Sticks and Stones

Fourteen: Save the Date?

Don't give me that look. Yes, I said was not only done with double updates but that I'd only post once a week so that I could make this book last. But are you really complaining? Didn't think so.

Posted Chapters 13 and 14 at the same time, so be sure to go back and read 13 if you missed it!

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Tatum was a woman of her word.

If Brady gave his all during their sessions, she would give her all for whatever activity he picked for them.

And so, she was at the hockey house for the party.

Brady requested she let loose, and she did just that. She was genuinely happy that his knee hadn't acted up during the game. Sure, it was a decently easygoing game. No one was hellbent on attacking his knee like the previous game. But still. A win was a win. He was upright and genuinely didn't seem like he was in any pain. It seemed like the plan was actually helping him. She felt a rush of pride at that. Maybe she would actually fix his knee. Maybe she could actually get Doctor Evans' recommendation. Maybe she could do this after all. Tatum didn't want to get ahead of herself, but things were looking better than they had been.

The house was packed. She recognized a few people from either various sports teams or from her classes. It was fun, honestly. She couldn't even deny that part of her was grateful that Brady dragged her here. She had completely forgotten about the bad grade by this point. She was just having genuine fun.

Tatum had talked to Kinsley in between the game and the party. She mentioned she was going to the hockey house but decided to say Isaac was making her go. She didn't exactly see a point in saying that she was going for Brady— even if it was just to make him do the PT plan. Because that was all this was. Obviously.

Kinsley had told her that she was hanging out with a friend tonight. When Tatum asked who, it took Kinsley an uncomfortable ten seconds before going with Brendan. Tatum knew she was lying for a multitude of reasons. The first being how long she took to say his name, but also the fact that he was quite literally at the party with her. Tatum couldn't figure out who her friend could be hanging out with or why she couldn't know about it.

But she let it go, knowing better than to push. Besides, Tatum had a job to do. She even let Brady talked her into a game of flip cup. Tatum couldn't remember the last time she played a drinking game. It was probably her freshman year. They had an odd amount of people, and so instead of playing with teams, they were doing the individual version of the game. Once you finished your drink and successfully flipped your cup over from the ledge, you took a knee.

Tatum never considered herself particularly coordinated.

However, she would consider herself competitive.

It took her a few rounds of practice before getting the hang of it. She realized exactly how much force to flip the cup with along with where to place it. There were nearly twenty people to start with before it slowly dwindled down. She was really starting to feel the effects of the alcohol by this point, but fought through it so she could win.

It was down to herself, Brady, and Isaac. But her friend was extremely inebriated by this point. She wasn't even sure how Isaac made it this far. She was pretty sure he just tossed the cup in the air and it somehow landed each time. They started the round and Tatum instantly began chugging what she poured into her cup, feeling a bit of the seltzer drip down her chin.

She wiped the liquid away as she got into position, gently flicking the cup to spin up and land on it's top. She dropped to her knee, wincing as it hit the floor. Realizing that this could be a potentially very bad position for Brady, she watched as he carefully bent down in a squat once flipping the cup. She breathed a sigh of relief— it hadn't even occurred to her that he might be dropping down on his bad knee.