Chapter 36 – Volleyball Time

I poked Troy's shoulder, as he was fast asleep in my bed. He had stayed over as we were going to Santa Fe to play volleyball, the beginning of two days of volleyball. Troy moaned, as it was early, about five fifteen. He groaned again as he pulled the covers closer to his body, his eyes were shut tightly and he tried to roll over.

"Troy," I said laughing, he made another noise as I straddled his lap as I bent over to kiss his lips, "You gotta get up." I said against his lips, my eyes were just as tired but I could keep them open.

"What the hell time is it?" he grumbled, his voice deep and raspy, "Five fifteen."

"Ten more minutes." He complained he rolled over sliding me off of his lap. "Troy, we have to go, like right now." He finally opened his eyes, the bright blue stunning in the sea of black surrounding us. "This is way to early." He complained, "Way, way to early." I laughed as I pushed his shoulder gently. "I think I need another kiss before I can even begin to think about getting out of bed."

I smirked as I kissed his lips slow at first before it back quick, hot, and heavy. His lips pressed against mine harder as he wrapped his arms around my mid section. I moaned into his lips as I pulled back, "If you want more, you need to get your ass out of bed." He smirked as he hugged me before I rolled off.

Reaching for my bag, Troy rolled out of bed. He rubbed his eyes as he disappeared to his bathroom. I walked downstairs as I heard him rummaging around upstairs in my room. My dad appeared from his room, quietly shutting the door as he glanced up. He was in a pair of jeans with a Yankee pull over. His hat fit over his head as I smiled.

"Good morning," he only gave me a brief nod as he escaped to the kitchen. My dad is not a morning person, only a night owl as most baseball players were. They stayed up a lot of the night and got up later, went to the ballpark, worked, then left and untwined before sleeping and starting over. Certain things I just knew.

Troy came down the stairs, minutes later, looking almost like my dad just wearing shorts. He had his hat on backwards also, his eyes tired and he could barely keep them open. I cracked a smile as he walked into the kitchen as my dad handed him a thing of coffee. "Here you go," he said stuffing the cup into Troy's hand.

Troy took it gladly as I opened up the door, "Come on boys," they all filed out as my dad got into the drivers seat as I climbed in the back with Troy. He pulled up his hood as he slept most of the way, his arm buckled around my arm and his head resting on top of mine.

My dad pulled into the parking lot of the gym as we were referring first, I didn't have to rush inside as I got Troy to wake up once again. He shuffled out of the car as he took my backpack from my hand and we walked inside together. "Good luck today," he said with a soft smile, "Thanks," I leaned up to kiss him as I then walked to find my team.

Troy's POV

"I am not going to lie," I turned around to see Alex standing behind me, "These get really boring." His eyes lingered on Gabi, her body standing on the corner as she watched the lines.

"Why?"

"It's a lot more of this than that," his fingers pointed to the court as a volleyball match was taking place. "She only plays four matches before bracket play, then its play, play, play but right now, ref, play, sit, ref, play, sit, play, sit, play, sit." He rattled off the schedule like nothing else. I took a deep breath, "That sounds not so fun."

"It's also a long day, then we have to be back here tomorrow morning for a quick round of four teams followed by a long bracket play."

"Another five am wake?" I asked, he laughed and shook his head, "No, this one is a tad later but not by much."

I laughed as Gabi made a call, her long arms stretching out; I licked my lips as I took a long breath. "I may have to call reinforcements." I said with a smile, "Call Newman to entertain me and to bring me a charger." I frowned as my half dead phone battery as it somehow didn't charge through the night. "I would. Kylie is going to drop off the twins at my parents house for a few hours and come up here."

I debated if I should call Cody now or later, if I called him now he wouldn't come. If I called him later, he may come. I glanced at my phone as I finally told myself to wait. The game she was reffing now was almost over, so it would be a game of playing, watching her do something she loves. I couldn't help but smile as the other team called a time out. She joked around with the other girls as someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to see a guy standing behind me.

"Another boyfriend?" I arched my eyebrows as I looked at him, "Huh?"

"Which one is your girlfriend?" he asked rephrasing his sentence. "Oh," I looked back to the court, "Gabi's," the guy nodded his head, "Casey's is my girlfriend, she is the other line judge."

"Troy," I said, sticking my hand out, "Ryan," we shook hands as he sat down next to me, "I saw you the other night at the 500 point thing but I never got a chance to talk to you. I at first thought you were a sibling but I then realized you were somebody's boyfriend."

"Yea, Gabi and I have been dating since April…"

"Oh, do you play any sports?" he asked, his head nodding to something, his eyes taking in the court. "Baseball, you?"

"Basketball and soccer," he said, his eyes glancing over me, "What school do you go to?" I finally asked, "South High,"

"East," he thought about it before his eyes grew, "You threw the no-hitter at State!" he exclaimed, "Yea, I did." I said I then cleared my throat as I took a drink of coffee. "Man, I heard you were good."

"I couldn't say…"

"Oh well, I am just now getting looked at for college. Some stupid school not but five miles from my house." He shook his head, "I want to leave."

"I know the feeling." I told him, "It's just a little too small here for me but I'm looking at a bigger picture than what school I am going to."

"You mean you are working towards the pros?" he asked, I nodded, "Yea," his eyes nodded, "What college are you looking at though, incase the pro thing doesn't work out?"

"LSU, Florida, South Carolina, some where likes that."

"Where does Gabi want to go?"

"LSU or New York,"

He nodded his head, "I want to go to Arizona State to play soccer," he said, "I enjoy soccer a bit more than basketball but oh well. I will go where I can get a decent scholarship."

"Smart," I told him as I played with my hands for a moment, "How long have you and Casey been dating?"

"Four months," he said, "Our four month anniversary was last night, she wasn't happy with me about what we did so I made up for it by coming today."

"Ohh," I laughed as I looked up to already see the girls warming up. Gabi had ditched her shorts and her long sleeve t-shirt for a pair of tight spandex with a long sleeve uniform. My mouth watered slightly at the sight of her, my body reacted as I shook my head.

"How am I going to be able to sit here…all day? Looking at this." I murmured my voice was low as Alex wasn't far from me. "Dude, I have no clue how some guys do this. This drives me crazy."

"I mean they have great bodies, I don't know how people aren't staring."

"I don't know why I didn't camp out at these more often before I was dating Casey," a smile formed on my lips as I knew why I was never camped out, "So I think you have just become my entertaining buddy," Ryan said with a smile, "Sounds good. I was going to call my buddy Cody,"

"Your catcher right? I went to one of your games."

"Yea, Cody catches me."

"Well I think we are going to get along great,"

Gabi's POV

"Casey, have you seen my boyfriend?" she raised her eyebrow and then glanced around, "No, have you seen my boyfriend?" we had just finished our second game, getting little time to see either of them. "No, I haven't." my mind wondered and I went over to my dad as Casey followed. "Dad, have you seen Ryan or Troy?" I asked

My dad was sucking on his lip as he then shook his head. "Uh no. Last time I saw them they were announcing their bromance and were watching you two play,"

Casey laughed, "Bromance?"

"Are you making fun of it?" we turned around to see Troy and Ryan, both walking back with drinks and some food. Troy walked to me as he handed me water and then a sandwich from Subway, just the way I loved them. "Thanks," I said reaching up to kiss his lips. "We left once you guys were in control of the game to grab you guys some food." Ryan said as Casey took the food.

We all went outside, as it was a nice day, even for mid December, the warm breeze took over us as I sat down in Troy's lap. "Are you enjoying your day?" I asked he nodded with a small grin. "Of course. I am just trying not to fall asleep,"

"I'm sorry." I said as I ran my fingers through his hair. "I told you volleyball isn't all fun and games. There is a lot of sitting. I mean if you think about it, baseball is a lot of sitting too."

"Not in the same way,"

"So I see you are getting along great with my boyfriend," Casey teased him, "Ryan and I are in this weekend together."

"You sound like you don't want to be here." Casey said with a point, "Oh I want to be here but when you ref, we are bored."

"No need to complain. We hate it about as much as you do."

Troy snorted as Ryan shook his head, "Sure, whatever." My dad laughed from behind us as I shoved Troy. "You are mean today!"

"I am not! I am just tired,"

"Like im not?" I asked he rolled his head to the side. "I love you okay?" I shook my head as I pressed my lips against his. "You are such a suck up." I murmured, "Such a suck up." He laughed as he rubbed my lower back, "It's my turn to torture you all day."

"You love sitting at my baseball games."

"And that isn't fair." I proclaimed, Casey and Ryan laughed, "Those two are a match made in heaven." Ryan said sputtering with laughter, "Tell me about it." My dad said laughing, I rolled my eyes, "I am going to go play volleyball or something, enough of you losers," I winked at Troy as he laughed, he gave the air kisses as I shook my head.

"Good luck!" he yelled, Casey caught up with me as we both went to find our teams. "Such a natural flirt," she said with a smirk, "He is the flirt."

"Oh no, you both are. I thought your dad was going to ring somebody's neck," my cheeks flamed, "I always forget about him,"

"Love," she said flapping her hands. I shoved her shoulder as she laughed, running into another person. A laugh escaped my mouth as she apologized, "Gabi!" she screeched, "Ha-ha," I said pointing with my finger; she shook her head as she walked onto the court. "You will pay."

Once the final point was played, we all cheered and then went off to shake hands. We had played great today, almost going undefeated and taking number one in our pool. Getting a later start tomorrow for our quick four-team pool.

My eyes drooped lower that I could imagine my mom had disappeared about two hours ago. Troy and Ryan had passed out during our last break, as I hadn't seen them since. We gathered up for a fast team meeting, the majority discussing weather or not we should all go out to eat, as tomorrow posed to be a long night, also being a school night.

"I say tonight!" Amanda cheered; they were high on energy as mine was low. The fast, quiet round of sex last night probably shouldn't have happened as I was drained of energy now. We were surprised we had done it, in my house, with my dad sleeping down the hallway. We were both relived of the sexual tension we were both experiencing.

"I say we go to that buffet, I am starved!"

"Sounds good to me," Casey said, Mackenzie jumped on, as did Emma and Jen. We were all heading to the camp area, where all of our stuff lay. Ryan and Troy were both passed out. Troy was lying on his stomach, using his arm as a pillow, his hood pulled over his head and his shorts had drifted down. The tips of his boxers were showing Calvin Klein today.

Ryan was lying on his back, using Casey's backpack as a pillow. His sweatshirt had shriveled up to show his crisp abs. "How do you think we should wake them up?" Casey asked as she stood next to me. "Well, I had an idea but I don't think my dad would like that one." I pointed out, she laughed as I tried to find a better idea.

I then had it. "Taking off our stuff in front of them." Her eyes lite up as anybody could wake to the stench of our shoes and kneepads. It was a bag smell, something I wish I didn't have to smell all of the time. I sat down right in front of Troy, a bit of drool had left his mouth as I took off my shoes and placed them near Troy.

He didn't flinch even though I had the stench in my nose, water filled my eyes they smelled so bad. I then stripped off my kneepads as I put them closer. His nose twitched but he just shifted his head and turned away.

"It's not working," Casey complained, "Socks," I said, I then stripped those off as I had a clean pair in my bag. I then placed them on his face, those had to smell the worse of them all.

Troy's head moved as my sock was disgustingly wet. His head then popped up, his eyes dull and tired, his hair a mess, "That's sick," was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Casey and I both laughed, which caused Ryan to stir; he took on whiff before his eyes flew open. Casey and I were rolling of laughter as Troy had basically rolled back over and went to sleep.

I finally got up as I sat down on his back, my fingers massaging his shoulders. "Troy," I purred into his ear, "Come on, we are going to go eat." His body popped up, "Food?" he declared, and "You mean you are going to feed me,"

"Yes, I am going to feed you, come on let's go." I stuffed all of my stuff away as I put my backpack on my shoulders. I jumped onto Troy's back as I wrapped my legs around his waist, "Excuse me," he said with a laugh, "I'm sore," I whimpered, I wrapped my legs around tighter. "I'm tired,"

"You took a nap! I have been playing all day and after last night," I said into his ear, "Yea, yea, I didn't force you into anything. You seduced me."

"Shh…" I whispered into his ear, "No need to scream it to the world."

"Of course not."

I rolled my eyes as he finally took off, "So I see you and Ryan made buddy buddy,"

"He is funny,"

"I'm glad,"

"Since you ditched me alllll day." He complained as we went further to the car. "I did not."

"You played volleyball and reffed!"

"During my breaks I was with you."

"You didn't have many of those."

"Will you stop complaining?" I asked, "I wont make you come to another one."

"Yes you will."

"No, you will just come out of being a good boyfriend and missing me."

He didn't have a remark for that as we kept going to the car. Once we came to it, I climbed into the backseat with Troy as he kept his hand on my knee. He rubbed it as he let his head fall onto mine. "Such a male,"

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to."

My dad rolled his eyes, "Isn't that enough flirting for one day?" my dad asked, my cheeks grew five shades red, Troy just laughed at my reaction as I buried my head into his shoulder. My father chuckled as Troy wrapped his arms around me.

Once we pulled into the buffet, Troy's eyes light up. "Oh yes, time to stuff some food."

I leaned back in my chair as I looked at Troy, who was still eating after an hour of being here. My dad had stopped fifteen minutes ago, after five plates, Troy was on plate seven and they were all full and I mean full to the top.

"Damn, I remember when I was able to do that."

"Two years ago?" one of the dads questioned as most of the parents had three plates. Us girls had about four plates each, not counting the bowl of dessert we each had and a cookie. Troy was the only one eating and it didn't even faze him. Once he finished the plate he was on, he began to push his chair back.

"Again?" I asked my stomach hurt just thinking about him eating another bite. "I need dessert, duh." He said with a smile, "Grab me a cookie!" I yelled he nodded as he walked away. "Damn, I wish I could put as much away as him."

"The end of his season is coming so he has to have a control diet starting after the holidays. He is eating as much as he can right now, of course he works out every day if not twice a day."

Some of the parents laughed, "Man, I miss being a teenager."

"That's my life," my dad mentioned, "That's what he wants his life to be." Troy was coming back with a plate full of sweets, a smile on his face as Ryan was coming back with him. Ryan was trying to keep up with Troy but he failed a plate back. He claimed to need to puke as he disappeared outside. Ryan was laughing with a bowl of ice cream.

"Welcome back, what did you throw up? The lasagna, fruit, taco, or the steak?" Casey asked, she batted her eyes, "I puked nothing. I just needed fresh air."

"Bull shit," she called, "You looked green."

He laughed, "I really didn't, I promise." Amanda laughed as Mackenzie shook her head. "Sure, whatever." Troy handed me a cookie as Casey climbed into Ryan's lap. I'm afraid if I climbed into Troy's lap, he would eat my head off.

Once Troy was done, I crawled over to his lap. His held me in his arms as I rested my head onto his shoulder. "I'm tired," he nodded as he kissed my temple, my sweaty ponytail pushing into his face. "Mmm…I love you." He whispered into my ear, "I love you too," my eyes were falling and I couldn't help it. "I better get going I am pretty sure my daughter fell asleep."

I heard my dad's voice as people began to move. I blinked open my eyes as Troy was pushing back his chair, his arms were underneath my legs. "I can walk," I mumbled, my voice stained and tired. "I got you, just go back to sleep."

"No, I can walk," I protested, he let me down as I just gripped his hand and leaned against him. We shuffled to the car as he kissed my temple as we got into the car; saying goodbye to everybody and saying see you tomorrow. Troy wrapped me tight into his arms as I snuggled against him. My dad and Troy carried on a conversation most of the way home.

They talked about baseball, off-season, kids, schools, and a lot of other things. I was in and out of sleep the entire time so I didn't have much of a grasp on the topic. "Does she always do this?"

"Sometimes or most of the time she is full of energy but you have the adrenaline running all day, it finally just wears you out. I will be waking her up tomorrow because she will sleep through five different alarm clocks."

"That heavy of a sleeper huh?"

"Its like playing a full day of baseball or even three baseball games a day and then having to get up at the crack of dawn to do it all over again."

"They play hard."

"They do."

The conversation halted as we pulled into a driveway and I opened my eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow morning okay?" he asked, "I'll meet you guys up there?" I then felt really confused, "Wait what, I thought you were staying again?"

"Nope. I have some stuff I need to do."

My lip quivered as I had taken this time right now for granted, "Okay,"

"I'm sorry," he leaned in and hugged me a long minute, a very long minute. "You are going to go home and crash anyways." Troy was right but I wanted to fall asleep in his arms again. Once he exited the car, I almost fell back asleep again. "Come on El," my dad said, I wanted Troy to carry me now but I trudged up the stairs.

My legs dragging after every movement, once I shredded my clothes, my mom came in to grab them all. I put on a pair of shorts with a tank top, washed my face, and then crawled into bed.

My phone vibrated as I reached to grab it. I answered it, "Hey,"

"I'm sorry," he said, "I saw you were upset. I have homework to do and you need some solid hours of sleep."

"I just wanted to fall asleep in your arms again."

"I know, I slept great last night because of that."

"Me too." Both of us stared quiet, our voices didn't need to be heard as I slipped into a sleep, Troy's breathing on the other end of the phone. "I love you Brie,"

"I love you too Troy,"

Getting up at six am was a little better than yesterday morning. After my dad left the room, I looked at the empty side of the bed; the chill that lay there, yesterday the warm lump of Troy was there. Yesterday, he was cuddled up with me and we didn't let go for a long time, or I didn't let go.

My heart pounded as I got dressed in my clean uniform. My heart raced as I got into the car, I had texted Troy but he hadn't responded. I sighed softly as I knew he wouldn't get up this early for nothing.

Once we pulled up, my dad let me out as he was going to grab Starbucks. I rubbed my eyes as I walked up to the school, "Hey there baby girl," I jumped as Troy was standing next to me. A big smile crossed his face as he leaned over to kiss my lips. I stopped as I wrapped my arms around his waist, his lips pressing against mine.

My arms locked around his back, as it felt good to be back in his embrace. His soft touches with his rough fingers, his warm air hit my ear, the chills ran down my back as I pulled away, tucking my head on his shoulder. "Good morning," I said with a smile, "You never answered my text this morning."

"My charger isn't working. Cody is going to come up in a little bit and hangout then give me a charger."

"Oh that's cool." We walked inside hand in hand, his thumb stroking my skin, "Ready for a full day of volleyball?" he asked, I smiled and nodded, "Of course."

Troy's POV

Watching Gabi succeed made my heart skip a beat. Her energy she held on the court, her excitement on the court, her hustle and dedication. I wonder if this is what she saw when she watched me play.

Her smile radiated more than the sweat on her face did. Her legs worked hard, every muscle twitched and the lines were defined. Her ponytail flopped back and forth as the pure sexiness was there.

"She is good," Cody commented, taking me out of my trace. The ball sailed off her fingers as it went to the other side. My body jumped, as I wanted it to be a kill. They were in the championship game, they were winning, and they were on a roll. They were good.

"I know, I wonder if this is what it is to watch us play."

"I wonder. I wonder what Becca feels sometimes."

"What is it like for her to be at college and you here?"

"Tough." He said, "I am just happy I can go to school with her next year."

I blew out a breath of year, "Gabi and I are going to spend a lot of time apart. We aren't going to go to the same school." I mentioned, "She is probably going to New York, that is where she wants to go."

"And you?"

"I want LSU or Florida, if I pick a school."

"If you pick a school," Cody's word drug out, "You aren't mad are you?" I asked him, "That they are looking at me,"

"They are looking at me too…I mean if they are looking at you they are looking at me." He joked, I frowned, "No, I am not. I don't want to do that. I don't have the dedication to do it."

"I just, I want to be friends for a long time."

"Hook me up with plane tickets and tickets to your games, I'll come if you are drafted are you going to live with Gabi during the off season?"

"I don't know. If she lives in New York she said she is going to stay in a dorm."

"Ah…"

"So we will see. I might stay home and visit her a lot."

The other team called a timeout, the whistles blew as the girls cheered and met over by their coach. Her blue uniform hugging every curve, "I don't know what's going to happen, I just hope it all works out. I can't imagine my life without her."

"You two were made for each other."

A smile bounced on my lips as we clapped and cheered the rest of the game. They had to take it to a third game, the third game was intense and close, Gabi made one to two errors which made her flame only coming back hotter than ever.

Alex jumped out of his seat several times, cheering. I clapped my hands loudly as Cody whistled. They were behind two, the other team having twenty-three. We only needed five points to win and it was Gabi's serve.

She stood behind the baseline. Her body relaxing as she rattled off two balls easily. She tossed the next one up and it sailed over the net, looking like it was going to go over and out but at the last second a girl stuck her hands up and it tipped off of the back of her hands. Sailing to the other end as they were tied.

The girls were excited. My heart was racing as Gabi served the next one. They played the ball back and forth. The girl hit the ball and it came flying over. Gabi made a perfect pass but it knocked her down in the process. She bounced up quickly and she finished the play, with us having a game point.

"Come on Brie," I whispered, my palms sweated as she tossed the ball up. Her palm contacted the ball evenly; it looked like it wasn't going to clear the net. It was that short but it caught the tape and bounced to the other side. It fell straight down before anybody could get to it. We all jumped up and cheered, clapping hands as the girls were in the middle screaming, celebrating.

I know those moments. The moments of victory that everybody wanted to join in. Seeing Gabi have her moment, slapping hands with the other team, getting her medal, taking pictures with the team. I took a few with her phone and some with mine. Once they were all finally done, she came running to me. I caught her in a hug as I spun her around.

"Great game baby," I whispered into her ear, her sweaty body pressed tightly against mine. Her grin matched mine as I kissed her before she ran off to her dad. I loved this feeling being on the other side of this wasn't that bad.

Yay! It was a boring chapter but it was a filler and I as a author, hate filler chapters. Sigh. Thanks for reading! Have a great week and if you are taking finals, good luck!

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