Sunday was his least favorite day in the week.
The return to school and work loomed in the distance, and without practice or a game to distract him, that weight became much heavier. Sundays were his busy days.
Without having to worry about the team, Aiden instead worried about his schoolwork. All of his readings for the week were pushed into that one day, and Aiden made sure to find a quiet place to study at the crack of dawn before buckling down.
He had been in a spare study lounge in his old dorm building since nine that morning. He had just finished meeting up with one of the freshmen, Evan Accola, twenty minutes ago. The new player had expressed how overwhelmed he was feeling during a practice earlier that week, and Aiden had offered to meet up with him over the weekend. For the most part, all of Evan's worries stemmed from the overwhelming rush that syllabus week tended to induce for new students, and after reviewing his schedule for the month, it was easier to convince Evan that college and practices would become more manageable with time.
If he was being honest with himself, he understood that overwhelming feeling now.
As his eyes strained to understand the PDF he'd downloaded on his computer, it was almost a relief when his phone started to vibrate on the table, his mother's name flashing across the screen.
Megan Collins was a formidable woman, and that was putting it lightly. His father wasn't in the picture and hadn't been for some time, but his absence had only made Megan's devotion to her two children stronger. She'd given Aiden all of the opportunities she could afford him, and even though he felt like he'd grown up faster than most, his mother was a constant force in his life.
His scholarship was a godsend, even though Megan had never voiced it out loud. The money he received for playing at Briarcliff both allowed him to do what he loved and gave his mother a much-needed cushion to finance the rest of his education. He wouldn't ask for more beyond that.
His DPT would come out of his own pockets.
"Hi, Mom," he greeted. Since the door was shut, there was no need to lower his voice. He wasn't in the library. There were no regulations on volume.
"Hellooo," she drawled. "Where are you right now? Can we FaceTime? I miss you."
"Sure," Aiden said. He tapped the button to request a FaceTime call and propped his phone up against his laptop as he waited for her to accept him.
Megan's warm face filled the screen then, the camerawork shaky as she held her phone at arms length in front of her. Her brown-eyed gaze softened at the sight of her only son. (Their eyes had never matched. It was one of the obvious features he'd inherited from his biological father: clear, green eyes.)
"Hi, Aiden," she repeated. "Where are you right now?"
"The study lounge." He indicated the room around him with his pencil before letting it fall onto the desk. "I've just been working all day."
"Oops! Am I interrupting you?"
"It's a good interruption." His smile was weary, the clear indicator of a long day spent between the pages of books. "I could use the break. How are you?"
"I'm good—great."
"How's Hannah?"
It had been too long since he'd spoken with his only sibling, his younger sister. He hated that it had taken him this long to reach out—and technically, it had been through his mother's will, not his—since he had a habit of calling every other day. Even though most college students could go weeks—months, even—without contacting their families, Aiden had never agreed.
His family was small: a single mother and her two children. Perhaps it was unconventional, but Aiden had never felt like he was missing out. He'd never longed for his father's presence. His mother loved him more than his father had, and she was more than enough. The only real difference was that he felt like he'd grown up a lot quicker than most young men around his age. There was more responsibility resting on his shoulders, and that need to step up had fostered a maturity like no other. In retrospect, it was probably the reason why he was such a good captain. He was used to taking charge, used to having people depend on him.
It meant that he had always been close with his family. Old memories of sitting in their living room to watch Premier League football or bending over the kitchen table to solve his latest math homework lingered at the back of his mind, and he recalled them with a fond smile.
And there had always been a stronger connection still to his sister. Aiden switched between the role of both parent and brother to fifteen-year-old Hannah, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. That innate protectiveness had increased ten-fold and resulted in the two of them remaining close despite the six-year age gap.
Saying her name reminded him that a week had flown by since he'd seen her last. He missed her.
"She's good. Hannah!" Megan's face disappeared for a second as she called Hannah from off-screen. "Hannah, come here."
Aiden waited with bated breath as his mother handed her phone off to Hannah, who kept the phone way too close to her face and at way too tight an angle.
"Hi, Hannah," he greeted her with a bright smile.
"Hi, Aiden." Her grin was loopy as she asked, "How's college?"
"It's good. It's hard work, but it's okay right now. Guess what? Remember how I'm living with my friend, Joel, right?"
"Joel?" Hannah mumbled the name absentmindedly. "Your friend, Joel?"
"Yeah, he plays soccer with me."
"Oh, that Joel!"
"He has white hair now. Well, only the top part of it is white. But..."
"What?" Megan cried out off-screen. "Joel has white hair now? Does it suit him?"
"I didn't think so at first," Aiden said with a shrug. If he was being honest, the more he saw Joel with the color, the more he forgot what he looked like with his natural hair. It slowly became easier on the eyes with each day that passed. Joel was starting to suit the frosted tips. "But it works now. It actually looks quite cool. His girlfriend likes it too."
"I hope he still has that color the next time I see him," Megan said. "I'd like to judge for myself."
Hannah had since become bored by the conversation, humming to herself. She didn't look up again until Aiden addressed her directly.
"How's school so far, Hannah? How's your music lessons?"
Aiden entertained Hannah with pleasant conversation for another ten minutes before Megan took the phone back, Hannah retreating to her room to play on her computer.
"So how is college going?" Megan asked, drawing the subject back onto something more serious than piano lessons.
"It's... going," Aiden said, deciding to be transparent about it all. "It's overwhelming like always. Especially in the beginning. But it'll become more manageable. It always does. At least, it better, otherwise I just lied to one of the new freshmen on the team."
Megan's lip quirked upward. "It should. If there's anyone who can handle it, it's you. Now..." Her voice lowered as if they were speaking about a great secret. "How was the first game of the season? Did you win?"
The grin that followed was automatic. "Of course," he said, unable to keep the pride out of his voice. He couldn't help it. Every victory mattered, and every victory brought him closer to the one thing he hadn't given to the team yet: the College Cup trophy. "It was a tricky game. This team was really good. They played really defensively. But we managed, and I even scored a header."
"Really?" If it was possible, Megan perked up even more. "That's great!"
"Yeah." A twinge of guilt stabbed at him at the thought of not giving Gabriel the proper credit for the assist. After all, without that brilliant corner, there would be no goal to show for their success. "It was from a corner. Delivered by our new transfer. His name's Gabriel."
Megan nodded along. "Cool! What position does he play?"
"CAM," Aiden answered absentmindedly. He'd answered the question so many times that it had now become a reflex to answer without thought. "He's really good. Like, really good. Like, could potentially go pro. He's left-footed. Creative. He's basically everything a team could want."
"You've struck gold with him then, huh?"
"Definitely." There was no denying that. "I'm actually kinda his mentor too. I'm meant to meet with him later this week so we can discuss his grades and classes."
Megan bit on her lower lip.
"What?" Aiden demanded when it was clear she wasn't going to say what was on her mind.
"It's nothing. I just don't want you to overload yourself. This year is going to be your hardest yet, and I know you want to help everyone, but you should remember to take care of yourself too."
Aiden sighed. It would be difficult. He knew that. But this game had convinced him more than ever that he wanted to put a lot of his focus into the team this season. It was his last, and he wanted to get as close as they could to that trophy. He wanted to graduate knowing that he'd done everything he'd wanted to in his college soccer career.
"I will," he promised. "Don't worry."
"I have to worry," Megan said. "It's in a mother's nature."
"Mmm." A new text message flashed on the screen, and he swiped the notification up, swiftly dismissing it. But it reminded him that he'd been on the phone for nearly a half hour now, and he still had a lot of coursework demanding his attention. "I should probably go. I still have a lot of work to do."
Megan waved him off. "You don't have to explain a thing," she said. "Go. Finish your work. We'll talk later this week. Text me when you don't have practice."
"Will do. I'll talk to you soon. Bye, Mom."
"Bye, sweetheart. Love you."
"Love you too."
The FaceTime call ended, and Aiden went into his messages to see who had contacted him. It could've easily been the team group chat (now called USWNT > USNT, which was correct), but it wasn't. That chat had been silent since yesterday, everyone spending their last day of the weekend off the radar from the team. The text had been sent to him privately from Gabriel.
Gabriel Martínez (4:34 PM): hey I know we were considering going for a run tonight, but I'm still exhausted and don't think my body can take it
Aiden let out a sigh of relief. He and Gabriel had discussed meeting up for a light run tonight, but his sore muscles were glad that Gabriel had asked to reschedule. His body still ached from the exertion of the match two days ago, unaccustomed to such long sprints without a break, and he wanted to rest before pushing it again. If he forced himself too far, he could wind up injured—and the absolute last thing he wanted was to sit the season out because of a stupid injury.
Aiden Collins (4:35 PM): It's honestly fine, I'm so glad you texted because I think I would've collapsed if we'd decided to go
Gabriel Martínez (4:35 PM): raincheck then :)
It was very characteristic of Gabriel to end with a smile. It wasn't even a smiling emoji; it was a colon and a closed parenthesis: outdated but fitting.
With his only plans for the evening scratched, Aiden spent the rest of the day cooped up in the lounge, only pausing to use the bathroom or fetch dinner from the nearest dining hall. By the time he packed his supplies and laptop, the sun had long since set, and night settled over the campus, streetlights flickering along the paths to guide students returning to their rooms or going out with their friends.
It wasn't until he was on his way to the parking lot behind the building that his phone rang. He waited until he'd thrown his backpack into the front seat before checking who was calling.
Joel.
He picked it up. "Hey, man, I'm headed back home—"
"You probably shouldn't," Joel cut in without pleasantries. "I just found out that Owen is having a party tonight."
"And?" He was struggling to see the need for panic. Owen wasn't someone who enjoyed a night to himself. He had to be on the constant move, and that meant he was never alone. Parties came second nature to him. "So what?"
"So," Joel mimicked before continuing, "he invited Gabriel. I think he invited most of the team actually. You, me, and some of the freshmen might be the only people who aren't going."
Aiden climbed behind the wheel, his phone pressed between his ear and his shoulder. He had no plans of getting on the road while on the call, but he wasn't a fan of standing alone in a parking lot past ten either. "That's..."
"Weird, right? Owen isn't all that thrilled about Gabriel, but suddenly, he's all buddy-buddy with him? He wants him over to drink and party?"
"That's... It might not be that big of a deal. He might've changed his mind about Gabriel since the game and want to make amends. He invited Gabriel to his room on Friday!"
"Yes, but you and I were both invited." That sentence was what set off the alarm bells in Aiden's brain. Joel had a point, and now that Aiden could see his train of thought, panic slid down his spine. Owen wouldn't do anything per say, but his taunts without their supervision could be just as lethal. "Why wouldn't he invite us tonight—and invite Gabriel? You may be right, and it may not be that big of a deal. But I think that something could go very wrong without us there. I don't like it."
"You're right," Aiden agreed, fishing his keys out from his bag. He shoved them into the ignition and twisted, the car rumbling to life beneath his fingertips.
"I don't like it either. You said it's at Owen's, right?"
"That's what Ben said," Joel said. "Are you going there now?"
"Yeah. But it'll take me, what, twelve minutes to get there. At least. Shit. Tell Ben to keep Owen in check please. At least until I get there."
"Mmhmm," Joel hummed, though Aiden could hear the clicking of his nails against his phone keyboard. Maybe he was drafting a text to Ben right now.
"I have to go, Joel. I need to drive."
"Yeah. Yup. I'll keep you updated if something happens. Don't check my messages or answer the phone while driving!"
"I would never."
"This is why we're best friends," Joel said. "We're both responsible, and we have to take care of these shitheads. Bye."
A definitive click followed his goodbye, and Aiden wasted no time in reversing out of his spot and leaving the parking lot.
Aiden cursed every college student under the sun who'd decided to go out tonight. It was a Sunday, for God's sake, but because everyone decided they didn't want to stay in, traffic was tight, and his car could only crawl forward. It finally cleared out when he'd exited campus and hit one of the backroads, but his phone decided then was the perfect time to interrupt his momentum.
True to his word, Aiden pulled over to answer the call.
"What?" he said, not having checked caller ID.
Thankfully, Joel was unfazed. "Gabriel's left."
"What?" Aiden demanded. His left hand tightened its grip on the steering wheel. He'd been so close—
"Owen said he just left," Joel went on. "He didn't give much of an explanation. Said Gabriel had been drinking along with the rest of them, but then it was like a switch had been flipped, and he left the party all annoyed."
"Wait—Gabriel's a sophomore. He doesn't have a car on campus. Are you telling me ... that he's walking home?"
"Uhhh ... yes, that ... is what is happening here."
Half of him wanted to curse Gabriel's stupidity. The drive to Miller Hall lasted twelve minutes. The walk... it was more than a half-hour journey. Considering how dark it was outside, it was a stupid decision on Gabriel's part.
The other half of him wanted to scream at Owen—to demand what had he been thinking in letting Gabriel leave alone. To demand what he had done to the midfielder to make him leave in such a rush.
"I'm going to kill Owen," was all Aiden said in response.
"Yeah, well"—Aiden imagined Joel rolling his eyes, knowing well that Aiden's anger would pass quickly as it often did—"find Gabriel first."
"Jesus. Okay. I'm going to try and call him. Bye."
"Bye."
Unfortunately, because luck was not in his favor that evening, three phone calls went unanswered, and that panic gnawed further at his insides. It became stronger once he'd returned to the road again. The closer he got to Owen's address, the more he kept his eyes peeled for any stray figure on the side of the road. He'd recognize Gabriel anywhere, but for that to happen, he needed to see something.
Then—
After ten minutes of driving around without a plan or any sort of direction, Aiden spotted a lone figure marching along the side of the road. He didn't even indicate before coming to a stop beside him.
Gabriel visibly jumped at the sight of the car pulled to an abrupt stop. It was strange how different he looked. Instead of athletic wear, he wore jeans and a neat T-shirt, but Aiden would recognize his face in the pitch black. There was no evidence of tears, but there was a definite sign of alcohol as he wobbled in place, taking in the car in front of him.
Aiden cranked the window down, leaning over the center console. "Gabriel?"
Gabriel scowled, and it was so unlike his usual smile that it took Aiden a second to realize that the look was directed at him. He'd grown used to several emotions from Gabriel: adoration, awe, joy. He'd seen him frustrated. Sad. But it had never been directed at him.
"What are you doing here?" Gabriel demanded. He didn't take a step closer to the car.
Okay, he's still annoyed. And angry. With me.
"Looking for you," Aiden threw back. "I was told you left the party—and you're walking back to campus! C'mon, Gabriel—"
"Don't do that," Gabriel interrupted. His lip curled. "Don't pretend like you're all concerned about me—or—or that you care. You—you—" Gabriel went silent, his frustration coming off in waves, and even if Aiden wanted to snatch the opportunity to say something, there were no words.
Gabriel thought he didn't care.
"You..." Gabriel started again, slower this time. "You weren't there, and... you knew I'd be the laughing stock—but you didn't warn me. Why? Why? Because I'm an annoying pain in your ass? I—"
"Gabriel."
"I always thought ... I'd hoped that you were a good person, and not just a good player, but..."
Now it sounded like Gabriel had strayed from anger into the area of betrayal, which only puzzled Aiden further. He hadn't done anything, but Gabriel was hurt—because of him.
"Gabriel, please get in the car."
Gabriel gritted his teeth but complied, slamming the door shut so hard that the car shook in his wake. He stared straight ahead in the direction of the headlights, refusing to look at Aiden.
"Gabriel," Aiden started, still unsure of what to say, hoping the words would come to him, "I don't know what you think I did, but I swear, I didn't know Owen was having people over until, like, twenty minutes ago." Gabriel still didn't glance over. "Once I found out, I was on my way there until Joel called me to tell me you'd left. And I just spent... ten minutes looking for you because I do care. If I'd known about tonight, I would've been there—not because you need a babysitter, but because Owen does."
Gabriel remained silent, and the silence was starting to kill Aiden. He gave no indication of whether his words were having an effect, but Aiden plowed through.
"You're not a pain in my ass," Aiden insisted. "I like you. You're my friend, right?"
No response.
"Okay, maybe you don't consider me a friend, but you are one of mine." Aiden lowered his voice, as if letting Gabriel in on a secret. "I like you better than I like Owen. Because you're a good player, but a better person. And I'm sorry if tonight has changed your opinion of me, but..."
But what? He didn't know what else to say.
The seconds ticked by at an agonizing speed as Aiden waited for Gabriel to move—or say something. Anything.
Aiden jumped when Gabriel finally broke the painful silence.
"I assumed..." he began, still staring ahead. "I thought since Owen invited you on Friday that you were invited today. I thought oh, okay, I can't turn down an invitation twice because that'll make me look uninterested, and I expected you to be there. I was disappointed when you weren't."
Aiden didn't know what to make of that. When had they started searching each other out in a crowded room?
"I didn't know..."
"I—I figured okay, whatever, I'll have fun anyway, but I didn't, because I was the youngest person there, and I felt out of place, and I—I kept drinking because I was hoping it would get better—" He stopped then, steeling himself with a shaky breath. "I hate feeling like that. Like I'm being mocked. It sucks."
Aiden wanted to put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder—or hold his hand or something, but that might've been going too far. He wasn't going to interrupt Gabriel's vent. He kept listening.
"I felt like that annoying kid who tags along with the older guys, trying to get them to see him as an equal. I hated it." Finally, he looked sideways at Aiden. "Did you seriously not know Owen was having a party tonight?"
"I swear, Gabriel."
"Oh." He turned away again. "The fact that you weren't there made everything worse. It reminded me that you only stick around me because Coach makes you—not because you want to."
"Hey, that's not true," Aiden said. It had started out like that, but somewhere along the way, he'd grown to value Gabriel's company beyond that of a teammate. He liked him. He wanted them to be friends. "Yes, Coach told me to keep an eye on you, but he didn't tell me to be your friend. I decided that."
"Yeah, and how much are you regretting it now?"
"I'm not," Aiden insisted. He crossed that line, placing a hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "Gabriel, I'm sorry the guys made you feel like that. I'm sorry I wasn't there. But please, don't hate me for this."
"I don't hate you," Gabriel said with a quick glance over at Aiden from the corner of his eye. "I still think I'm mad, but..." His head swung around as if just remembering they were pulled over on the side of a backroad ten minutes away from campus on a school night. "I want to go back to my dorm."
Aiden withdrew his hand. Even though anger wasn't a good look on Gabriel, it also wouldn't disappear in a second. Gabriel had a point. With a good night's rest and some time apart, maybe this conversation would blow over better in the morning.
"Okay, I'll take you," he said.
"Um... about that." Gabriel grimaced. "I left my wallet at Owen's."
"Your wallet. Is at Owen's. And has your student ID."
"Technically."
Aiden facepalmed himself before putting the car in drive. "Yeah, we're not going back to Owen's." A split-second decision. "You can stay at my place tonight. I'll drive you to Owen's tomorrow morning before you first class."
Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, remembered that there was no other option that didn't include returning to Owen's for his wallet, and clamped his mouth shut.
"Why didn't you pick up any of my calls?" Aiden asked before indicating and rolling his car back onto the street.
"You called?" Gabriel pulled out his phone, but it didn't come to life when he hit the power button. His nose scrunched. "It's dead. Can today get any worse?"
"It could've. I could've found you dead on the side of the street." A little dramatic? Maybe. He wasn't scolding Gabriel more for that because he already knew they were on thin ice, but on any other night, it would've been a big deal.
It might've been a big deal if it were Owen or even Joel.
Not Gabriel.
"M'fine." Gabriel grabbed the car charger that rested in the center console and waited for his phone to turn on.
The drive continued in agony, neither passenger saying much. Gabriel occupied himself with his phone once it lit up, and Aiden focused his attention on his driving—anything to distract him from the man in the front seat with him. It wasn't until he turned down the familiar street that Gabriel decided to speak again.
"I was wrong before."
"About what?" Their house appeared on the right side, three other cars parked in their driveway belonging to the other occupants, and there was one light visible through the front window.
"About you being a bad person," Gabriel said, stuffing his phone into his jean pocket when it became clear that they were stopping here. "You're not. I was scared you would be when I got here, because I really—really—admired you, and it would've crushed me if my favorite college soccer player turned out to be a prick."
Aiden twisted the key, using the time to process Gabriel's words as the car died in front of him. "I'm your favorite player?"
Gabriel flushed, then climbed out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him.
still not sure how i feel about this argument scene. i wanted to make sure gabriel's reasons for being upset were clear and his frustration—while misguided—made sense.
let me know what you thought!
x carolina