03.
Walden was standing on the balcony, the morning breeze gently fondling his face. He was up awful early, but he wouldn't be able to get more sleep, even if he wanted to. That's when a sound of a door being shut caught his attention and he saw a figure running out of the house next door; it was Rikki. She was wearing a black sport shorts, a sports top in the color of aquamarine and her heavy curls were up in a messy bun. She went to the beach to start with her morning jogging and Walden found himself staring at her.
"Walden." He heard Alan calling his name. "Walden, you have a visitor."
Walden gave out a sigh and shooting Rikki one last look, he walked inside and into the kitchen only to find Alan talking to someone he didn't expected to see again.
"Zoey?"
"Hello, Walden."
"What are you doing here?"
"I missed you." She said simply. "So did my daughter."
"Look, Zoey, I carried on and you should do it too."
"I tried. It didn't work. I miss you too much."
"Look, I'm sorry to say it, but that's not my problem. I missed you too, but it was long time ago. Like I said, I've carried on."
Zoey felt sad.
"You've changed, Walden."
"Yeah, I really have."
And he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She had hurt him enough already, just like Bridget did.
He walked to the door and held it open for her.
"Goodbye, Zoey."
She trembled, her eyes filling with wetness while she walked to the door.
"Goodbye, Walden."
She whispered and walked out, Walden closing the door after her.
He didn't know why he had acted so reserved towards her, but for first time ever in his life, he had control over the situation and it felt good.
He walked back out on the terrace and immediately spotted Rikki on the beach again. She had stopped jogging and was now removing her clothes. Walden thought she'd leave at least her underwear on, but she didn't stop there. He held his breath in his throat watching her remove the last piece of cloth off her body; she had the most beautiful body he had ever seen. Being now completely naked, she ran to the water and gracefully jumped in.
Walden found himself staring after her. He realized he shouldn't have witnessed what he just did, but he couldn't bring back the time now. He walked inside, because he didn't want to repeat his mistake, he respected women's privacy after all; he knew that when she walks out she'd be naked again and he didn't want to witness it again, because this time it wouldn't have been by accident and he just wasn't that type of a guy.
"Well? What did she want?"
Walden turned to Alan confused.
"Huh?"
"Zoey. What did she want?"
"Oh, nothing. She wanted to tell me she had missed me."
"Oh. And what did you do?"
"I reminded her between us is over and told her to go."
Alan looked at him with sympathy.
"If you're sure that you've done the right thing then only that matters now."
Walden sighed.
"I don't know, Alan. I'm not sure of anything lately."
"It's just the shock of her sudden appearance talking right now."
"I can't believe I'm going to say this,but I think you're right." Walden nodded.
"I also have to be right sometimes, don't I?!" Alan gave him a smile.
Suddenly something clicked in Walden's thoughts.
"What happened with that guy next door that needed a chiropractor? Did you fixed his back?"
"Yup. And I met all his friends. They're really nice people. Especially that Rikki girl, y'know."
"Yeah, well..what?!" Suddenly Walden was staring at him wide-eyed.
"Rikki. She's a really nice pal, don't you think? Smart, beautiful, funny."
"Yeah..she is." Walden nodded slowly.
Was Alan falling for Rikki?!
That's when they heard the doorbell ring again.
"I think I made it pretty clear that I don't-" Walden began, but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
He found himself face to face not with Zoey, but with Rikki. Her hair was visibly wet, but was up in a tight tail and she look really beautiful.
"Bad timing?" Rikki raised her eyebrows.
"No." Walden said immediately. "Not at all. I just thought you were someone else. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine." Rikki waved her hand. "I'm sorry for the early hour, but I thought I'd come over and invite you and Dr. Harper to a picnic with me and my friends."
"A picnic?" Walden couldn't help the smile that came up on his face. "Sounds tempting, but we don't want to be a bother.."
"You won't be a bother at all."
"Ok, well..we'll be there then." Walden smiled.
"Cool. Meet us at 11:30 down the beach." Rikki told him, checking her watch.
"Will do." He nodded.
"See you later, then." Rikki waved and walked away.
Walden closed the door.
"Who was it? And what are you smirking for?"
He lifted his head to look at Alan.
"It was Rikki, she came by to invite us over for a picnic with her and her friends."
"A picnic? And when is it going to be?" Alan raised his eyebrows.
Walden checked his watch.
"Two hours from now."
"But I don't know if I've got anything to wear." Alan exclaimed.
Walden rolled his eyes, heading to the front door.
"Where are you going?" Alan asked him.
"Out. I need to buy some things." And he marched out of the house.
Alan ran to his room, to search for something suitable to wear for the picnic.
It was going to be a long day for everyone.