The Deep End

2

Chapter Song: No One Compares To You- Jack & Jack

After dinner and finishing a good chunk of my draft, I went downstairs to my room to change into running clothes. I tried to run a few days of the week even if we had practice. Coach Tanner always nagged us for endurance training.

I decided on a pair of black running shorts with a matching sports bra. I found a hoodie at the bottom of my closet. It was probably Liam's but I didn't think he would mind. After throwing on my running shoes I went in search of my headphones.

I had to go back upstairs to search only after looking through not only my room but also Liam's. I couldn't seem to find them anywhere. In the family room, I found Winnie cuddling with Olivia in front of the tv. They must have gotten home while I was changing.

"Hey, Liam have you seen my headphones?" I yelled as I ruffled through my swim bag. They weren't in there either. I tried to think of where they could be, but I didn't have a clue.

"I don't know are they in your Jeep?" He called back from the living room.

I could already hear the crashes followed by ohs from the guys. I hadn't realized they also had gotten here. How long was I actually working on my paper?

"Oh I don't think they'd be in there, are you sure you didn't use them?" I walked over to the living room but stopped short in the doorway. "Oh hey, Cal," I said in a lighter tone nodding towards him. I hoped neither of them noticed the change in my voice.

"Hey Parker," Cal smirked, the playful look danced across his buttery brown eyes. I felt my stomach flutter in the slightest.

I couldn't help but blush. I tried to shake my self out of it by scanning the room for my headphones. I didn't see them anywhere, but I wasn't actually looking for them anymore. My mind was too busy trying not to focus on Cal.

Something had changed in him over summer. I couldn't place what it was, but something seemed different about it.

He was always something to look at. He had the curliest brown hair that was a mess on top of his head but somehow it worked for him. His perfectly playful deep mocha eyes and a crooked smile. He was on the taller end of all of our friends and probably the most muscular. He used to be more scrawny as a kid, but he definitely grew out of it.

If you thought Tyler was perfection, Cal was a God. At least that's what everyone else said. There was also the fact that he had gotten more muscular this summer at lacrosse camp.

He moved in across the street from us when we were kids. It was around the time that our mom had left actually. He was more of Liam's friend who was usually over the most, or the longest. I always had seen him as just one of the guys, but seeing him today at school had been different. He just seemed there.

He wasn't my next-door neighbor or my brother's best friend, but him. I tried to shake off whatever that feeling had been, even now. Maybe it was just the fact that none of them had been around the house all summer. That had to be it.

"So you really haven't seen them?" I turned my attention back to Liam who just seemed to have no idea what I was even talking about.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Cal look me up and down slightly. He was trying to be slick about it, but I caught him. Not that I was going to point it out.

Cal got up and started towards his bag. "If you need some headphones to use I have some Parker." He suggested already reaching into his backpack pulling out the string.

"You sure?" I asked. I felt my eyebrows raise with the question.

Normally, he would have stayed quiet. Maybe this lacrosse camp taught them all how to talk to girls. Who knows?