Close Behind || Aaron Minyard

28

It was horrible to say it, but without Seth the team worked better as a group.

Matt was able to work with Aaron or Nicky, they respected his talent and whatever happened at Eden's the year before made them a united front on the back line.

Dan ruled everyone with her iron fist, even Andrew was easy to fall in line when it came to most everything.

Kevin had Neil as his pupil and put up with Naomi on the court as well. He was ruthless in the way that he criticized Neil and he was slightly belittling when it came to Naomi. It didn't matter seeing as that was the striker line they were working with.

Renee smoothed over any of the jagged edges left over and everyone let her.

Going into their first game without him, even being one player away from being disqualified, Naomi thought they may have been better off than ever.

Friday they had psychology, Aaron and her, they got in Andrews car early and he took one look at them faced away from each other and started laughing.

"Our deal was for not! For shame, Kitty Cat," Andrew says looking at her in rear view. "And here I thought you were confident that Aaron would..."

"Stop, Andrew," Naomi cuts him off neatly.

Even in his drugged state, Andrew listens when he's told to stop. Naomi is thankful for that. Aaron looks over at her, probably aiming for her to not notice, and Naomi keeps glaring out of the window.

She doesn't want him to know Andrew's end of the deal she made. It does no one any good if Aaron just leaves his deal like Andrew said he'd be able to. If Andrew has nothing besides protecting people once Aaron is gone, it was pointless. If Aaron just leaves his brother once it's done with, then he'll never have had a reason to fight and he'll just wander away.

It's got to be a careful science to make this work. To make the twins realize they need each other, want each other, and can do that while wanting different things.

Then there's the part where they need to unify the team, her and Neil. The easiest option is figuring out how to get Andrew to agree. Aaron and Kevin would have to fall in line and Naomi would smooth the process with them. The deal needs to still be in place for that to work.

They got out of the car in silence, Naomi keeping her head down and following Aaron because she hated wearing their jerseys. He didn't say anything about the car, he didn't ask.

Inside the class was empty save for Katelyn who got there earlier than them some Fridays. She was already sitting behind Naomi's seat when they sat down. Katelyn started braiding ribbon into smaller braids this time and pulled them all back into a ponytail.

There was only a few minutes before classed started and most of the class was in already when Naomi grabbed Aaron's arm and turned them to face Katelyn.

They both frowned at her and Naomi sighed, building up her courage. "Katelyn, from now on if anyone asks, you and Aaron aren't friends. You don't text each other, nothing."

"Naomi, what the fuck?"

"As far as you know he stopped talking to you when you met me in psychology and you assume it's because of me," Naomi powers forward, ignoring Aaron's outrage. "But you like me so we're friends, and Aaron never leaves my side so you have to put up with watching us. You're going to complain to some of your vixens about how much you hate it."

"Are you saying," Katelyn says slowly, looking between her and Aaron with a grin. "If I'm your friend and not Aaron's, it's fine."

"If I was saying that explicitly then Andrew would end up stabbing me," Naomi says blandly. She glances over at Aaron who's looking at her in wonder. It's hard to keep her face empty. "You're going to keep seeing me after tutoring to give me notes and after we're going to coffee. Where Aaron is supposed to get me and bring me back to the dorms. Every week. Understand?"