LEILA {ongoing}

9.

''You boy's took your sweet time getting here.''

Once Mica had parked his yellow Jeep Wrangler, we all jumped out grabbing our things. I told the guys to skedaddle but they were having none of it, walking Lucy and I to the stands.

''Sorry, Coach. I had an unexpected change of plans. This is Lucy, my four year old sister.'' Mica gestures to the cutie gripping my hand.

''Is this why you're with them Leila, playing babysitter are we."

"Not playing anything, Coach. Helping a mate out in a time of need." I give my dad a big cheesy grin.

"Hop to it lads, everyone's in there getting ready. I want you out on the field in 15."

"But, Coach, can we get the girls set up fir-"

"Boys, get your butts to the locker room now! I'll help Leila and Lucy find some seats."

Dad walked me to the seating area that was mostly filled with families of the players. "Just being a good friend hey there my girl."

"Quite it dad. His parents left him with missy here, so he called. I was coming here anyway."

"And wearing Bennet's jerseys tells me something else."

"Dad, stop. Get back to your players. I'm sure they're wondering where their Coach is." I laugh at him. On the way here, I threw Elijah's jersey over my grey hoody and popped my leather jacket on top of that.

Pinching my arm, he leaves me with Lucy. "Wanna put your brothers jersey on now, little one?"

"YES, PLEASE!" She's so polite. Mica could take some pointers from her. The jersey drowns her little body so I roll the sleeves up and tie two knots on either side, making it look like more of a dress than a shirt. Lucy loves it, so that's all that mattered.

+++

It was a clean sweep. The game was so one way, it was almost boring. Almost. Not surprisingly we were winning. The Panther boys were gearing for a fight, though. If they put as much effort into playing as they did trying to illicit a brawl maybe they wouldn't be trailing by 15pts.

The first to crack was Brad, which meant he was benched for most of the 3rd quarter. I was happy to see that neither Mica or Elijah threw a swing. Instead, they were the ones to pull players off each other.

Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about Lucy seeing the violence. She had fallen asleep on my lap, with a full belly of snacks, just after Dani and the squad finished their halftime performance. Lucy had been such a good kid the entire game. Early on, she had gotten cold so crawled her way onto my lap snuggling the blanket up around her chin.

She was like my own personal heater. I was super toasty, I had to take off my leather jacket.

The cheer squad killed it by the way. I wasn't too keen on the song they chose, but hey, I'm not the one out there giving it my all.

"Told you we'd win." I had stayed planted to my seat when the game finished, not wanting to disturb Lucy. Placing my finger over my lips, I peer down to make sure Mica's loud voice hasn't woken up the sleeping angel.

Kneeling down, Mica rests an arm on his knee while stroking Lucy's hair with the other. He seems like such a good brother.

"What can I help with?" Elijah enquires, eyes trained on his jersey currently covering me. Stepping over the seats from behind me, he picks up one of the blankets and starts folding it. "I think I'm right to carry her, but can you both get everything else, please."

Dad was waiting for us when we got to Mica's car. "You seem to know what you're doing." He whispers, eyeing the child sleeping in my arms.

Rolling my eyes at him, "I'm good with kids, you know that D-Coach Hale." Woops.