Chapter Five #2
It warmed Kieran. Everything had felt so… rocky lately. He’d missed practices, had worried that his team was going to move on without him as he let them down.
But they were his team. His volleyball family.
“Kieran.” Atticus’ voice pulled Kieran’s attention toward the locker room exit. His setter gave him a too obvious wink. “Good luck!” And then he was gone, leaving behind several sets of questioning eyes that Kieran decided to resolutely ignore.
“What was that?” Bowen was at his side in a flash, bright, wide eyes boring into the side of Kieran’s head.
“It wasn’t anything.” Kieran hitched his gym bag onto his shoulder, intent on making his escape.
“Definitely wasn’t nothing,” Eric said, sidling up next to Bowen and effectively barring Kieran from leaving. Aaron made his way over a second later, and all three men stared at him. Ducklings awaiting an answer.
Except that they weren’t ducklings. They were his friends. Hell, he’d just been thinking about them as family.
“I, uh,” he began, his mind still not quite caught up to the fact that he was about to confide in these morons. “I’ve got a tough conversation coming with somebody I care about.”
Bowen whooped. “Captain’s got a girl!” He paused, head tilting. “Or not a girl. Maybe he found a cute streamer dude too, like Mills did.”
“Who?” Eric asked, leaning closer, white cheeks rosy as he smiled wide, showing off the small gap between his front teeth. “Who?”
Kieran might trust them, might feel compelled to even confide in them, but there was no way he was going to answer Eric’s question.
“It’s Sammie,” Aaron said matter-of-factly.
Everyone turned toward him, equally stunned, if for different reasons. His warm brown skin flushed under the attention. He shrugged. “What? I thought everyone knew.” He then waved a hand toward the door. “Plus, Atticus told me.”
Kieran blinked as an image of Sammie flaying her twin popped into his head.
“Atticus told you?”
Another shrug from Aaron. “He said you couldn’t go out with us tonight because you’re going out with her.”
“Keeping it in the family,” Bowen said. “Nice.”
“Ew.” Eric visibly paled. “Ew, man.”
“Sammie isn’t family,” Kieran said, pushing past his teammates.
No, Sammie wasn’t family, not like his team was.
She wasn’t even really a friend, not like they’d been as kids.
Kieran didn’t know what she was to him, considering what she now knew, but he did know he couldn’t keep hiding out in the locker room to avoid finding out.
He pushed through the door into the dimly lit hallway. A figure stood at the end, close to a side exit that the players used. She was bathed in shadows, but Kieran thought he would recognize her form anywhere.
Sammie looked up as he approached, and Kieran pretended not to notice the way she held herself more stiffly than usual.
“Hi.” The word was quiet, tentative, but somehow too loud in the emptiness of the hallway.
Sammie’s blue eyes flashed in the flickering lights, heavier lidded than her brother’s, giving her a semi-permanent sultry expression.
How had Kieran never noticed that before?
The way she was looking at him, hesitant as it was, sent shallow sparks racing under his skin, a soft static that pooled in his gut.
He might hide his own face in his content, but a face like Sammie’s would drive people wild.
“Hi.” Kieran adjusted the strap of his gym bag on his shoulder.
He’d just taken a cool shower, but he already felt sweat prickling the skin of his back.
He needed to say something, anything, but Sammie was standing there looking at him, and even as he saw fear in her eyes, she didn’t break their gazes apart, pinning Kieran in place.
They finally spoke at the same time.
“I’m sorry,” Sammie began, just as Kieran let out a strangled, “I should have messaged you back.”
Sammie flushed, her sun-tanned cheeks going a pretty shade of red.
“I shouldn’t have sprung all that on you.
I wasn’t… thinking clearly that night.” She paused, gaze finally falling away from his, dropping to her hands that were twisting together.
Kieran had a sudden urge to reach out and grab them, to hold them still for her.
“We can pretend it didn’t happen,” Sammie continued, and there was something new in her voice that Kieran couldn’t quite place. Something small, soft. Something sad.
That hadn’t been his goal. Sure, maybe he didn’t actually know what his goal was yet, but Kieran found the sight of a disappointed Sammie to be something he truly disliked.
“Let’s go grab a bite to eat.” His words, the confidence with which he said them, seemed to catch her off guard, as though she’d already accepted defeat.
“Yes,” she blurted, fingers still twisting together. She began to pick at a nail. “That diner around the corner.” A pause as her eyes scanned his face, searching for something, but Kieran wasn’t sure what. “They serve waffles all day.”
She looked like she wanted to say more, her hands still gripped tight in front of her.
Kieran finally took in her full figure, from the dark mustard Cats shirt that hugged her tightly, to the loose, tattered jeans, cuffed to show off her combat boots.
A tattoo peaked through the tears, something that seemed to cover a large portion of her upper thigh.
Kieran had never seen it before, and he couldn’t tell from those small glimpses what it was.
The idea of seeing it fully wormed into his brain.
“Waffles it is,” Kieran said, pushing all thoughts of hidden tattoos out of his head as he reached out, pressing a hand to her arm to guide her toward the door.
Sammie stiffened, but she didn’t pull away.
She was so obviously afraid of what Kieran might have to say, like a puppy that hadn’t yet learned to trust.
Kieran definitely didn’t like that. Sammie had never been afraid of him. They’d been close once, even if their relationship had faded over the years. He needed to do something, anything, to let her know that she didn’t need to be afraid.
Stepping close, Kieran rested an arm around her shoulders, leaning in. “I’m not upset,”he said softly. “That you know. It’ll be less scary once we’ve got the waffles.”
That seemed to do the trick, to an extent.
Sammie relaxed under his arm, laughing softly at his terrible attempt at humor.
Kieran caught a glimpse back down the hallway, and cringed when he saw three heads peaking out of the locker room, the eyes of Bowen, Eric, and Aaron wide with glee.
He would need to mute the group chat, or else he would be inundated with questions he wasn’t sure he had answers to yet.
Questions. Suddenly everyone had questions for him, and Kieran could only avoid answering for so long. Pulling a deep breath into his lungs, he led Sammie out into the warm night.
Chicago Wildcats Group Chat
Bowen: yall YALL
Eric: OUR CAPTAIN IS ON A DATE
Atticus: …
Atticus: A date?
Atticus: What a strange new development. I need details
Aaron: The details make us seem like creeps
Bowen: NOT CREEPS
Bowen: just curious
Eric: just cheering him on, that’s all !!
Atticus: DETAILS NOW
Aaron: Well you see
Aaron: He just left with his arm around your sister
~
Atticus: Sister of mine
Atticus: Do you have something to tell me
Sammie: Jesus christ how do you already know?
Atticus: I have a whisper network
Atticus: Masquerading as my teammates
Sammie: Do you think you’ll still make the tourney if i murder half your team?
Atticus: … I’d say we have a 50/50 shot
Atticus: But I like the fuckers so pls don’t proceed with the murdering
Sammie: Whatever they told you is an exaggeration
Atticus: So the man you’ve been crushing on for nearly a decade DID NOT in fact leave with his arm around you
Sammie: No
Sammie: Well, he did
Sammie: But not really
Atticus: Explain
Sammie: I was nervous and he was just trying to calm me down
Atticus: Ohhh myyyy goddddd
Atticus: How quaint
Sammie: Maybe I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen
Sammie: Maybe it didn’t happen
Sammie: Maybe it was an accident
Atticus: One moment
~
Chicago Wildcats Group Chat
Atticus: Kieran
Atticus: Kieran
Bowen: Kieran
Eric: Kieran
Aaron: Captain
Coach Rodriguez: This is supposed to be a chat for team related things.
Atticus: This is definitely team related
Atticus: For morale reasons
Coach Rodriguez: Disagree.
Atticus: FINE
~
Atticus: I’ll just ask you instead since our fearless leader has apparently muted us all
Atticus: The arm around the shoulder. More of a just friends thing orrrr?
Aaron: Hard to say
Aaron: I’ve never seen Kieran show interest in anyone, can’t picture it tbh
Aaron: His face went red as his jersey when he saw us spying though
~
Atticus: I’m receiving conflicting reports of his intentions, pls provide updates at regular intervals
Sammie: Is this what you all do in your spare time? A team gossip chain?
Atticus: I’ll never betray my sources
Sammie: You mean the three stooges that were fucking watching us?
Atticus: Don’t know what you’re talking about
Atticus: Sammieeeee good luck on the not-date!
Atticus: He put his arm around yoooou!!
Sammie: He was just being nice
Sammie: Like at granny’s funeral
Atticus: I don’t know man…
Atticus: Keep me posted