We Come Alive 3

Sunshine In An Empty Place

Thursday night, all was quiet in the usual loud and full house that was Andrew's home. He was in his room while his cousin was laying in the bottom bunk in their room drinking a bottle of beer while Andrew took all his clean clothes out of the laundry basket and into his suitcase.

"So, my baby cousin's going to college." Adam chuckled, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and sitting up. "First one."

Andrew chuckled as he put his clothes into his suitcase. "Yeah, I'm one of a kind in this family."

Adam chuckled as he finished off his bottle and put it down on the ground. "You make us proud. Don't let anything stop you from making it big. You need to keep your eyes on the prize so I don't gotta wake up smelling your stanky ass feet anymore."

Andrew laughed as he closed his suitcase and zipped it up. He pulled it down and set it down on by the door with his other suitcase. "What'd you call me the other day? A piece of sunshine?"

"Sunshine in an empty place." Adam chuckled. "You're a sunshine in an empty place. You're the hope for this family, little boy. We're counting on you so I don't gotta pull anymore muscles working out in that field. I dream of the day I get to have a meal until I'm full and then go to a stadium to watch you play ball."

"Mateo told me that I'm one of the ones he thinks could make it to the pros out of all of us." Andrew admitted.

"Who was the first?"

"Ricky." He answered.

Adam scoffed as he laid back down in his bed and turned his back to Andrew where he was leaning on their desk. "Only place Ricky's going is prison. You're much better off than him. When it comes to a foot race, you're ten feet behind the start line, but he's a mile back. If that boy ever becomes more successful than you, I want you to know you failed in life."

Andrew sighed as he just nodded his head. "That's harsh."

"That's reality." Adam spat back. "Go to sleep, we gotta take you to your dorms in the morning. Freshman moving day. You still going to the party Saturday?"

"Manny's gender reveal party? Yeah. One of my last times hanging out with the boys before our seasons start." Andrew spoke, climbing onto the top bunk and laying down on his back. "Good night."

"Shut up."

~**~

Friday morning, while his mom was cooking breakfast, Ricky was sitting on his front porch watching his brothers run around playing with their toys. He was scrolling through his phone but would look up every couple seconds to see what his brothers were doing.

Ricky was leaning against one of the pillars that held up the roof over his porch when he heard one of his brothers talking.

"Hello! Wanna play with us?"

Ricky's eyes shot up but his body relaxed when he saw Alyssa walking through the yard with her hands in her pockets. She shook her head to the little boy before walking up to the porch.

"Hey, I got your message." She said with a soft smile, moving her box braids out of her face. "What'd you wanna talk about?"

Ricky locked his phone and looked her in the eyes. He watched his brothers in the corner of his eyes go running around the front lawn, so he didn't have to worry about them to much.

"We gotta stop this thing we have together. It's not healthy for us...for you." He spoke. "I ain't one to beat around the bush, so I thought it was nice enough to at least say it to your face and not through text message."

Alyssa nodded slowly as she watched him spin his phone around in his hands. "That's it? That's what you called me over here for? To break this off? Ricky, you're actually gonna do this or is this like the time you broke it off when you and Clover broke up?"

Ricky chuckled as he looked down for a moment making his bun shift on his head before he looked back up at her. "I'm done with you. I don't want you in my house, I don't want you near me, and I don't want to talk to you ever again. At first I thought I was being nice about this, but I guess not. This whole thing was a mistake. You're crazy. You tried to manipulate me into getting into a relationship with you. I don't know if you realized this in between all you're scams, but I'm really not in the position to be in a relationship."

"I'm a manipulator?" Alyssa gasped. "You see something you like and you go after it, right? Not because you need it, just because you want to win. I actually liked you, I cared about you. All you cared about Ricky was having something to fuck every night and having a booty call. I bet every time we did it, you were dreaming about your fantasy world with your ex. But I guess I knew you don't have feelings for me anymore so...I'll just leave you alone."

Ricky shook his head as he looked her right in the eyes. "I never had feelings for you at all. Like I told all my friends before, you were just a wet mouth to me."

Alyssa stepped towards Ricky and slapped him across the face. "You're disgusting. You're a degrading piece of shit, I hope you rot in hell."

Ricky just sat there as she stormed off through the yard and down the street. A few minutes went by before Ricky heard the door open up behind him. He turned around and saw his mom standing there with a red sweater on to cover herself up from the slight chill that was in the air from it raining last night.

"Hey, Ricky, you up to talk real quick?" She wondered, sitting down on the step next to him.

Ricky nodded as he turned to face his mom Rachel. Rachel nodded as she looked at her youngest sons and smiled to them.

"Boys, go on inside. Breakfast is on the table." She informed them.

Instantly, the two got up and ran inside to eat leaving their mom and older brother by themselves. Rachel put her hand over Ricky's and smile softly.

"I did some thinking about what you said the other day, and I guess I can meet you halfway." Rachel offered. "You can get a job, as long as you're home before I'm home from work. Okay? You can pick the boys up from daycare and you can make dinner if I need you to. Also, you have to promise me you'll look into some type of classes. You're not gonna be just working without trying to get an education."

"I have a curfew." Ricky reminded her, with a smile. "I'm still on probation, ma. I don't think I'll be able to work and take classes."

Rachel pinched his ear like she did when he was younger. "You're getting some type of education. Probation doesn't mean you stop your life."

Ricky hissed in pain before she let him go. He smile softly but nodded. "Thanks mom, I'll get you a paycheck when I get one. I'll start looking."

He leaned towards her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, mom."

Rachel smiled as she put her hand on Ricky's chin before standing up. "I love you too. Come on and eat."

Ricky got up and followed her inside where he saw his brothers yelling at each other as they ate their breakfast. Rachel told them to quiet down before handing Ricky his plate of food. He leaned against the counter as he listened to his brothers babble on about whatever was floating in their minds.