After we were done eating, Makai took us on a tour of the places that he used to go. This was the Orlando that we wanted to see. The real Orlando. The part that the people who lived here saw all the time and not the tourist traps.
If I ever came back to Orlando again, then I could play tourist. I could let Makai, or whoever was with me, show me around to all the famous locations. And as much as I would have loved to see them this trip, we simply didn't have the time for any of them. It had already been after midday when we left the hotel and that meant that we only had so long before having to return for dinner with the coach.
As for the coach, I was certain that he was taking advantage of the all inclusive package that Makai's parents had paid for. It had a lot of benefits that the coach probably never really got the chance to experience.
All of us were just trying to make the best of our limited time here. And for us, we were the most curious about Makai's past. We wanted to know where he grew up. What he was like as a kid. The things that he used to do. In truth, Makai never really talked about his past. He never really told me what he used to do as a kid. He never really told me about his friends. All of that was still a mystery to me.
We took a bus from the restaurant to the school that Makai used to go to. Today had been a half day apparently, so there were no students there. Well, I guess there were, but they were there for baseball, soccer and tennis practice. No one was actually attending the classes.
Makai didn't want to go into the building. For some reason, when he looked at the place, there was a really conflicted look in his eyes. It was like he didn't know what to do at the moment. Should he go in or stay away? That was the feeling that I was getting from him.
Even though we didn't go into the school that Makai went to, we still walked around the grounds and he told us what he used to do at different places in the school. He also pointed to the building that housed the pool. That was the only time he had a wistful look in his eyes. It was like the pool building was filled with fond memories. I hoped they were all swimming related and not because of a specific person.
Our tour of Makai's life continued after the school. We didn't take a bus or hop in a cab. Instead, we walked to Makai's former house. Or should I say condo. He apparently used to live in a high rise building with lots of condos in it. Him and his parents had the top two floors of the building, just like our condo back in LA.
The place that Makai used to live in couldn't have been more different than the place that he lived in now. They were both really big and obviously expensive, but those were the only similarities. This place was more like something out of a movie for someone who wanted to appear rich. I think that was because Makai was usually the only one there and either he or his staff was in charge of the home décor. Whatever the reason for it was, the place couldn't have been further from the beautiful home that he lived in now. And it was nothing like how we decorated our home in LA.
Still, Makai took us to his old room. It was actually very similar to his style and tastes. And it was set up almost identically to the room that he has now. Everything was in the same place. It was just different furniture. But looking around this room, even if no one had told me in advance, I would have known that it was Makai's room. It just felt like his room to me.
"So, you showed us the school, the restaurant, the home and the stores in between. But aside from at school, where did you used to swim? Where did you train? You can't tell me that you only used to train in the ocean." Ryan looked at me and winked like he was making a bad joke. I guess in a way he was. In the 'ocean'. In Ocean. He was making it sound like Makai was always in me, or something like that.
"Well, this building has a pool. And most of the residents never really used it. So, I had it to myself a lot." That was when he went to a private elevator inside of the apartment. It was located in the back of the home and went to three different places. The basement storage, the garage and the pool. When Makai pressed the button for the pool, I was shocked to see that the elevator went up and not down. We were on the top floors, what was above here?
Well, apparently there was the pool, which happened to be on the roof. The view from the rooftop pool was amazing and I could see why Makai would love coming up here a lot. Not to mention it was an Olympic sized pool. That meant that he would be able to do a lot of personal training here. And if there were very many people that ever used this pool, it would be that much better for him. He would have lots of privacy whenever he was here.
"This place is nice." Ben commented as he looked around the area. "I can't believe that you grew up here."
"Yeah, it was pretty nice. Sometimes I miss it. Or I used to miss it that is. But since I've been with Ocean, I haven't really thought about this place much at all."
"Awe, isn't that sweet, Ocean? You made all of Kai's bad memories go away." Ryan cooed as if there was something funny about what was going on.
"Shut up, Ryan." I snapped at him. "You're a dick."
"Thank you!" He bowed and laughed. I knew that he was just joking with me, that's why I wasn't really mad at him.
Through all of this, Makai still hadn't talked about personal things that had happened to him. He just mentioned things like school events and what he and his friends used to do for fun. There was still not that much I knew about my fiancé's past. Was that bad?
I mean, I did know his parents. I knew that they were good people, and that Makai was a good guy. I knew that we loved each other and that nothing would ever change that. So, I guess that it was fine if I didn't know about his past too much.
How much of a past could there really be? He was only eighteen after all. I didn't need to worry that he was some wanted criminal or anything. And that was fine with me. I needed to accept that.
Only, there was one thing that was still bothering me. Makai has never once talked about previous lovers. He knew about the one and only person that I was with before him. But I knew nothing about his past lovers. I think that was the whole reason that I was nervous and worried right now.
"Come on, let's go get something to snack on." Makai called as he took my hand. "There is a place nearby that has really good ice cream and I want some."
"Yeah, I can go for something sweet." Ryan agreed.
"Sounds good to me." Ben was happy to go as well.
"Sure." I didn't want to be the odd man out here, so I readily agreed too.
We walked down the street and got some of the dessert that Makai wanted to reminisce with. He got a chocolate brownie banana explosion. It sounded messy, but it was a sundae that had chopped bananas, brownie chunks, hot fudge, peanuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. And of course, it was all piled on top of chocolate ice cream.
I got myself a decadent chocolate cherry blast. It was a lot like Makai's sundae, only it had cherries and cookie chunks with hot fudge, peanuts and whipped cream over the chocolate ice cream. Ben and Ryan got the same things as me and Makai did, but they were sharing theirs. I admit, I did take a bite of Makai's and he took one of mine. Other than that, we kept our own ice cream. As unusual as that was for us. We just did not share this dessert this time.
We went to a few of the stores that Makai used to shop at and bought a couple of things, nothing major just some clothes and stuff. After that though, we thought that it was time to head back to the hotel. The coach would get mad if we weren't back by the time that he had designated for us all.
To get back to the hotel, we called a car to come pick us up. Thankfully, they had one that was big enough to fit four tall teenage boys. Otherwise, it would have been a very uncomfortable ride back.
The entire time back to the hotel though, I was thinking about what I needed to talk to Makai about. And about when I needed to talk about it. I didn't want to upset him before the competition though, so I was going to wait a little while.. Maybe I would bring it up when we got home.
After we were done eating, Makai took us on a tour of the places that he used to go. This was the Orlando that we wanted to see. The real Orlando. The part that the people who lived here saw all the time and not the tourist traps.
If I ever came back to Orlando again, then I could play tourist. I could let Makai, or whoever was with me, show me around to all the famous locations. And as much as I would have loved to see them this trip, we simply didn't have the time for any of them. It had already been after midday when we left the hotel and that meant that we only had so long before having to return for dinner with the coach.
As for the coach, I was certain that he was taking advantage of the all inclusive package that Makai's parents had paid for. It had a lot of benefits that the coach probably never really got the chance to experience.
All of us were just trying to make the best of our limited time here. And for us, we were the most curious about Makai's past. We wanted to know where he grew up. What he was like as a kid. The things that he used to do. In truth, Makai never really talked about his past. He never really told me what he used to do as a kid. He never really told me about his friends. All of that was still a mystery to me.
We took a bus from the restaurant to the school that Makai used to go to. Today had been a half day apparently, so there were no students there. Well, I guess there were, but they were there for baseball, soccer and tennis practice. No one was actually attending the classes.
Makai didn't want to go into the building. For some reason, when he looked at the place, there was a really conflicted look in his eyes. It was like he didn't know what to do at the moment. Should he go in or stay away? That was the feeling that I was getting from him.
Even though we didn't go into the school that Makai went to, we still walked around the grounds and he told us what he used to do at different places in the school. He also pointed to the building that housed the pool. That was the only time he had a wistful look in his eyes. It was like the pool building was filled with fond memories. I hoped they were all swimming related and not because of a specific person.
Our tour of Makai's life continued after the school. We didn't take a bus or hop in a cab. Instead, we walked to Makai's former house. Or should I say condo. He apparently used to live in a high rise building with lots of condos in it. Him and his parents had the top two floors of the building, just like our condo back in LA.
The place that Makai used to live in couldn't have been more different than the place that he lived in now. They were both really big and obviously expensive, but those were the only similarities. This place was more like something out of a movie for someone who wanted to appear rich. I think that was because Makai was usually the only one there and either he or his staff was in charge of the home décor. Whatever the reason for it was, the place couldn't have been further from the beautiful home that he lived in now. And it was nothing like how we decorated our home in LA.
Still, Makai took us to his old room. It was actually very similar to his style and tastes. And it was set up almost identically to the room that he has now. Everything was in the same place. It was just different furniture. But looking around this room, even if no one had told me in advance, I would have known that it was Makai's room. It just felt like his room to me.
"So, you showed us the school, the restaurant, the home and the stores in between. But aside from at school, where did you used to swim? Where did you train? You can't tell me that you only used to train in the ocean." Ryan looked at me and winked like he was making a bad joke. I guess in a way he was. In the 'ocean'. In Ocean. He was making it sound like Makai was always in me, or something like that.
"Well, this building has a pool. And most of the residents never really used it. So, I had it to myself a lot." That was when he went to a private elevator inside of the apartment. It was located in the back of the home and went to three different places. The basement storage, the garage and the pool. When Makai pressed the button for the pool, I was shocked to see that the elevator went up and not down. We were on the top floors, what was above here?
Well, apparently there was the pool, which happened to be on the roof. The view from the rooftop pool was amazing and I could see why Makai would love coming up here a lot. Not to mention it was an Olympic sized pool. That meant that he would be able to do a lot of personal training here. And if there were very many people that ever used this pool, it would be that much better for him. He would have lots of privacy whenever he was here.
"This place is nice." Ben commented as he looked around the area. "I can't believe that you grew up here."
"Yeah, it was pretty nice. Sometimes I miss it. Or I used to miss it that is. But since I've been with Ocean, I haven't really thought about this place much at all."
"Awe, isn't that sweet, Ocean? You made all of Kai's bad memories go away." Ryan cooed as if there was something funny about what was going on.
"Shut up, Ryan." I snapped at him. "You're a dick."
"Thank you!" He bowed and laughed. I knew that he was just joking with me, that's why I wasn't really mad at him.
Through all of this, Makai still hadn't talked about personal things that had happened to him. He just mentioned things like school events and what he and his friends used to do for fun. There was still not that much I knew about my fiancé's past. Was that bad?
I mean, I did know his parents. I knew that they were good people, and that Makai was a good guy. I knew that we loved each other and that nothing would ever change that. So, I guess that it was fine if I didn't know about his past too much.
How much of a past could there really be? He was only eighteen after all. I didn't need to worry that he was some wanted criminal or anything. And that was fine with me. I needed to accept that.
Only, there was one thing that was still bothering me. Makai has never once talked about previous lovers. He knew about the one and only person that I was with before him. But I knew nothing about his past lovers. I think that was the whole reason that I was nervous and worried right now.
"Come on, let's go get something to snack on." Makai called as he took my hand. "There is a place nearby that has really good ice cream and I want some."
"Yeah, I can go for something sweet." Ryan agreed.
"Sounds good to me." Ben was happy to go as well.
"Sure." I didn't want to be the odd man out here, so I readily agreed too.
We walked down the street and got some of the dessert that Makai wanted to reminisce with. He got a chocolate brownie banana explosion. It sounded messy, but it was a sundae that had chopped bananas, brownie chunks, hot fudge, peanuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. And of course, it was all piled on top of chocolate ice cream.
I got myself a decadent chocolate cherry blast. It was a lot like Makai's sundae, only it had cherries and cookie chunks with hot fudge, peanuts and whipped cream over the chocolate ice cream. Ben and Ryan got the same things as me and Makai did, but they were sharing theirs. I admit, I did take a bite of Makai's and he took one of mine. Other than that, we kept our own ice cream. As unusual as that was for us. We just did not share this dessert this time.
We went to a few of the stores that Makai used to shop at and bought a couple of things, nothing major just some clothes and stuff. After that though, we thought that it was time to head back to the hotel. The coach would get mad if we weren't back by the time that he had designated for us all.
To get back to the hotel, we called a car to come pick us up. Thankfully, they had one that was big enough to fit four tall teenage boys. Otherwise, it would have been a very uncomfortable ride back.
The entire time back to the hotel though, I was thinking about what I needed to talk to Makai about. And about when I needed to talk about it. I didn't want to upset him before the competition though, so I was going to wait a little while.. Maybe I would bring it up when we got home.
