Chapter 3

A warm, humid breeze was softly blowing into my room as I started to wake up. I could smell a lawnmower through my open window as I pushed my sticky hair back from my face. We really needed to fix the air conditioning. With more and more sweltering weekends in the fall, I was dying.

I let myself slowly acclimate to being awake, drifting in and out of consciousness as my body adjusted. Days with no alarms were my favorite, the natural waking up and falling back asleep, making you feel like you were sleeping for years. Pure bliss.

Besides, I hadn't had enough to drink last night to be properly hungover, but I still needed a moment to catch my bearings before I jumped into the day.

I was groggy and my head was pounding, not a good mood.

When I finally mustered the energy to roll over and face the bright light of my phone, I was startled to see that it was already past noon.

I had an unnatural amount of notifications, varying in importance from a group chat I'd never said anything in to a direct text from my boss from over an hour ago.

*Desperate!!! Need someone 1:30-7 today with Nicole*

"Fuck." I muttered, instantly replying that I'd be there, throwing in a smiley face to emphasize my enthusiasm to work! Not.

I'd been working at an ice cream shop for about two and a half years now, since I turned sixteen, and while my dad thought I was just working one or two shifts every week for extra spending money, I had been racking up an impressive amount of hours and cushioning a very happy savings account for my future endeavors.

My parents had made it clear from a young age that I was to follow their path, and only their path. No matter what other profitable and enjoyable life journey I wanted, they wouldn't accept it. How could I throw away so much raw talent, they wondered. How could I ever want to do something else?

I'd slowly built myself a reliable reputation at work, increasing my pay and trust over the course of my job, to the point that I was frequently stepping in for Diane as acting manager. She was the only person I had told about my plans to leave at the end of the semester. And although she was upset and concerned at first, she had since been giving me as many shifts as I wanted and surprise bonuses whenever she could afford it.

I had twenty seven minutes to get ready and get to work so instead of reading all of Jesse's messages, I called her on speaker while I tried to find an appropriate (preferably clean) outfit to wear to work.

"Hey." Jesse answered in her usual uninterested voice. "What's up?"

"Working all day but I'm free later." I said loud enough to be heard from inside my closet as I sniffed various work t-shirts to find the cleanest.

"Oh cool. Not sure what I'm doing." Jesse seemed to shrug. "I'll stop in later maybe?"

"Sounds like a plan. Guess who added me on snap last night." I suddenly remembered to tell her, jogging back to the phone so I was closer.

"Girl I have no idea." She laughed. "Some soccer jock?"

"Bingo. Jonah Lincoln."

"Rough." Jesse laughed, sounding more interested than she had in a while. "What'd he want?"

"No idea, haven't checked since." I shook my head, pulling some yoga pants up my legs. "What do you think?"

"Probably to shoot his shot." Jesse teased. "You gonna do it?"

"Not in a million fucking years." I grimaced. "Jesse, he's gross."

Jesse was still laughing as I just rolled my eyes.

"Wait! You have to tell me about last night!" Jesse yelled into the phone, her voice cracking. "Where! Who! How!"

"Oh my gosh girl, I will tell you everything later okay I promise. It's just too good to tell over the phone."

"Ugh! Fine!"

"See ya later?" I offered as I tried to find my work t-shirt.

"Ooh you know it."

I figured I'd make myself a smoothie at work for breakfast so I wasn't that rushed to get to the kitchen.

I took my time fixing my hair, which had turned into a lifeless mess last night, and making myself look decently presentable. I'd come to notice that the nicer I looked at work, the more tips I acquired.

I checked my phone again as I pulled on my shoes, but stopped when I saw that Diane had replied.

*never mind !! got sarah to cover, enjoy your day off !*

So much for rushing to get ready...

I tossed my gross work shoes back into the depths of my closet and peeled off my work clothes, kicking the stereo on as I threw myself back on my bed. I made sure to face the window, letting the breeze rush over me as I still managed to be uncomfortably warm in just underwear and a sports bra.

I turned on some Arctic Monkeys, knowing that I was probably going to piss my dad off with how loud it was but also not giving a damn.

My stomach was just starting to growl with hunger, but if I got up and ate now, I wouldn't be able to stop until I was stuffed on the couch and unable to move.

If I let a Saturday go by without a workout in, not only would my dad be on my ass about it but I'd feel unaccomplished.

So I pulled myself out of bed, stepped into some athletic shorts, and decided to just do a super quick HIIT workout.

A little bit of abs/cardio/arms to pull it all together, leaving my legs fresh for the game tomorrow morning. Gotta love travel teams and their Sunday morning kick-offs...

45 minutes later, I was nauseous, sweaty, and dizzy... My abs were sore and my arms were shaking, but it was so worth it.

I had that post-workout definition going on and paused in front of the mirror to take a few cute snapchats before heading to the kitchen to devour whatever food was left. Saturdays were grocery days and I didn't think dad had gone out to get anything yet... He usually asked.

The possibility that my house would be filled with soccer players in the middle of a Saturday did not even occur to me as I walked down the hall, hollering for my dad. Usually he gives me warning if we have company.

"Can you fix the AC I'm sweating my ass off and it is not a good look!" I yelled, redoing my sweaty ponytail so that it wasn't forming a rats nest at the bag of my neck. "I'll move in with Jesse if this doesn't get better!"

But as I walked down the hall with no response, the house felt strangely full and I heard my dad talking to someone.

He trailed off as I walked into the living room to be faced with the entire varsity team.

"Yo." I muttered, raising my eyebrows. "Warning?"

"I thought you'd sleep way later than this." My dad's entire demeanor changed, caught in limbo between coach mode and dad mode. If I was ever with him and the team, it was strictly in a soccer environment. I felt strangely on display in my own home as I stood there, sweaty and exposed post workout.

The only guys in here that I had ever spoken to was during what I call "part one" of my rebellious phase, going for as many guys on the team as I could handle freshman year. Turned out I was taking more virginities than I was comfortable with and my dad was getting dangerously close to catching on.

Since then, I'd kept my distance from everyone currently affiliated with the team. Older guys were more my speed.

"I thought I had work, what's going on?" I shook my head, glancing around the room as I landed on a familiar face that shouldn't be there.

The guy from last night.

In the context of the whole team, I instantly knew who he was and my stomach plummeted.

Kade Armstrong.

He was a senior when I was a freshman, the most promising player we'd ever seen. A perfect example of the lesson to be learned when considering your future. Forced into a college career by everyone who saw him play, he blew out his knee in the first game and found himself stuck at a less than stellar academic university. That's why I wasn't playing in college.

Kade Armstrong was quiet, never made much of a fuss when he was here. He was a great soccer player, everyone's favorite, a brilliant kid. No trouble, just purely a well loved guy.

Seems perfect, right? Why wouldn't I be ecstatic to see him and remember how great this man was?

There's more.

He's Jesse's older brother.

My eyes met his across the room and while part of my brain was like 'fuck yeah lets remember the euphoric night you just had and make your body crave more', the other part was freaking the hell out that I had gushed to Jesse about how great the sex was.

How was I going to cover this up?

Why was he even home? Wasn't he supposed to be away at college?

"Mandatory practice." Dad replied with a frown, pulling me back out of my thoughts. "It's Saturday."

"Yeah no shit." I muttered, snapping back to reality. "Why are you here?"

"School is closed and we had an abysmal season opener last night." Dad said, receiving grunts of discontent from the team who more than likely did not agree.

"Whatever." I shrugged, not wanting to get into the logistics of the sport with him. "Warning next time?"

"Sorry, honey." He covered, making my stomach squirm as multiple guys in the room chuckled at the term of endearment.

Was this going to be the unraveling of the image I'd worked so hard to build? I was not the girl who had pet names from her dad.

"Whatever." I repeated. "Food?" I slightly raised my eyebrows at him.

"What about it?"

"Do we have any?"

"Not since you devoured the wings at 4 am." He teased, finding his easy medium between coach and father.

"Funny." I gave him a sarcastic smile before walking into the kitchen.

"Can you turn down your music? Or at least shut your door?" My dad called after me.

"Nah!" I replied with a grin, opening up both the fridge and the freezer to find something to eat.

After scouring the kitchen for what seemed like an eternity, I returned to my room with peanut butter, Nutella, two bananas, spicy Doritos, sour patch kids, and microwave popcorn.

I kept the music on as loud as it was, sitting down on the rug in the middle of my room with my phone open to instagram and all of the food I had brought with me.

I was ready.