Riptide

122

So. Much. Fur.

That's my first thought as I look down at my clothes after walking out of the animal shelter after my first day.

Obviously I knew there'd be a lot of fur since it was full of dogs, cats, and other small animals.

As I walked down the street to where Brady was waiting in his car, I thought about how glad I was that I decided not to wear my volleyball clothes like I was originally going to.

I tossed my back into the backseat of Brady's car before climbing in and buckling up, hearing him snicker as he saw me.

"Not a word." I tell him as I take the lint roller out of his glove box as he starts driving.

I could at least get some off before we got there.

"You're doing setter again this season, right?" Brady asks, glancing at me.

"That's the plan." I nod. "I'm not even gonna ask cause I know you're gonna go lib."

"Am I that predictable?" He asks sarcastically as I pull my phone out of my pocket.

"Yes, Noon, you are." I reply with a laugh.

"How was the shelter?" He questions, slowing down as we approach a red light.

"It was a lot of fun." I nod. "There's this one dog there, he's an Australian cattle dog, but he's just a puppy. Like 5 months old or something."

"He's so cute and he literally loves me. He was following me around the whole time I was there." I continue, pulling up the picture I'd taken of the dog. "He doesn't have a name yet cause he just got to the shelter yesterday. Miriam, she's the lady who owns the shelter, said that I could name him."

I grin as I show Brady a picture, and he glances over for a second as he drives. "He's cute. Why don't you just adopt him?"

"My parents would say no. At least right now." I answer. "I've got volleyball starting, plus school starts next week, well this week technically, since it's Sunday. And then school volleyball the week after that. And I still have a few interviews for Percy. I'm just too busy right now."

"So don't do school volleyball. You're already doing travel, which overlaps with your school season anyways, so it's gonna be one or the other." Brady says. "And you don't have many interviews and stuff left for Percy."

"True." I say quietly, biting my lip as I think over what he said.

🏐🏐🏐

Sweating and tired after 2 hours of volleyball practice, I plop back down in Brady's car and he starts to drive me home, the radio filling the comfortable silence between us.

"Dude, you can get your permit by next year. Drive yourself around." Brady randomly says, breaking the silence.

"But then I'd have no use for you." I reply jokingly, making him roll his eyes.

"Oh please." He scoffs. "You need me so you can actually set the ball. I don't care what you say I have the best digs."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." I laugh a bit, connecting my phone to the radio Bluetooth, playing mine and Brady's warmup playlist and turning it up.

"We cooked with this playlist." Brady says as he pulls into the driveway to my house.

"We did." I nod as I step out of his car, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "Bye Noon."

"See ya Reynolds." He replies, backing out of the driveway while I walk inside.

"Hey kiddo" My dad smiles at me as I walk in, kicking off my shoes by the door. I look up and see him and my mom standing in the kitchen, working around each other to make dinner, my sisters playing in the living room.

"It smells so good in here." I say, smelling the air as I walk over to them, my mom stepping away from the stove to give me a quick hug, my dad doing the same a moment later. "What're you making?"

"We are....experimenting. I'll be totally honest, I don't know how this is gonna go." Mom says, making the three of us laugh.

"And if it doesn't work out, I've got a phone to order pizza." My dad grins, looking at me.

"Okay, but what is it supposed to be?" I ask them, an amused smile on my face.

"It's one of your grandma's old recipes, so we couldn't really read the title, just the recipe." My mom tells me. "Your grandma Janie."

"Ah, the crazy one with insane cooking skills." I nod, my mom rolling her eyes at me but laughing nonetheless.

"How was practice?" My dad asks, mixing up the concoction he was currently working on.

"It was good-ish." I answer truthfully. "We did the 100-pass drill, and we had to restart because Henry didn't call his ball, and we were almost done. It was so annoying but also good practice."

"Okay, now how was it for you personally?" My mom asks, just like she always does.

"Really good. My sets were more butter than the butter dad's mixing into this sauce right now." I tell her, watching them cook. "And I had a really good block too."

"What about Brandy, how's she doing?" My dad asks. "You guys are still friends, right?"

"Yeah, of course we are, I love Brandy. She hit a growth spurt, so Heather changed her to start learning how to be a middle." I tell them. "It was really funny when she started hitting 1's though, because she did not expect them to be that fast."

"I applaud the dedication though." Mom laughs, taking something out of the oven, releasing the smell of smoke into the air.

"Holy cr- moly, what is that?" I ask, coughing slightly.

"It was supposed to be the salmon." Dad tells me, shaking his head.

"It stinks!" James calls from the living room, making me laugh as she runs over.

"Thank you for the helpful comment, baby." Mom chuckles.

"I think it's time to call the pizza place." I say, fighting a grin.

"PIZZA?" Inez and Betty ask from the living room, also running over at the mention of their favorite food.

"Pizza." Mom nods, dumping the burnt chicken into the garbage.

"At least I'm not the one who messed it up this time." Dad whispers to me as he picks his phone up from the counter with an amused grin that matched mine.