Adrian Casey
"You have to bend your knees more when you land next time" my dad said standing over me as I lay with my back flat on the snow staring up at him. I had been practicing some new tricks in preparation for our upcoming competition that would take place in Aspen in three weeks, and then we had rougly under two months before the Park City Open, which was the biggest competition over in our state, so it was crucial that I started perfecting these new tricks now, so by the time these bigger competitions rolled around, I was landing them with ease.
"Yeah, I know, I know" I grunted, propping myself up with my elbows. "Now help me up, would ya'" I said, extending my hand out for my dad to grab and pull me up.
I had wiped out a couple times already, but that never phased me. I've gotten my fair share of bad bruises, and sprains but never an injury bad enough where I had to sit out and miss a competition or practice. I knew wiping out was part of the process, and I absolutely hated bailing on the course. It was so embarrassing and in my opinion I would rather wipe out attempting something new, than showing any fear and bailing on it.
Dad and I had been out here on the course for the past five hours. Cycling through the process of hitting the jumps, and the rails, and practicing my technique. It was around six in the evening when we decided to call it a day, and get home in time for dinner. It was Wednesday so we were having pizza night which always excited me.
At dinner we told my family the news about the sponsorship which they all congratulated me on and then my dad informed them that we would be having a lot of company over on Saturday. My mom got excited about getting all of these families together because it's a rare occurrence when everyone's parents get to hang out and talk. Although they see each other here and there when they watch us kids compete, those days are so hectic there's no time for any leisure.
The rest of the week was spent doing the same thing I did every day. Wake up, practice, go home, maybe do some school work, have dinner, sleep, and then do it all over again. It sounds boring, and it sounds really repetitive but it's my schedule and I love it. Everything led up to Saturday night where my mother made sure that we all dressed like we were out going to a fancy restaurant for dinner, even though we were just staying in.
"Adrian, make sure you're dressed and ready, our guests will be here soon!" my mom called from downstairs. I lightly groaned because I was looking forward to getting everything finalized, but I was not looking forward to playing nice and making cheap small talk with Luke all night.
"You can do this," I whispered to the reflection of myself in the mirror taking in my appearance. I was wearing a simple navy blue dress that stopped at my mid-thigh, with spaghetti straps, and since we were just at my house I paired the dress with a beautiful pair of beat up old converse. "All you have to do is be nice. You can do that, you can be nice" I said through gritted teeth, shooting my reflection a fake smile. "No, don't do that, that's horrible."
"Adrian!" my mother called after me again from the kitchen downstairs.
"Coming!" I yelled back taking that as a cue that someone's family had just arrived. "You got this" I whispered to myself one last time before giving myself finger guns and a wink and making my way down stairs.
"Oh thank god" I whispered as I turned the corner to see that Calum and his family were the first to arrive. At least now I would have someone to talk to, and it wouldn't be incredibly awkward.
Calum's parents were mid conversation with mine, while Brandon and Calum were talking about God knows what. I made my way into the dinning room to stand next to my parents and greet Calum's, extending my hand out for them to shake, and then excusing myself to go save Calum from whatever nonsense Brandon was filling his ears with.
"Hi Cal" I said, giving him a wave and taking in his appearance. He was wearing black dress pants with a tucked in forest green button up shirt, and of course black vans.
"Hey Adrian! Dude, your house is so nice, and you look really good too!" he said complimenting me while still taking in everything that was my house.
"Thank you, and you don't look so bad yourself mister Hood" I said returning the compliment. I liked Calum, he was easy to talk to, but I didn't like him in that way. I didn't have many friends growing up because of my limited experience in school, and after always competing with the boys, most of them wanted nothing to do with me when we were younger.
One fateful night I was trying to get one last run in before the lift shut down for the night, and the only way that I could get that run in is if I hurried and got on the first available seat, which happened to be on the same chair Calum had just gotten on. I didn't mind sitting with someone I didn't know as riding up with strangers wasn't foreign to me. With our luck, the lift got stuck and we found ourselves sitting up there for two hours before getting up to the top. If that lift hadn't broken down, I don't think Calum and I would really be friends because we got to talk and get to know each other up there. I mean, what else are you supposed to do when you're stuck on a chair lift with someone for two hours?
Michael and Ashton arrived shortly after and the four of us were able to make conversation in the living room while all of our parents talked in the kitchen, already cracking open a bottle of wine.
About ten minutes later the doorbell rang for the final time tonight and I excused myself from the other boys to go open the door for our last guests. I took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly before I opened the door to reveal Luke and his family.
"Hi! Please come in, come in" I said moving to the side and ushering them in. I closed the door and led his parents to the kitchen to meet up with the rest of the parents and turned to Luke to tell him that the other boys were in the living room.
"So you could just, uh- follow me this way" I said awkwardly, motioning for him to follow me.
"So this is the famous Casey house, huh?" he said as he stopped walking to look over the picture frames hanging up in the hallway.
"Yeah" I said, dragging it out, not really sure what he was getting at. "So are you gonna come with me or are you just gonna snoop around my house dude?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean if that's a greenlight to snoop then sure" he said turning back to the picture frames.
"Oh just come with me already" I huffed while grabbing his arm and leading him to the living room.
When he met up with the other boys they all greeted him, and he instantly made his way over to the mantle of the fireplace where trophies and awards were on display. He was slowly walking past them, taking in what each award was, who won it, when they received it, and what it was for. I was in the middle of a conversation with Calum, Ashton, and Michael and I couldn't help but glance back at Luke every now and then wondering why he was so intrigued about everything on the mantle.
My mother, being the saving grace she was, called us all to the dinning room for dinner where we had brought in a second table to make room for everyone's family members. My mom and dad sat at both heads of the table, and everyone else's family filled in the gaps. I happened to be the last one to pick my seat so I found myself sitting in between Michael and Calum's mom, and directly across from Luke.
"Oh boy," I whispered as I set my plate down on the table and pulled my chair out for me to sit. I locked eyes with Luke, "this should be fun" I said, my words dripping with sarcasm.
"You're telling me" he replied, rolling his eyes and stabbing his food with his fork.
The rest of dinner went actually very well. Parents asked questions about everyone's lives, and how we were doing, and all that jazz.
"I'm really looking forward to the Open this year," I answered, directing my attention to Michael's dad who asked the group what competition we looked forward to.
"Yeah, same. I can't wait to take home the win again, and wipe the floor with you Adrian" Luke interjected, which earned a glare from his mother. Okay, so I see how it was going to be.
"Like how you wiped the floor with your competition last weekend? Oh wait..." I said knowing it was a touchy subject for him.
"Oh shit" Michael said, noting my blunt attack at Luke, while Ashton snickered, and Calum looked down at his plate to avoid any conflict.
We spent a good two hours eating and talking before my dad changed the subject matter to the reason we were all gathered together tonight.
"Okay so, let's clear the table and then we can hand out the contacts and we'll be good to go" my dad said standing up from seat.
"Oh, please you've done so much for us tonight, let the kids take care of the dishes, and we can help you sort out all of the paperwork Scott" Michael's mom said before looking at her son and telling him to take his and her plate to the kitchen.
"I can take yours" I said standing up and grabbing Mrs. Hood's plate from the table and placing it on top of mine.
"Thank you dear" she said, smiling back at me.
"I can take yours too... and yours... and yours" I said picking up Mr. Hood's plate, along with Ashton's mom's, in addition to the two I had previously picked up. I made my way to the kitchen and put the dishes in the sink, turning the water on, and grabbing a sponge to start scrubbing.
I turned my head to see Luke walking in my direction holding a couple of plates himself before turning back to my work and extending a hand out without looking at him. "I can take those from you."
"I can wash my own dishes Adrian," he said, leaving my hand in the air. I grabbed them from him before he could protest any longer. What kind of host would I be if I let my guests wash their own dishes? "
It didn't take long for me to wash all of those dishes while Calum and Ashton offered to dry them, and Luke and Michael decided they would help put everything away. We had our own little assembly line going on before Luke's mom walked in holding her phone up to take a picture of all of us.
"Aw you guys are like a little well oiled machine, it's so cute" she said snapping another picture before rejoining the rest of the adults.
Everything was put away and we got back to the table where five contracts had been laid out next to each other on one side of the table while all of the parents stood against the wall with phones held up photographing or recording these next moments.
"Okay kids, you guys can sit down in front of your contracts, and here take these," he said, throwing out some pens onto the table, and handing each of us water bottles with the Red Bull logo on them, and beanies with the same logo.
My contract was in the middle so I took my seat, with Ashton on my left, and Luke on my right. We looked over everything that this sponsorship entailed, and my dad explained a little more what else we had to do and then we got to signing. Parents were taking tons of videos and pictures of us before we told them to cut it out.
"Okay, my cheeks are hurting now" I said through my teeth as I held my burning smile, desperately waiting for the parents to put their phones down.
"Mine too" Michael said, dropping his smile completely and massaging his face.
"Okay, okay. We're done, you guys can get up now" Calum's dad said while my dad collected everything on the table.
We all talked for a little bit more in the living room before some families started saying that it was time for them to go, and that they looked forward to seeing us soon. As Calum's dad and my dad got caught in a conversation at the front door, Mrs. Hood noticed some picture frames on the wall and started asking me about them, which I didn't mind at all.
It didn't take long for everyone to leave with Ashton being the last one out the door, I said a goodbye and told him "thank you for coming" before closing the door and pressing my back to it, sliding down just a little bit.
"That went a lot better than I thought." I sighed in relief.
Things are about to get VERY interesting.
Anyways, I hope whoever's reading this enjoys it so far bc I'm having a lot of fun writing it :)