| |
I was making sure all my homework assignments were done for school when my phone went off on me. I glanced at the screen, seeing Toby’s name.
“Yeah?” I asked when I answered it.
“Get your butt over here and eat with us,” Toby said, and then he hung up on me.
I eyed the phone for a moment before dragging myself to my feet, grabbing my keys, and heading over. Dinner did sound good. I wasn’t the best cook, but I wasn’t terrible either. I just didn’t do it as often as I used to. It was nice not having Lindie yelling at me to have dinner done every day. Unfortunately, having to cook for Lindie had acted as a schedule for me, and now that I didn’t have that, I found that I didn’t keep up with my meals like I should. I still ate, but it usually amounted to sandwiches or cereal. I was enjoying the freedom to make the food that I wanted when I wanted it rather than what I needed to keep Lindie happy. So a lot of cereal.
I was going to have to stop doing that and start eating healthy again.
Bebe was outside sniffing around when I got to Seth’s house. He let out a happy bark before going toward the back. I followed, the laughter getting louder as I rounded the building. Everyone was on the back deck with plates of food. Looked like Seth had another barbeque, plates filled with chicken and ribs more than anything else. A table was set out like a buffet.
“There she is,” Paxon said.
I smiled. “Here I am.”
“Eat. There’s plenty,” Seth said, setting down a bowl of salad. It looked like no one planned to eat that anytime soon.
“Thanks. I was just getting hungry too.” I grabbed a piece of chicken and paired it with salad.
“Here,” Justin said, passing me a cold bottle of water.
Seth had a small patio set, enough to sit eight around the square table. I grabbed a seat on one side. It wasn’t long before Calvin grabbed the spot next to me, clearly beating Toby out. Toby did a fake pout as he sat next to Calvin.
“What do you guys do once winter comes?” I asked, noting that the deck was wet. They had to have been swimming again. Justin’s hair was still glistening too.
“We play in the snow,” Toby said, mouth full of food, barbeque sauce on the sides of his mouth.
“And video games,” Paxon said.
“Sleep,” Justin said.
Bryan snorted. “Justin practically turns into a bear and goes into hibernation.”
“Swim season officially starts then,” Justin said. “It’s exhausting. Practice before and after school and on Saturdays.”
“I’m exhausted just thinking about it,” I said.
“You should see him eat,” Toby said. “I’m jealous. I want to eat like that and not worry about the weight.” He patted his stomach.
I eyed his shirt. There was some definition that came through. I doubted he needed to worry about extra weight.
“So Paxon is doing soccer, Justin does swimming. What else do you guys do?”
“Nothing else.” Bryan grabbed a dinner roll and tore it open. “The rest of us don’t like to torture ourselves and prefer getting off school grounds as soon as we can.”
“I did lacrosse,” Seth said. “They have a town club that I’ll be joining this year for the young adults. They start in the spring and go through the summer.”
Calvin nudged me to get my attention. “Do you play any sports?”
I snorted. “No way. I’m busy enough.”
“Never wanted to?” he asked.
“Nope. Never gave it a thought.”
“If you could play a sport, what would it be?” Paxon asked.
“Maybe volleyball? That always looks fun.”
We talked more about sports and Paxon’s schedule for the next couple of weeks. His soccer schedule was insane, with games every few days. Apparently, he had to get in at least a game a week before the sub regionals in November. So far, he’d played two games, winning both of them. Our soccer team was always one of the ones to get into at least the regionals each year. Last year they lost in the championship and the year before that, they made it to the semifinals.
Everyone was hopeful that they were going to take the championship this year, and so far, they were doing well enough. They just needed to keep winning.
I smiled. “You guys are going to kick ass this year, don’t worry.”
Paxon blushed, bowing his head to try to hide it. The others caught it though and began laughing. They weren’t the type to let an opportunity to tease someone like this by.
“And we’ll be there cheering you on like we always are,” Toby said.
“When is your next game?” I asked.
“Game on Thursday, and then an away game on Saturday,” Paxon said. “It’s our furthest away game, so we leave after school Friday and come back Saturday evening.”
I quickly mentally went over my schedule for work. “I’ll be there for both of them.”
He blinked. “You don’t have to be.”
Shrugging, I said, “I’ll still be there. I want to see you in your element. Besides, it’s only fair. You supported me. I want to do the same for you.” I tried to pretend my cheeks didn’t feel like they were getting hot.
“We’ll all be there too,” Seth said.
“Damn right,” Bryan said. “I need time away anyway. My parents are riding my ass.”
Seth frowned as he glanced at Bryan. “Are they giving you a hard time again?”
“Just the normal bullshit. They want me at an Ivy League school and keep trying to get me to apply.”
Toby groaned, leaning back in his seat, letting his head hang over the back of his chair, arms at his side. “Don’t talk about college at the dinner table. It’s rude.”
“The problem won’t go away just because you refuse to talk about it,” Paxon said.
“Am I missing something?” I asked.
“Oh.” Toby popped up and smiled. “Where are you applying?”
“For college?”
Toby nodded.
“I haven’t figured it out yet.”
“See!” He pointed at me. “I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what the hell they want to do with their lives.”
“You have less than four months to figure it out,” Paxon said. “So you can start applying.”
“Is it important to go to college?” I asked.
“Are you planning on doing what you do now?” Seth asked.
I shrugged. “Like I said, I hadn’t thought about it.” Hadn’t really had the time to do so, but I wasn’t going to tell them that. Still, the topic definitely gave me something to think about. “Are you guys going to try to go to the same college?”
“We’ll try, of course. I’d like to stay local,” Paxon said and glanced briefly at Calvin.
“My decision is also based on if I can get a swimming scholarship,” Justin said. “But I’d like to stick close by too.”
Everyone’s general response was that they wanted to go to school nearby. That didn’t leave a lot of options, but there were still some really good schools in the area, only a short drive away. Not far from here was what people called a college town. The two towns had four colleges spread out between them, two of them private, the other two SUNY schools.
“There’s always online too,” I said more to myself than anyone else.
That opened the discussion up to more options. Bryan had grown quiet as we kept talking about the nearby colleges and possibly being a remote student. The others seemed more hopeful with the options. And they liked the idea of staying together or at least closer together.
They didn’t want to be separated from each other, and from the looks of it, they were going to fight to do it too.
And they included me in the discussion, making me feel like I was part of the group. It was nice, even if I didn’t know what I was going to do once graduation came around.
But I was going to have to figure it out soon before I missed the opportunity. Applications were generally due in January and while that was months away, it felt too close too.
