4. Lifted Spirits

Sweat beaded the back of my neck as I looked him in the eyes. There was a glint of determination and a look that said "I'm going to rip you apart". His shoulders were broad and strong, something only endless hours of hard work and sweat could sculpt, and his body was lean as he approached me with an unearthly speed. I wasn't ready. I needed to move.

I heard my heart hammering in my ears as I tried to analyze him, find the best point for me to attack, but my fight or flight senses were triggered and I messily side stepped as he passed me, causing my teammates to yell and for couch to curse at me. "Addy, what are you doing, man?" Ian asked as he slowed down and made his way back toward me, the ball tucked under his arm and his eyebrows furrowed. I don't know was the only answer that came to mind. Ever since this morning I'd just felt off. Off in my writing, off in my playing. I just couldn't seem to pull my head out of my- "You never let me get through you. Ever," Ian said as he took his helmet off with his free hand. "Are you sure you're ready to be here, causing if not I-"

"I'm fine," I snapped, my words coming out more harshly than I'd anticipated. I sighed and took my helmet off. "Sorry man, it's just...I don't know what's going on with me. I just need to get back into the rhythm of it."

"You better get back into the rhythm of it in the next five seconds because couch is coming over to chew you out," he said with a chuckle before he hurried away, making sure to avoid coach's heated gaze that was burning into the back of my head.

"Williams, what the hell are you doing? My grandma could've done that better than you and she's been dead for damn near thirty years!You know what that means? She's dust! Dust could've played better than you!"

Ah, I didn't miss couch's...creative insults.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I know that you're going through a tough time right now and I'm sorry for your loss. But if you're going to be here, I need one hundred percent. How about this: you can go to the locker room for a bit, five-ten minutes or so. If you think you can come back then you're welcome to, but know if you do I will be riding your back like I do every other practice. But if you don't think you can, which is okay, you can go home and take the next one or two practices off, 'kay?"

I looked past Coach to my teammates clustered together trying to hide their prying, sympathetic glances between drinks of water and shallow conversations. I hated sympathy. I didn't even need it, I hadn't even known the man. Not really. But I would rather walk away than deal with sad glances or unneeded pats on the back. "Yeah, I'll just...yeah." I quickly turned around and hurried off the field, peeling away each layer of my uniform as I made my way to the locker room until I was in the showers with cold water washing over me.

I let out a huff as I pressed my forehead against the cold tile and closed my eyes. "Come on, Addy. Rilassare (Relax)." I stayed there for a while before I pulled myself out and dried off  then put my pants on, opting to wait on my shirt since it was a bit hot. As soon as I threw my uniform into my locker, I heard the locker room door creak open. I huffed, slightly irritated. "Look, Ian, I know you care and everything, and trust me I appreciate it, but I honestly don't think I can handle a heart-to-heart right now, 'kay man?"

"Well, luckily I'm not Ian so those rules don't apply to me," a deep, definitely-not-Ian voice said, causing me to jump and turn around, showing Tyler with an amused eyebrow. He chuckled. "You good man?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting you...obviously," I said, breaking eye contact though I could still see the rest of his sweat-defined nobody. I forced my eyes back to his.

"So you're leaving?" He asked, motioning to the balled up shirt in my fist with his head and I followed his gaze.

"Yeah, I uh, I just can't today."

He nodded. "Yeah I get it. Kinda. I mean, I felt really down when my first dog died but that's because I saw him get ran over my a garbage truck. Talk about traumatizing." He shook his head. "Haven't been able to look at a garbage man since."

A small smile tugged at the edge of my lips, though the story wasn't that funny. "Quit lying, bro."

"But it lifted your spirits, right?"

"I guess ina weird morbid way," I said giving in. "But here's a tip: if you're trying to lift someone's spirits, you're not supposed to remind them that their spirits had a place to be lifted from."

He clicked his tongue. "Ahh, yeah I should probably work on that. But, and I know you hate hearing this, I'm here if you wanna talk or vent, okay?"

I whisper of a chuckle moved past my lips. "Okay, Ty."

"Good because I don't care how depressed or not you may be, but come Friday you definitely won't be able to get out of seeing the new Disruptor movie with me. I already bought our tickets and it takes a lot of trust for me to buy you a ticket because that's me putting my faith in you that you won't just not show up and make me waste a ton of money."

Why would I stand him up? Why would anyone stand him up?

I grinned and dapped him up. "Bet."

He pulled up the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead, momentarily showing off his sculpted abs which I had to keep myself from looking at. A weird feeling settled in my chest. "Well, I better get back before Coach comes for me. See you later, man. Get some rest." Then he was gone. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and slouched against a locker. I wanted to leave.

I quickly got finished dressing before I made my way up to a chill space, checking the time as I did so. Football practice still had about an hour before it was over, and subsequently so did the dance team. I always rode the subway home with Kyra and if I weren't there, I'd stay on the phone with her until I knew she'd gotten home safely.

I wasted time listening to music as I finished my homework until my phone buzzed showing a text from Ky telling me she was ready. I quickly gathered my things and met her in the gym where we usually met. Her face was a bit pink from exhaustion and her hair was messy. Her practice attire was covered by her coat she was wearing to combat the cold New York air. "Hey babe," I said as I placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Hey," she said as I took her dance bag and she offered me a thanks.

"How was practice?"

She looked around before she leaned in close and whispered "Is it bad that I want to strangle half of the girls on my team?"

I laughed and slung an arm over her shoulder. "Not at all."

She laughed as we made our way out of the school toward the subway. "How was your practice?"

"Oh, you know, the same old same old," I brushed off leaving out the minor detail of me being sent home early. I didn't need her worrying about me too.

She nodded.

We spent the rest of the way to the subway talking about our day and various aspects of our lives, maybe sneaking in a little kiss between the business of the world beneath the world. As we stepped onto the subway, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out revealing a text from Azalea saying that she was home. My eyebrows furrowed. Why was she just now getting home? On days I couldn't ride home with her, our dads always picked her up. Did they stop somewhere? If so, what warranted almost three hours? My thoughts were cut off by a notification saying that she'd just posted on her social media. I clicked it to see pictures of her and that boy I saw earlier at an ice cream joint around the corner from our house smiling at each other and-

"What's that?" Kyra asked as she looked at the pictures, voicing my exact thoughts.

"I don't know," I said as my eyebrows furrowed. I clicked on the picture to see if he was tagged but he wasn't. My defensive, overprotective brother mode was engaged. I needed to know who this boy was that was looking at my sister like that.

"Oh I saw Azzy and him hanging out like all day. They're so cute. Oh, this is our stop Addy," Kyra gushed causing more confusion to settle into my system. Even though we annoyed each other, we told each other everything, and I mean everything. Why didn't I know about him?

"Addy, hurry up!" Kyra said, causing me to look up just to see her outside of the subway doors as they began sliding shut. I quickly slid out before they fully closed. She chuckled. "Babe, you gotta pay more attention."

"Sorry. Do you know him?" I asked as I offered my phone to her for her to get a better look but she didn't take it. Instead she smiled and ran his fingers through my hair. "Aw, is the big tough Addison worried that his wittle sister is growing up?" She teased flashing her perfect smile that made any annoyance I might harbor melt away.

I rolled my eyes as a grin tugged on the edge of my lips and I slid my hand into hers. "Haha, very funny. You'd understand if you had a little sibling, or three."

"You got me there," she said as she looked at the picture. "Uh yeah, he's in the sophomore branch of the film department. He's crazy good. He's won a bunch of stuff. He's one talented kid."

"Is he nice? Does he have manors? Is he known for being a player?"

"Woah, slow down. I don't know, Addy. But if you wanna go all FBI-find-out-everything-about-him then go ahead. Or, here's a thought, just talk to Azzy."

"I tried to this morning but she just blew me off."

Kyra chuckled and kissed my cheek. "She'll tell you eventually, just don't pry too much, okay?"

"Babe, you know that prying is my specialty," I whined, causing her to roll her eyes before she dragged me to our next train. No matter how many times I rode the train with her I still needed her to tell me which one came next.

In no time, we were standing on her front porch to her house. "You sure you don't wanna come in? Stay for dinner?" She asked.

"Nah, I can't. I gotta go pry into my sister's life, remember?"

"Addy-"

"I'm kidding! Kind of. It's also my night to cook and you know how long that takes."

She frowned. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Aw, babe, don't be like that." I placed my hands on her hips in the way she liked. "You can have me all to yourself on Saturday. How does that sound?"

A grin tugged at the edge of her mouth. "Maybe."

I grinned and kissed her nose then her lips in a sweet, savory kiss. "Alright, piccola (baby). Te amo (I love you)."

She smiled. "Te amo."

I gave her one more kiss before she hurried into her house and out of the cold. I started my journey back to my house where my fathers and my siblings were already waiting on me. "Hey, Addy," Padre greeted from his shared office once I walked in the front door

"Hi, Padre. Papa," I said, addressing each of them as I walked into their office.

"Hey, what's on your mind?" Papa asked as he took off his glasses and looked at me.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Addy, your coach called us and told us that you weren't...you at practice today. Are you okay? I know everything with your granddad was a bit much and-"

"I'm fine, dad," I said, putting as much earnest as I could into my voice as I looked between them. "I promise, I just needed to get back into it, that's all."

Thankfully my dads knew me better than to push me so they nodded and didn't push any further. "So what all happened at school today?"

"Nothing much," I vaguely answered as I sat down in a big fluffy chair in the corner of their office that they'd had for me since I was little. "Oh, Padre I actually have a story for you to read when you've got the chance, but not right now."

"Okay."

"Hey, I can read stories too," Papa childishly pouted, causing Padre to roll his eyes.

"Ignore your Papa. Continue."

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Madison, babe, calm down," Padre chuckled before he gave his hand a squeeze then turned back to me.

"What else?"

I looked outside their office door to make sure we were alone before I turned back to them. "I think Azalea has a boyfriend."

They stared at me looking unfazed, which was weird since they basically exploded when I told them Kyra and I were together. I narrowed my eyes. "So...?"

"So..?" Papa parroted.

"You two seem awfully calm."

As if remembering his role, Padre dramatically put his hand over his heart. "Madison, did you hear? Our baby girl is growing up!"

"Noah, get my shotgun. It's time to intimidate," Papa said as he made a faux scowl.

I narrowed my eyes. "Hahah so funny."

Papa laughed. "Son, we already know about Josh. Azalea told us like two weeks ago."

"And I was left out of the loop because..?"

"Because you act like this," Padre chuckled as he walked over my ruffled my hair. "Josh is fine as far as we know. Plus, it's nothing serious yet, but if it gets to that point, best believe we'll all be lined up to interrogate him."

"So am I the last one to find out?" I asked as I smoothed out my hair.

"Pretty much," Papa said and I sighed.

"Ouch."

Papa looked at me and smiled.

"What did I do?"

He shook his head. "Nothing wrong. You're just a good brother."

"Yeah we raised you right," Padre added as he took his place at his desk next to Papa.

"Agreed. Now, finish up your homework then get ready to get started on dinner, okay?" Papa instructed as he put on his glasses and started typing on his computer.

I nodded before I gathered my things and headed up to my room. I threw my backpack on my bed before I changed into some comfortable clothes then made my way across to Azalea's room. Her door was closed and I heard music softly playing on the other side. I knocked and the music softened. "It's open," she called before I pushed open the door to see her sitting cross legged on her bed with her papers spread out around her with her laptop on her lap. It was almost like the giant desk next to her bed didn't exist.

"Hey Azzy," I greeted as I walked in.

"Hey Addy. What's up?" She asked as she looked over one of her pages of notes that was covered in neat, colorful handwriting, one of the many things I didn't understand how she did.

"Nothing much. What are you doing?"

"Studying for my film test tomorrow. It's over directors and styles. It's a lot to memorize."

"Oh," I said as I sat at the edge of her bed. "So, uh, why didn't you and Josh study while you were out today?" Her attention instantly snapped to me. "I mean, it could've been like a study date or whatever." I was trying and failing miserable to be inconspicuous. Did I mention I was failing?

She chuckled. "Yeah we could've, but we didn't."

"Azzy-"

"Addison," she said in a mocking tone. "It's alright. I mean Josh is a really good guy and we like the same things and he's just...him and I like him." The way she smiled as she talked about him reminded me of myself with Kyra. "I know you want the best for me or whatever and I appreciate it, but please just promise me you won't go all FBI-stalkier-intimidator on me, okay?"

"That sounds vaguely familiar to what Kyra said to me."

"Addy!" She whined and I chuckled.

"Okay, fine. I promise."

"Good," she said, relaxing.

"But-"

"Oh here we go," she sighed.

"- if he dares to break your heart or play with your emotions, me and the football guys will beat him worse than I beat Tommy Burger in kindergarten, I swear."

She chuckled. "You wouldn't."

"Try me," I dared. "I don't play when it comes to my crazy, annoying little sister." I wrapped my arm around her neck and put her on a headlock which she easily broke out of.

"Addy, leave me alone! I'm trying to study," she laughed as she weakly pushed me.

"Okay, okay, just one more question. How did you first meet this boy?"

A smile instantly spread across her face but she tried to hide it. "Well, it started a few weeks ago when our teacher assigned us to be partners..."

***

Hey y'all, sorry for the lack of updates. Per usual, my life decided to get crazy on me and I couldn't update, but hopefully I'll be on a more consistent schedule now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, make sure to comment and vote!

Love y'all- Jordan