Living with Hope ✓ [ boyxboy ] [ Completed ]

12 | DAMN

12 | DAMN
Cry A River. Build A Damn. Get Over it.

Ivan's POV

I have basketball practice all the way till noon today. It's a Saturday and the season's in full swing. We had a few games this week, we won all of them. But recently, our opponents' score is nearing ours at a rather steady rate. We aren't playing as well as we used to. Coach Merton blames it on our lack of teamwork. I blame it on Vinny and his followers.

Asshole Hope hasn't done anything asshole-y yet. Like, he hasn't brought another girl home since the day I gave him that lecture about treating women right.

But: He hasn't done anything to prove he isn't the asshole I think he is. And it hasn't even been twenty four hours since I gave him that speech. Bringing a girl into the house this soon would just be another level of asshole-ness that I don't really associate with him anymore.

Nah, he's still an asshole.

Coach Lincoln and Coach Merton leave us at twelve thirty in the afternoon. It isn't very sunny today but we're still gleaming with sweat because of all the practice.

All the boys go to the communal shower in the locker room to shower and change. I stay out, pretending I still have the stamina to play a bit more. I take lazy shots around the hoop and play Around The World on my own.

Half an hour later, when everyone's gone, I go to the locker room to get showered myself. No one asks me why I like to go after everyone leaves anymore. They all assume I want more practice so I'm staying back to get better than them.

In truth, however, the last thing I want them to see is my scarred torso and the hard on that might occasionally arise due to their naked bodies gleaming with sweat and water.

Yeah, whatever.

After the shower and carefully jogging my way out of school so that Coach Merton won't find me, I get on my bike and cycle my way to the auto repair store in which I work. Lately, Coach Merton's been talking to me about teamwork, asking me if everything's alright like he knows it isn't. I usually listen to him, and occasionally respond. But not today. I'm not in the mood.

I grab a bite at a Subway before I start my shift so that my stomach will stop growling. For breakfast, I stuffed four whole scrambled eggs into my system, knowing I'll need it for practice. But recently, my appetite's only been growing.

At work, I start replacing flat tires and chipped windscreens for proper ones. I do this everyday. We have a brutally crashed car to fix. Our job is to fix the key engine parts and replace them.

My shift ends at six in the evening, but I decide to stay longer for more pay. Working in the store itself is like a workout. Ever since I started staying at Hope's place, I can see my muscles grow. I've always had the physical exercise it takes to grow them, but never the right amount of food and nutrition.

Emelia makes sure that both her son and I are following the diet our coaches have given us. It's the same diet, just different words to express it.

I've been eating so much that my arms now have a lean coat of muscle beneath the skin. I've even started growing taller, which I'm thankful for. Donovan will have to stop calling me 'Shawty' because at this rate, I'll be taller than him within a month, and taller than a redwood tree in three months.

Once I'm done with my extra hours at work, I kick off the kickstand of my cycle and drive back to the Hope household. I'm so tired, so hungry that for once, I can't wait to get back to their house. Emelia feeds me like my stomach is a bottomless well. She's not entirely wrong though. Ever since I started growing this much, I've never been able to get enough food in me.