"Alright! Great job today Ladies! Try outs are after Thanksgiving break, so be ready! Alright, break it out." Coach yells, throwing up his hand in the air as we all mimic the same.
We break out in our usual chant.
"Lady Dogs on three! One! Two! Three! Lady Dogs!" And we all walk to the locker room, grabbing our things and leaving.
The thought of tryouts makes me nervous and excited all at the same time.
I see my moms car parked right next to the field gates. I open the door and quickly hop in, smiling at my mom as she just sits on her phone.
"Hey, mom."
No answer.
She takes the car out of park and stars backing up out of the parking lot, driving away towards the house.
"So, tryouts are after Thanksgiving break. Which is only a few weeks away." I chirp, watching her scroll through her phone and look up at the road.
No answer.
"And I made a hundred on my test in pre cal."
Still, no answer.
"I also skipped class to smoke pot with the stoners." I lie, seeing if she is actually listening.
No reaction.
She doesn't even acknowledge that I'm speaking to her.
I slump in my seat, crossing my arms and huffing out.
We get to the house, my sister's bus arriving at the same time we do. The little brown haired girl skips off the bus and towards the front door where mom is unlocking it.
"Guess what Mommy!!" Bailey squeals.
No answer.
"I got a star in reading!" She jumps up and down. Mom completely ignores her, walking straight inside and leaving the door open.
"She's not going to listen to you Bails." I say with annoyance towards our mother.
We both walk inside, the door softly shutting behind us. I walk to my room, chucking my bags on the floor as I fall face first on my bed. Kicking my feet up to nudge my shoes off.
"Danny!" My mom's voices call out from the kitchen.
"Yeah?" I yell back.
No answer.
"Mom!" I call once more.
Still no answer.
I hate when she does that.
I get up, huffing out as I walk to where my mom stands in the kitchen.
"Yes, ma'am?" I watch her open the fridge door and peer inside.
"What happened to the left over spaghetti?" She asks, still searching the fridge.
"Bailey ate it for dinner last night, remember?"
"But, I wanted it." She all but whines.
"Well, you told her to eat it." I cross my arms.
"I guess we have nothing to eat then." She dramatically sighs, shutting the fridge and turning towards me.
"You could make dinner."
"Why do I have to do it? I don't feel good." She complains, exhaling loudly through her mouth.
"Did you forget that you're the mother?"
"I'm laying down. Find something to eat." She saunters to her room, shutting the door and once again ignoring her responsibility of taking care of us.
"Are you hungry Bails?" I turn towards my sister.
She just nods her head, her long brown ponytail bouncing around.
"Alright, put your shoes and jacket on." I tell her, walking into my room and changing my athletic shorts to my jeans from school, tugging on a hoodie from my closet.
I grab my phone and slip it into my pocket before grabbing my purse and walking out of my room. Bailey struggles to tie her shoes, a flustered look on her face as she fumbles with the shoe laces.
"Here." I bend down in front of her, grabbing the laces in my hands.
I tie the shoe, double tying it so they won't come undone.
"Thank you sissy!"She chirps, both of us standing up and walking to the door.
I grab the keys to the van and lock the front door behind me.
Mom won't notice we're gone. She wouldn't even care if we were.
I make sure Bailey is buckled in at the back seat, walking to the drivers side and hopping in. I put the keys in the ignition and start up the car. The radio turns on, playing a pop song.
I feel like I've been driving way more in the past month than I have in my entire life.
I breathe a shaky breath, looking through the back window to make sure the road is clear.
I back the car out of the driveway and head down the road and to the Main Street of town.
Most of the cars on the road were gone, some still lingering around. I glance in the rear view window, smiling when I see Bailey bobbing her head to the music.
I turn into the parking lot, finding a space and putting the car in park. Taking the keys out of the ignition, I turn to my sister, seeing her eyes light up with excitement.
"Taco Bell!!" She screams, trying to unbuckle her seat belt.
I laugh, jumping out of the car and opening her door just as she jumps out and runs the the front entrance.
"Hey! Slow down!" I yell after her.
We both walk inside the restaurant. The smell of fake Mexican food filling the air.
I walk up to the cashier and order our food. The boy taking our order, smiling and giving me sly glances.
He's cute. Brown eyes, black curly hair, a tanned face. Looking around the age of 15 or 16.
"That will be $12.57." He smiles, looking at me expectantly.
I grab a $20 out of my wallet and hand it to him. The sound of the entrance door opening and closing, but I don't bother seeing who it is.
The boy gets my change, placing it in my hand, his fingers brushing against mine. He smirks, scratching the back of his neck as I grab the cups off the counter. He holds the receipt out to me.
"I was wondering...can I have your number?" The boy asks.
I snap my head up so fast I swear I could've snapped my neck.
I was going to tell him something, but before I could say anything, a familiar voice beat me to it.
"No, actually she's good. She has mine." Blake steps up to the boy, smirking at his red face and snatching the paper out of his hand.
"Hey babe." He smiles down at me, the dimple in his cheek showing.
I feel my face heat up as I look at the boy, his face red as he glares at Blake.
Blake puts his hand on my waist, dragging me to a table with four chairs. Bailey stares up at him, a little twinkle in her eyes as she looks between the both of us.
I stare at him too, shocked as to what just happened.
"Babe?" Is all I say when he lets go of me.
"You're welcome." He smirks, leaning against the table.
"For what?" I blink at him.
"For saving totally saving your ass back there. He was hitting on you and it was embarrassing." He chuckles, snapping his gaze down to my sister, regret shooting through his face.
I hand her one of the cups in my hand.
"Bails, go get your drink." I push her off, she just skips away to the drink machine.
"Sorry, I didn't see her there."
"Why are you here?" I glare at him.
"The same reason you are."
I freeze, he knew why I was here?
"To get food?" He dumbly states.
"Right." I snap out of it, shaking my head.
"It was a good coincidence that you're here too." He smiles, the dimple carving into his cheek again.
"Sure." I say, walking over to get my drink.
I turn back and see Blake ordering food, the boy behind the counter still glaring daggers at him.
I sit down at the small table, taking a drink from my sweet tea.
Bailey just smiles at me, her smile making her eyes squint.
"What?" I snap.
"Is that your boyfriend?" She asks, giving me a mischievous smirk.
"No." I scrunch my eyebrows together.
"Yes it is!" She yells.
I look around, seeing the few people in the place looking at us. A nervous smile on my lips before I turn back to my sister.
"Shut up or I won't buy you ice cream." I glare at her.
She freezes, her eyes wide as she snaps her mouth shut.
"He is really handsome, sissy!" She quickly spits out as a deep chuckle sounds from behind me.
I turn around, seeing Blake with a receipt in his hand, staring at us.
I snap my head back around, glaring at Bailey, dropping my head in my hands in embarrassment.
"So, I'm good looking now?" Blake laughs from beside me, his arm brushing against mine as he slides into the seat next to me.
"Her words, not mine." I shoot out.
"Well, thank you cutie. What's your name?" He directs his attention to her as her cheeks turn pink.
"Bailey." She shyly smiles.
"It's nice to meet you, Bailey." Blake smiles at her.
"I'm Blake."
"Are you my sissy's boyfriend?" She giggles as he looks at me. My eyes meeting his as he smiles a soft and cute smile.
"No, but between you and me..." he leans across the table, loudly whispering to her.
"I want to be."
My face sets on fire, my heart rapidly beating in my chest.
He sits back, smirking at me as Bailey giggles.
"You look cute when you blush." He whispers in my ear, sending chills down my spine.
My sister still giggles, covering her mouth when I shoot a pointed look towards her. Like a child, I stick my tongue out at her. Which makes her erupt into another fit of giggles.
I feel Blake's burning gaze on me. When I look over at him, something flashes across his face.
I hear my order number and get my food. Blake's comes out soon after.
We all start eating, the heat in my cheeks never going away.
Blake falls into a nice conversation with my sister, her smile towards him making me happy.
"How old are you Miss. Bailey?" Blake asks her.
"Five." She holds up four fingers, giggling when she sees that she forgot one.
"Cool, I'm seventeen." He tries to count it on his fingers, causing Bailey to fall into a loud fit of giggles when he fails.
"You and Sissy are the same age!" She claps her hands.
"Yes, indeed we are." He smiles towards me, his eyes lighting up when I smile back.
"Eat your food, Bails." I nod my head to her untouched food.
"Then ice cream?" She smiles.
"Only if you eat all of your food."
"Okay!" She gasps out, shoveling food into her mouth.
"Your sister is so cute." Blake whispers to me.
"Thanks, she's only like this in front of new people." I roll my eyes.
"Trust me, she's totally different when we're at home." I laugh.
"Maybe one day I can witness this character change." He lifts an eyebrow.
I just stare at him, feeling my stomach drop.
"Probably not." I look down, stabbing my smothered burrito with the plastic fork.
"Why?"
"It's complicated."
"How so?" He leans closer.
"My mom." I whisper, feeling him shift a little in his seat.
"Does she not like when you bring guys home or what?"
If only he knew that he would've been the first one.
"She doesn't like people coming to our house." I shrug.
"And why is that?" He pushes on.
"I don't know, she just doesn't. Alright? I don't want to talk about it." I lower my head.
"Is she the reason why y'all are here, instead of eating a homemade meal?" He whispers close to my ear.
I just nod my head, feeling frustrated at her and her behavior.
"I could say the same, I guess. But, instead it's my dad." He leans back, slinging his arm behind my seat.
I look at him, his eyes distant.
"What happened?"
"Mom had to work late so my dad decided he would leave to the bar and not even bother to make dinner." His jaw clenched.
"I'm sorry." He catches my eyes.
"You shouldn't apologize. He's the one who should be sorry."
We fall into another silence.
"Done!" Bailey announces as she hold up her empty wrapper, a gap toothed grin on her face.
"Nice. I'm almost done, then we can go and get ice cream." I smile at her.
"Hurry!" She whines, stopping when I shoot a look towards her.
Blake and I finish our food, leaving the restaurant after throwing our trash.
Blake walks us to the van, stopping and opening the door for Bailey and then for me.
"Thank you." I hop in, seeing his smile as he still hold the door open.
"I hope I'm not intruding, but can I join y'all for ice cream?"
"I don't know, can you?" I slyly remark, laughing at his annoyed expression.
"May I?" He rolls his eyes.
Before I could answer, Bailey screams from the backseat.
"Yes!! Please sissy?!?"
"Yeah, please sissy?" Blake pouts at me.
He looks pretty cute like when he does that.
I laugh, shaking my head at his childishness.
"Sure."
"Yay!!" Him and Bailey both cheer in unison before he runs and jumps in the passenger seat.
"Let the date commence!" He chants.
"Date?" I cough out.
"Can I not go on a date with two beautiful ladies?" He smirks.
"Yeah!" Bailey sides with him.
"Whatever." I roll my eyes.
We all decide on the ice cream shop a little more in town. The drive only being a few minutes.
Once we get there, Blake and Bailey jump out of the car. Bailey grabbing ahold of Blake's hand as she drags him inside. I follow suit, laughing at him when he looks back at me.
"You better step up your game, Danielle. Your sister is already making moves on me." He chuckles, sending a wink my way.
I just roll my eyes, walking up to the cash register with the both of them.
A teenage girl around our age walks up to take our order, her black hair pulled back into a blue hat. When her eyes land on Blake, a flirtatious smile erupts on her face.
"May I take your order?" She bats her fake eyelashes at him, earning a snort from me.
Blake bends down, getting eye level with Bailey.
"What do you want?" He softly asks her.
"Chocolate! With sprinkles!" She commands happily.
He looks to me, expecting an answer without asking.
"Birthday cake, please." I politely tell him.
"We'll have a kid's chocolate cone with sprinkles and two cups of single scoop Birthday cake." He orders, the girl typing the buttons in the cash register.
"That'll be $7.98." She pushes her lips out, puffing up her chest.
Ew, gross.
Blake hands her a credit card, her fingers purposely rubbing against his as she takes the card.
She swipes it in the machine and hands it back, her eyes roaming his face and body.
Annoyance bubbling inside me as she checks him out.
"So, you want my number?" She seductively purrs as she folds her arms, purposefully making her cleavage grow.
"No, thanks. We'll just take the receipt." I come up around Blake, intertwining my hand with his as I put my free hand on his arm. Sweetly smiling at the girl as she shoots daggers in my direction.
But, parting in my little act, Blake swoops down and kisses my cheek, taking the receipt from the girl and leading us to the ice cream bar.
I try to yank my hand free but he tightens his hold. He looks down at me.
"Jealous much?"
"I did you a favor. She was basically assuming you wanted her." I spit out, still disgusted by the past events.
"I love how you care so much, babe." He smirks at me, squeezing my hand.
"Shut up." I feel my cheeks burn again, a smile slipping on my lips.
"Just hope she doesn't spit in your ice cream." He whispers in my ear, a laugh bubbling out of me.
We get our ice cream and eat it, laughing and sharing stories between the three of us.
Bailey completely adoring Blake. Her eyes bright and full of laughter.
I stare at the two of them, warmth spreading through me as I witness the two giggle and share stupid jokes.
I feel a soft smile creep to my face as I see how happy she is.
She needed this, we both did. I just wish everyday could be like this. I don't want it to end.
Maybe it doesn't have to end. Maybe things will escalate between us and we'll be together.
I feel heat rush to my cheeks, remembering what Blake told Bailey at Taco Bell when she asked if he was my boyfriend.
"No, but between you and me...I want to be."