| Ephemeral |

twelve

Alex - 7 A.M. Sunday

I walked into the training room and set my bag down. When I left my room Ethan was still asleep, he crashed in my bed after our date. 

I stretched my arms a little and got my muscles ready. I bent over and grabbed my bow and arrows from my bag, I haven't shot freely in a while. I need to get back to using my bow for fun like I used to and not just for a weapon. 

I placed an arrow on it before pulling my arm back swiftly. Right as I was about to let go, I heard something loud drop behind me. My finger slipped from the arrow and it struck the wall. I let out a breath of frustration before turning around.

I saw Theo standing there, he had dropped his own bow. We both looked at each other awkwardly before I turned back around to focus. 

I winced again because of how loud he was being. You would think he was welding the bow, not shooting it.

I whipped around again and he looked at me once more, this time trying not to crack a smile. 

"My lack of training really has you shooting as if you have on a blindfold" He raised his brows, insulting me. 

"That was your fault, you're not letting me focus," I argued, making him laugh under his breath. I pulled my arrow back once more, but again it landed right outside of the target. 

I heard a deep laugh coming from behind me. I rolled my eyes and dropped my bow. "It's not funny!" I said defensively. 

"It's not?" He questioned, still cracking up. I walked over to him and pushed him slightly. "It's not!" I said again, clearly annoyed with his childlike behavior.  

I swung my foot at the back of his legs making him fall backward onto the ground. I then felt a hand grab my ankle and yank me back. I fell to the floor and began laughing along with him. 

As much as I want to stay mad at him, he makes it so difficult. I sat up and caught my breath from laughing so hard. 

"Told you it was funny," He shrugged sitting up also. "I missed this." He spoke up again, making me look at him.

"I'm really sorry about what I did. I had no right to keep that from you," He apologized genuinely. "If I'm being honest Theo, yes I was very mad at you at first. After I sat and thought about it, I realized it wasn't your fault," I started, looking down at my hands.

"I needed someone to blame for my mom, for Larce. I was in denial about my mom. I didn't want to believe that my mom was selfish and didn't care about me the way I thought she did." I added, glancing at him a few times. 

"So I should be the one apologizing to you," I looked up at him and he nodded. "I'm sorry. You're one of my best friends, I won't let something like this come between us, we're better than that." I smiled, nudging him a little. 

He wrapped his arms around me and I hugged him back. "Okay, enough of this sap bullshit. Get up so I can kick your ass Parker." He said while standing up. "You're on Andrews." I challenged. 

-

I was freshly showered and dressed. I walked out of the steam-filled bathroom into my much colder room and plopped down on my bed.