The Light You Give

12.

"What the fuck." A distant voice says cutting through my comfortable sleep.  "Are you kidding me??" The same voice says pulling the sleep off me. I sit up rubbing my eyes and assess the room.

Seth is rubbing his eyes warily and I see Bea, the owner of the voice, standing angrily in front of me.

My gut drops.

"Lacey are you serious?? We just had an argument about you being with my brother. And you sneak downstairs to cozy up with him on the fucking sofa!" Bea yells.

"It wasn't like that Bea," I say quietly.

"It never is like that with you, is it. Were you lying last night when you said there was nothing going on between you and Seth?? I swear to god you two can't keep your hands off each other." Bea practically spits.

"Bea. She's right, Lacey forgot to refill her sleeping pills and bring some here so we were just watching a movie and must have fallen asleep." Seth explains sitting up beside me.

"That is the worst lie I've ever heard," Bea says angrily.

"No that's the truth," I say with a small sigh.

"How did you fall asleep if you can't fall asleep without sleeping pills??" Bea asks me arrogantly, thinking she picked through the hole in our story.

"I- uh." I start looking between Seth and Bea. Seth was looking at me curiously, also wondering the same thing.

"I don't know I just, uh when I'm around Seth, I uh tend to fall asleep easily. I can't really describe it uh." I say timidly, looking at Seth quickly, a small smile plays on his face.

A blush creeps into my neck slowly.

"What are you saying?" Bea asks me accusingly.

"I don't know. I don't know what it is." I say, knowing that I would never be able to fall asleep with other guys.Bea stares at me silently, and I beg her to believe me. I'm not even sure what I believe in myself.

"You promise?" She asks me.

"I promise," I say with a curt nod.

"Ok." She says wrapping me up in a small hug.

"It's alright. I'm sorry too." I say before pulling apart.

"Now you. Stay away from my best friend." Bea says pointing a finger towards Seth.

"As you did with Luke huh," Seth says as he pushes past Bea and leaves the room. Bea stays silent for a moment before pulling me to the kitchen.

***

"Is the Navarro scout going to be at the cheer practice tomorrow?" Bea asks Callie.

"I think so. Jeez, I'm so anxious." Callie says as we wander down the hallway.  

"The Louisiana and UVA scouts here for soccer today too. It's going to be a tough practice." I reply peering at my shoes. My stomach was in knots. This was going to determine the course of my future, and I was terrified. 

We walked quickly to the locker rooms. Changed as fast as possible and headed to the field to start warming up as quickly as possible.

"Hey, Lacey. You've met the Louisiana College scout right? Danielle Atkins." Coach asks me as the scout offers her hand. I shake it firmly.

"Yes, we have met, soccer right?" She asks me.

"Yes," I say with a small nod.

"Lacey is our captain and has captained since Junior year, which is rare here." Coach boasts giving me a small smile.