Eternal Flight

bonds between us

I didn't join any sports teams. I went to music school. I learned piano for approximately two weeks, before I started hating it. Then I tried the flute, yeah no, that didn't work out.

What peaked my interest were dad's guitars. Already then he was good at playing acoustic and electric guitars. One day I just sat and watched with my mouth slightly ajar, thinking 'wow'.

Yes, I did look up to my father, still do. But at that moment, I knew I wanted to try what he did, too. I asked dad just then.

He was humming along to a Nirvana song his fingers were thrumming, picking at. 'Da,' I had said, moving closer to sit next to him, 'can I try? I want to learn'. A small smile rose on his face, a proud glint in his eye, he smirked, 'You do?'

With a nod I confirmed, and he taught me the basics and when I got them right, over time he added on more difficult maneuvers.

The last minutes of the game are tense as fuck, both teams- they are tied.

Silence. Only silence in the big hall from the public. The only sound being the squeaking of the player's shoes against the floor and the bouncing of the ball that seems to happen in slow motion.

I can basically hear the joint heartbeat in the room echoing like some fatal hospital scene, dying in a movie. No breathing is done.

McGregory stands at the magical half arc behind the curved black like. Looking like the calmness himself, but I can imagine what he actually feels inside, the heart beating out of his chest, the starplayer makes a three pointer. A pang in my heart. That shot looked almost perfect. He makes the points.

Half of the people fly up from the edge of their seats into a collective cheer. We have won the game.

Kian has the grin of the century on his face as he turns to me, grabbing onto my shirt, he shakes me. That big smile and the hollering, he is a madman. I memorize the glint in his eyes and the youthful look to him. Folding it and setting it into the corner of my soul to remember.

I hug him back when he wraps his arms around me.

"Oh, fuck," I mutter, nudging my hand into his stomach, "don't break my eardrums, Kie. I'mma go deaf, dude."

He doesn't care and neither do I. That emotion, the feeling is worth it all.

"God damn," Kian sighs, plopping back into his seat when the celebration is subsiding and people are leaving.

***

Later that night when my brother and I had ended the brother bonding time and Carmen came back home from hanging out with Perez, the whole family had joined together in a living room.

It's the middle of December, and what is in December? Christmas. We're Christmas decorating.

The tree is set up and lit up like a Christmas tree, literally.

Mom's things are lights, those small ones you put around the room under the ceiling and on walls, obviously on the tree too.

My parents aren't the excessive type with decorations, just enough to feel cozy and warm and homey and all that yada.