Kayla's P.O.V

The next morning I walked downstairs and saw an empty couch with the blanket folded and no signs that Jake had been there at all.

Was the previous night just a dream?

There was a scream in the kitchen, and I darted down the hallway.

I stood in the doorway completely shocked.  Jake was giving Charlotte a piggy back ride while they attempted to make pancakes.  My mom was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper as if this whole situation was completely normal.

Alright so apparently the night before wasn’t a dream.  There was a part of me that hoped Jake was too drunk the night before to remember our conversation, but then another, much smaller, part of me hoped he did remember it, though the fear of what could happen shut that part of me up pretty quickly.

“Kayla!  Guess what!?” Charlotte looked so excited I thought her smile was going to cut her face in half.

“What?!” I couldn’t help, but smile at the mess those two had made while trying to make breakfast.  Jake evidently wasn’t too good at flipping pancakes because there were two splattered on the ground.  Both of them had flour in their hair, but no one not even my mom seemed to care about the mess, they were having too much fun.

“Mommy said she can come to my play next week, she doesn’t have work that night!” I didn’t think it was possible for Charlotte to look any happier.

My mom looked up and offered me a sweet smile.  I knew it couldn’t have been easy for her to get off of work in the middle of the week, but she knew how excited Charlotte was for her Day Camp’s play and my mom wouldn’t miss it for the world.

“That’s fantastic Charlotte!  I can’t wait to see it!” I picked her up off of Jake’s back and dusted the flour out of her hair.

“Jake!  Can you come too?” Charlotte grabbed his arm while he was in the middle of flipping a pancake and it landed on the counter next to the stove.  I started laughing, but Jake was too focused on Charlotte to notice.

“When is it?” Jake asked.

“It’s the Wednesday after Kayla’s big game” Charlotte looked at him hopefully.  He glanced at me first to see if I was okay with this.  I gave him a nod.  I had no idea where we would be after the championship game, but if it made Charlotte happy I would make it work.

“I wouldn’t miss it!  But can I have your autograph for when you become famous” Jake handed her a pen and a piece of paper.

Charlotte’s eyes were so wide in shock I thought they were going to pop out of her head.  She signed the autograph and gave Jake a big hug.

The four of us ate breakfast and listened to all of Charlotte’s stories from the past week.  After breakfast Jake had to go home and deal with his dad.

“Thank you for letting me stay over Mrs. Ryans, and I’m sorry about the mess in the kitchen” Jake grimaced.

“It’s no problem at all, thank you for being so sweet to both of my daughters” My mom smiled before heading upstairs to find Charlotte.

“Thanks for helping me out last night Kay, and preventing me from doing anything stupid.  I promise I don’t get drunk very often, that was a rare occurrence” Jake confessed.

“You’re welcome, I’ve always got your back.  Let me know how things go with your dad” I offered reassuringly as he headed out the door.

“Haha I’m sure we’ll bond and he’ll apologize for trying to control all my decisions and then we’ll just be one big happy family again” Jake said sarcastically.

“Haha it’ll all work out I promise”

“I’m going to hold you to that.  Bye Kayla” Jake climbed into his truck.

“Bye Jake” I realized as he drove down the street that I still had no idea if he remembered our conversation the night before.

Jake’s P.O.V

I tried to sneak into the house and head straight to my room, but they intercepted me on the third step.

“Jake Anthony Mitchells, where have you been?  Your father and I have been worried sick about you” my parents were standing at the bottom of the stairs.  My mom looked concerned, but my father just looked angry.

“I’m sorry, I meant to call, but I lost my phone and couldn’t find it until this morning.  I crashed at Steven’s house” I tried to remain calm.  I didn’t need to start anything with my dad, it never ended well.

“That’s no excuse.  You could have picked up his house phone and called.  Go get changed and get back down here.  The head coach at BC wants to you to come down for an official visit to meet the team and look at the football program and we need to check the calendar and schedule it” my dad stated before turning to go into the kitchen.  It wasn’t a question, but he never asked questions when it came to college plans, he just made demands.

“No.  I don’t want to play football at BC, I don’t even want to go to BC at all” I insisted.  He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around.  My mom left the room like she always did during these fights.  She didn’t take his side, but she also never took my side, which hurt just as much.

“When are you going to stop with this nonsense?  BC has always been our plan, you need to stop this little rebellious streak before you screw up everything we’ve worked for” If there was one thing I was sure of, it’s that I inherited my stubbornness from my dad.

“No, it’s your plan, not mine.  It’s never been my plan, and I’ve told you that a dozen times, but you never listen” I refused to get down off the stairs.  These fights had never progressed this far.  Normally he yelled and I gave in, but I was sick of that ridiculous cycle.  Something about standing physically above him made me feel stronger.

“I don’t listen to you because you’re being ridiculous.  I’m trying to do what’s best for you and you’re trying equally as hard to screw it up” He was so condescending sometimes and I was sick of hearing it.

“I’m not a little kid anymore dad.  I can make my own decisions and we both know you’re not doing this for me, you’re doing it for you.  Just because you played football at BC doesn’t mean I have to too.  We are not the same person, not even close.  If you would just listen to me instead of acting like such a dictator maybe you would see that” I was done trying to keep my composure.

“Stop being dramatic.  You need to stop wasting time with that dumb volleyball league and focus on what’s important”

“It is important, to me.  I know you don’t care about that, but stop talking about it like it’s some hobby” I was so sick of him only caring about football.  I had been playing volleyball and football for the same amount of time, but he’d been to maybe two of my volleyball games, whereas he never missed a football game.

“It is a hobby.  Where is that going to get you in life?  You have a future with football.  It can get you scholarships” I looked at my father standing there in one of his seven BC sweatshirts and realized he barely knew me.

“Dad I’ve gotten scholarship offers to play volleyball from Division One schools, I’ve been on varsity since sophomore year.  And more importantly, it’s fun.  I can’t say the same for football anymore because you’ve completely ruined that for me” When I finally said the words out loud I realized how true they were.  This was all news to my dad.

“What, uh, Jake I had no idea” he finally stopped yelling.

“Of course you didn’t.  You haven’t been to one of my games since I was in 7th grade and all you ever talk about is football and BC.  I’m glad you loved playing football at BC, but I don’t want to go there.  I need to find my own school where I can make my own memories, you can’t force your dreams on me” my tone was softer now.

“Jake, I’m sorry I may have gone a little overboard, I just wanted what was best for you, and football was always something we could bond over, but I guess I took it a little too far” it wasn’t an apology and it definitely didn’t make up for all the fights and all the times he bulldozed over my opinion like it didn’t even matter, but it was a start. 

“Why don’t we do this?  I’ll make a list of colleges I’m interested in and we can sit down and talk through it all with a fresh mindset on both of our ends?” I proposed.

“Deal” my dad smiled.  Progress, at least we were making progress.

I was glad I didn't have to stress about my dad for the time being because most of my thoughts were focused on a girl and I just couldn't get her out of my head.

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