Wild Horses

Chapter 2

Living in the South, you went to EVERY football game, whether you liked it or not. My daddy always said that he had taken me to almost every game since I was born. I had seen the pictures. Me, as an infant, in a miniature, Indians football jersey. Another of me, age two, according to the back of the photo, in my daddy's lap, cheering pointlessly. Now, I'm older but nothing changed except the football stadiums. The ones that are just for high school have a 5,000 seating capacity. You can probably guess how big college or professional stadiums could be, oh the joy of that future day.

I had woken up late, just enough for Bryan to get up before me and beat me to the shower, which didn't happen often.

"Hey." He said and winced.

"Still sore I take it," I teased asking the obvious, "because I'm not rubbing you again." I finished with an emphatic snort.

"Why not?" He groaned.

"Dad has arthritis, and Mom has been gone for three years." He continuously whined, trying to sway me. I softened at the subject of Mom. I still was touchy.

"Hey, I miss her too." I whispered,

but I'm still not playing your personal masseuse.

"I know. It was worth a try though!" He said as he messed up my hair in an attempt to big brotherly.

"Is Leanne coming over?" I asked him. She was his girlfriend.

"After tryouts, so don't be all freaked out if she suddenly appears in the house."

"Okay. If I don't see her, I'm sure I'll know she is here eventually with all the noises coming from behind your closed door." I said and rolled my eyes. Good thing Bryan was still so sore or I'd never been able to duck in time to miss the shoe that barely missed my face.

"Ha! You can't mess with my Ninja reflexes!" I said as he groaned and rubbed his right shoulder.

"Is there another scrimmage today?" I asked Bryan.

"Same time. And I have no idea what you are talking about...noises from my bedroom, whatever sis. Ninja skills? More like you're lucky my shoulders are still sore causing my reflexes to be slow and stiff." He replied with a cocky grin.

"You still have two hours." I said as I glanced up at the clock. The kitchen phone rang; Bryan and I both sprang up to get it. I was quicker, thanks to the aftermath of tryouts still lingering.

''Gah! It's not worth it." Bryan said and waved me off.

"Hello?" I asked politely into the receiver.

"Haven?" What the hell! You sound way too polite on the phone!" My best friend Caroline yelled into the phone, scolding my etiquette.

"It's better than sounding drunk!" I retorted back too loudly, and Bryan gave me a questioning look that said, "Why is my little sister involved with alcohol?"

"I only had four beers! Maybe, five!" She defended herself from last week's party.

"Well, anyways, I'm bored, wanna come over?" I asked her trying to change the subject.

"Sure, Bryan not enough company for you sitting and watching hours of ESPN?" She said sarcastically.

"Nope, not when he is limping and moaning over football tryouts, this is only the first day. He hasn't even turned on the TV yet. Too much trouble to bend over and get the remote." I laughed as Bryan groaned trying to get up from the couch but giving up because he forgot to get the remote before he sat down. Too funny.

"See you in ten!" She said and hung up.

"Caroline coming over?" Bryan asked me from the couch.

"How did you know?" I asked him as I bent down, picked up the remote and tossed it to him.

"Caroline is louder than a foghorn. I could hear her yelling from the phone all the way over here."

"Ha ha, very funny. How could you possibly hear her through all your moaning and groaning?" I said as I rolled my eyes as he went straight to ESPN with ESPN2 picture in picture in the corner.

"Hey girl!" Caroline said as she tackle-hugged me almost knocking me over.

"You're sober!" I yelled and hugged her back.

"So, wanna paint nails? I just got five new colors, and I brought them over." She said grinning from ear to ear.

"None for me?" I asked and pouted dramatically.

"Of course silly girl! I got you a special color! It's called "Lover's Cross" and is this Mag-ni-fi-cent deep red. You're fave." Caroline rambled on for a minute while she dug around and produced a bottle of blood red nail polish from her Louis Vuitton.

"Why put it in your LV? The polish can spill, are you nuts?!" I reprimanded her for being careless.

"Oops. Real smart of me, right? I wasn't thinking." She said and then gave me a crazy frown while crossing her eyes causing me to burst out laughing. Caroline was entertaining if nothing else.

After my toenails were painted a glistening deep red, Leanne came in and joined us until Bryan came home from practice.

"Wanna sleep over?" I asked Caroline.

"Sure, let me call my dad. Is it okay with your dad?"

"Oh yeah. He won't be home, but Bryan won't care either." I assured her.

"My dad will be on a business trip all week."

She got off the couch, and grabbed her iPhone to call her dad.

"My dad said it was fine as long as we stayed out of trouble." Caroline said as she returned from the hall. At that moment, Bryan came home. "Who...what...stay out of trouble?"

"Leanne!" He said and kissed her full on the lips

"Hey." She said giving him a bright smile.

"Let's go in my room to talk, I have good news." Bryan said and then turned to Caroline and I, waiting for an answer to his question before Leanne sidetracked him.

"Oh, umm, Caroline's dad said that she could stay the night if it was ok with you and we stayed out of trouble. So, she can, right?" I explained and batted my eyes at him in a very dramatic fashion.

"Whatever, just stay in the house and out of my way, and we'll be just fine." He said, his voice trailing off as he pulled Leanne in the direction of his room. I heard Leanne giggle as the door closed behind her.

A couple of hours later, Caroline and I were in my room talking about the hot guys on the football team, aside from my brother, of course...ewww.

"Well, Austin looks pretty good this year. He totally worked out this summer and is all muscles." Caroline said to me.

"What about-"I started to say, but I shushed her and told her to be quiet.

I heard a throaty laugh from Bryan's room and then a moan, followed by more laughter.

"Ewww!" Caroline and I exclaimed in unison and we both broke out into laughter.

"Bryan will be teased for this!" Caroline said, rubbing her hands together with an evil smile.

"Oh god, Caroline, he doesn't need to be embarrassed with a month until school starts," I reprimanded her.

"You'll see, mark my words." She said with an evil smirk and twinkle in her eye.

We turned up the radio, talked boys a while longer while we snacked on popcorn until we were both exhausted and proceeded to fall asleep.