⎨COMPLETED⎬
Brooklynn Taylor. A girl with high hopes and big dreams to become the next big actress. Everything she's ever known has been carefree and perfect from an outsider's perspective. Perfect social life, perfect grades, perfect family until o...
My cleats dug into the grass with every step I took, crunching beneath the wet soil. A refreshing, icy breeze swam through the air as I ran towards the goal, fatigue building up in my legs.
It's Monday afternoon and we have our first practice for the week. Coach has eased up since our game on the weekend. But only slightly. He must follow his own advice he gives everyone. Don't let the win get to your head, he repeats after every game we win.
My muscles are burning and I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling it. Coach is making the forwards practice shooting whilst the defence tries to defend. This drill is helpful and allows everyone to work together and is one of my favourites. But Coach, over here, has been making us go at it for the past half-an-hour and it's getting tiresome.
"All right!" Coach's authoritative voice chanted from the field's sideline. "That's enough, you can hit the showers."
All my teammates echo in gratitude and slowly saunter off the field.
Malachi walks up to me, Tyson not far behind, and we walk to the showers. I feel some gazes locked on me from the bleachers. I've grown used to the crowd of girls that often accumulate during afternoon practice and have learnt not to pay a lick of attention to any of them.
Tyson, however, loves the attention from anyone with a pair of boobs and vagina, and typically, he flashes them a panty-dropping smile as he would describe it. Just like now, he's doing his signature smile at all the girls that have piled onto the metal bleachers. I can practically see all the girls swooning over him without even having to look in their direction.
"I feel like I might collapse," Malachi grumbles, rubbing a tattooed hand over his sweaty face.
"Same. And I desperately need a shower. I smell like I've been living in a garbage can my whole life."
A hint of a smile tugs on Malachi's lips.
We reach the showers and break apart, going to our own cubicle. The facilities on campus are better than most others. The faculty has clearly spent a generous amount on ensuring that our sports teams have top-notch facilities.
"Home?" Holden asks as we leave the locker room. We drove in my car to campus together for practice, so we are also driving back together.
I nod. "Yep."
Malachi and Tyson decided against catching a ride with Holden and me, claiming they had some business to attend to, whatever the hell that means.
Gravel flew while I wandered towards my car, Holden trailing not far behind me.
Heat blasted from my car as it ignited to life. The passenger side door opened and in came Holden, who immediately chucked his duffel bag into the back seat. "What are we going to do for Kai's birthday?"
I shrug. "I think Tyson might have something in mind. I think Camron might host a Halloween party so we'll have to do something for him later." Malachi's birthday is the day after Halloween, which makes things difficult.
In past years, he's told us not to worry about it, but this year is different. He turns twenty-one this year and no matter what he tells us; we are celebrating.
"Should we trust Tyson with planning something? Remember what happened on your birthday." Holden raises an eyebrow in my direction.
The memory floods back, and I bubble with laughter.
This year, on my birthday, Tyson had organised a night out with all of our teammates and closest friends. It was a friendly gesture until a stripper showed up out of nowhere and began groping Tyson. He had claimed it was my birthday present, while in reality, he had hired her for himself.
We continue discussing plans for Kai's birthday. Halloween is soon approaching and looming over us.
Not going to lie, I'm excited about Halloween. It's always been one of my favourite childhood memories. I remember when I was twelve; I went trick-or-treating with my sister and some of my friends. The night ended in complete chaos when we ended up getting lost and deserted in the next town over. Although, we made the best of the situation and all gathered in a nearby park and stuffed our faces with candy.
The trek home was quick and when I pulled up the concrete driveway, a familiar car had parked. I groaned just at the sight of it.
"My sweet, sweet brother! What can I do for you today on this pleasant Monday afternoon?" I ask, overly cheerfully the minute I enter the foyer of our home. Holden enters as well, but instead of acknowledging my brother, he wanders back upstairs.
Caleb sat on our couch, staring right at me as I shrugged off my jacket. He's dressed in his usual work attire: a black suit jacket with matching pants and a white dress shirt underneath.
"Mom called. Said you kidnapped our little sister," Caleb accuses, his gaze burning into me with every step I take.
"Didn't kidnap her, just simply offered a place to stay for a while," I say nonchalantly.
Caleb and I are both protective of Lilly. Growing up with a father who was suffering from an addiction and a mother who didn't engage with her kids at all; inevitably, we would become each other's support system.
Our whole lives we had been close-almost like best friends-but when Caleb went off to college, leaving me and Lilly, it was no surprise he had drifted away from all of us. Occasionally, he would contact me and Lilly to check up on us, but that was almost always a once in a blue moon occurrence.
"In a college frat house?" Caleb's tone laced with accusation as he spoke.
"This isn't a frat house," I defend.
Caleb clicks his tongue, his eyes roaming around our open-planned house.
"Nothing just came to check on Lilly but it appears she's not here." He shrugs and my shoulders tighten as he steps closer to me. "Guess I better get going. Have a good day. Oh, and also, tell Lilly I and Mom said hi."
With that, he opens the front door and slams it behind him as he exits. I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.
That was the first proper conversation I've had with Caleb—alone—in a long time. Since graduating from law school, he's become an uptight, might I say, jerk. I hated saying that, especially to someone I used to look up to, but it's the only way I could describe how he's changed over the past few years.
The wooden floorboards creak when I walk into the kitchen. I throw the fridge doors open, searching for something that looks even remotely appetising. Surprise, surprise, there isn't.
"Want a pizza?" I called up the stairwell to Holden.
"Sure." I hear his voice echo down and simultaneously ring for the local pizza joint.
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