Finding Your Person

Chapter 14

We spent all day binge-watching Grey's Anatomy followed by two comedy movies that had just come out. A little after noon my mom brought us up grilled cheeses. She didn't care if we ate in my room as long as we didn't spill anything, make a mess, or leave the dishes up here.
After we ate lunch, we decided to switch to something more uplifting and comical. Actually, Gabby and Scotty thought it'd be nice for me to laugh, after hours of crying over Grey's Anatomy. They were right, I was cracking up. We all were.
I looked at the clock, and it was 7:23. Both Scotty and Gabby had fallen asleep around 6:30. I just sat up finishing the movie that they had fallen asleep too. Finally I decided I needed to get up at least once today. I tried to sneak out from under the covers and as softly and sneaky as possible. They were both tired from the night before.
I finally was able to sneak out of my bedroom. I quietly closed my bedroom door and headed downstairs. When I walked into the kitchen to grab a water, I saw a note on the table from my parents.

Dear girls,
Your dad and I had to take Aiden to a friend's birthday party. The parents were invited to stay and hangout. Knowing your father and his ability to talk to anyone we probably won't be home until late. There's money on top of the fridge if you girls decide to order food. Order enough for Brady and Liam, they should be home after they go to the movies. Have fun. Love you all.
Love,
Mom + Dad.

It amazed me how Aiden had more plans than me. I grabbed the TV remote and walked to the kitchen counter to watch TV. Our family room was right next to our kitchen, so it made it easy to sit at the counter and still watch TV.
Right before I sat down, I saw my reflection in the mirror that hung in the living room. I looked a mess. My eyes looked dead, and I looked lifeless. I usually didn't care what I looked like, but I just seemed unhealthy. I made my way to the downstairs bathroom to wash my face. I had left a face wash in there the other night, so I was able to use that instead of having to go back upstairs to my bathroom.
As I began to dry off my face I heard the front door open. I poked my head out to see who was there but didn't see anyone. As I began to walk into the kitchen I heard voices coming from the kitchen and knew it was Brady and Liam.
"Hey there, sleepy head." Brady said, walking over to me. He threw his arms around me, giving me a bear hug.
"Hi."
"How you feeling?" Liam asked. I shrugged my shoulders not really wanting to talk about it.
"Do you have any plans tonight?" Brady asked.
I squinted my eyes at him. "Yeah, I have a date tonight."
They both looked at me funny. "I'm kidding, obviously."
"Ohh, well then what's on the agenda?" Brady asked.
"You're looking at it. Just me eating, watching TV, maybe I'll cry around ten o'clock tonight. Ohh yeah, and feed my friends who are napping."
"Gabby and Scotty are still here?" Liam asked.
"Yeah, they are probably just going to wind up sleeping over. They don't want me to be alone."
"You really aren't doing anything?" Brady asked again.
"Brady, what would you like me to do? I literally just got my heartbroken..." I looked at my nonexistent watch on my arm. "...hmm, not even 24 hours ago. Do you want me to go paint the town?" My voice began to raise and I couldn't have answered in a more sarcastic tone.
"No, I'm sorry. I just wish you weren't heartbroken and could just forget about it all and go out and have fun," Brady said.
"Me too."
"Okay, promise me this. If you win your game this Friday, you have to come up to my house at the campus and celebrate with us." He pointed to Liam who had been minding his own business, searching for food.
"You guys want me to come up there for a college party?" My eyebrow was raised.
"Yeah, you're soccer contract will be over, so you can drink. You don't have to worry about taking care of, you know." He stopped and looked at Liam who was carrying a loaf of bread in his mouth and holding a jar of peanut butter in one hand and a jar of jelly in the other. Then Brady rolled his eyes and continued, "Garrett. You can just be yourself and let loose and have some fun."
"Where would I sleep?"
"I don't know, my room. We will figure it out when you get there. You can even bring Gabby and ask if Scotty and Jay want to come, too."
"Don't you have a football game this Saturday, since you had a bye today?" I said, confused.
"Yeah, but Liam and I rarely ever drink, and I usually go to bed pretty early."
"So what's the point of having these parties?"
"We don't, it's our other two roommates. Neither of them play sports, well, sports that don't have anything to do with alcohol," Liam said followed by Brady laughing.
"And you can sleep there and go with Liam to my game. Then after the game we will drive you back home."
"That's a lot of back-and-forth for you guys."
"It's fine. I could tell Mom misses Sunday mornings together as a family, and besides, this week I really haven't been around."
"Come on, Mas, it'll be fun," Liam said.
"So, you'll come, right? To our party?" Brady asked again.
"Ugh, fine." I rolled my eyes.
"Okay, what's for dinner?" Brady asked.
"Whatever we order. Mom and Dad left us money," I said.
"Do you guys want pizza?" Brady asked looking at me then looking at Liam who was probably on his second peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Dude, whatever, just order something before your mom has to buy a whole new loaf of bread," Liam responded jokingly. Brady looked at me to confirm.
"Yeah, that's fine. Scotty and Gabby will eat whatever."
"Pizza it is." Brady grabbed the phone and walked out of the room to call.
Liam stood up and began putting away the food he had gotten out. I sat down and began to chug the whole bottle of water. I guess crying really makes you dehydrated.
"You good?" Liam laughed at me and how obnoxious I had been drinking.
"Yeah, I didn't realize how thirsty I was." He just laughed and sat down next to me.
"So really, how are you?"
"I'm okay. It's nice having everyone here to distract me. I just still don't know. A part of me feels like I should be more upset about losing him. This whole day, when I was hanging out with Scotty and Gabby, it felt nice to not have to constantly think about him. However, I know the other part of me is a mess and just hasn't realized it yet, because I have all of you to keep me distracted," I said as he just sat there listening.
He looked at me and said very kindly, "I don't know what to say, Mas. I wish I could fix it all for you."
"You just being here does." I looked at him thinking about just how his presence in a room always put a smile on my face. "All of you being here does. I don't know how I got so lucky with having so many great people in my life."
"Yeah, we're pretty amazing," he said, smiling. "Of course I'm the one that pretty much puts this team on my back, but, hey, I don't mind sharing the credit."
I shook my head. "Yeah, you really do bring the average up on this group," I said sarcastically.
"Right? Glad you think so, too." We both started to laugh as Brady walked in. Brady just looked at us with a smirk.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing." He smiled.
"Well, alright, you weirdos. I'll go wake up the girls." I jumped up and headed up to my room.