I woke up the next morning and Bitz hadn't moved. His body temperature was always high when he slept, even if he was swimming in an ice-cold lake the night before. His clothes were soaking and so was his hair. He had taken off his glasses and sat them on a nearby table. Luckily he never snores in his sleep.
My clothes became wet because I slept so close to Bitz and he hadn't changed out of his soaking wet clothes. I carefully stood up and walked upstairs. Mitchell was standing in the kitchen, drinking coffee. I poured a cup for myself and sat on the counter across from him.
"Mom called earlier. She said that she had all of your stuff packed and ready to go. Where are you headed?" he asked. We took a drink of our coffee at the same time. "Nowhere but here. I'm moving in. It'll be a benefit for both of us," I said. "Well if that's the case then we should just get your stuff and bring it here," he said. I agreed and we drove over to our parents' house in his car.
~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~
My mom and Connor were waiting on the front porch. I gave my mom a hug, threw Connor over my shoulder, and walked inside. I tossed Connor down on the couch and navigated my way through the maze of boxes. Okay, that's an exaggeration. There were only three small boxes.
"You still never found a reason to have more than this many belongings, have you?" Mitchell asked, following me into the kitchen. I made Connor some chocolate milk. "Never saw why there was a necessity for extra stuff," I said. I took the chocolate milk to Connor and sat next to him. Mitchell sat on the opposite side.
We stayed for about 15 minutes before we packed up the boxes in the trunk of the car. Connor was bugging me as usual. "Mitchell! You're driving!" I shouted, trying to ignore my little brother. "Why do you call him 'Mitchell'? Just call him 'Mitch' like the rest of us," Connor said. "I call him 'Mitchell' because everyone calls him the same thing, but nobody calls him 'Mitchell' but me. Get it now?" I explained. Connor nodded and walked away. I rolled my eyes, shut the trunk, and jumped into the passenger seat. Mitchell got into the driver's seat and we drove back to his, now our, place.
I grabbed two boxes and Mitchell grabbed one. He sat down his box so he could open the door. Once it was open we walked in and went straight to one of the spare bedrooms. I chose the one with a cherry blossom tree right outside of the window. We set down the boxes and decided to unpack it later.
I went down to the basement to see if Bitz was still asleep. He was, so I grabbed a blanket and covered him. He was shivering because the cold from his soaking wet clothes had finally gotten to him. The shivering stopped the second the blanket touched him. I smiled and started to walk away.
Bitz woke up and grabbed my arm before I could leave. I turned to face him and he pulled me over to him and made me sit down beside him. I took his glasses off of the table, cleaned them off, and put them on his face.
"I applied for some colleges while you were camping. Haven't gotten any results yet," he said, sitting up. "Which ones?" I asked. "Harvard, Yale, Juliard, Brown..." he said, naming off the colleges he applied for. "Any of them would be crazy to not want you there," I said. "What about you? Are you thinking about any schools?" he asked. I shook my head.
"That's not something I want to do. What I really want to do is just travel the country in a car. Never stop unless I needed food, and take photos of everything. I'd bring my laptop, my camera... I just want some adventure," I stated. He nodded his head in understanding. Mitchell walked down the stairs with a steaming mug in his hand.
"Made you some tea, Blake," he said, handing the mug to Bitz. Bitz thanked Mitchell and sipped the tea. "Connor's game is today. You can come with us if you want," I told Bitz. He said that he had nothing better to do so he came with us.
About halfway through the game Bitz got up and started to leave. "Where are you going?" I asked. I grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving. "Don't worry. I'll be right back. Just... hang on," he said. I reluctantly let go of his arm and he disappeared from my sight. "Where's he going?" Mitchell asked. I told him that I didn't know. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to watch the baseball game.
It was the bottom of the ninth inning and Connor was up to bat. The bases were loaded. His focus was so intense that I doubt anything could have broken it. The pitcher threw the ball and the crack of the bat echoed throughout the field. The ball went farther and farther to the outskirts of the field until it finally went over the fence. All the players ran home. It was a grand slam. Connor had won the championship game.
The crowd stood up and we all cheered and clapped as the team ran out and celebrated. Connor jumped on Bitz's back the moment he came back and messed up his hair. I laughed. "We won!!" Connor shouted over everyone. "You did great!" Bitz shouted back. Mitchell and I stood back and let the two of them converse for a little bit until the coach called all of the players over. Connor jumped down and ran to meet with the rest of his team.
Bitz walked over to us and I fixed his hair. "He's a good player," he said. "Yea..." I said, lookin over my shoulder at the team. They were all exchanging high fives. "I'm just glad he likes me. Him, Mitch, your family. I'm also glad that my family likes YOU," he said. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "Why.....?" I asked slowly. He got closer to me and took both of my hands in his. "Pixel... Will you-"
