Notes from the Mooooooooooon,

This chapter took a bit lol. Finals and prepping to move kinda just both hit me at the same time and I really haven't had any time for anything besides work. (My other story also needed some extra effort to finish the chapter.) The next update will probably also be kinda slow to come for the exact same reason. Got a lot on my plate and won't be writing as much. This story is harder to write and usually requires more effort per chapter then my other story since it needs more conscious word choice and paragraph flow. Regardless I still appreciate you guys reading and I do enjoy interactions! Anyways, the parental visit arc continues!

EDIT: Doc Managed fucked up me trying to write Mr or Mrs McGrady... Sorry for missing that.

A Loser, a Decision, and Paintballs

Noah stared down at two forms. He looked between them, his eyes lingering on both. The end of the weekend is my deadline. He sat back, letting his head rest against the top of the cushion. On one paper, a steady, logical path that offered a clear road to success and stability seemed like such a clear choice. A logical choice. It made more sense to just go with that career path.

On the other paper though, laid a more treacherous path. One that would push him, and potentially break him. A path that could give him everything he ever wanted, but also rip it away. He looked back and forth. He could just imagine his father turning his nose up at him and saying something to the tune of 'we aren't paying for you to waste your life' while his mother shook her head disapprovingly, that pitying look on her face as she compared him to his brothers again. Noah could see the family holidays where his brothers would rag on him for his unemployable degree.

Noah put his head in his hands. Emma would urge him to work towards the stable profession as well. It just made more sense after all. Why take such a risk for a silly dream? Time passed, and Noah remained frozen in place. Eventually, the door opened. He looked up, and saw Cody walk through the door with an obnoxious grin on his face. Noah couldn't help but smile at that; it probably meant he had a good day.

"You sure look happy." Noah said, stretching his stiffened arms in front of him. The tension as his muscles pulled against themselves felt good. "What were you up to?"

"Y'know, just Codemeister things." Cody said, trying way too hard to be suave and cryptic. "How were your parents?"

Now it was Noah's turn to be cryptic. "It happened." He shrugged, not wanting to elaborate. "They spent most of it nagging me." He almost added a quick 'y'know' at the end, but bit his tongue. Cody walked over and sat on the couch to his right. He looked at the papers on the table. Crap.

"Political science major and…" Cody paused. Noah tried to grab the paper, but it was too late. "Creative writing?" He looked up at Noah. "I could see you being a writer." Cody tipped his head back and forth. "You're always reading those thick books in your spare time."

Noah shook his head. "It's just a stupid idea. I'm going to become a political science major and then go to law school." It stung saying it. Political science was a practical major. He could make connections working for lawmakers, and pad out his resume. With his grades it would be a simple task. Yet it seemed so boring.

"I mean you have such a way with words though." Cody said with a shrug, pulling out his phone. "You'd be a great writer. Probably."

"I'll think about it." Noah sighed, picking up the papers of the table. "So, what are the 'Codemeister things' you mentioned before?" Her smirked and lifted a lazy eyebrow. "Has little Cody found the fabled 'W Riss?' perhaps?"

Cody blushed, a silly smile forming on his face. "Well, you know that girl I told you about this week?" He asked.

"Which one?"

Cody glared at Noah. "The only one I've talked about this week."

"The one that had you grinning like a serial killer?" Noah struck back, tapping his chin rhythmically. Cody was fun to make fun of, at least just a bit. "Yeah, I think I remember her. Did something happen?" Of course, he kept it to a minimum with Cody. He didn't say as many stupid things as Harold.

"Well, nothing happened exactly, but we ended up spending most of today together. I also think she's flirting with me." Cody's voice got higher and his grin got goofier the more he talked.

"And you weren't just following her around all day?"

"No! I texted her and she told me to meet her at a café!" Cody protested. "Then we ended up grabbing lunch and watching a movie."

Noah didn't immediately respond. It wasn't often words eluded him. He nodded slowly. "That sounds a lot like a date." He looked over at Cody.

"Yeah I guess it does if you say it like that."

"And you of all people didn't make a move?" Noah wondered. "You, who asked Gwen out more then once after being brutally rejected each time?"

Cody frowned, and sighed. "I thought about putting the moves on at first but after we talked for a bit, I felt bad." His shoulders slumped. Noah shifted his weight on the couch. "She's also dealing with family stuff and I was just thinking about flirting. I felt like a real ass. I talked to Trent a week back too, at the party." Cody leaned back in his seat. Noah put a comforting hand on the tech geek's shoulder. "I've been a real ass to Gwen. I don't want to treat Sammy like that."

Yet again, Noah found himself rather speechless. "Wow." Real poetic Noah.

Cody chuckled. "I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out."

"You were a 17-year-old in college." Noah shrugged. "You came here a full year younger than all of us."

"Doesn't change how I acted."

"It doesn't." Noah agreed. "Still though, it seems like you've been getting along with this Sammy." He got up off the couch and walked towards the shelf. He thumbed through a few books. Noah wasn't quite sure what he wanted to read tonight.

Cody nodded, turning on the switch. "I think she's been dropping hints. She invited me to come see her cheer at the next soccer game."

Noah grabbed The Count of Montecristo off the shelf and sat back on the couch. "That's not a hint." He said, earning a frown from Cody. "That's a glowing neon sign held above her head." Cody smiled. What an idiot. Noah lowered his eyes into his book. A stupid little brother. Noah had never been an older brother before. Being the youngest of six felt like a curse. Getting talked down to, getting treated like the idiot. Noah would never admit it, but he enjoyed having Cody come to him for advice.

"So, what you are saying is that I should put the moves on her?" Cody said. Noah didn't need to look up to see that Cody had a stupid look on his face.

"Don't do that. You'll ruin things. Just be yourself." Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. Cody could also be as annoying and dense as an actual little brother.

"But I need to show her how manly I am. Right?" Noah shut his book. The reread could wait.

He thought about sugarcoating his words, but decided against it. Cody needed to hear the truth. "Do you think I managed to get a date with a valedictorian level student by 'being many'?" Cody didn't answer, looking down at the coffee table. "I'll answer for you. I didn't. I just acted like my normal, smart ass self. She was interested in me not because I went out of my way to impress her, but because she was interested in who I was."

"What if she doesn't like me being myself." Cody asked. Moments like these really highlighted just how much that single year made.

Noah looked directly at Cody. "If she doesn't like you when you're being honest and genuine then you simply need to accept it dude." His voice had no snark. It felt alien, even to Noah. "But for what it's worth, she probably does like the real you. Not the 'Codemeister'. You're funny and goofy. Girls like that." Cody paused, taking some time to think about his words.

"Thanks Noah." Cody said. "If you do become a creative writing major I'd love to read your work."

Noah scoffed. "I appreciate it". The bookworm shook his head, feeling a smile creep onto his face. I can't disappoint little bro now can I?

Cody expected a quiet Saturday; whittling the day away and finishing up his homework. didn't expect Harold to forcibly drag him out of the apartment, pulling his arm so hard he thought it'd might pop out of the socket.

"Ow ow ow!" Cody yelped as they reached the elevator. "What's the big deal man?" he ran a hand through his uncombed hair. He'd barely gotten up and out of his pajamas at the bright and early time of eleven am. They'd left the apartment so fast Cody barely had time to even grab his jacket. He hadn't planned on staying up late, but once he'd watched one episode of a new show… well the outcome was obvious. As such he was not prepared for Harold to bang on his door and demand he wake up.

Harold checked the time on his phone. "We're gonna be late at this rate. Gosh!" He complained as the elevator doors opened on the first floor.

"I don't remember signing up for anything?"

Harold scoffed. "Yeah man cause it's a surprise! Now hurry up my parents are waiting in the rental car outside!" He said not clarifying anything. Cody simply accepted that he'd been kidnapped, and followed Harold's brisk pace outside, where his parents, the McGrady's, were indeed waiting in a black sedan. Both boys scooted into the backseat. Cody folded his hands into his lap.

"So where are we going?" Cody tilted his head, still quite confused by the situation.

Harold and his entire family giggled mysteriously. "Don't worry about it." Mr. McGrady said, with a voice shockingly similar to his son. He glanced at Cody in the rearview mirror before looking back at Cody. "Just know that this trip will be awesome." Cody wouldn't say he knew Harold's family well, but he'd ended up spending time with them before the previous summer when he visited for a week. They continued the conversation as they made their way through city traffic. Eventually the settled on the current design project they'd been working on for a major rap star.

"Yeah, it's been quite a while since we worked together, hasn't it Harold." Ms. McGrady said, gently touching her husband's shoulder. Cody had almost forgotten Harold was the fifth person in a line of five Harolds. It was rather crazy to consider just how there could have been five ginger nerds named Harold over a century. He imaged a grandpa Harold with wispy chin hairs. Cody stifled a giggle, and looked at his phone. It had a chat window open. Sammy's chat window. A half-finished pickup line was written, but he quickly deleted it. He considered sending her a joke, or asking her if she'd heard about a particular book series, but none of it seemed like the right thing to send. He remembered Noah's words about just being himself, but he couldn't quite figure it out. What about him should he show her? What about him would she accept. Most importantly, what about him would she hate? What would ruin his chances? What should he hide away at all costs? It was around then that Cody realized that they were just about to cross over the bridge out of the city.

"Wait are we leaving the city?" Cody turned towards Harold, who snickered again. The parents followed suit, and suddenly Cody was surrounded by the laughing McGrady family. They drove out of the city and made a few turns, before parking outside a large, metal building painting with yellow and purple. As he got out of the car, he saw the logo. It was a paintball arena. Suddenly it made sense. After all, they'd gone paintballing more then once over the summer. Sometimes they'd gone with Harold's parents. The McGrady's just loved paintball.

"We're gonna totally own whoever is in there." Harold declared before they entered the metal structure. Inside there were a series of small arenas, each with different layouts and themes. A wild west shootout, an alien space ship, and a World War 2 battlefield. Each arena had two groups of four or five battling it out.

Cody grinned. The two of them had formed a formidable duo in paintball, similar to how they worked together in dodgeball. The group of four went in and signed up as group, grabbing a set of generic paintball blasters and helmets off the shelf, and walking to the Wild West Shootout, where the two teams had just finished playing.

"Can we get the next game?" Mr. McGrady asked, slinging his blaster over his shoulder. The group of teens that emerged looked between each other, and smirked.

"Oh yeah, but we'll smoke you guys."

The match was a smoke out, but not the way the teens expected. Harold the 4th was a menace with the paintball blaster. Much like Harold, he was a man of many unexpected talents and spontaneousness. Though Cody and Harold were no slouches either, each blasting one apiece. Ms. McGrady got shot out but other then that it was a perfect game. The teens demanded a rematch, and came out guns blazing, catching both Cody and off guard. The two were shot out before they even had a chance to respond, set ablaze by shells of paint.

"What a rather unfortunate start." Mr. McGrady laughed, getting up and laughing. He walked towards the exit of the Wild West, and Cody followed, his mind drifting as he looked back, his eyes landing on the absolute bombshell of a women that this lanky man had managed to marry.

"Yeah, It really was," Cody laughed half heartedly as they sat down. "Thanks for inviting me along ."

The older man smiled. "Harold explained the situation, at least very basically." He said. "It didn't feel right to leave you at home alone y'know. You deserve to have fun on a weekend like this too."

"I see. I appreciate it." Cody said, before looking forward and watching the match. Despite the horrible opening, Harold and his mother had managed to stem the tied and push back against the teenagers, taking turns covering each other as they took space and angles to fire on. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

Cody paused to find the right words. "Guys like me and you aren't well, manly and stuff." He said. It was true; Cody wasn't blind to how short, almost childlike he looked. "We are into random stuff; stuff that women usually don't take note of if your good at. So… how did you managed to win her over?" Cody finally asked, cocking his head over at , who shot out one of the teens, evening up the body count.

Mr. McGrady shook his head and laughed a little bit. "I didn't do anything. Beyond just being myself." He said as Harold bent his back backwards, dodging as a series of paintballs flew right over him. "It doesn't really matter what it is. As long as you are enthusiastic about it and talk about it with passion, someone will take note of it. Someone will care."

"I see." Cody said, focusing back on the match. Harold and pinched their opponents between them, laying waste of them with a barrage of paint. The round had ended. The rest of the afternoon went by quickly, with the group stacking up win after win in the paintball arena. There was paint of his jeans, on his shirt, and even in his hair; but Cody couldn't care less. The exhilaration of tagging someone with paint was worth it. The afternoon came to a close, and by the time they'd left, everyone was covered from head to toe.

Sammy sighed, adjusting her position while laying down on the couch. Late afternoon naps weren't particularly healthy, but after taking a long workout that morning and studying at the library, she felt wiped. A satisfying feeling to take a well-earned nap to. She reached to the coffee table, and pulled her phone over to her. She blinked, dispelling the grogginess from her eyes. She looked at her phone, and scrolled through her notifications. She frowned; He hadn't texted her since the day before. Sammy decided to look at her other texts. Jasmine reminded her she would be camping with her parent's all weekend, giving them a taste of the North American wilderness. Apparently, her parents were going to trek through the Appalachian Mountains before traveling back to Australia. Bridgette mentioned having her parents meet Geoff's parents, and that she wouldn't be back until late that night.

She stretched and walked over to the kitchen, grabbing some leftovers out of the fridge. Day old mac and cheese. Sammy didn't fancy herself as much of a chef, and often resorted to letting Jasmine and Bridgette making things and picking at them after. Sammy figured it wouldn't be an issue since she did most of the cleaning around the apartment. Though admittedly they were all quite clean in their everyday lives. She brought her leftovers back to the couch along with her laptop and her notebook. She'd been putting off studying for the trigonometry test. Unlike Cody she had very little enthusiasm for numbers. She opened both while eating, and opened up the practice problems. She finished the first problem quickly, but hit a roadblock on the second. She ultimately got it wrong, and realized where she went wrong. In her notebook she jotted something down along the margins. While she started on the third problem her phone buzzed. Instinctively she reached over, and checked the notification. She smiled.

Whatcha doin? A very simply and innocuous text. So much so that it radiated an attempt at flirting. Though Sammy didn't quite mind. She pressed her lips together to hold back an eager grin while she quickly texted out a response.

Wouldn't you like to know? ;) The winky emoji may have been a bit too much, but Sammy wanted to have fun with it. A certain elation built up in her chest as she put her phone on her lap, waiting for a response. Sammy wasn't quite sure what she felt about Cody, but she was finding their back and forth pretty fun.

Trying to be mysterious huh? Now I'm really curious.

Sammy giggled at this text. It was corny, but it didn't feel inauthentic. I'm just doing practice problems for trig lol. There really wasn't any reason to be coy about it. Not that interesting.

Don't insult math like that :(

Sammy snorted. Such a silly conversation they were having. She laid down on the couch, and held her phone above her face while texting her response. They went back and forth over text, and Sammy found herself laying on her stomach, waving her legs in the air while reading Cody's story about how he managed to trick a bully into getting all the wrong answers on a math test back in high school. Ohhhh that's so evil! Sammy giggled.

Do u have any funny stories from high school?

Her blood went cold. Sammy took one slow breath, and then another. She could feal the faintest chills of the past on her neck.

I'd rather hear more stories about u lol. Sammy quickly typed. A perfectly coy and innocent response. An easy answer. She closed her eyes for a moment, staving off any memories of her past.

You wanna hear more? Lmao somebody has a crush

Sammy froze at Cody's bold text. The question was posed to her. She could lie. It'd be simple; Cody couldn't tell if she was lying or not. His text wasn't serious, yet it brought a question lingering in her mind to the forefront. Did she like Cody? Sammy shook her head. Every time she felt confronted by this question, her answer didn't quite change, but it felt different. An unsure maybe. A hesitant maybe. Now, the answer became a certain maybe.

I'm not going to tell ;) Sammy played along with Cody's antics. He sent her another story about how he hacked the school intercom every day for a month to play memes over the loudspeakers at random intervals. Everyone knew it was him but no proof was ever discovered, so he got off scot-free. They continued texting for a while, until Sammy ultimately cut the conversation off. She needed to study. She really did.

On the other end, Cody's hands were shaking. He looked down at his phone. He typed something out, before deleting it, before typing it again. His thumb hovered over the send key, jittering as it lowered. He gulped, and pressed his finger against the warm glass screen. His breath caught in his chest.

Sammy tapped on the touchpad of her laptop, waking up the bright screen. She hoped to complete some more practice problems. The buzzing of her phone had another idea. She pickup up her phone, and felt her cheeks turning red.

Do you want to come over to my place tommorow?

Sammy couldn't help but be a little shocked. She didn't think as she typed out a response.

Sounds good :)

Again sorry for the delay guys! This chapter is a big in between; important, even if less exciting y'know. Next chapter I promise will really build on everything that's happened. Thanks again to all of you who read, and an extra thanks to those of you who review! I love hearing feedback. Really I do! It makes my day when you guys leave something that tells me you care about the characters I've created.

Till next time,

An Anonymous Winton