Chapter 6
It's a Friday night, three weeks later.
Dad decides to invite a few guys from Conner's team to go bowling on his final night home.
"Are you ready for me to kick your ass?" Conner asks me while we pull into the parking lot of the bowling alley. My dad interjects "Son, don't say ass."
While we both look at him like he's a hypocrite, Conner laughs "Dad, I'm eighteen, and the word "ass" should be the least of your worries when it comes to my vocabulary." he snorts out loud all Conner like, and my dad just rolls his eyes.
Scarlett and Emily are already there with Ross, and three of Conner's other friends.
"I'm so ready to kick all your butts" I yell across the crowd as we enter the building.
"You wish!" Ross yells back.
Ross is in dark faded blue jeans, and wearing a black and grey baseball tee. His hair is freshly cut. "Nice haircut." I say making my way to the table.
"Thanks." he smiles back at me.
Scarlett already had our bowling shoes waiting on us.
The first and second game Ross, and Jeremiah dominated. Conner claims he let them win, but we all know that's not true. Emily and I came in last place. This was normal for us.
"Hey y'all." we all turn around
"Hi Lorene." My dad says while walking her over to us. Conner gives me a look, but I ignore him, and go hug her.
"Hey Lorene, are you here to get beat at bowling?" I ask, and before she answers Conner is sneaking up beside her giving her a hug "Of course she is, I mean beat by me anyway." he says out loud, and I just laugh at him before attempting to swing at him. Of course he ducks before I make contact.
"Shut it!" I say, and Emily follows "Yeah, shut it Conner!" Everyone laughs.
After a couple hours, the game gets boring. "Emily, do you want to go play pool?" I ask only her, because everyone else is cheering, and having a good time. Emily and I can't win to save our lives. "Yes, sounds like a good idea." She says.
We walk to the other side of the bowling alley where the pool tables are, and that's when I see her.
Sophie, and some guy that isn't Aiden. I don't say anything, but then she sees me, and walks up leaving the table of people behind.
"Hey guys." She says to us, just standing there. "Um hey." I say. Sophie is a grade below us, and she's never really talked to me before besides that day at the mall. We know of each other, but we're not friends.
"Hey girl." Emily says to her with a smile.
"What are you guys doing tonight?" Sophie asks.
"Tonight is my brother's last night so we're all here bowling." I answer.
"Cool!" She cheerfully says before asking "Is Ross with you guys too?" I wonder why she's asking about Ross.
Emily answers before I can. "Yep. They are kicking our asses."
"We'll play against you girls in a game of pool if you want?" She asks Emily and I, while gesturing to the guy she's with to come over.
"Sure. Thanks Sophie." Emily answers.
I wonder who this guy is. I've never seen him before.
"This is Trey." she answers my thoughts
"Hi. I'm Emily, and this is Mora." Emily injects, and we both shake his hand.
"Hey." he says back.
"Trey's a senior at Woodlands High School." Sophie explains.
"Ahh. Explains why we've never seen you." I say to him. He laughs. He seems like a nice enough guy.
We're having a pretty good time playing pool, when I ask them "So how long have you two been dating?"
"About two weeks?" Sophie asks Trey, and he nods.
"Yeah I'd say two, going on three weeks."
I'm shocked by her answer. So maybe she isn't Aiden's girlfriend. I wonder if Aiden knows about Trey, or if he even cares.
"Hey everyone." Ross, Scarlett, and Conner walk up now.
"Hey, where's dad?" I ask Conner.
"He and Lorene left. I told him that we would catch a ride home. He was getting tired."
I laugh. My dad is such an old man sometimes. "It's only nine." I respond.
"Yeah tell me about it."
"Is there room for 3 more players?" Ross asks everyone.
"Sure" Sophie says. "Everyone, this is Trey." while she introduces him to the rest of us, I can tell what Scarlett is thinking. Why is she introducing him to us like we're her circle of friends. It was weird.
"Hey man." Ross politely says while walking to the other side of the table to make a hit.
Scarlett comes up to me whispering "I guess she's not Aiden's girlfriend?"
"I guess not, because she told Emily and I that they've been dating for a couple weeks now." I whisper back while eyeing Trey. Scarlett raises her eyebrows back at me when Sophie suddenly skips over to Ross leaving Trey at the other end of the pool table.
"Hey Ross!" Sophie says hi again, giving him a hug from her tippy toes. I guess they know each other.
"Hi Soph." Ross smiles and hugs her back. I look over at Trey, but he seems un-bothered by it. For some reason it's annoying to me, but I choose to ignore her, and start to play pool again.
It's eleven o'clock when we finally decide to leave. Emily takes me home because Conner wanted to ride with Scarlett alone. Ew. I could only imagine why.
"So that was fun." Emily says keeping her eyes on the road while we sit in her small Prius hybrid.
"It was strange." I say back.
"What do you mean?"
"Since when do we hang out with Sophie, for that matter when does Ross hangout with Sophie?"
She scans my face. "On a more major note, why was she not with Aiden?"
"I guess they're broken up."
"That's good isn't it?" Emily's eyes are big with curiosity and she's smiling from ear to ear.
"I guess. I don't know. Why does it matter." I say.
"Oh come on Mora, he's totally hot, and you totally have the hots for him." I choke up. "No I do not!" but she just rolls her eyes and looks without surprise. "Yeah okay. If you want to tell yourself that."
I change the subject. "So when do you leave?" she gives me a sad face. "Next month."
"Are you kidding? You're not staying the whole summer?"
"No ma'am. I have to start an early internship that my aunt got me at the last minute." she explains.
"Oh, well that's exciting news."
"Yeah, I'm really excited. I'll really just be fetching coffee and lunches for this big tech law firm but still to be able to put that on a resume is a really big deal." she says.
"Hell yes Emily! I'm super pumped for you. Good job!"
"Thanks! Are you still thinking about staying local like Ross to be with your dad, or have you put more thought into a four year school?"
"I haven't decided yet. I really have no idea what I would even major in." I explain.
"Well you better start thinking about it because you only have a year left. It's important you decide sooner rather than later so you can put all your focus on achieving those goals." She sounds like a guidance counselor.
"Okay, I'll start thinking about that tomorrow." I joke, and she rolls her eyes at me. She can tell I'd like to drop the conversation.
Once I'm home I shut myself in my room and put on the TV because dad is passed out on the recliner, and Conner hasn't made it home yet. I lay down after putting on my pajamas, and pull out my phone to get on social media.
I find myself typing Aiden, then backspace it before I think to myself, what the hell and I pull up his page. It's set to private. Before I know it, I'm clicking add friend.
I'm scrolling through my news feed, when a few minutes pass and I get a notification. Aiden accepted my friend request.
That was fast.
I go to his page. He has a lot of posts he's been tagged in from guys on the baseball team. I go back a month or two, and see pictures that Sophie has tagged him in. There's not really much that he's personally posted.
I go to his photos next. His home picture is him with a woman I assume to be his mom, and a guy that looks a lot like him. He's younger in the picture.
His more current photos are only pictures he's been tagged in. He's at parties, or playing baseball.
Is it possible that he's even more sexy in his pictures then real life. I wonder how someone can be so beautiful.
While I'm stalking his page, a message pops up. I open it, and it reads Aiden's name. My stomach goes full of butterflies.
Hey Andrews. What are u up to?
I can't believe he just messaged me. My heart starts racing, and I take a minute before I respond.
Hey. Just got home from bowling with family and a few friends. You?
He quickly responds.
Oh cool. I'm just staying in 2nite. Did u win?
No :(
Well shit. Did u at least have a good time?
Yeah. It was okay. It's Conner's last night so we all wanted to spend some time with him
Oh, do u want me to let u go so u can hangout with him?
No. It's ok. He's out with Scarlett right now. I'm just laying down and watching an old episode of Dawson's Creek.
Are u serious?
What do you mean?
Dawson's Creek? That's pretty corny.
No it's not!
lol. Yes it is.
It's one of the best shows ever.
It's pretty bad.
How do you even know about the show.
Mora, every girl I know has seen that show.
Pshh!
So who all went bowling 2nite? Anyone I know.
Emily, Ross, Jeremiah, and one guy I forget his name but he's friends with Con.
Oh yeah?
I hesitate a minute before I continue
& Sophie was there.
Yeah?
Yeah... we played a couple rounds of pool with her.
Well that's cool. Didn't realize u knew Sophie that well.
I don't really, but she came up to Emily and I asking if we wanted to play pool. We were sick of bowling.
Makes sense I guess.
Yep.
So Ross was there huh? Did you go with him?
He doesn't seem interested in the Sophie subject at all, but he's asking about Ross again. Is he over Sophie? Is he jealous of Ross?
No. I rode with my dad.
Oh.
Yeah.
His responses are becoming one worded so I decide to end the conversation not sure what else to say.
Well I guess I'm about to pass out.
Okay. Have a good night!
You too.
I start to put my phone down when he sends me another message.
Hey Mora...
Yeah?
Here's my number. I mean since Conner is leaving. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call or text.
Thx! Will do. Good night Aiden. :)
G-night Mora. ;)
I can't believe that Aiden just gave me his number. Should I have given him mine in return? He was asking me if I rode with Ross. Why did he care? Is it because he does like me? Is it so hard to believe that someone like him would like me?
I wait up for Conner and he knocks on my door when he gets home. "Can I come in." He's upset, and I can tell he's been crying. "Conner!" I gasp, and jump out of bed. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just..." he can't even talk. He sits down on the end of my bed and puts his face in the palm of his hands.
I've only seen Conner cry once, and it's when he jumped off the shed roof because he wanted to fly. He was six years old.
"Conner, it's okay." I say rubbing his back.
"I don't think I can make it without Scarlett. I just love her so much. What was I thinking moving four hours away?" he's talking more clearly.
"Conner, four hours isn't that bad. You'll have weekends, and holidays, and honestly even some weeknights. Four hours is the length of two movies. The drive isn't that bad." I try to lift his spirits.
"What about you and Dad. Mora, I say that Ross is my best friend, but let's be real. You're my number one, and I'm just as scared being away from you as I am Scarlett. It's always been us two." He sniffles and I assure him "I'll be okay." and lower his hands from his face. "Listen to me. We'll be okay. I'll see you all the time, and I'll be here with Scarlett. Not to mention we have this new technology that's called Face time, and it's pretty amazing. I can actually talk to you face to face without you even being here." I smile, trying to get a smile in return but fail.
I'm more serious now. "A&M is your dream Con. Before Scarlett, it was your dream. You worked your ass off for that dream to come true. You're so blessed. You and Scarlett will be fine, but listen to me. You have one chance at football." I hesitate before I continue "Scarlett is my best friend, but I have to say this... there's hundreds of girls out there Conner, and if she's the one that's awesome, but there's only one school for you, and you only have one future. Do not throw it away for a girl. Any girl. Do you hear me?" He hears the confirmation he was searching for, and nods. "Conner we love you, and seriously you'll be okay. It's not like you're moving states away or something." I elbow him until he smiles.
He gets up, and gives me a hug. "Thanks for putting me in my place sis." he gives me a faint grin. I accept his small smile. "Anytime."
I know to check my phone once he leaves my room. Scarlett has called me a dozen times at least, and texts me.
I need you.
I call her back to assure her everything will be okay.