The Sexy Rugby Star

Making decisions and planning your future is never easy. Do you ever feel that no matter what you do its never good enough and your just being set up to fail? Yeah. Me too. All the time actually. I’ve been away from my home town for nearly 3 years now. I’ve been away at college a good 5 hour drive away from my home town, but today I’m going back. The last few days I’ve spent packing up my apartment with the last of my stuff. My cousin took a load of stuff last week as he has a bigger car than I do. My flatmate Tina is staying here as she got a job at a local newspaper. She studied journalism and is an amazing writer and she dabbles in novel writing as well. “Going to miss you chick" she says as she helps move boxes around my room. “I’ll miss you too" I say trying not to sound too sad. “Drinks tonight to say farewell?” she asks as the last box is taped and ready to go. “A few but not to heavy as I’m driving tomorrow morning" I tell her. Tina is a party animal, she loves a good night out. “I know. I know. You do not need to remind me" she puts her hands up as a surrender. I know I’ll end up carrying her home by the end of the night.  “I’ll call the gang and get them organised.” She says grabbing her phone and making a few calls. We ended up in the local pub around the corner from our apartment, which means noy far to drag Tina home. Most of my college friends are here, all drinking and have a good time. A few have already went home after graduation but still enough here to have a good night. After a few rounds of drinks and a couple games of pool, we decide to call it a night. I’ve got a five drive home tomorrow, which I’m kind of dreading now. “You looking forward to going back?” Tina asks as we walk home, surprisingly she is quite sober. “Yes cos I’ll see my grandparents more and no, cos I need to start all over again. Find a job and try and avoid the town gossips" I shake my head at that. The town is full of gossips, where isn’t? I am always known as Sammy the sluts daughter. Never Martins daughter. It’s like they forget about the good things and only remember the wrong things that happen around the place. They don’t remember the fact my father was the youngest bank manager in the history of the town. Or the fact that my grandpa was the captain of the local golf club for nearly 10 years.   Getting up the next morning, I quickly get the rest of my stuff packed after I showered and changed. Tina helped me pack my car up and we headed to the cafe across the street for breakfast. It’s the usual hang out for us on a weekend when neither of us can be bothered to cook. We sit and chat and Tina gives me her usual pep talk. “Ignore everyone and concentrate on you" After saying goodbye to Tina and some of the others, a few tears were shed and promises to keep in touch. I head home with a five hour drive to get myself mentally prepared. I just have to remember the last three years have been great, I’ve met loads of new friends and I need to concentrate on me and build my future. Ignore the gossips and the stares, but that’s easier said than done. Now heading home to stay with my grandparents until I get my own place that is. I’ve lived with them since I was a baby. You see my mum wasn’t the greatest person to care for me. My grandparents never hid the fact that my mum had a reputation around our town, a reputation of being a slut and a gold digger. She split up a happy couple, got married to the guy, fell pregnant with me but she still slept around and hid my existence from any new guy willing to give her attention. My fathers parents got full custody of me when I was nearly two years old. They have brought me up in a loving home and are always telling me stories about my dad. I never got a chance to meet my dad, he died before I was born. He pretty much killed himself, drunk while driving and crashed his car. My family were the talk of the town for a few years after he died.  My mum never stayed out of trouble even after she had me. Always getting into trouble one way or another and ended up in prison. All the way through school the other kids parents wouldn’t let them play with me out of school, they basically thought I would be like my mum. Even at a young age I knew I would never be like her. A slut. A home wrecker and gold digger. My grandma would always try and fight my battles for me when it came to my friends parents. At a young age I never understood why they hated me. It wasn’t me they hated, it was my mum they hated. I ended up being a loner at school, not really having any friends and never hung out with anyone at weekends or holidays. Apart from my cousins and some of their friends.  That was one of the reasons I decided to move away for college, a different city that nobody knows me. I had my older cousins Zack and Zoe who would always keep me company, but they are few years older and had different interests. They did try and I will always be thankful for them. If it weren’t for them I probably wouldn’t be here today. They supported my choices in life, they pushed me to continue with my career choice. Even though my grandparents weren’t overly thrilled about me moving away for three years. I came back over the holidays and the odd long weekend here and there, but I know they wanted only the best for me. They came to visit me a few times but as they got older it was harder for them to travel great distance. They did make it to my graduation with a little help from Zack. He drove them the five hours to come see me, stayed over for a night and drove them back. Now, my mother, is a different story. I haven’t seen or heard from her since my sixteenth birthday, 5 years ago.  I had only met her once since I was a baby. She has spent the last fifteen years in prison for a different number of crimes. To be honest with you, I’ve never really missed her. How can you miss someone that was never there for you and you have no memory of them being in your life. It’s the same for my father. I never knew him, I’ve only ever heard of stories about him from family, even Zack and Zoe don’t remember him. All I do know is that I look like my dad, I have no similarities to my mother, which I am thankful for. All the way home I’ve been thinking about my next steps in my life. First I need to get a job, my grandma says there is plenty jobs in town for someone with my qualifications. I studied finance and accounts while in college and I love it. Sounds boring yes, for some it may be. I personally find it interesting, and numbers are my speciality. I know my dad, Martin was a bank manager before he died. I think that’s what got me into it. My grandma would tell me stories about how my dad, when he was 3 or 4 years old, would play with a calculator and count out the money and was able to do maths sums from a really young age. Even before he finished school he had invested money in shares of different companies and made a load of money from it.  I followed in his footsteps and did they same. With money I had gotten from my dads inheritance I invested it and have made a surprising amount, it paid my way through college and I bought my car and still have money left over to get a flat of my own eventually.   I’ve just called my grandparents to tell them I’m an hour away and they are so excited to see me. Its only been a week since graduation but I know where they are coming from. The last few months have been hard, and I’ve missed them so much. I stop just at the edge of town, taking it all in. I’m back. I’m home.  Not sure how I should be feeling but I’m a little nervous about coming back. Starting again, making friends and finding a job. Well here goes.   I arrived at my grandparents just before dinner and was welcomed by my family. My aunt and uncle and my cousins Zack and Zoe came to join us for dinner. We caught up with everything going on with them and me. My uncle knows a place that I can apply for a job, a friend of his is the local financial advisor and accountant for a lot of the local businesses. I make a mental note to call him tomorrow. Zack tells me about his girlfriend Alesha. I remember her from school she was the same year as me and she has a twin brother Alexander, who goes by the name Xander now.  They are all going out this weekend and Zoe is trying to persuade me to go along. “Come on. It’ll give you a chance to meet people our age.” she makes a valid point. “Fine. I’ll go but I’ll not hang around too long. You know my mothers reputation will always follow me" I tell her in a whisper, so my grandma doesn’t hear me. “It doesn’t Callie. Alesha is always asking how you are getting on at college and stuff. So does Noah" she says raising her eyebrows. “Noah Black? Why would he?” I mumble again trying to keep this conversation away from grandma. “I have no idea. Possibly he had a crush on you at school. I have no idea. They are a great bunch of people Callie. Just give them a chance. They know you are not your mum" she gives me a side hug before she leaves. Why on earth would Noah ask about me? He is well out of my league. He’s hot as hell. A little younger than me maybe a year, Tall, blonde and muscles everywhere. I know he went to college to do fitness and business management as he was following in his fathers footsteps and taking over his chain of gyms he has in the area. Oh and he plays rugby too. Zoe is just winding me up surely. There is no way he would be meaning anything by it. Just friendly conversation that’s what it has to be.