Choices (Book Four)

Chapter 6

Shawn

It's officially been one month since the start of the season and our team is kicking ass. We are seven and one and currently in first place in our division. It's hard to believe it's already late October. The weather is still pretty nice out but I have made the transition from t-shirts to long sleeves or a hoodie most days. It's also been five weeks since I've heard from Lyla in her drunk email. I never did reply to it though so I guess that is probably on me at this point.

I'm currently coasting on my bike riding home from the arena because my legs are completely dead. We had a game last night followed by one this afternoon we just finished about an hour ago. We won both but todays game was a bit more of a struggle for the guys who decided to go out and celebrate last nights win. Although that wasn't stopping the guys from going out tonight again to celebrate, but this time I did agree to join them since tomorrow we have the full day off. I've managed to make a few solid friendships with the guys on the team so far, fitting in with the fellas pretty easily. They're mostly all laid back so it makes it easy to get along.

By the time I make it home it's almost six o'clock and I'm starving. I head straight to the kitchen and heat up the leftover lasagna I cooked a couple nights ago. Its not homemade lasagna, just the frozen kind from the supermarket, but it doe the trick. It does make me miss Lyla's lasagna though or maybe just having lyla in my kitchen. I take my plate into the living room and queue up sports centre on the TV as I start to mow down. My plate is clean in under five minutes and I stretch out on the couch, deciding a nap might be a good idea at this point when I hear my phone start to ring. I grab it off the coffee table and read Bailey's name on the screen before I answer.

"Hey Bails," I greet as I answer.

"Hey big bro, how the heck are you?"

"Can't complain, the team is keeping me busy most days. We are on a bit of a hot streak right now so hopefully that continues. How bout you? How's school?

"School is blah, who cares, I'm haven't flunked out of anything yet so hooray for me," she says and I laugh lightly. "Let me tell you about the important stuff though, I met a guy," sh continues and I instinctively sit upright on the couch.

"What guy?" I ask, my voice coming out a bit more annoyed then I planned.

"Relax Shawn," Bailey warns me through the phone before she continues. "His name is Milo. He is a business major and we met a few weeks back in the cafeteria line. One thing led to another and we have gone out a few times now. He is so sweet Shawn!"

I can tell my the excitement in her voice when she talks about him that she really likes this guy and is quite smitten. I'm happy for her, even if my over protective brother instincts are kicking in.

"I'm happy for you," I tell her. "But he better treat you right and respect you otherwise I will be there in five hours to have a nice chat with him."

"Sure, sure," she responds sarcastically. "You know though, there is someone else you could visit if you decided to take that road trip," she adds ominously even though we both know who she's talking about. Lyla.

"Have you seen her at all?" I finally ask after a long silence.

"I ran into her last week on campus. We chatted for a minute or two but she was on her way to a class. She seems happy," Bailey replies.

Good, I think to myself. She has been a complete ghost on social media the past month so it's a relief to hear that Bailey had a run in with her recently.

"Have you talked to her since her last email?" Bailey asks.

I told Bailey about the email from Lyla a couple weeks ago. She even made me read it aloud to her over the phone so she could help to give me the 'female perspective' as she called it. Her advice had been simple, write back to Lyla. When I contested she went straight into the argument that Lyla clearly missed me if she drunk messaged me at four in the morning. Bailey had reasoned that girls only do that if they still miss you, not that they would ever admit it.