Begin Again

17 | Goal-oriented

"There are friendships imprinted in our hearts that will never be diminished by time and distance." - Unknown

❋ ❋ ❋

My brother held his sneakers in one hand, while he struggled to text with his free one. I smile, amused by his unawareness toward the pole a few feet away. I tug my brother back by his jersey, knocking him out of his distraction.

"Watch where you're walking." I caution.

"Yeah, yeah." Ben mutters, not breaking eye contact with his phone. "I saw that coming."

"Whatever. Good luck, I'm going to go find a seat." I encourage my brother, patting his back and he looks up.

"Thanks." He grinned.

I walked ahead of my brother, slowing down when I hear the crunch of footsteps on gravel to my left. When I check the source of noise, I stop in my tracks and see a familiar face.

"Adrian?" I question, taking a small step in his direction.

"Hey." He grins.

"I thought soccer wasn't your thing." I said, surprised to see him here at all.

"It isn't. I thought I'd give my baby bro some support on his big night." Adrian remarked with a grin.

A sudden blast of cold wind engulfs us, and I have to tug the ends of my sleeves to cover my hands.

"That's nice of you." I reply, peeling my eyes off him.

Adrian only smiled, waiting to reach me so he could continue his sentence.

"Yeah..." He trails off. "I usually don't come to these things, so I don't know what to expect."

"I'll explain the basics. You can sit with us." I offer, taking the first step on the field.

"Us?" Adrian raised an eyebrow at this.

"It's just my friends." I said, easing his worries. "You've met them before."

"Oh, the ones from Black Friday." Adrian said and I nod.

"Yeah, them." I smiled. "Your mom's here too."

"Wait-my mom's here?" Adrian asked, scrunching his face with surprise.

Earlier this week, my mom and I stopped by the Cantrell's house to discuss bridesmaid dresses with Kelly and Mrs. Cantrell. Somehow the topic veered to the boys and their soccer games, starting an entire conversation on the finals.

Mrs. Cantrell expressed she often wanted to go see Roy's matches, but work never allowed it. I knew the real reason she rarely came to Roy's matches was because of her husband, but I didn't mention that. Instead, I encouraged her to come to Roy's upcoming match, stressing how important finals were to him. I guess I got through to her, because Mrs. Cantrell showed up fifteen minutes earlier.

"Yeah. I invited her." I tell him.

"Why didn't she tell me? We could've rode together." Adrian asked.

"I think she wanted to surprise Roy and I don't think she thought you'd show up too." I said.

We make small talk as we walked toward the stands. I find my friends occupying the front seats, where we had a perfect view of the field. I reintroduce Adrian to my friends and allow them to talk among themselves.

I take my previous seat beside Hazel, and my eyes instinctively look for Roy on the field. I find him goofing around with his friends and I swear I can hear his laugh ringing throughout the wide field. The way his eyes close shut when he laughs, makes my heart skip a beat. It wasn't normal to feel like this for my supposed friend.