I walked up the beach and wiped my hands off on the towel quickly, fishing for my phone in my bag. Turning the screen on I squinted in the bright sunlight before groaning and tossing it back into my backpack.

"What's up?" Alani asked, shoving her board into the Bali sand after our practice session before the qualifying series event.

She took the phone out of my hand after I unlocked it for her. Her eyes scanned the texts, which were all separated by more than an hour time gaps.

2:27 am

Will: Good morning, hope that the surf is good for you today :)

7:13 am

Riv: Morning, forecast looks good! How are your classes today?

9:01 am

Will: Not bad, took a test and I'm heading to practice now so I'll talk to you later

10:19 am

Riv: Sounds good, how was the test?

12:48 pm

Will: Probably didn't hit it out of the park but it was fine. And I just finished practice, how's your day going?

12:55 pm

Riv: Sorry, coach John is yelling at me to come surf, be back soon

Riv: But no more baseball puns

4:28 pm

Will: Hey sorry, I have early workouts tomorrow morning so I have to hit the hay. Love you.

5:02 pm

Riv: Love you, good luck fighting those weights in the morning :)

Alani grimaced and tossed the phone back to me. "Long distance is tough, for sure. And I'm not even dating an athlete."

I nodded as I picked up the rest of my stuff and trudged through the sand towards the rental house. "Do you have any tips?"

Alani walked through the open door behind me into the basement, where we dropped our boards. She pursed her lips, thinking it over. "You mostly just have to push through and remember how it will be worth it in the long run. Of course Daniel and I try to talk as much as we can, and he comes and sees me when he is free. But I do think that a lot of it is maintaining your relationship by communicating well when you're apart so that you can look forward to everything being worth it when you're back together."

I trudged up the stairs to the kitchen behind her. "Yeah, I guess that we can figure things out when he graduates and he gets job and everything. And we have the off-season and his summer breaks," I said, attempting to make it feel doable.

Alani gave me a small smile. "At least we both know that you can trust him. That's half of what people worry about with distance, but I don't have any worries about that with you and Will."

I nodded in agreement before glancing back at my notification-free lock screen. "I never realized that two months could be so long."

She nodded and gave me a quick hug before heading up to take a shower. My skin was stiff from the salt water, and I followed her lead and went to the other bathroom.

△▽△

The sun was setting on the evening before the competition and none of use wanted to do anything but lay around after a morning out in the hot sun. It was 6:45 pm, but Alani had already gone to our room to prepare for her early morning heat.

It was rare for us to be in the same events this season because I was mostly surfing Championship Tour events and she was still on the lower level Qualifying Series. However, this location in Bali had been a great spot for me to get more experience at, so I decided to do the competition for fun. Additionally, if I somehow didn't place high enough to re-qualify for the CT this year on tour, then I could pick up more points on the Qualifying Series to get myself back on the main tour.

Tatiana also showed up yesterday, but she was down on the beach talking to her husband on the phone. That left me alone in the living room. I glanced at the clock, only to have Will's text from earlier today flash across my mind.

His game had started fifteen minutes earlier, and I ran to grab my computer and bring up the streaming website. Will had been amazingly successful over the past few days, hitting well for contact and avoiding any further blunders at third base. He hadn't hit any home runs yet, but he mentioned that he was happy with the contact that he was making.

The University of Hawaii baseball diamond was projected on my screen as I curled up into the pillows on the couch. The camera was mostly focused on Kumar, who was on the mound to start, but I could glimpse Will on the corner of the frame at times.

"Well, this game appears to be a pitcher's duel," the commentators noted after three scoreless innings. My eyelids fluttered as I yawned in agreement. There wasn't much going on, and I was remembering why I had picked surfing over softball. This wasn't always a fast-paced game.

Eventually, I must have lost the fight with my closing eyelids. Someone was pushing me, and I groaned while attempting to shove them away.

"River, you should go upstairs and get some actual sleep," Tatiana said in a motherly tone. My eyes opened to reveal a spinning NCAA symbol on my computer, signaling that the game had ended.

"Dang it," I muttered. I flipped my phone over to check my game update notifications, only to bury my head in my hands after reading the top one. "How did I fall asleep?"

Tatiana glanced at me from where she was cleaning some dishes. "What happened?"

"Will hit a grandslam, his first homerun of the season, to win the game for UH. And I was asleep," I frowned.

Tatiana quickly became sympathetic. She put the bowl down and came to sit down next to me. "I'm sorry, River, that sucks. I'm sure he'll understand though, you have a tough schedule, jetlag, and are working really hard.

A film of tears spread over my eyes and I blinked hard to clear them. She was right, exhaustion was the only explanation for why I would possibly be crying over this. "You're right, I just don't want to miss anything because I know how important this season is for him."

"I know hon, but you're not a bad girlfriend just because you missed one moment. You did your best, and you'll have plenty of time to make it up," she paused and inspected my face, "I'm going to head to bed, but don't stress yourself out about it. Oh, and I'll send you a picture I snuck of you asleep in front of the game because I figured you might want to pass it along to Will."

Tatiana squeezed my shoulder as she got up and I brought up my Twitter to watch the highlights from the game before going to my messages.

Riv: Saw your grandslam, so proud of you! Sorry I couldn't see it in person :/

Will: Thanks, happy you could see it at all! It was crazy

Riv: Well, if I'm being honest I tried but this is me during it...

I attached the photo of me asleep on the couch in front of the game. My phone started to buzz a moment later and my heart skipped after seeing Will's contact photo on the screen.

"Hey," his voice echoed warmly through the phone.

"Hey," I giggled.

"I really admire your effort to watch the game," he laughed, and I could picture his grin on the other side of his phone.

"I can't believe that I missed it!" I exclaimed. "There was nothing going on for so long, and I was just tired, and well, you could guess the rest."

"As long as you don't fall asleep next time you're in the real stands, I'll let it slide," he chuckled.

I nodded before realizing that he couldn't see me. "Yeah, hopefully we can figure that out another time this season," I paused before adding, "I miss you."

He sighed into the receiver. "I miss you too, Riv. I didn't realize it would be this hard."

"This is probably naive, but somehow I just thought that it would be the same as before. I mean, I always missed you guys somewhat when I leave, but this feels way worse," I replied.

"Only a month and a half left," Will reminded me hopefully. We sat in silence for another minute before he spoke again. "Well, I hate to say it, but I think that we should both get some rest. Good luck tomorrow, kill it like you always do. You're off the hook for falling asleep though, because I'll be in class working on my degree when you're in the water. But I promise to watch the replay as soon as I can."

I laughed a little at his defense. "All good, go get those A's nerd. And goodnight, I love you."

"I love you too, Riv. Thanks for watching me stand around at third base."

Hey guys, sorry for the delay but don't worry, I have every intention of finishing this book + more ;) my course load this semester is just insane and I'm in-season for the first time, so it's been a juggling act. Love you all, thanks for reading, and be back sometime hopefully soon.