Last Player Standing

Chapter Nine

Remember what I said last time?

That he'll drive me crazy by the end of the year?

Yeah, scratch that.

He'll drive me crazy by the end of today.

Lucas, Mateo, Ning and I had decided to meet up at my house to discuss our plan going forward. I had gathered the couple, along with Aliyah and Avery during lunch time to break the news to them. Meeting up at the garden alcove, Lucas and I had sat next to each other in a stony silence, debating how to tell the four of them. Eventually, we just blurted the news, registering the horror on their faces before they managed to register the despair in ours.

The doorbell rings and I wipe my hands on my jeans, finishing the layout of the brainstorming snacks for the five of us. Avery wouldn't be coming to the first meeting as she had after school classes for everything make up and fashion in a bid for a career in the fashion world. We would update her about it tomorrow in a separate meeting, but until then time was of the essence and we needed to know our plans for what to do by the end of tonight.

I open the door and stare up at the giant before me.

Then I realize, Lucas West must be my retribution for lying when I broke my mother's favorite vase at the age of 6.

When I open the door, he stands, looking like sin at my doorway, dressed in all black. The lack of color only makes his tan skin and green eyes more prominent, while his blond hair draws the notice of my neighbor's daughter across the street.

Her eyes narrow as she smiles at me, and the henna glints on her hand as she throws me a wave.

"He's hot." she mouths from her lawn.

I frown and mouth back. "You don't want this one, trust me."

Lucas saunters in with his hands in his pockets, taking in the house he had spent most of his life frequenting up until three years ago. His eyes drift over the family photos on the walls, the decor, the albums on the coffee table in the living room. They stay hooked on the photos of us together as children, and on the door way we used to use to mark our height as we grew older. We had been close to the same height until puberty hit us, I had only ever been 2 inches shorter than him before that.

Since then though?

I was now a whopping 7 inches shorter than his 6 foot. I wasn't mad about it though. I had actually thought the height difference had been cute when we started dating. When we broke up though, the height difference just gave him a reason to look down on me- literally.

Lucas continues to drag his attention through every room he can see without moving.

I sigh.

"Nothing has changed, Lucas." I say, leading the way upstairs.

"Nothing." He repeats. "Nothing, except you and me."

He takes my silence for agreement.

We step on the landing and right into an argument between my siblings. My sisters, Aliyah and Janelle, stand shouting at each other from their doorways as my brother Miles, the oldest of us all, leans against his door snickering.

"Give me back the shirt, Janelle." Aliyah grits out.

"It was mine first anyway." Janelle is brandishing a shirt in her fist, with her hands crossed over her chest.

"You don't even wear it! You haven't worn it in years! You just want it because I want it!"

"I want it because it was mine first!"

"Give it back, J." Aliyah hisses.

Aliyah is almost exactly like me, but her temper burns hotter than the sun. I can almost see the steam coming out of her ears.