Aquiver ~1
•Charlotte Carpenter•
Ten seconds left as there was a turnover in the game. This side of the arena is cheering for Hayes' team while the other roots for the other. I stand nervously like the rest of the crowd as Grayson receives the ball. Between Hayes, Ethan and Grayson they would pass to each other. Hayes catches the ball and I can feel my heart racing as I held my breath. He has done this many times. The pressure of scoring for the team.
I believe in him.
The buzzer goes off and the crowd cheers. I take a closer look to see Hayes being surrounded by his teammates. I smile as he is picked up by them and I laugh lightly remembering the time he was dropped. I follow Cam, Nash, Aaron and Jacob down the stands to make my way onto the turf.
As his girlfriend, I am beyond proud of Hayes and his accomplishments.
I stop by the stairs and watch as everything unfolds in front of me. I held flowers for him and wait patiently like I usually do before he comes over to me.
I watch as the they take a team picture and I see everyone sweaty, but a huge smile on their face. They then make their way over to the bench and I wait for Hayes to catch my eye. Instead, I watched as he talked with a few of his friends and he hugs Cam and Nash before going into the locker room.
I may have forgotten to mention that we had a small argument this morning. I may have taken his lacrosse stick and it with my test results from surgery a few months ago. It turned out he was in a really grumpy mood with me because we stayed up really late and he wanted to sleep. So I gave his stick back right away without my results.
Currently, Hayes doesn't know.
"Char?" I look up from my hands and see Jacob approaching me.
"Hey," I half smile.
"Everything alright?" I nod.
"I'm going to wait for Hayes outside the locker room."
"Alright. We'll wait for you in the car."
"Okay." I wave to them as we walked out of the stadium and I take a right as they take a left. I take a seat in front of the bench where there is a big glass window that shows the view of the city. The boys locker room is just across the hall.
What has happened over the last nine months? That day in the hospital, I was told there was a ninety-nine percent chance that I couldn't do gymnastics ever again. I spent my birthday in the hospital. Aaron, Dustyn, and my mom arrived in the middle of the night.
I'm still upset with my mom and Aaron. I asked Nash and Cam if I could stay with them at their apartment and they welcomed me. I moved some of my things there not wanting to face my mom. Aaron and I aren't close, but we talk once in a while. Some things can't be forgotten.
Hayes was able to visit UCLA in February. The both of us were able to go. He went for lacrosse and I went for support and for my program to see what it was like. It turns out I love it there as much as I would have imagined.
Jacob finished his three month tour with Shawn in the U.S. It took place from January to March. Kayla and I had an amazing time at one of their shows. Shawn spent a week at Cams and Nash's apartment after my incident in New York and he came to visit again after tour had finished. He should be arriving around graduation time so we can all go on a trip to Georgia for the week. Then iur trip to Universal is going to happen in August.
As for Jacob, he is going to move out to LA during the end of our summer along with Cam and Nash who also are looking for apartments out there. Jacob has become my best friend and closest friend. He has been there since Hayes and I have officially let everyone know. He has been there whenever I needed someone to talk to when Hayes would be away sometimes.
He's always there.
I hear the big doors open and I look up and refocus. I see a group of Hayes' teammates walking out and they are having different conversations. They wave to me and say a quick hi before heading towards the exit. Next the door opens and I see Grayson, Hayes, Nigel and Brandon. Hayes is speaking and I stand slowly noticing that Hayes hasn't quite seen me and so they passed me.
"Hey Hayes," I call out gently. The conversation stops and he turns around and the guys stop with him.
"Char," He says softly. I walk over to him and I bring out the flowers.
"You guys did great out there."
"Thank You Charlotte," Nigel smiles. "I'm glad you came today. How are you doing?"
"I'm doing alright. Ready for the championships in about a weekish?"
"Heck yeah." Nigel looks between Hayes and I. "Looks like you wanted to see your awesome boyfriend here." I laugh lightly and nod thankful his teammates are really understanding and supportive. "Grayson, Brandon and I will let you two talk. See you in a bit Hayes."
"See you in a bit," Hayes says as he nods as the three of them walks away. I look back towards Hayes.
"These are for you." It takes him a moment for him to respond.
"You didn't have to get me flowers."
"I wanted to. Really, I like doing this for you." He looks away from me and doesn't accept the flowers. A slight disappointment struck me and my smile falters slightly. "I'm sorry about this morning." His expression of annoyance is now shown.
"Yeah, well what the hell were you thinking hiding my stick? You almost cost my team extra conditioning." I bite my lower lip nervously. Never intentionally mean to make him late. I just wanted to surprise him with great news. That obviously backfired.
"I didn't know that was going to happen. I didn't mean for that to happen Hayes." He huffs and takes a step back.
"Then you kept me up to finish that stupid movie we've watched about a billion times. I don't get why you couldn't have let me go to sleep." I look down at the flowers.
It's not a stupid movie. It's the movie we both fell in love with when we were younger and we'd always watch it together no matter what. For him to say this bothers me. I sigh to myself disappointed.
"Have fun with your friends," I mumble trying my best to not show upset I am for probably the sixth argument we've had all week. I push my way from him and continue to walk away from him, not bothering to ask him when he would get back to the house.
•Jacob Whitesides•
Cameron, Nash, Aaron and I are in the car waiting for Hayes and Charlotte to come out. We have been waiting for the two for about ten minutes now as the crowd has started to thin out from the doors.
"You don't think they're making out, right?" Nash asks as he looks between the three of us.
"Who knows, possibly," Cam says looking up from his phone.
"I'm not even sure if I want to know," he shudders and I chuckle. I look out the window again and I see Charlotte walking over. I frown slightly to not see Hayes with her.
"There's Char," I say and Cam unlocks the door. I open my side and she gets in to sit at the back.
"Took you long enough," Aaron smiles back her and I turn around. She's looking down at her phone and shrugs.
"Is Hayes coming?" Nash asks from the front.
"No, he went with some of his friends to hangout," She answers.
"Don't you usually go?" Cam asks as he puts the car on reverse and backs out of the parking spot.
"No. I'm a little tired," she yawns. "I'll see him later."
"How is your back doing? Have you told Hayes the news?" Nash asks with a smile and turns his head.
"My back is doing great. Bending and moving around better. I... haven't had the chance to tell him yet." I turn my head slightly to see her slightly upset about something, but I don't say anything. She is my best friend. I can always ask her later.
"What? I thought you'd have told him weeks ago."
"I'll tell him tonight," She says softly and looks out the window and leans against it. Soon the guys are talking and I notice how quiet Char has been. She's usually very cheerful and the center of the conversation. Today, she's dead silent. It looks like she has spaced out.
~
Welcome to book 2! Hope all of you enjoy this story as much as I loved writing it. Hope all of you are having a wonderful week 💞
~Sam