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Over 4700 words
UNEDITED
Mom, dad, and I had to take Oliver to his first soccer practice of the season. His first soccer practice ever. Mom and dad told him that he had to bring his inhaler with him and when he did not feel well, he had to immediately sit out and take a few breaths out of it and rest for five minutes before going back into the practice.
I just told him to have fun and do not pass out.
Mom and dad glared at me for that one.
I rode in the car with mom, dad, and Oliver with him and I sitting in the back of the car. I had brought some gummies and we were playing rock, paper, scissors and who ever won got a gummy every round. I had kept on winning once I figured out that he kept playing paper over and over again.
It took him a few times to realize that he was using the same hand signal all over again and when he did, he used rock and finally got himself a gummy.
When he arrived at his soccer practice we waited a few minutes for Oliver to put on his shin guards, socks, and cleats in the car.
"Autumn," I glanced up from Oliver, "Did you bring your camera with you?"
I nodded and reached behind me to get my camera bag. I opened it and started to put my lens on my camera. "I did, I figured that I needed to record this moment and put them in the books," I explained to dad, "Who knows, Oliver might turn out to be the greatest soccer player of all time."
"Aren't you putting a lot of pressure on Oliver?" Mom asked me.
"No, because he should just do his best and make friends," I told her. "Plus, this could give Oliver a chance to make new friends."
When Oliver was done getting ready for his practice, he grabbed the soccer ball that was under his feet. "Are you guys ready to watch me play?" he opened the door and closed it behind him. He was waiting for the rest of us to leave the car and join him outside. Once we were outside, dad locked the door.
As Oliver was practically skipping towards his soccer team, I rose my camera towards my face, stood still, and took pictures of Oliver walking.
When we reached the opening in the fence to enter onto the field, Oliver stopped and turned around to face us. "How do I know which one is my team?"
Dad took out something in his back pocket and read what it said. "It says that they are going to be on the last field on the left. Your team is going to be called the Avengers. Apparently, the family that started this team is a big fan of the Marvel movies and they voted for it a few weeks ago." He folded the paper and handed to me, "Autumn, we forget to get Oliver a water bottle. Can you bring take him to his team? We will be gone for only a few minutes."
I nodded, putting the paper in my front pocket.
Oliver looked behind at me and furrowed his eyebrows, "Where are mom and dad going, Fall?"
I gave him a look, "When did you start calling me Fall? Evan and sometimes dad calls me dad."
He shrugged his shoulders, "Evan and I both thought that you get a new nickname."
Answering his question, "They are going to go get a water for you. They spent a lot of time worrying about you having your inhaler that they forget about a water bottle. Don't worry buddy," I told him, putting my hand on his back, "they still are going to watch you play."
He smiled and started to go to the right, the opposite side of the way that we were suppose to go.
"Buddy, your soccer team is in the other direction," I explained to him.
Oliver quickly turned around and caught up until he was right next to me. "Do you think that they would like me? Or would they hate me?"
"They are going to like you because you are adorable."
He groaned, "Sometimes that is not good enough. Adorableness is not going to get me anywhere in life. I want to be good at soccer and I want them to like me."
"Then, all you have to do is play hard and try your best. I am pretty sure that they are going to like you even if you can't kick the ball in a direction," I explained to him. As we approached the field that his soccer team was going to be on, I pointed to the field, "Look, there is your soccer team."
As soon as those words left my mouth, Oliver picked up his speed and ran over to his team.
"Oliver, you need to slow down," I yelled at him, and walked quickly behind him, not wanting to hold my camera in both of my hands and run at the same time. He stopped right at the edge of the field and looked down at the white sideline that connected with the goal line, where a semicircle was crossed between the two creating the corner kick area. I paused in my speed walking and took a picture of Oliver with his head down, vertically, not landscape.
After I took ten pictures in a row, I walked over to him, "Are you ready to meet your team, Ollie?"
He took a deep breath and focused his gaze on the grass. "Sure," he mumbled.
"Come on, Oliver, you have talked about this nonstop the entire ride over here. Why are you so nervous now?" I asked him.
He tilted his head upwards at me, "Because it is actually happening."
"Well, there is only two ways to make it through this," I told him. "One, you could either turn around and wait outside the fence until mom and day come back home, or two, you could walk up to your coach and introduce yourself. So, which one will it be Oliver?"
Without answering the question, he hugged his soccer ball closer to his chest and walked towards his new team. A grin formed on my face as I walked behind him.
When he reached his team, he turned around and waited for me to catch up with him.
The coach that was currently counting the heads that were on the field, in partners passing the ball back and forth. When he noticed Oliver standing in front of him, he stopped counting and bent down to his level.
"And what is your name, young sir?" he asked him, holding out a fist for Oliver to bump his with.
Oliver formed a fist and quickly bumped it with his, "Oliver. Oliver Riles."
"And how old are you Oliver?"
He holds up five fingers, "Five."
"Well, Oliver," he checks off his name on the clip board in his hands, "it says here that you have asthma. Did you bring your inhaler? If you didn't, I can't allow you to play today."
Oliver nodded and took out his inhaler that was in pocket. "I did coach- what do we call you?"
"Coach Hall," he explained to Oliver. He glanced away from Oliver and looked up at me. "And who is this?"
Oliver looked to see who he was talking about, "Oh, that is my sister, Autumn."
"Autumn Riles?" he asked.
"The very one," I answered.
Coach Hall's eyes widened, "Your name comes into my house almost every night from my son or wife. They can't get enough of your photographs. My son has done a few stories with you. Nick?"
"Nick," I whisper his name. So this is Nick's father. "I have. I did not know that Nick had a younger brother. He doesn't talk about his family that often."
"Yeah, his name is Brandon," he told me. "Nick should be coming here in a few minutes, he is going to be my assistant coach this year." He pointed at the camera around my neck, "I see that you brought your camera today."
"I am going to take pictures of Oliver's first day of Soccer. I hope that is fine."
"Oh it is," He turned his attention away from me and focused on Oliver, "Are you ready to pass the ball?" He nodded. "Okay, well, since there are an odd number of people here, you are going to be my partner."
Oliver dropped the ball on the ground and followed Coach Hall onto the practice field. Once they were ten yards apart, Oliver kicked the ball to the coach, almost directly to his feet.
* * * * *
After their practice was almost done, and two hundred pictures later, Oliver was able to make a three goals in the net with Nick guarding it. And just by watching Nick guard the goal, it looked like he was actually trying to make sure no balls went passed him. And Nick was shocked when Oliver was able to get one passed him.
When the first practice ended, Coach Hall talked about when they were going to practice, where, and when they would know the game schedule. He introduced himself again and Nick, telling them that Nick was going to be the assistant coach. When Hall cannot make it to a practice, or in very rare cases, a game, Nick would be there to coach them.
"Okay are you guys good until the next practice?" Nick asked them as the kids were writing their names on their soccer balls with a black Sharpie (Hall bought the team a red and blue soccer balls, to go with the name, The Avengers). Nick clapped his hands together, "So we are going to do play a game where we can learn each other's name."
All the kids groaned when they heard they were going to play a name game.
"Hey, it is not going to be that bad," he rotated his hand in a circle, "Okay, get in a circle," he stated. The kids got in a circle, it began and ended with Nick. "Okay, I am going to start, with my name, which is Nick. Then, you, Riley, are going to say my name then yours and then Brandon, you say my name, then Riley's and then yours. We are going to continue this until we are back with me. Do you guys get it?"
The little children nodded their heads. Nick put up two thumbs up, "Okay, let's begin. I'm Nick."
I watched the kids get each other's name quickly and Nick got to know everyone's name in five minutes flat.
Poor Oliver was the last person who had to get everyone's name down. He managed to do it though, without messing up a beat.
Coach Hall came up behind Nick, "That is it for today, I will see you guys Monday at six. Let's huddle up and say our team name together." The team got back in the circle, and everyone had one hand in the center of the center, "Okay, on three, we are all going to say Avengers. One, two, three," the team cheered their team name and put their hands in the air, and I got ten pictures, following one after another, of them cheering.
As they were packing up to leave, Nick came up to me, "So, Oliver is going to be playing soccer. Is he going to be okay playing?"
I nodded, and furrowed my eyebrows, "Why wouldn't he be okay with playing?"
"The asthma thing has gotten worse, and I am pretty sure that my dad and I do not want him to have a asthma attack on the field. One happened when I was still playing in middle school and it scared everyone he was watching. The refs had to call an ambulance and the team surrendered right there on the spot," he explained. "I just want him to be safe."
"Me and you both," I told him. I turned my camera off. "I do not know if I can make it to our thing tomorrow."
"Why not?"
"Well, I will try, but I have to do something while the sun is setting," I said to him.
"Take pictures you mean?" he asked for confirmation.
I nodded, "Something like that. I will try to make it, but I might be a little late to whatever you want to take me. Where do you want to take me?"
"The state fair is opened up this week. And before I heard that you entered some of your pictures into the state fair, I wanted to take you there," Nick explained. "Ride the rides, eat all the deep- fried foods, play some games. The fair closes at eleven."
I thought for a couple of moments. "I guess that I can get the pictures in tonight so I can go to the fair with you, tomorrow. What time? Are we going to meet up there or are you going to pick me up?"
"I'm going to pick you up," he told me. "I do want us to get lost in the fair. It is quite big."
I laughed, "I know. What time?" I repeated.
"Five?"
* * * * *
At five in the evening, I was reading over my first paragraph for my article, when Evan knocked on my bedroom window. I glanced up from my positing on the bed, stomach on the covers with my feet in the air, and saw him holding his hands on the edge of the window.
I got off of my bed, leaving my article on the bed, and opened the window for Evan to get in.
His brown hair was even messier than it usually is. The dark brown sweater he was rolled up to his elbows, showing off his forearms. He seemed more nervous than normal.
"Do you want to do something tonight?" he asked me when he was safely in my bedroom. He fidgeted with his hands and the back of his neck.
I took a step closer to him, placing the back of my hand on his forehead. "Are you okay, Evan?"
He nodded, "I'm fine, Fall. I just don't want to stay in my house tonight. My parents are fighting and I need to forget about it. Can you help me with that like I helped you?" He looked up and gazed his eyes into mine. "We still need to have that talk about what happened at my house the other day."
"We do, but you feel a little warm. I want to make sure that you aren't sick," I explained to him.
I walked away from him, and picked up my camera from my desk.
"I was going to take my camera out and get some pictures of the sunset before I go to bed," I told him. "My parents know that I am going, but I do not think that they would approve if they saw you come out of my bedroom." I pointed to the oak tree outside, "Go down the tree and I will meet you out there."
Evan followed my instruction and as soon as I closed the window behind him, I ran down the stairs and told mom and dad that I was going out to take the sunset pictures now. Oliver was taking a nap on the couch, so I was glad that I did not have to take him with me.
I love Oliver, but I needed some alone time with Evan.
I got inside my car and drove around to the back end of the fence, where Evan was waiting for me. He climbed into the car, "Where are we going?"
"A secret place that I found when I was just driving around when I first got my car and license. The sunsets around this place are the greatest thing in the world."
The entire car ride to the lake was an hour long. I had an hour left of the sun out before it started to set.
We walked around the edge of the lake, on the rocks, twenty feet above the water level. We were both quiet as we walked around while I was waiting for the sun to finally set.
There were other people at the lake, but they were swimming in the murky water, which was something that I was not wanting to do.
The rocks that we were walking on, were hard to get on unless you knew how to get up there, considering that they were sometimes steep, and where to park. The first time I found the place, I was on the edge of lake, letting my feet touch the water. I was looking around and saw the rocks, wondering how to get up there.
I ended up with a few scratches and bruises, climbing on the rocks, trying to get to the top. When I reach the top, it gave me a different perspective of the lake and the sun setting on the lake. The lake, from up on the rocks, looked like a ocean.
A hour went by without talking, and the sun was finally starting to set.
I turned my camera on and started to take pictures of the sun on the edge of the lake, barely touching the top of it. I turned away from the sun and focused on the colors in the sky, changing from light yellow all the way to dark blue at the top of the sky.
As I was taking my pictures, I heard a camera phone go off in the distance. I looked up from my camera and looked at Evan, who had his phone pointed at me.
"You know this place, is not for forgetting about things," he commented, "it is for thinking about things."
I gave him a sad smile, "I know, but this is the only place that I could think of."
* * * * *
Evan and I ended up not talking about him kissing my neck. Which was not a bad thing, I think that it would up being too awkward or we would just end up making too much of a big deal about it. We ended up forgetting about it.
When we made it back to my house at midnight, I found out that my parents had waited up for me, asking me if I had ate out. I told him a found a local food place and had a grilled cheese sandwich and a shake before I headed back on the road.
They were happy with my response.
When I reached my bedroom, Evan was standing in the middle of it, looking at my photography wall.
"These are all really good," he told me. He pointed to a picture of a homeless man feeding a dog, "This one is just so heartbreaking."
I walked up next to him, "I know. After I was done taking that picture, I went into a store and bought him some fruits and a bag of chips, for the dog, I bought dog food. The man seemed to never stop crying."
Evan backed away from the pictures, "Why even take pictures?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "The first time I actually focused on taking a picture, it was when my dad proposed to Logan. She told me that she used to take pictures and was happy to pass down her vintage camera to me. I still have it. It is someone in a box in my closet. Every picture that I took turned out perfect. The only ones that were not perfect were blurry.
"I think that pictures are to make the memories last a little longer. I want to remember how I felt and how a smile spread across my face when I held the prints in my hand," I explained to him.
He pointed to a picture of a reflection of a bicycle; the reflection took up the entire page with just a little bit of the actual bicycle in the background. "But how did you know that this would make a good picture?"
"Well, the pictures also allow you to see differently. The lighting outside or how the natural light is hitting an object perfectly in your room. You just get this natural urge to take a picture of it. I'm still learning about aperture, trying to see how much I need to take a photo. But for the most part, when I do not know how to work the aperture, I just put it on automatic."
I backed away from the photo wall.
"Cameras capture things never thought imaginable," I explained to him.
"I think that you just found your six word story."
I counted on my fingers how many words I just said, and it did add up to six. I found it.
I glanced up at Evan, who had started to fidget again. "Fall, do you have any Tylenol?"
Shaking my head, I said, "Do you need to take your medicine?"
His head snapped at me, "Why do you think that I need to take my medicine?"
"Because you are fidgeting, you have no idea where to settle your hands and you want Tylenol, which I do not think would help you in the situation," I explained to him.
Evan shook his head, "I just need something to calm me down, and Tylenol usually helps with that."
"Shouldn't you so to your house and take your pills? Wouldn't that be better than Tylenol?" I asked him.
"No, because my pills just make me go to sleep and sleeping is not something that I want to do at the moment," he took a step closer to me. He raised his voice, "Do you have any Tylenol that I can take?" He reached out his hand and placed it on my wrist, squeezing it.
"Evan," I breathed, not looking him in the eye, "you are hurting me." I tried to turn myself out of his grip but it tightened. "I don't have anything. Go to your house," I said in a steady voice.
He took a deep breath and let go of my arm. He seemed to snap out of what made him hurt me. "I'm sorry, Autumn. You are right, I have to go. Please don't hate me for what I just did. I did not mean to hurt you."
I rubbed my wrist, "I forgive you, but I think that we need to have some breathing room before we start to come over to each other houses again. Okay?"
He nodded. "And we need to have that talk."
"I don't think so anymore."
* * * * *
Nick had made a compromise with the whole camera situation. I would either carry it around at night or I would have to take it in when we first showed up and lock it in the car when it was starting to get dark. I choose to wait until dark because I could get the lights of the fair in my camera. And I needed to work on the aperture.
When he first walked into the fair, we immediately went towards the foot long corn dogs. We each bought one and sat down on a massage barrel to eat our corn dogs. We had the perfect view of Big Tex, waving to everyone who was walking in.
After our corn dogs were finished, we found a ticket booth and Nick bought sixty tickets.
"Are we going to really use all sixty tickets?" I asked him.
He nodded, smiling big, "These tickets are going to be used to buy use everything deep fried that we want to try and some rides that we want to ride. And if we run out of tickets, I can always buy more."
"You don't have to buy the tickets for me."
"Um," Nick looked down at the tickets in his hand, "yes I do."
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Why?"
He laughed nervously, "I thought that you knew that this was a date."
Oh.
His smiled disappeared, "I didn't mean to make this uncomfortable, and I just thought that we could have a go at this. If you don't want to, we can just forget about the last five minutes and continue that we are here just as friends."
I put my hands up, "No," I laughed, "it is fine Nick. You just surprised me, is all."
A few hours later, and with my camera in my hand, Nick and I were at the top of the big ferris wheel. I stopped taking pictures, but my hand was still securely around the camera and my other hand was grasping Nick's hand.
"You are afraid of heights, Autumn?" he laughed at me. I glared at him and his smile immediately disappeared. "Sorry, but I didn't imagine you to be scared of heights. I just learned something new about you and that makes me happy."
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think about something other than falling and the weird feeling in my stomach that felt like I had no stomach. "Well, I am glad that you are having the time of your life."
His hand tightened his hold on mine, "Just a few more minutes before we are safely on the ground again." He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "Breath in and out."
"I'm trying," I whispered back.
Nick pulled back a little, but his hand was still in mine. "How is Oliver?"
"Good," I said, my eyes still closed, "he really likes his soccer team and the fact that he knows someone on his team."
"Who?"
I giggled, feeling lighter, "You."
We continued to talk about Oliver and then the topic shifted to the emoji's on our phones. When we finally reached the ground again, I was the first one to exit the ferris wheel and rush out allow my feet to touch the ground.
My hand was still encased in Nick's hand, so I accidently dragged him along with me. "We," I used my hand to gesture to both of us, "are never going to go on a ferris wheel ever again. Not even when I say that it would be a good scene."
"I'm sorry," he said while chuckling. He raised one of his hands at the bottom of my neck, pulling me close, and his other hand let go of mine and placed it at the bottom of my back.
I followed his actions and hugged him back, in the comforting hug.
As he pulled away, he said, "I will make sure that you never do something that involves heights."
I put my hands up in surrender, "I am fine with heights, but when something is extremely high, I can't do that."
Nick's hand found mine again and squeezed it, "Are you ready to head home? Or do you need a few more images?"
I sighed, looking down at my camera. "I think that I want some pictures of me and you. Not posing, just having fun," I explained. I leaned into him, "Do you think that we can do that?"
He nodded and we walked around until we found someone who was willing to take pictures of us. We did have to pay them ten dollars though, but that was not bad.
After we got the pictures of us, we headed back home.
"I thought that you were not into being on the other side of the camera," he commented while driving, "you are always the one taking the pictures."
"I wanted a change of scenery in my pictures," I told him.
When he stopped in front of my house, mom and dad were already a sleep, so I had to open up the door with my own key.
Nick turned off his car and walked me up to my door. Before I opened it, I turned to Nick, "Thank you for tonight."
"You're welcome," and before I was even aware of his intentions, the proximity between us quickly shortened as he leaned forward and brushed his soft lips to my cheek in a feathery light kiss. He leaned back and smiled at me, "Thank you for tonight as well."
I smiled at him, "You're welcome Nick," I put my key in the door and opened it. "I will see you on Monday." I went into my house and closed the door behind me.
My back hit the door and I slid down to the floor, smiling while I was thinking about my night.
It turns out that I placed first in districts for UIL. Then I went to regionals and did not place, but it was in a category that I do not usually write in.
The reason why that I said that it was over 4700 words is because I usually just make it up to 3000 then post it at a good spot but the chapter seemed to have more things going on.
And it has been a while since I have updated and the last couple of chapters have been short, so this is me making up for it.
I have AP tests coming up in the next three weeks so I probably will not be able to update, but I will try.
I also working on editing OS and trying to get it signed onto a publishing company by the end of this summer. The plot is going to DIFFERENT than it is on here. DIFFERENT name and DIFFERENT place. So, if I manage to get it a contract, I will let you guys know.
Until next time...