOT to the American Adventure. You might get pretty nervous."
Emily patted Payson's arm. "Oh, I'm nervous, probably as nervous as I was the first time I competed at Nationals. But I know that it's time for me to stop avoiding Damon. If I don't approach him, we'll never figure things out. I'm done being afraid."
She leaned in to give Payson a quick hug. "It helps that I know he wants to talk, but there's still no guarantee that everything will go how I want it to."
"You know that if you need me, just call and I'll come."
Emily's eyes glowed. "Of course. The same goes for you."
"For me?"
"You and Luke are going to be having a conversation soon."
"I don't know if he's going to want to talk to me," Payson deflected, remembering the hurt look on his face.
Emily squeezed Payson's arm. "He will. He's a good guy. He won't leave you hanging even if the conversation is only long enough to tell you he doesn't want a relationship."
With Emily's words running through her mind, Payson felt her nerves build with every moment that the door to their rooms stayed shut. She stared at the large window overlooking the leafy Florida foliage—and then jumped when the door suddenly clicked. Noise erupted around her as the men swarmed in, Jake teasing Nicky about something from hole fifteen, Kaylie skipping over to Austin with a hello kiss and question if his mini-golf skills since the last time she trounced him. The hubbub faded though when Luke's eyes connected with hers. Payson drew her breath in as a skittish energy surged around her, but she held Luke's gaze.
He did not make her wait. With a few big steps, he was there in front of her, his arms closing around her. Payson curled into the embrace. It was not the tight desperate clinch of a good-bye hug nor was it the gentle comfort of an apology hug. However, she felt strength in Luke's hold, a surety.
"We need to talk," he murmured into her ear. Words that could equal a negative moment in a relationship yet this time Payson heard the different tone. They needed to talk not to part ways but to figure something out. No guarantee of a future but not an automatic dismissal.
She pulled away enough to look up at him. "When?"
"Whenever you want," he said, his volume low enough to keep the conversation private. "I know the group plan is to go into the Magic Kingdom this evening, but we can stay back here."
Payson glanced towards the others. By this time everyone had gathered in the communal living area. She caught a glimpse of Jake. The man was smiling, but Payson could see the effort behind the expression. "I think it might be better for everyone if we go into the park with them especially Jake with Lauren not here."
"So she hasn't come back?"
"No."
Luke frowned and then looked over at their friends. "Emily still getting ready?"
"Oh, she's actually on her way to EPCOT."
"EPCOT?" Luke raised an eyebrow and then grinned. "She's going for her happy ending with Damon."
The edge of Payson's mouth quirked up. "In between trying to knock a little ball in a hole, you guys were talking about Emily and Damon's romance?"
"You're making it sound like a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie."
Payson's grin grew bigger. "Familiar with those?"
"I have sisters remember?"
Payson laughed and Luke continued.
"We probably didn't get as in-depth as you ladies did-I don't believe for a minute you spent the whole time at the pool practicing your freestroke-but Austin filled in some details. Nicky and I both had a Swiss-cheese type understanding up the situation. Even Jake had a few questions."
"But there are some things Austin wouldn't know," Payson said, remembering Emily's words from the pool.
"Emily and Damon loved each other, broke up, Emily had a baby, Damon still loves her. What more do we need?"
"You can't be sure he loves her."
"From the way his agent talked, I bet there's something deep there. However," Luke dropped his volume again. "I'm more interested in the details of us and the talk we'll be having later."
"When we get back," Payson promised.
Luke nodded and then released her from his hug. The separation was a little disappointing, but Payson knew that they weren't quite in the same spot they had been that morning. A little bit of space until their discussion that evening was not a bad thing.
"Then again," she thought to herself as Luke's hand found hers again on their walk from the bus stop to the main entrance of the Magic Kingdom, "a little bit of connection is nice."
The bussing had been in their favor with a quick pick-up from the resort so even with their changed afternoon activities, they actually were only arriving in the park about forty minutes later than originally planned. To not feel too rushed, they had decided to focus on their one FastPass ride and dinner. Everything else they did was simply bonus.
"After all most of us came to the Magic Kingdom after London," Austin had said.
Payson had to admit that Austin was right when a sense of familiarity came over her at the sight of the Main Street train station.
"There's a place that sells Mexican/Southwestern themed food that has a lot of seating over in Frontierland," Luke suggested. "We could ride the railroad over to the Frontierland stop."
"And get our first attraction in," Austin said. "I'm in."
The others nodded and they climbed the steps up to the waiting area. The line of riders was not too long so when the red Roy O. Disney locomotive pulled in, they were able to find seats.
"Roy Disney?" Nicky asked, the train lurching out of the station.
"Walt's brother," Luke said. "He was a huge force behind Disney World getting completed."
"So they named a railroad car after him?"
"Each locomotive is named after someone different in the Disney story. There's this one after his brother, one after Walt Disney, one after his wife Lillian, and then one named for the man in charge of the railroad project but I don't remember his name."
"Your Disney trivia knowledge does run out!" Austin crowed and the group laughed. The train rumbled along the tracks at a decent pace although not one that would get them to their destination any faster than if they walked most likely. Payson enjoyed the simple ride that took them over two access roads and a bridge. Beyond these points and the Florida greenery, there wasn't much to see until the train entered a tunnel. Joyous music with a banjo twang prominent filled the air, and the train riders got a glimpse of the final scene of Splash Mountain. Back out of the tunnel, the train eased to a stop at a rustic-looking station.
It was a short walk through the red and earthen tones of Frontierland to Pecos Bill's, an eatery inspired by the architecture of the Southwest. As Luke had figured, the tables inside were not yet full, and soon the group was enjoying dinner and a conversation that replayed scenes from the men's mini-golf adventure. Several times Payson's hand shot up in front of her face when a funny story threatened to have her laughing her drink across the table. She noticed that Jake seemed to be relaxing a bit more and that Kelly was showing more affection than usual to Nicky, a gentle gratefulness in her eyes. Payson also picked up Austin watching Kaylie more closely although he didn't seem to be worried about her, just a little nervous in general.
The end of dinner though brought an end to Payson's speculations as the group cut through a passageway that led into Adventureland. Here they lucked out and walked right into the Tiki Birds show.
"Well, that was different," Kelly remarked on their way out.
Payson could not stop the laugh and grinned unrepentantly at Kelly's glare. "You may have softened up some since our competitive years, but I'm not surprised that some of the more unique Disney attractions are not your favorites."
"Dozens of singing birds," Kelly grumbled. "It felt like I was in a Disney-fied version of an Alfred Hitchcock movie."
"Don't forget the Tiki gods and flowers," Nicky made sure to point out and then quickly sidestepped his girlfriend's swinging fist. It was only in jest, but Kelly would probably still leave a small sting.
"Just because I'm having fun at Disney doesn't mean I can't still be a little cynical," she retorted, the edge of words softening by the smile hovering on her lips. The wait for the Jungle Cruise was being advertised as over a half hour so they opted to take a tour of the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse instead.
"One of my favorites when I was a kid," Luke said as they climbed a stairwell tucked against the wide tree trunk. "I thought living in a tree would be the coolest thing ever."
"Bet your mom loved that idea."
"She was the one that pointed out my beloved Nintendo games wouldn't run in a tree illuminated by lanterns instead of electricity."
After the treehouse exploration, they discovered that the Flying Carpets had an unusually short wait. Luke recommended that if they were at all interested in this sort-of-clone-of-Dumbo ride, this was the time to take advantage.
Payson enjoyed the wind whirring through her hair as they had spun around, their carpet rising up and down, tilting forwards and backwards thanks to their own set of controls. She would not have minded a second trip flying above the streets of Adventureland. Kelly on the other hand had a different opinion of the ride.
"Why didn't you warn us that the camel spits?" she squealed at Luke when the group reconvened outside the ride.
Luke shrugged. "Thought you might have noticed while we stood in line?"
Kelly looked like she might aim one of her annoyed punches at Luke, but Nicky slipped his hand in his. She gave him a speculative glance but dropped her complaint. Using the passageway between Frontierland and Adventureland, they traveled through Liberty Square and entered Fantasyland. Luke led the way to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride where they had their only FastPasses of the evening. He explained that the ride was part of the newest section of the park, the expansion to Fantasyland only having opened a few years ago. Thanks to their FastPasses, they zipped ahead to the loading platform where they raced off on a winding, speeding trip through the mines of the seven dwarfs from Snow White. Payson alternated between little shrieks and laughter from the fun feeling of the sudden moves of the train.
"I think you liked that one," Luke commented as their train car returned to the loading platform.
"I love a huge roller coaster, but Disney does a great job with these milder ones," she admitted.
"I hope you can handle what Disney has in store on the next ride," Luke said, his expression a smirk.
"I don't remember any major roller coasters in the Magic Kingdom," Payson said.
"You'll see."
Payson tilted her head at Luke and tried to decipher the mischievous expression on his face. However, just then her phone buzzed, alerting her to an incoming text message. She checked the screen.
Luke noticed the immediate tension in her shoulders. "What's wrong?"
"It's Emily."