Monty Kennedy
I was lucky. My entire life was shiny, flashy, and more successful than most people's. However, that didn't mean I didn't like to have fun and work hard. I was a hard worker– and I had something to prove. When I commit to something– I make a vow to myself to not break that commitment. The last thing that I ever would want to be seen as is a liar, a quitter, or a cheat.
My eyes roamed over Penn, one of Reese's roommates, as he placed his hands on the hips of a girl, pressing himself up against her as she threw her head back against his chest– her cheeks flushed due to alcohol and him.
"So let me get this straight, you drag me out of the comfort of my fully furnished condo to come to this lame-ass party?" I asked Reese as he walked toward the shot rack, grabbing a bottle of Vlad. I placed my head in my hands as I watched him move toward the shot glasses, without a doubt getting ready to take what felt like his millionth shot of the night.
"Take a shot with me! I'm throwing this welcome home party for you" Reese yelled, waving for me to come to the other side of the kitchen bar with him. I shook my head and motioned to the water bottle in my hand. I was only drinking water tonight.
"It's not a welcome home party if this isn't even your home." A new voice cut in. That voice belonged to Mitch, another one of Reese's roommates that probably didn't know his belly button from his asshole.
"So do you like playing basketball? I just heard that you are coming from California. I've never met a boy from California." I blinked slowly at the blonde girl who was batting her eyelashes way too frequently for me to be interested.
I pointed toward Reese with my water bottle, "He's from California."
She blushed. "I've never met a basketball player from California." I pursed my lips. "Have you met any basketball players at all?" I asked. She shook her head.
"No, I haven't. But the one I'm talking to right now is pretty interesting to me–" She was cut off by Reese's yelling. Thank god for him.
"I've got a spare bedroom!" He exclaimed again.
Fuck him.
"Yeah, that's filled with the stench of condoms and stale cigarettes! No thanks!" I teased him before taking another sip of my water. He holds up his shot glass in the air, tilting it toward me before throwing it back into his mouth. He takes the vodka shot with ease, not even flinching.
Damn. I would even flinch. Personally, I'd rather do a shot of whiskey rather than a shot of vodka. Vodka burns your throat and tongue. Whiskey burns your chest and stomach. But nope, my best friend just took his seventh whiskey shot of the night like a champ.
"Gummy, there's karaoke up soon. What do you say you and I go show those cowards in there who the best singers really are!" I started to dismiss myself from the conversation I was having.
"No Reese, we aren't having a repeat of San Diego." I denied him, and he frowned.
"But we had fun in San Diego, you loved San Diego– and we killed Wannabe by the Spice Girls." Penn's hands left the girl's waist as he covered his mouth to laugh at Reese's slurred words.
That's my cue.
"I'm going to start taking care of him now, I'll catch you later. It was nice talking to you, Emily." I flashed her an award-winning smile. A smile that had both of my dimples popping out and my pearly white teeth were shining so brightly, I'm sure she was blinded.
I watched as Reese started to make his way toward me. He looks red in the face but slowly turns green. Yep, that last shot did it for him. Idiot.
He stumbles toward me and I wrap my arm around his shoulder, walking in the direction of his bedroom. "What's gotten into you tonight, buddy?" I asked while saying excuse me to people as I carried the weight of his body with me through the warm crowd.
He slurred his words. "I laughed at her."
"I laugh at you." He shook his head at my statement, we slowly started the long crawl up the steps. "Not the same, I laughed at her dude. She was heartbroken."
Before I could ask him further questions, we made it to the top of the steps. "I'm going to go to bed, but I'm going to puke beforehand. I will see you tomorrow. Goodnight gummy." I didn't have a chance to utter another word to the blonde-haired dramatic best friend of eleven years. I watched as he walked into his bedroom, hand over mouth and he slammed the door shut behind him.
I waited for a moment staring at the door before turning around and walking down the steps. I located Mitch, who stood by the door. "Hey, Reese is sick up there. Make sure to check on him within the next ten minutes. He likes rye bread when he's drunk– he thinks it tastes like dill pickles, so make sure you give him some."
"Dude, this is the first time we've met but tell your dad I am such a big fan of his." Mitch smiled at me. I patted his shoulder before heading out the front door. My car keys were in my pocket and I felt the eyes of everyone in line on me.
Being an athlete at Penn State was a lot more intense than I had ever expected it to be. Being a division one athlete meant that people were after you. Not only for friendship and popularity but for more reasons than I could count.
I was so thankful for this opportunity to be successful in a sport that I loved, especially because I knew my dad was living through me too but sometimes it all becomes too much, and right now, the stares of everyone become too much.
In high school, you have popular people. In college, you have athletes who are on the edge of becoming professional athletes with multi-million dollar contracts. This automatically puts a target on your back. I was apprehensive toward all new people, I had to be.
When the news broke that I was leaving Pepperdine for Penn State, the basketball world was shocked. It's my senior year, the year before I stick my toe in the water for the NBA draft. It's either do or die, and to most, what I did was considered dying.
But not to me.
I was able to wrap up my college career with my best friend by my side doing what I loved.
As I climbed into my car, my seat all the way back so my ass was practically inside the trunk, the engine roared to life as I turned it on. I let it run for a second while I fixed my music and texted Reese goodnight before heading off toward my apartment wishing for nothing but my bed.
I peeled out of the area, tires squealing as I sped toward my apartment that looked more like a penthouse. One thing that shocked me about Penn State was that it was one in the morning and nobody was out on College Avenue. Usually at Pepperdine at this time, people were carpooling to get into clubs.
Everyone here was already at the party or in bed. It was nice, it was quiet and it was calm. My phone vibrated in my front pocket and I answered it. "Hi mom," I greeted a small smile crawling on my face.
"My baby, are you on your way home?" I stopped at a red light, scratching my chin. "Yeah, but I'll be there in about two seconds, why what's up?' I asked.
"Your father is arguing with me over what kind of birthday cake you had for your thirteenth birthday. It was a marble Ninja Turtles cake, right?" She asked. I ran my tongue over my teeth as the light turned green.
I stepped on the gas and the car moved. "Yeah mom, it was." She yelled in triumph at my answer as I heard my dad start to curse in the background. I laughed, "Is that all?" I questioned, turning down my side street however the closer I got, the fire started to burn under my skin.
Is there another fucking car blocking my garage again?
"Yes baby, we love and miss you. Have a goodnight and we will talk tomorrow, okay?" She asked. I flashed my high beams at the person in the car, hopefully, they would get the idea to move. Their lights were on in the car and everything, however, nobody moved.
"Monty?" Mom's voice called out.
"I love you more mom, hey I have to go. Talk tomorrow, miss you more." I hung up as I put on my four-way flashers and climbed out of my car walking up to the owner of this small car. It was the same fucking car that was blocking me the other day. The same exact car.
I inhaled deeply, calming myself as I knocked on the window. The window tint was so dark I couldn't see inside. However, when there was no answer to my knock, I pressed my eyes up to the window and was able to make out a figure inside of the car.
Someone with a hood covering their head, slouched in the driver's seat. The dashboard lit them up bright enough that I could see the bottom of hair in this person's lap. Next to the hair was an old phone and a vape.
I knocked again on the window– and when that received no answer, I continued to knock until the person who sat slouched and exhausted in the front seat of the car woke up with a startle. I watched as their body jolted, seeing my face in the window and hearing my knocking.
Slowly the window went down, a pair of brown eyes stared into my blue ones. I wish I could've got my words out but I was unable to do so due to the fact that an angel was staring at me. Beautiful. Plump lips, a freckle above her lip, and one on her nose. After looking at her, I was sorry for the fact that I woke her up– she looked drained.
"Can I help you?" She asks, voice groggy. Her hood comes off of her head releasing a long, thick head of glossy black hair. She's beautiful. I never stayed with a woman long enough to notice how beautiful they looked after they slept but after staring at her– I've regretted every single time I've had a hookup and not let them stay the night.
"You're blocking my garage or I wouldn't have disturbed you, I'm sorry." I leaned over the top of her car, almost shoving myself inside of her old car just to get a closer look at her. She ran her tongue over her teeth making a click noise before she exhaled long and deep. Her eyes stared deeply into mine, a sense of realization came over her.
Her eyes move to the side mirror, staring at my car in it before she nods. "Thanks for scaring away my ride earlier." Wait, was that all she could say right now? I couldn't read her tone. I blinked hard, and then blinked again making sure I was hearing it right.
"You shooed off my ride to go to wherever the hell you needed to go and that was quite inconvenient for me." She muttered, continuing to pester me.
"It's inconvenient for me as well whenever I need to park my car but you happened to always be here in some shape or form." I smirked at her. She rolled her eyes, winding the window up. Oh no, don't go away.
"You can park here, just pull up a little bit further next time, okay?" I whispered.
She grimaced. "I won't park here again, I'm sorry."
I shook my head. "Look, I don't know if you don't have a place to go– you look like you are having a rough night but I'm new here, I'm Monty and if you need a place to park your car at night, just pull up a little further." I pointed toward another open spot ahead.
"And you look nice despite the fact that you just sounded like an asshole when you opened your mouth to speak." I couldn't help but let the mocking laugh slip out of my mouth. Nobody had ever spoken to me like that.
I pursed my lips, chewing on the inside of my cheek. "I didn't mean it that way and technically, I don't have to let you park in front of here but I am just doing it as a courtesy." Pointing that out, I watched as her chest heaved up and down.
She didn't respond though, she just stared straight ahead into more cars and more State College land. "It was a welcome home party if that makes you feel any better," I added. Her eyes met mine before quickly diverting them somewhere else.
"It doesn't." She answered, and quickly she started to roll up the window. "Wait," I said.
She froze, in the middle of manually winding the glass up.
"You come here often, don't you? I don't mind if you park here but you have to at least tell me your name." I explained, voice steady. She furrowed her brows before leaning down and continuing to roll the window up.
"Didn't mommy and daddy teach you not to be nice to strangers?" God, her voice. It sounded like gravel, as if she had been screaming all night. I shrugged, feeling the smile already start to crawl on my lips. Before I could answer, she slowly rolled up the rest of her window.
The car she drove was old, and it smelled of fuel as she pulled away. I brought my hands up to my face and ran them over it a few times, trying to find out if that just really happened. I watched as she continued to drive straight before turning left at a light, a red light, I might add.
Once she was out of sight, I got back into my car and drove into my garage. Who the hell was that girl?
Hey besties!!!
Hope we are doing so well! I love you all so much and tomorrow starts the last month I will ever be in school!!! AH! Thank you for everything PSU! I love you all so much, thank you for reading!