19 | Tire Allignment

VIERNES

8:17 PM

Reid Harlow

I just have to make more of an effort for this family.

So, why the fuck is it so exhausting?

Claudia has since returned home from college and is sitting across the table from me, informing the family about how she's going to be off in a couple of weeks and wants to spend time with the family. Something along the lines of a family getaway.

Sebastian and Nini seem fucking ecstatic; the idea of the entire family sharing the same break week gives them an opportunity to plan a trip. Presley even joins in and adds that his college is scheduled to have a break around the same time—cementing the proposition of this idea.

I'm picking at my dinner, offering little comments to the whole topic. Sebastian is offering the family a possible location for their mini-vacation, and Ariah and Claudia are listening intently. Ariah seems the most excited out of the five, asking questions about their option every couple of seconds.

Nico and I are quiet, but at least Nico is eating. He's sitting to my right, clutching onto a small toy I often see him carry around with him. He doesn't leave it away from sight, or from his hands, and he hides it under the table so Nini wouldn't be able to say anything.

"I think we should go to a cabin," Claudia suggests, deriving from the options Sebastian set forth. He suggested a trip to the beach, or a little road trip across the country to explore tourist spots—but nothing about a cabin up north.

"A cabin?" Sebastian repeats, cocking his brow in her direction. She nods. "We're already living in snow half of the year and you want to go into more snow?"

"I want to go to a resort," Claudia clarifies. "I always wanted to watch the sunset on top of a mountain, and sip hot chocolate near a lake, and ice skate!"

I roll my eyes, tuning out of the conversation and returning to the plate filled with Nini's cooking. She expressed that she usually tries to incorporate Filipino options into everyday meals—but she also is open to suggestions.

When she told me that, she looked at me suggestively like I carried around a fucking recipe book from foster home to foster home.

I feel something tap my arm, and my attention snaps to the boy beside me. Nico's green eyes greet mine, and hold slight hesitation behind his irises. I drop the hard demeanor on my features.

"Yeah?" I prompt, watching as he opens his mouth but the silence precure his words. I cock a brow at him.

"Um," he swallows, gripping onto the small toy figure. "Can you...can you hand me some?"

He points to the tray of lumpia—which are Filipino spring rolls—sitting in front of us, just a couple of inches away from his grasp.

His eyes are pleading, but he doesn't make an attempt to grab the food himself. To do so, he would have to stand and reach over, drawing attention.

I sigh, but nonetheless, nod my head. I reach over, taking the metal tong sitting against the edge of the tray and pick up a couple of lumpias, bringing it to his plate. With each, I asked if it was enough and he continued to shake his head until the plate was entirely filled with lumpias.

When I'm finished, he smiles and offers me the softest goddamn thank you.

"Harlow," I hear someone hiss, forcing me to turn and meet Presley's gaze. His eyes urging, occasionally glancing down the table where Nini and Sebastian are conversing about the cabin. A silent reminder for our deal.

I heaved a sigh, clenching down my jaw, drawing out my next statement. "So, how's the weather?"

The entire table stops, and focuses on me. Everyone suddenly quiets and stares at me, trying to read my intentions. I can see Presley from the corner of my vision, trying hard not to spit laughter all over his dinner. In my head, I'm swearing at him—and probably throwing a punch or two—but sitting here, all I'm feeling is just embarrassment.

Fuck this shit.

"The weather? The weather for what? The cabin?" Sebastian prompts, causing Nini to hit him in the shoulder. This made my embarrassment tenfold.

"Never mind, forget it," I declare, waving out a dismissive hand. I wanted to kill the conversation before it even starts—this is stupid. I fucking hate small talk.

"No, no, wait!" Nini holds out a hand, stopping me from retracting my offer. I turn to her, gritting down my teeth. "Um," she shares a look with the rest of the family, waiting for someone to contribute. None did, and my embarrassment flames.

I fucking hate everything.

"Harlow,"

"What?"

"The weather..." She brings the conversation back to my embarrassing attempt to make small talk. Just shut up, already. "It's nice."

"Yeah," Sebastian nods, agreeing alongside his wife. He looks to me, gesturing out a hand. "The weather is—it's a clear blue sky today with a couple of clouds."

"And there's not a lot of pollution," Claudia adds, joining in. She doesn't meet my eyes. "Some factories are receiving their final notices to close down fossil fuels and this lowers the pollution rate for the city."

"And I built a birdhouse outside!" Ariah contributes, causing eyes to turn to her. She smiles proudly, showing off her toothy smile with a chipped front tooth. "I put it in the backyard next to the garden."

"That's great, Ariah," Claudia grins, "you have to show it to me."

"Yeah!" Ariah nods her head frantically, her glasses bobbling with her, "we could go outside tomorrow and I'll show the whole family. Maybe they'll be a bird or two!"

The entire family hums in agreement, and the conversation begins to course naturally between the five of them. The topic moves around from person to person, and Presley attempts to draw out the tension with a joke played in Claudia's direction.

We stray far from my attempt at small talk, and, slowly—but surely—the embarrassment building in my chest fades.

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SÁBADO

5:14PM

Reid Harlow

"You play football on a fucking Saturday?" I ask, turning to Presley. We're exiting from the backdoor, following Claudia towards the open space. The garden extends to the side, far from the field and our approaching game—and with Nini, she covered the majority with a large tarp.

"Anything wrong with that?" Presley rebuttals, shoving his hands into the pocket of his grey sweatpants. He looks at me. "Don't tell me you don't know how to teamwork too."

I sent him a look, which gave him all the answers he needed. He audibly gasps, covering his mouth with his hand and widening his eyes at this shocking reveal. I wanted to shove him back at his theatrics.

"Harlow," he whispers lowly, dropping his hand. "You don't know anything about the treasures of American football? The most scarce sport in the country—oh, who am I kidding, I don't know it well either." He throws out his hand, dropping his act. I almost smile.

"Are you always this fucking annoying?" I ask, with a joking undertone. He picks this up, and instead of his smile falling from his lips, he merely beams.

"Had to do something to welcome the newbie," he shrugs, coming closely to throw an arm around my shoulders. Before I got the chance to protest, he pulled me towards the circle where the rest of the family was huddled up.

Claudia and Sebastian pose like eager individuals, their eyes brew with fire and competition. Claudia swept the ground like it was her taking, and she bounces the football between her hands. Nini stood beside Nico, wrapping an arm around him as he hugs her leg—not entirely concerned about the game but neither was he entirely into it. Ariah stood beside Claudia, cocking her head to the side as she listens to the speech Sebastian tells.

"...Does anyone have any questions on what to do?" Sebastian prompts, meeting our gazes. Everyone shook their head—already prepped for the entire ordeal—and I decided to raise my hand.

"Me," I said nonchalantly, "I don't know how the fuck to play."

Sebastian gives me a look for my use of language, but Nini merely covers Nico's ears. I shrug my shoulders, not caring for my foul mouth. "You never played football before?" Sebastian asks, cocking a brow at me. I shook my head.

"The foster system never really had a support group for sports," I say, my voice dripping in sarcasm. I sound like an asshole. "It's really more of a put-an-orphaned-in-a-foster-home-and-all-else-be-damned type of thing."

The family quiets, but doesn't supply anything else. Ariah looks to Claudia, her lips slightly quivering and Claudia mutters something in her ear. I turn back with Sebastian with innocent eyes, bearing a challenge behind them. I wonder if he would snap.

I feel Presley hit my arm, but I don't budge. He's probably going to remind me of our deal—to put more of an effort to this family—but that's what I'm fucking doing. I'm talking. I'm putting in efforts to their stupid family games and dinner. I'm giving them more than I've ever done in my life.

Sebastian locks his jaw, rubbing it. My eyes trail down to his tattoos covering in sleeves, and counting what each could possibly mean. I knew they were more than tattoos for the hell of it—they were tribal. With meaning. Each ink that stains his dark, tan skin brings a story and another puzzle piece to his finish.

It was worth something.

"Harlow," Sebastian begins slowly, and the entire family watches with anticipation. Nini bites her bottom lip, nervous to whatever her husband plans to say. "How you play football is..."

And he starts to brief me.

Sebastian explains the family version of the game, not the way played in the NFL, or in college football. It was just a normal game, minus a couple of rules and bending some others. I didn't think it was the reaction I'll get, nonetheless, I take it. I was going to play this game no matter what—the car was on the line—and if that deems the issue, I was going to play it right.

After he finishes explaining, the family splits. Nico, Nini, Sebastian and me are on the same side. Claudia, Presley, and Ariah are on the other. I became the factor that made them odd.

"That's not fair! You get an additional player on your team!" Claudia points out, moving to the opposite direction with the ball in hand. There's a competitive fire to her eyes, and she stares at our team with determination.

"Claudia," Nini reminds, her voice lows and echoes in authority. It reminded me of a mother bear—protective and caring to their cubs but never to be a pushover. "Nico is seven."

I almost forgot. Nico is seven—which means he's barely considered an opponent. He's just here to chill, to have fun with the family and bond. He's not here to run across the field and score a touchdown.

Claudia's lips pull in realization, and her eyes shutters in guilt. She closed her mouth, pressing down. "Sorry," she mumbles quietly, loud enough for Nini to hear. "I forgot for a second—"

"It's okay," Nini says softly, maternal. Claudia doesn't say anything else, just nodding her head and returning back to the other side.

The game starts and Claudia throws the ball to Presley, who then runs to our side with Nini and Nico tagging after him. Presley moves backwards, projecting a throw he was about to make to Claudia—I tackled him before he made the play.

The play switched over to us, and I had the opportunity to initiate the game. I didn't want to start off, and instead, offer the ball to Sebastian—who made the throw to Nini. Sebastian makes a run to the opposing field, where Claudia and Ariah begin to sprint after in order to tackle him. He was swift, however, he was also blocked.

Presley switches over to defense, and decides to guard me. He noticed that I was mimicking a similar route to Sebastian, but instead of leading myself in a vulnerable position—where I would become trapped between two players—I ran towards an open space. Nini looks over to Sebastian, seeing him struggle to keep pace, and signals for him to make a pass—resulting in me taking the ball.

I dodge Presley, faking a right before slipping to the left. This forces Presley to lose a couple of seconds on me, and I sprint off. I head off to their side of the field, noting how Claudia has since abandoned post and rushes over to me—trying to stop me from reaching their field marks.

My feet carry me, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I notice how close Claudia is approaching. This made me push my limits, forcing my legs to work fast. Claudia coming close—too close—and as she makes a charge to tackle, I dip off to her left—resulting in her meeting the ground. I spin, running straight, and I reach the endzone.

I made a touchdown.

I drop the ball to the ground to claim the goal, and my team cheers. The tip of the football touching the blades of the grasses, I'm panting with purpose. My breath resides in my throat and my heart races with so much adrenaline, I thought my body activated a flight-or-fight response. I thought I was going to die.

But, at the same time, I never felt so alive.

We return back to the middle and Sebastian gives me a proud pat on the back. He mumbles something about my speed and agility, but I barely paid attention. Nini smiles at me, but Nico looks severely confused about the entire game. I don't blame him—as a seven year old, I probably would to.

Yet, he offers me a little smile.

It was simple—he probably grasped enough to know it was a win—but it was laced with encouragement that made my absolutely fucking day.

The game proceeds and we return to the middle. Claudia leads with more attack, and she exchanges defense positions with Presley. Her eyes targeted me—to tackle to the floor, to watch my movement. Ariah and Presley switch post, defending the other end of the field where Sebastian and Nini would most likely slip through.

We scored a couple of touchdowns. They scored a couple of touchdowns. This goes back and forth till the sky begins to darken and the stars begin to peek through the clouds. The fairy lights that decorate the fences around us begin to illuminate after a given time, and the game slowly dies down when the wind picks up speed and the night ends with a bitter cold.

Nico coughed, which prompted Nini to call the game for an end. Our team won—I earned a couple more points in the end, throwing the ball to Nini to make the finishing play—and by the time the night calls for an end, we were all sweaty and panting like wild animals. Dirt claims every blotch of skin, and clings to our clothing like a second layer. Nini made a comment about how this is going to take forever to wash out.

I reach the stairs and ascend to the top with ease; hearing the thumping footsteps following closely behind. I swept into the bathroom without another word, getting ready to clean off all the dirt and sweat from my body.

The showerhead trickles down water, and as I wait for the temperature to warm up—I like my shower burning hot—it dawns on me one particular fact.

I had fun.

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AVA'S NOTES

i absolutely know nothing about football.

please vote and comment!!