Chapter 2
1690 Words
CHAPTER 2
BRYCE
“Thanks for all your help.” I hug Twlya goodbye.
She’ll go back to San Francisco with her boyfriend, Chase, in a couple days, after spending more time with her brother, Miles, who I cannot stand.
“You’re welcome. I’m so happy for you.”
“Make sure you tell Chase that I didn’t work you too hard and didn’t allow you to lift anything.”
I cannot believe they’re going to have a baby. Twyla is a little younger than me, and I’m not anywhere close to wanting to even think of starting a family.
She laughs. “He’s not the boss of me.”
Then we laugh together because, although Chase isn’t the boss of her, he is a very big, very protective tight end for the Kingsmen.
My buzzer dings, so I press the button to answer the door in the lobby.
“Open up, Coop is about to drop the pizza. He’s been complaining about how hot the bottom of the box is for the last block,” my college friend Elle, says through the speaker.
I laugh and press the button. Twyla gives me a frown.
“What?”
“I’m jealous.” Her frown deepens.
“Jealous?”
“We’re going to miss you.”
I can’t deny that I love my girlfriends back in San Francisco. Although they’re all married, engaged, or having a baby with a Kingsmen football player, and I do often feel like the odd woman out, I’m going to miss everyone too.
“I’m going to visit, and you guys are always welcome here. When the Kingsmen play the Grizzlies, we’re definitely meeting up.”
Twyla smiles. “Definitely.”
I open the door in anticipation of Coop and Elle’s arrival, and I can hear my two college friends arguing as they round the final set of stairs to my apartment.
“Jesus, you couldn’t find a place with an elevator?” Cooper complains.
“Some of us don’t make millions of dollars,” Elle says. “He’s been complaining since he picked me up. The pizza boxes were too hot, his legs hurt from climbing the stairs. Anything else upsetting you, Goldilocks?”
Twyla and I laugh.
“First of all, these hands are worth the millions. And it was leg day, so I’m sore.” Cooper shakes his head.
“Are those hands worth millions to women or to the Grizzlies?” Elle asks.
“Oh, they’re fun,” Twyla says to me with a smile.
Elle and Coop stop outside my door. I take the pizza box from Coop and set it on top of a box I’ve yet to unpack near the door. He shakes out his hands as if it was filled with coals.
“They are fun, but they argue all the time,” I whisper loudly so they can hear me.
“No, we don’t,” Elle says.
“Not at all,” Coop adds.
I roll my eyes and Twyla laughs, sticking out her hand. “I’m Twyla.”
“Twyla, these are my college friends, Ellery and Cooper.”
They all shake hands.
“I gotta use your bathroom.” Cooper steps into my apartment but turns around. “Sorry for being rude, but this is what happens when people don’t let me use a public restroom because they feel the need to lecture me on germs.” He stares at Elle, and she laughs.
“I was just saying.” She shrugs.
“It was nice meeting you, Twyla.” He waves and goes deeper into my apartment.
“She’s engaged to Chase Andrews,” I inform Elle.
Her eyes light up. “So you know Miles Cavanaugh then. They used to play together.”
I elbow Elle to shut up.
Twyla glances at me and tilts her head. “Um… he’s my brother. Have you not told your friends anything about your life back in San Francisco?”
Elle crosses her arms and stares me down. “What hasn’t she told us?”
Twyla giggles. “She knows Miles. The two of them have this hate relationship that I’m not entirely sure…”
“Is hate?” Elle finishes, eyes sparkling.
Twyla points at her. “Exactly.”
“Sounds like B,” she says, nodding.
“Whatever.” I roll my eyes.
“You can keep acting indifferent, but I heard it in your tone when you said you were moving here and how you were afraid it might look like you’d followed him.”
“Which I did not. Sportsverse is a national publication and it’s my dream. Even though I’m writing on the Tundra, and they’re not even the national hockey team, it’s a step into the magazine and that’s all I need to prove myself.”
Elle puts her hand on my arm and runs it up and down. “I’m just repeating what you said. We all know how important this job is to you.”
“Definitely,” Twyla says. She and Elle smile at each other then me.
“And it’s probably a good thing that you’re not writing on the Grizzlies because I’m not sure which one of you would kill the other first.” Twyla hugs me. “Speaking of which, Miles is expecting me, and we all know how overprotective he is.”
“He’s probably on the phone with the police right now,” I joke.
“Good luck, but you don’t need it. You’re going to do great here.” Twyla squeezes me tightly. “Miss you.”
“Miss you.”
We step out of our hug, and Twyla wraps her arms around Elle, who isn’t always so affectionate.
Elle stands with her hands at her sides at first then pats Twyla’s back. “Bye, bye, now.”
I bite my lip to keep from laughing because Elle looks so uncomfortable.
“Take good care of her,” Twyla whispers loudly enough for me to overhear it.
Then she releases her, and Elle exhales a big breath.
“Love you, talk to you soon.” Twyla waves before rounding the staircase and heading down.
“She seems nice. And friendly,” Elle says.
“Too friendly for you, I know.” I pick the pizza box back up, walk farther into my apartment, and she follows, closing the door.
“And she’s Miles’s sister. That’s one piece of information you forgot to tell me.”
I whip around, and the pizza box almost falls out of my hands. “Do not tell Coop anything. As far as he’s concerned, I do not know Miles.” She scrunches her eyebrows. “Oh Jesus, you already told him, didn’t you?”
“No. I promise.” She raises her hand. “But why not?”
“Because… I have my reasons.”
“You don’t want Coop to not like him? You’re worried about Miles Cavanaugh and the team dynamic?”
I glance down the hall and see that the bathroom door is still shut.
“Cooper should make up his own mind about Miles,” I whisper. “Promise me.”
“Promise. I won’t say anything, but he’s eventually going to find out. You’re going to be at some games with me this year. You know how lonely it was for me, waiting for him after the games when all those jersey-chasers were waiting to get a piece of him. I almost got into a fight every damn time.”
I hadn’t really thought about that, but still… I’ll postpone Cooper knowing as long as I can. Maybe the distance between Miles and me will do us some good. We’re not in the same social circle now, and I don’t write about him. With time, maybe we can be cordial with one another.
“I’m starving.” Cooper walks down the hall and opens the pizza box. “f**k, Elle, I told you I wanted meat.”
“And you also told me that camp starts next week and I shouldn’t let you eat things your nutritionist wouldn’t approve of. So if you’re having pizza, you’re having veggies.”
He stares at the pizza as though someone told him he’s eating liver for the next week straight.
“I was so excited,” he whines.
“Stop being a baby,” I say and grab three beers from my fridge. Grocery delivery is the best thing ever. I pop open the bottle and hand it to him. “Here, drink away your problems.”
“She knows I don’t like mushrooms,” he whispers and takes his pizza and beer into the other room, where he turns on the television.
“It’s just like old times now that you’re back.” Elle side-hugs me and holds up her beer.
I clink mine with hers.
“Welcome to Chicago, B.”
Cooper runs over and clinks his bottle to mine. “Hey now, you can’t be leaving me out of your girly things now that we’re back to being a throuple.”
I raise my eyebrows. “We’re not a throuple, Coop.”
He stares at us for a second and busts out laughing. “I just meant we’re three, not a… f*****g hell, you know what I meant.”
We laugh and he goes back into the living room, sits down, and eats his pizza.
As much as I’ll miss my friends in San Francisco, I’m happy to be reunited with these two. I can’t wait to see what excitement Chicago brings me.
My phone rings and I pull it out of my back pocket to see my mom’s name. Elle looks over my shoulder and sighs. I hit Decline and she sighs harder.
“Sooner or later…”
“Not tonight,” I say, grabbing my pizza and beer.
I was able to hide a lot of that part of my life in San Francisco, but here, Elle and Cooper will call me out on my s**t. That’s the problem with old friends. They know your wounds better than anyone.
- Writer
