Chapter 7

I ran my hands through my hair as we stepped outside and started walking up the street.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked, looking down at me.

"You're joking right?"

"Sorry, standard question."

"Everything is going to change now. Do you get that?"

"More than you know."

"I have to plan my mother's funeral, call my family, figure out where I'm gonna live by next month, decide on what I'm gonna do about college, and you know you guys aren't making this any easier."

"What do you mean?"

"Brian, Christian, you, it doesn't exactly uncomplicate things."

"I get under your skin, don't I?" he asked with a smile.

"You know that you do.

"Yeah, I know. I just love hearing you say it."

"Shut up. Be serious, just for a little while."

"Fine, you want me to be serious? I want to meet this Christian."

Well that was a strange change of pace.

"Why?"

"For the time that I've been here, I've heard about him nonstop. You were even talking about him in your sleep."

Great! Now I talk in my sleep. They might as well be freaking mind readers. I seem to tell them everything anyway.

"So you're curious?"

"Haven't I always been?"

"I think nosey is the better word for it.

He nudged me and I caught myself on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Well with everything going, I really don't think that now is the best time. Maybe some other day."

"That makes sense. When are you going to start calling people?"

"I guess when we get back from our walk, but this is my distraction so let's not talk about that right now."

"Agreed."

"Now, if I did take you to meet Christian…what would I refer to you as?"

He scrunched his face up in serious thought. I couldn't help but to laugh.

"You can refer to me as the love of your life."

"That would be a tad bit awkward don't you think?"

"Is there any of this that isn't awkward?"

"Touché. Oh and that reminds me, Shawn knows that you're here now."

He put his arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. It was like being up against a giant teddy bear.

"Which Shawn?"

"The same Shawn who practically idolized you last year and knew all of your stats by heart."

I started to vibrate as a laugh exploded from his chest.

"I remember him. He was pretty good himself."

"He was good enough to take your place on the team."

His face went serious.

"That's not funny."

I flashed my most devilish smile at him.

"He took your spot, but he's not as good. Besides, he switches positions from time to time. Personally, I think he's better on offense, but that's just my opinion."

"And where does Shawn fit into all of this? He wasn't the one who you were out with all night, was he?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but no he wasn't. I guess now he's one of the newest additions to my ex list."

His face blew up with excitement.

"You two dated?"

"Yeah, I guess you can say that we did."

"Care to explain?"

"No, I'd really rather not right about now," I ran my hands through my hair again, slower this time. Holy crap! How long has all this crap been going on? "Hey. What day is it?"

"Um, it's Saturday I think."

IT'S ONLY BEEN A WEEK! You've got to be kidding me. Didn't I just meet Christian last Friday? Well, my week had already been this strange; I might as well keep it going.

"I'm pretty sure that the guys are having a scrimmage today in about an hour."

"Then we should start walking back 'cause I'm not walking all the way to the school."

I smiled.

"Lazy."

We had just made it to the end of the street.

"I'm not lazy," he said, "I just don't feel like walking that far."

"Then let's at least walk to Bruster's. It's right up the street and I am in serious need of chocolate."

And that is exactly what we did. Sadly, he had to deal with my sugar high from having an amazing brownie Sunday, but I calmed down a bit once we went to the scrimmage. We pulled into the parking lot closest to the field. Mike stopped at the entrance.

"I can't believe it."

"What?" I asked.

"I think I actually missed this place. It doesn't compare to college stadiums though."

I crossed my arms and started walking through the main gate. He caught up with me in two easy steps.

"You know it's not the end of the world that you didn't go. We took pictures and we recorded it."

"It's not the same thing. I should've gone. It was a big day for you. I was just being too much of a brat to realize it."

Confused? As it has been mentioned, Mike was a really good football player. Well, I wasn't the only one who thought so. Scouts loved him. He had plenty of offers. But Ohio was his choice and Ohio was who he signed with. Simple to say, Ohio was so far away to the point that taking a plane would easily be the smarter option and I didn't want to be around anything that made his leaving a reality. So, being the spoiled little brat that I am, I didn't go to the biggest events in his high school life, next to his graduation. Of course, my mom practically forced me to go to that one.

"Relax. It's really not that serious."

He stepped behind me and put his arms around my neck and his head on top of mine as he wobbled to keep from stepping on my heels. I smiled and put my hands on his arms. This was one of my favorite things about him being so much taller than me. We started walking through the bleachers to the main senior section and that was when the fun started. You know, it's always interested me how these football games and scrimmages were separated when it came to the seating arrangements. No one argues about them, they're just known when you walk in. In this particular arena, if you want to call it that, there's the senior/junior section to the right, the parents/relatives section over to the left, the little kids area where they like to play their own mini game of football, and then there's the hill. This is the ultimate combination of various ages and is sectioned off within itself. Along the main part of the hill are generally the couples, the middle schoolers, and the underclassmen that are used to the area. Then there's the very top of the hill. This is mostly populated by upper classmen and various underclassmen.

I thought I'd just explain that to give you a better idea of the area. Anyway, Mike was getting plenty of stares by students who very easily believed that they were seeing things.

"Mikey?"

I didn't need to turn around to know that that was one of his old groupies. My guess would be a brunette, but I could be wrong. To be honest, I didn't really want to find out.

"I'm gonna go talk to coach, alright?" I said to him, turning my head. He kissed the edge of my mouth.

"Okay. I'll catch up in a sec."

I rolled my eyes and let him catch up with his younger friends and my current age group. I went under the bars that separate the crowd from the track and the field. It always seemed a bit awkward when I would cut through the track to get to the sidelines when the cheerleaders weren't here. Of course, it was awkward when they were here, so that's not really saying much. And no, I don't really have a problem with all of them. Heck, I used to be one, but I guess with everything going on and blowing up in my face, I quit after my sophomore year. I didn't need anymore responsibilities in my life than I already had and cheerleading was a full-time commitment.

Technically, I was breaking tons of rules by walking over to Coach, standing on a bench between two players, and covering his eyes with my hands, but I dare anyone to come and say anything to me about it.

"Guess who." I said. He jumped at my touch and then glanced back at me before turning back to watch his boys. I stepped down beside him.

"Hey Lay. Didn't you get suspended?"

"Yes I did, but it was all in self-defense. I was taught by the best you know."

"Yes I know and you better not make me regret it."

I put my hand over my frozen heart.

"Me? Never."

He smiled that old man smile of his. Sadly, he wasn't as young as he acted.

"Then I don't want to hear about you getting into anymore fights."

"Yes sir. You can ask anyone who was there; I didn't throw a single punch. How are we looking out here today?"

"Not too good. Lawrence is dropping everything that we throw at him and the defense isn't blocking worth crap."

I frowned.

"And how are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine."

"What about your blood pressure?"

"You know I don't like to talk about it." H e crossed his arms but refused to look at me. He's so stubborn.

"Maybe you should." I crossed my arms right along with him.

"Maybe I don't want to."

"That's not going to make it go down any quicker."

"Neither is this conversation."

"Well if I keep bugging you enough, maybe something will finally click in that hard head of yours. I don't think that Tammy can handle another scare like the last one."

Tammy is Coach's wife. She's exactly one week younger than him and she actually knows how to take care of herself. Sadly, she can't force him to be smarter when it comes to his health. I mean sure, he's a coach and all so he knows the basics, but his stress level is off the charts. I keep trying to talk him into taking a vacation, but his team comes first even in the off-season. I don't know how he's done it, but our team has been within the top five best football teams in the state every year for nearly twelve years now. He also turns fifty this fall, so hopefully this will be his last season and he'll finally get the rest that he needs.

"How do you feel about playing water girl for me like old times?"

I pouted.

"Only on two conditions."

It's not like he didn't know that this was coming. I'm not that easy to get rid of.

"Name it."

"One, you let me do the yelling for you today."

"I'll think about it. What's next?"

"You let me make a few tiny changes on the line."

"You know I trust you, but you know how this works. One shot, if one of your guys screws up, then he's hitting the bench."

"I know. I know. I think this will work though. Oh, but before I go, last time I checked there were two teams out there. I have the perfect partner."

Coach looked at me confused. I turned him around and pointed at the mob that had formed around Mike.

"Michael! Get your ass down here!" he yelled with a smile. Mike looked up at the sound of his name, hopped the bars, ran across the track, and tackled Coach in a major bear hug. For a second, I thought that he was going to break the poor man. I went down the line of upperclassmen until I found the one that I was looking for. I stopped in front of Drake. Remember him? Just for a recap, he's Brian's best friend and the guy that I had a bit of a tiny thing with. He was also at the basketball game when I confronted Christian and attempted to make him jealous. All caught up? Okay, and so the story goes on.

"Go!" Coach yelled at us. We grabbed the trays of water bottles and bolted over to the guys. Mike took the black team, I took the white team. (A.K.A light side and dark side, A.K.A offense and defense) Ah, the smell of grass and sweat. It's hard to believe that I actually missed it, but I did and it was relaxing to be around it again. Being around guys that were at least a foot taller than me used to make me claustrophobic, but after ten years of it, I enjoyed it. These were my guys. Cheers went up from both teams welcoming us. I felt loved and I'm sure that Mike did too.

"Hey boys, miss me?" I asked as I started throwing the bottles to the familiar faces while searching for two in particular.

"Jake, baby, I'm gonna need you to sit out for a second and take a breather. We're going to try a little experiment." – He nodded and started running to the sidelines. – "Okay, now Lawrence, I'm gonna need you to kick back and take over for Shawn. And Shawn, you better be ready to catch because Drake you're going to be throwing it to him. Now smile for me, y'all got this."

I smiled at them one last time, trying to see their faces through the helmets, before getting the bottles back and going back to Coach. Now, I would never do anything like this during a game, but the entire purpose behind scrimmages is for growth and how can you grow if you don't try new things? The whistle was blown and I didn't breathe until Craig (the current center) snapped the ball (to those who aren't all that interested in football, this means that the center is the guy who's bent over and passes the ball back to the quarterback who either runs with the ball or throws it.) to Drake. And there was that familiar sound of helmets and pads crashing together. This was our team. Our offense was amazing and our defense was deadly. These guys were feared and just looking from a distance, it was clear to see why. This is our Varsity team. They love what they do and they would do nearly anything to keep themselves out there on the grass. This spirit is what makes them different from the average jock.

Drake had doubled back and was looking for either Shawn or an opening. He didn't have time to wait. It wouldn't be long for the defense to break through the offensive line and they would come hard. Drake threw the ball full force down the field. Everyone, including the defense, had been too busy watching the offense to even notice that Shawn was already half way down the field. He looked back behind him and the ball practically put itself into his hands before he was wrestled to the ground. The crowd exploded. All I could do was smile.

"Good job yet again." Coach said to me once the noise had died down.

"I learned from the best."

I jumped as my phone vibrated in my pocket. Great! My nana was calling. I was really planning on calling her when I got home, but I should've known that she was going to be the first to know.

"I'll be right back." I said before walking over to the edge gate, the only remotely empty place in the area.

"Hey Nana."

"Layla, baby, is it true?!"

Oh! My poor nana, her heart can't take this kind of pressure. She was in full hysterics.

"Yes it is."

"Why didn't you call me? You shouldn't have to be there alone. I'm on my way out the door now. I'll be there in a few hours."

"I'm sorry Nana there's been a lot going on. I'll see you when you get here."

I closed my phone and did a bit of deep breathing. The story with my nana is that she is my last living, biological grandparent that I'm aware of, she got a divorce sometime before I was born and from what I've heard, she has had one heck of a love life since said divorce. And this amazing love life is thanks to her being an extreme traveler. She believes that she's old and that she deserves to see the world. In her off time, she lives in California which is on the complete opposite coast, so as you may guess, I was in no rush to get 'home'. Nana made the situation a bit easier though because now I had one less thing to worry about tonight and I didn't have to worry about planning the funeral either. I lived in a family full of planners. It was all just a matter of who got here first.

Hopefully they would go to a hotel though, because having Mike in my house was one thing, but having my mom's entire side of the family was something completely different. There was also the chance that a few of my relatives on my dad's side would show up. When my dad was alive, my mom was actually a reasonably liked person. My dad's family liked her, but they loved her when I was born. I think they actually ended up liking my nana even more than they did my mom by the time my dad passed. But that's just the kind of person she is. You can't help but to love her.

About an hour or more later, I was sitting with Coach on the sidewalk in the parking lot watching Mike talk to Shawn and a few of the other players a few feet away. I couldn't imagine what they were talking about, especially now that Mike knew that Shawn and I had dated while he was gone. Of course there was also the thing with Shawn knowing about my multiple boyfriends. That could be problematic too. While I'm on the word 'problematic' , it makes me think of some kind of evil machine. Can't you just picture it? It's some sinister machine that causes problems for people all over the world! Okay, anyway, away from my short attention span.

"So, you never told me how you've been. I haven't heard from you in a while. Is everything okay?"

Ha, man, that last question seriously just made me want to jump for joy at the somewhat irony of it all. Instead, I settled for simple sarcasm.

"Yeah, my step dad killed my mom and then shot himself in the head. You should come to the funeral. I have no idea when or where it's going to be, but you should definitely be there."

With the way that he looked at me, it was clear that he thought that I was telling him some cruel joke.

"That's not funny, Layla."

"I'm not laughing. I'm being perfectly serious right now. I can't believe you didn't see it on the news."

"Your mother is…dead ?"

"She has been since yesterday I think."

Oh God. It's only been a day. Why is time moving so slow?! Now he was starting to believe me. I think about three more wrinkles just magically sprouted on his face. Oh! There's another one under his eye.

"How are you holding up? Where are you staying? Is there anyone with you? What happened?"

"I'd really rather not give you a full recap of the past few days, but you can relax. Mike was here the day that it happened so he's staying with me and I'm going to start looking for a job or two to keep me busy. And my Nana is coming as we speak."

He sighed.

"Now Layla, I know that you and Mike have a bit of a…history together. Do you really think…"- I cut him off.

"Coach, you can relax. I'm not looking to add to the family right now and there's too much going on to have time for anything like that."

This wasn't completely true, but my nana was going to be in the house, so there were no worries about that.

"I just want to make sure that you're okay. I know how Mike can be sometimes."

"We're fine. I should probably go so that I can make sure that everything is in order."

"Okay. Be safe. I just want to talk to Mike before you two go."

"Promise me that you won't kill him?"

He smiled.

"You know that I can't do that."

I gave him a tight hug before skipping over to Mike and the guys. I stood in the middle of them and turned to Shawn.

"Long time no see, huh?"

"So were you two dating or not?"

I hadn't realized that Drake had been a part of this group. Was this some kind of sign or something? I mean seriously!

"You're going to have to be more specific than that." I replied casually.

"I would assume that he's talking about you and me because Mike just spent the entire time interrogating me about it," Shawn said.

"Really now?" I asked turning to Mike. He smiled at me with fake nervousness. I raised my eyebrow and said, "Coach wants to talk to you."

The guys broke into a low roar of 'ooh's' as he walked away from us.

"You never answered my question." Drake noted once the noise died down. I crossed my arms.

"I don't really think that I'm the right one to answer that."

I turned to Shawn. Even in the dark, it was clear that he was frowning. The guys watched us perfectly confused.

"It's complicated."

"We should go."

I turned around to see Mike practically blocking out the moon. Aw, I was hoping to hear more from Shawn.

"Your grandma's coming?" he asked once we were in his car. I glanced at the clock on the radio. The green numbers flashed that it was ten twenty-seven.

"Yeah she is. What did Coach say?"

"That's confidential." He replied with a smile."

I sat back in the seat and leaned my head back. I'm not completely sure why, but I always seem to fall asleep when I ride in cars, especially when it's dark. When I woke up, I was alone in my bed. I sat up, running my fingers through my hair. I was still in my clothes. I reached into my pocket for my phone and checked the time. I had only been asleep for about two hours, but I had a missed a call from Nana. Oh no. I jumped out of bed and ran for the door. Okay, no one is screaming and the cops aren't here. Maybe she isn't here yet. I stumbled down the stairs struggling to keep from falling on my face. It's never a good idea to jump up like I did when you've just woken up. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and waited for my head to stop spinning. I ran to the living room but stopped when I passed the kitchen. I took a few steps back and there was my grandmother sitting on the counter and Mike with his head in the fridge.

She looked at me and rushed over, wrapping me in a tight grip that no sixty-two year old woman should have. I stood there praying that I wouldn't hear a snap. What was going on?

"Hey baby. You didn't tell me that there was a young man staying here with you. It was a bit of a shock at first, but once he told me his name it made sense. I'm just glad that we didn't wake you up."

I was staring at her. I looked around her as Mike closed the refrigerator. He had a band-aid under his left eye.

"What happened to you?" I asked walking past my grandmother and over to him to make sure that I wasn't just hallucinating. I poked it and he flinched. Nope, it was definitely there.

"Leena didn't really expect me to be the one to open the door."

Oh gosh. My Nana has him calling her by her first name. sigh She seriously has never acted her age. It wasn't much of a surprise that she did this to him. My guess was that if he weren't so big that she would've done worse. I can't blame her. I would freak out if I found a stranger in my deceased daughter's house too. I sat down on the counter and looked at them.

"I'm sorry Nana, how long have you been here?"

She hopped up on the counter right beside me.

"I haven't been here for too long. Mike here was keeping me distracted. It was nice finally getting to meet the infamous Michael."

She smiled, but there was no doubt in my mind that she had been crying recently. This had to be rough for her. She had probably expected to die before my mom did, but that's obviously not how it happened. I leaned my head against the cabinet. Now would be a really good time for a drink, but I'd rather go without it than have Nana attack me for being anywhere near a bottle.

"When's the rest of the family coming?" I asked, closing my eyes. I knew that my aunt and uncle were both only about twenty minutes away, but the rest of my family was a bit scattered. Nana took a deep breath.

"Well, the wake is going to be tomorrow, so they should be here by then. And the…funeral is going to be on Tuesday. Annette is taking care of it."

Annette is my aunt, also known as my mom's older sister.

"Okay." I said simply. What else is there to say when discussing your mother's funeral? It's not exactly a fun topic.

"Now that that's settled, would you two like to explain this particular living arrangement to me and why it is that you, sir are not in college right now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Classic Nana. Mike and I looked at each other. It was a tad bit complicated and back before Mike had left for college, Nana and I had talked about him, but only to a certain point. I think that she has a pretty good idea of how I felt about him, which makes this even more awkward. Mike started chugging water from the water bottle that he had in his hand, leaving me to explain. I'd have to kill him for that later.

"Mike came to visit me and mom the day that…it happened, and she invited him to stay here."

"Okay, that's fine, but why aren't you in college?"

No fair. She gave him the easy question. He took the water bottle out of his mouth and put the cap on it.

"I got a job selling my artwork."

She looked interested.

"Layla, you never told me he was an artist. What kind of work do you do?"

He leaned against the sink, setting down the water bottle.

"I do pretty much every kind of painting, regular drawing, computer design, and photography from time to time."

"Interesting! Do you have anything in any galleries?"

He smiled.

"Actually, I have a painting in a gallery in Florida a few hours away from here. They want me to make another one similar to it but better before premiering them both."