3. Will
Chapter 3
Will
One benefit of this trade happening in the off season is now we have time—time to settle in and regroup before the season starts.
The negative—I got traded with fucking Adam ‘no chill’ Reyer. The pounding on my hotel door at seven in the morning was both unwelcomed and poorly received. I don’t really mind early mornings, but would it kill the guy to just take a beat?
Adam and his sister dragged me out to walk to this apartment complex that Olsson’s secretary mentioned. Apparently, he called around and this one happened to be four blocks down from our hotel. But by block two I was beyond annoyed.
Callie’s teeth chatter as she wraps her arms around herself, clearly cold. Who cares if it is only four blocks away? I know how much we get paid, an Uber is practically pocket change.
“Is there a reason the meeting for these apartments couldn’t have been made at nine? Or any reason you felt I had to be included?”
“You’re going to need somewhere to stay, and this was the only one of Shannon’s listings that had places open. Excuse me for thinking you might not want to stay in a hotel all season,” Adam huffs as we wait at the crosswalk.
Jamming my palm to my forehead, I try to ease the oncoming headache. “I could have?—”
“Oh, that place looks good,” Callie says low, under her breath. I’m sure she was only talking to herself as she fidgets with her oversized Yale sweatshirt and stares at the doors behind us.
Following her gaze, I see a small sign that says “Freshly Brewed” in the window. I don’t even really like coffee but if I see her shiver one more time I might cuss Adam out for not getting a car.
Glancing at my watch, our meeting with the property agent isn’t until eight and it’s just past half past seven now. “If you’re dragging me along, I’m going to at least grab a cup of coffee.”
Blame it on my brotherly instincts, but I’m not letting Callie walk another block without at least a warm cup of coffee in her hand.
Not giving Adam any room for a protest, I turn heading straight for the shop with the purple door that Callie was locked in on. I knew I couldn’t take her by the hand and drag her in with me, but I hoped the temptation of a warm drink was enough to make her follow.
Looking back, I can see she’s hesitant but the moment I open the door and the smell of the caffeine is stronger, she caves.
“Cals, we—” Adam starts, but she ignores him.
“Thank you,” she whispers as we enter the small shop.
Her smile is different from what I normally see from her. Instead of a wide grin accompanied with a loud personality, this one is subtle, softer… I’ve only seen this smile one other time and my only thought is why does this one seem more genuine than the others?
I try not to read too much into how much I like this smile more, and how I’m the reason it’s there…maybe this wasn’t my best idea. “I need some caffeine if I’m going to have to deal with your brother. It wasn’t anything?—”
“I meant thank you for holding the door.” Callie’s eyes narrow and the soft smile leaves.
Oof, okay, that wasn’t my smoothest move. Just because I know I came in here for her doesn’t mean she knows that. Pull it together, Anderson.
We walk up to the counter and the barista greets us with a voice way too chipper for the morning I’m having. “Hi, what can I get started for you guys?”
“Hi,” Callie says, matching the girl at the register with that full smile I’m more familiar with. “I’ll have a sixteen-ounce ginger tea, and I’m paying separately.”
Callie pulls her bag up on the counter digging for her wallet. I should let her pay, there’s no real reason I shouldn’t let her pay for her own drink. Adam said she got the photographer job. She’s a big girl, she’s not one of my sisters, or my mom. She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my teammate's little sister—an acquaintance at best.
“No, she’s not,” I blurt out, despite every thought that just passed through my head. Maybe this is that brotherly instinct taking over again.
“Wi—” Callie starts, but I talk over her.
“I’ll have a small coffee with a little bit of cream, please.”
The girl behind the counter scrunches her face. “We don’t have coffee. This is a tea shop.”
Callie looks up at me with a confused look. “Did you not read the sign? It’s called Spilled Tea .”
Oh, well this is great, double embarrassment. How am I supposed to respond to this? “No, I didn’t look because all I could see was you shivering.” Fucking hell.
“Didn’t you hear me say I wanted coffee before walking in. Did it sound like I read the sign?” Shit, too snappy. Great, if this is any indication on how making friends with my teammates is going to go I might as well kiss that no-trade clause goodbye.
Callie quirks an eyebrow. “No, I didn’t hear you. I was just standing there, freezing my ass off, thinking man, I really want a hot cup of tea. Then next thing I knew you were walking in.”
Callie watches my blank stare, then just laughs and turns back to the barista. “He’ll take a sixteen-ounce Chai latte.”
Callie moves to pay again, but I toss some cash on the counter. “I said I would pay.”
Rolling her eyes, she brushes some of her red hair away from her face. “You also said you were getting coffee. I wasn’t going to make you pay for something you might not like, but you and I both know you have to walk out of here with some sort of drink unless we want to see Adam blow a gasket.”
“Don’t tempt me,” I mumble. Sliding my change back, I put the rest in the tip jar as we step to the other end of the counter. “So, what did you order for me?”
“Chai latte.” She shrugs. “Technically, it’s not tea or coffee per se, but tea brewed with milk. I can’t promise you’ll like it, but it’s got the caffeine you were searching for.”
“Alright,” is my only response. These past few days have been the most I’ve spent around Callie all year. I was never one to hang out after games and if I ever did venture out with the guys, Callie was never there. I never heard of her going out with them in general, really. If it weren’t for her sitting in the front bleachers with her beautiful red hair and loud cheers for Adam, I wouldn’t have known she was his sister.
Again, the key takeaway there is I definitely noticed her, just wouldn’t have known of the relation had she not made that obvious. All that being said, Callie’s not a temptation—or at least, she wasn’t . She’s my teammate’s little sister. She should never be a temptation. But ever since the trip over here, she’s been a…distraction.
One I definitely shouldn’t entertain, but when we sat down on that plane, Callie looked over at me with tired eyes and that soft smile on her face and asked how I was handling all of this.
This odd feeling came over me when I looked over at her and the words she said registered in my brain. As far as I can recall, no one had ever taken a second to ask how I was doing. My mom and sisters never asked, but I never would give them a reason to think that something was wrong. I’m the person who takes care of things in my family—and I like that role.
But with one sigh of stress out of me, she was there asking me what I needed, what she could do to help. Even if what I needed was as simple as her listening to me vent. Not that I was going to vent or tell her any of the thoughts running through my head, but something about how she looked at me when she asked told me she wasn’t going to let it go without some sort of response. So, I grunted back a simple “I’m good” to appease her.
And she didn’t stop with me. Callie asked Adam at least five times what she could do to help once we landed. Hell, she treated everyone on that plane with such kindness and grace. Didn’t matter that she probably only had a few hours of sleep in the past forty-eight hours, she never made one complaint.
After deplaning, all she wanted was to stop in and grab a new charger. But Mr. Schedule wouldn’t allow for unplanned stops. So, she just smiled and asked him what she could do to help for the sixth time.
There wasn’t a single thing I needed from that damn convenience store, but I wasted ten bucks on a crossword book, so Callie had an excuse to get her charger. And now here I am, about to get some drink that I probably won't even like because she was cold.
Maybe my subconscious is pulling me to care for her because she reminds me of my family. I’ve seen my mom and sisters go through some crazy things, and they hold that same overly optimistic attitude Callie does. Maybe that’s what this whole distraction thing is about—me missing my family.
I’ve supported them from across the country for the past five years and leaving them weighed on me more than I led on, hence my loner tendencies. I guess I kind of wonder if Callie’s rainbows and sunshine is a cover up for something weighing on her. I’m not sure why I care to know so badly, but I do.
Rocking on her feet she looks all around the shop. “This place is adorable. I’ll have to add this to one of the perks of moving here.”
“So, tea? Not coffee?”
Glancing my way, that soft smile tugs at her lips. “No, no coffee for me. I used to drink it all the time, but I realized the caffeine and sugar would make me feel really jittery and anxious, so I switched to tea.”
“Couldn’t you just order decaf?”
She shrugs nonchalantly. “I could, but turns out I like tea more. It has less sugar and there’s tons of flavors with all sorts of different benefits to keep my hyper fixation from getting too carried away. Plus, it’s just a safer order. I would forget to say decaf sometimes, so better just to get something that doesn’t even have it.”
Hyper fixation? For a drink? And how could you just forget to add “decaf” at the end of your order? Hell, make it the first word you say.
“That’s fair,” is what I decide to go with, because I have too many questions about her statement.
“Granted, some teas do have caffeine,” she continues. “So I have to watch that too. But sometimes, depending on the amount of caffeine, it doesn’t affect me too bad if I don’t drink too much. I guess that’s where the added sugar would come into play because…sorry, I’m rambling. See? Imagine me on caffeine.”
I’m starting to understand why she stopped. How could there be this much energy in her already?
Her eyes study me. She’s biting back talking more, I know it. Just as her mouth opens slightly, our order is called out and I quickly step up to grab our drinks.
Handing hers out she takes it with that soft smile again. “Thanks.”
I simply nod back before heading toward the exit.
I don’t really understand why, but I look down at the name of the store on the cup and make a mental note to remember it.
“Great,” Adam says, clapping his hands together as we make it outside. “Now that you two have your drinks, can we please get a move on?”
“Hold on.” I hold out my finger telling him to wait another minute as I take a so-very-slow first sip of the drink Callie ordered me to really piss him off.
He huffs. “Seri?—”
I hold my hand up for another sip. Shit’s not bad. It tastes even better when I notice Callie trying to hide her laugh behind her cup.
“Alright, ready,” I say, and Callie snorts next to me.
“You both can find your own way if you like?” Adam’s vein on his forehead looks like it’s about to pop. God, the temptation to delay this even more is so great, but Callie steps up, slinking her arm through her brother’s.
“Alright, we’re sorry. Come on, I’m freezing my freckles off. Let’s get walking.” Callie turns Adam around with her to face the crosswalk just as it flashes a “walk” sign. “Look at that! Perfect timing!”
For the rest of the walk, I'm positive it’s Callie leading the way. Something tells me if Adam did really leave us, we’d be just fine finding the place on our own. Something also tells me that I need to be careful because that idea shouldn’t sound so damn enticing.