9- brothers


Xander and I were currently at Tyson's Bar and Grill to start off our day of hanging out. As soon as I got back home from cheer practice he ordered me to take a shower and change into casual clothes. At first I refused because I was tired but I quickly reminded myself that I don't get see him as often these days, so I ran upstairs to get cleaned up. We then hopped into his car and drove straight here.


Any time Xander had a break from school and came home, he always made time for Carter and I. He and Carter would play video games all night and he and I would have lunch at Tyson's then see where the day took us. It was nice that he a college guy still wanted to spend time with his younger siblings. The three of us had always been close, we use to hole up in the arcade when our parents took us to the mall. Or anytime we went to the lake I would find myself going a long with whatever Xander and Carter were doing. Just because I was a girl didn't mean I couldn't do the things they did.


I figured once we got older we would lose interest in one another but it never happened. That alone made my parents insanely happy. Although, they did have to break up a ton of our fights.


"You got home pretty late last night." Xander says after swallowing a bite of his hamburger.


Out of instinct I twist my bracelet around and my wrist which catches his eye. Damn it.


"It wasn't that late." I lie. The football game ended after eleven and I didn't return home until almost 2am.


"Mom said you were going to check on a friend." Xander reminds me.


"I did, they got banged up during the game, I wanted to make sure he was okay." That part was true.


"You mean the guy that Johnny kept tackling?" He has gotten smarter since starting college.


"Yep." I nod.


"I thought you and Johnny were broken up." Xander asks in confusion.


"I never told you that."


"Carter told me." He says.


That little shit.


"Did he tell you that he also has a crush on a girl?" I was hoping to rat him out.


Xander chuckles lightly, "He did. Penny is her name."


Sounds like those two did more talking that gaming last night.


"I'm thrilled you ended it, he was an ass." Xander frowns. I just laugh because it is so true.


"You keep playing with that it's going to break." He nods to my bracelet. I didn't realize that I was still playing with it.


Not wanting to break it, I immediately stop. I see that Xander is about to start a new conversation but I shake my head letting him know that I don't want to talk about it. He senses my discomfort and nods his head but gives me the same sad smile I got from everyone after everything happened.


"Hey, how about we go over to the pool table and play a few rounds, yeah?" He says instead.


"I am in." I say in relief.


Xander and I leave our booth laying some money on the table for the bill then walk over to one of the pool tables that became free.


Xander grabs two pool sticks off of the wall, "You are so going down, sis." He taunts, handing me a stick.


"I don't think so, the only good thing Johnny taught me was how to play pool. I think I've got a pretty decent chance at winning." I brag. I remember the summer nights Johnny and I would come here eat then play pool. I thought it was so hot when he taught me how to play.


After playing four games we were tied at two wins each. I was giving my older brother a run for his money and it was incredible.


"One more for the win?" Xander suggests.


"I am so going to win." I smile.


I feel someone tap my shoulder, turning around I see that is Catherine Barron. "Catherine." I sounded bitter.


Catherine tucks a dark red curl behind her ear and smiles, "Hi, Taylor." She says nervous.


"Uh...hi." I greet back.


"Can I speak to you for a moment?" She asks quietly.


She seemed harmless so I agreed, "Rack them up, I will be back in a sec." I tell Xander then walk over to a vacant table with Catherine.


"What's up?" I question.


"I want to apologize for my awful behavior last Saturday. I'm not usually like that." She says sadly.


"Charlie already apologized." I say.


"I know. I wanted to apologize myself." She nods. "I saw you over there and I felt the need to do it. I'm sorry. I'm a year and a half younger than Charlie and his friends, I always feel like if I want to fit in, I need to be like them." She explains.


Unfortunately I knew where she was coming from. The need to want to fit in with everyone else. It's hard.


"I understand." I nod with a smile.


Catherine's brown eyes light up, "So you forgive me?"


"Yes. But don't think you need to do whatever it takes to please someone, you seem like a great person. Anyone who doesn't see that is crazy." I smile.


"Thank you, Taylor." She says.


"Are you here alone?" I ask.


"Oh no. Charlie and Nick are right over there. They let me tag a long sometimes." She points to a table that is on the other side of the bar.


"Tay, you coming? I ain't gonna win if you aren't here." Xander shouts over to me causing me to roll my eyes.


"Who is that?" Catherine asks.


"My brother." I mumble.


Catherine gasps, "Is he single?"


Wow.


"Yeah but he is in his third year of college." I say.


Catherine sighs sadly, "Do you have another brother?"


I can't help but laugh at her, "I do but he is thirteen."


"Darn it. Your brother is very cute." She says batting her lashes in his direction.


"Catherine." I snap my fingers in front of her face which causes her to come back to reality.


"Sorry." She mumbles. "I will let you get back to your hunky brother. Thank you for forgiving me."


"No problem." I wave off.


"See you around?" She asks hopeful.


I give her a small smile, "Maybe." I say then walk over to my impatient brother.


"Who was that?" He asks angling his pool stick to hit the balls.


"The guy who got hurt is sitting over there and that is his sister." I nod my head over to the table where Catherine, Charlie and Nick are seated.


"Maybe he will want to meet me, eh?" He asks. Xander has a big ego when it comes to football.


I shake my head, "Nope. Now it's time for me to beat your ass once again."


"You are on!" Xander smirks.


A very intense game of pool later, Xander came out victorious. I can't blame my loss on anyone but me, myself and I. I kept getting distracted by glancing over at Nick's table. At one point I saw him glance over here and I had to quickly avert my attention back to the game.


"I beat you fair and square." Xander cheers. "How about we grab Carter and head over to Waffle Cones for some ice cream?"


A trip to Waffle Cones, a local ice cream parlor in our town, sounded perfect. We always found ourselves there at some point during Xander's visits.


"Sure thing." I say in agreement.


As we are walking towards the exit of Tyson's we pass by Nick's table, I decide to be friendly and say bye to them. Catherine and Charlie say good bye where as Nick just throws a hand up.


On the way to Waffle Cones we make a pit stop at home to pick up Carter.


"What one are you going to get, Tay?" Carter asks drooling over all of the ice cream flavors. What I loved about this place was that they had a frozen yogurt section as well.


"I think I am getting Strawberry Cheesecake frozen yogurt with granola on top." I reply to him while picking up a cup.


"I want the brownie ice cream in a signature waffle cone." Carter tells the cashier.


"And I will have the smore's in a signature waffle cone as well." Xander says.


I finish filling up my cup with yogurt and granola then take it over to the check out counter and set it on the scale to be weighed.


"Are you three paying as one or separate?" The cashier asks in a polite tone.


"Together. Taylor lost as pool so this is her punishment." Xander smiles to the girl. Carter and I share an eye roll. Xander flirts with this girl every time we come in here.


The girl giggles and a blush appears on her cheeks. She's definitely affected by his charm.


Instead of heading home we decided to sit out on the patio in front of Waffle Cones and enjoy our frozen desserts. Plus before we left, Xander sweet talked to girl into giving him her number. Turns out she is a major Xander fan.


"It sucks that you have to go back to school tomorrow, bro." Carter says in between licks of his ice cream. He may be thirteen but he is still really messy.


Xander groans, "I know, but I will see you all soon. And you can always come visit me. I think Kyle wouldn't mind seeing Taylor again." He says to me. Kyle is the name of the Frat boy who helped me get back to Xander's dorm.


I can't help but blush. "We will come up and go do something once we have a break from school, right Carter?"


Carter nods in agreement.


"Then its settled." Xander says biting into his waffle cone.


These two are so messy.


- - - - - - - -


Cheer practice was the same as always on Tuesday evening. The weather was getting colder each day. Halloween was only a week and a half away. Living outside of Boston, the local meteorologist was predicting the first snowfall in November. I wasn't so sure I was ready for what the next few months held. Lacey had plans with Logan after practice. Yes she gave in and chose to give him one more chance. She also kept to her word of letting me know everything but allowed me to keep my distance. I did, however, warn her to keep an eye out for anymore jokes about us going to a Prep School. I just wanted to make sure she was protected.


The only time I ever caught a glimpse of Nick was when he was in the parking lot after school. I noticed that he always stayed around longer than kids who didn't have an extra-curricular to attend. He would walk around for ten to fifteen minutes then get in his jeep and leave. It was strange.


Practice ended earlier than usual today because Heather was sick with the flu. It wasn't her decision to leave, our coach gave the final word saying that if she was contagious then the rest of us would get the flu. Heather reluctantly agreed and canceled practice an hour in.


I was about to open my car door when I felt someone behind me. I turned around to see Nick standing there causing me gasp and jump slightly. He scared the shit out of me.


I put my hand over my heart trying to steady the beating, "You scared me." I breathed.


Nick chuckled and shoves his hands into his medium wash jeans. He also had on a black coat and a beanie that made him look cute.


After I felt my heart calming down I spoke again, "Can I help you?"


"Not really." He shrugged.


Weird.


"Okay, I guess I will be going now. Wouldn't want your friend to find out you were talking to a prep school kid." I half joke.


"Still on that huh? Even after two of my friends apologized." Nick tilts his head to the right.


"No, I'm not. It shocks me that you are so cool with it though. Last time I checked you also go here." I point out.


"That's true." He nods.


"Charlie said they were bitter because this school took you away from them. Why did he put it that way?" I was curious and he seemed to be in a talking mood.


"My parents wanted me to transfer here. Better education." Nick says.


Wow, Batman listens to his parents.
"I get it. You were out numbered." I smirk.


"Something like that." He says.


"You should tell your girlfriend that." I blurt out. I mentally face palm myself.


"Micah isn't my girlfriend." He says serious.


I think I hit a nerve. Oops.


"Right." I mutter.


"Has Johnny given you anymore problems?" He changes the subject quickly.


"Nope." I simply say. Then something pops into my head, "Is that why you've been hanging around the parking lot after school? To make sure he doesn't?" I ask.


Nick scratches the back of his head then readjusts his beanie, "If he does something to you, I will stop it. He shouldn't do that." He says.


I raise an eye brow at him, "And why do you care if he does something to me? We barely know one another."


Nick doesn't answer for a while. Did he actually care if something happened to me or did he think it was his duty to protect me since he did it once already? Then again why would he want to protect me? I've spent the past month making sure he is protected. It's crazy how two people who know nothing about one another are trying to make sure nothing happens to them.


Even though Nick and I haven't had that many conversations, I felt that we had some kind of connection. If he were to ever suggest we become friends, I was sure I would accept his offer. Other than the scowl he wore, he seemed like a pretty cool dude. Surely he was someone worth getting to know. Right?


"Don't take this to your head but you aren't the worst person at this school. So, Johnny shouldn't act the way he does to you. He should just move on. I mean he's made out with several girls already." Nick says.


Wait, did he just compliment me? He did. He said I wasn't the worst person here. Shit.


"You really think I'm not the worst person here?" I ask shocked.


"I mean Logan seems pretty into your blonde friend but I think she's a little annoying. She talks a lot. I've stopped going near them." He shudders.


A laugh bubbles out of me. I see where he is coming from about Lacey, she can be annoying but I love her anyway. I also wasn't aware that he has hung out with her and Logan. Lacey never told me that.


It also made my stomach churn knowing that Nick thought I wasn't the worst person at school. If he knew what I did, he would no longer think that. He would probably look at me with the most disgusted look ever.


That thought made me stop laughing, "You definitely don't know me then if you think that."


"It's never to late to get to know someone, cheerleader." Nick mentions.


Did he want to get to know me?


"First off my name is Taylor." I roll my eyes.


"I know. I prefer cheerleader." He shrugs.


"Oh boy, we've got a long way to go." I exhale.


"Can't be that bad." Nick says casually.


We were really going to do this. Get to know each other. Taylor and Nick were going to know more about one another.


That frightened and excited me at the same time.

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