A Hidden Picture

Sixteen

~ Reed

"Hurry your asses up and head to the locker rooms! My kid got a soccer game in twenty and I'm gonna be late!" Coach Miller practically stomps off the field. The guy always sounds mad, and his head is bald and shiny.

Jesse and I give each other a look before rolling our eyes and chuckling. "My brother is on the same team as his kid. He plays like he's fucking blind." My eyes widen as I bend down to grab my bag while taking a sip of water. Some of the water shoots out my mouth when I abruptly laugh but I quickly wipe my chin.

"Damn, just fucking obliterated his kid," I respond before slinging my bag over my sweaty bare shoulder. Today coach worked us like fucking animals and now I'm sticky and shiny from sweat and my hair is kind of damp too. All of us smell like sweat. I feel fucking gross. The thought of taking a nice hot shower right now and then taking a nap sounds nice.

"Just the truth," he shrugs. "My brother can run circles around that motherfucker." Jesse picks up his bag and starts walking next to me so we can head off the field.

"The one that twisted his balls?" I tilt my head to him and slyly smile, squinting slightly from the sun before reaching into my bag and pulling my old baseball over my head.

A deep laugh comes from his chest and he smacks my arm with the back of his hand. "Ah, Jordon. He's going places in life," he shakes his head with a smile and glances at the sky before continuing to walk slowly with me across the field.

A grin spreads across my face. Jesse has three brothers. One is older than him, playing college football and going into the NFL. He actually plays with my older brother, Kayden. And his younger brother Jordon has always been the crazy one, always getting hurt from doing stupid shit, always making dumb decisions. He's the trouble child. Jordon and my little cousin Landon are best friends, always doing stupid shit together. I think both their favorite past times are annoying the shit out of Ro.

It's one of my favorite past times too.

"Jail or the NFL? Which one?," I rebut.

Jesse flips me off while showing off those scarily perfect straight white teeth.

I pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, Landon will be right by his side. Even when we're gonna have to bail the two dumbasses out of jail one day."

"That's gonna be a fun day," he agrees.

As we walk down the field we pass our other teammates and say bye to them.

Aaron is currently sitting on the bench, taking a sip from his water. My jaw hardens and my shoulders become tense.

He glances around and when his eyes meet mine he becomes still. I hold the eye contact as I walk past, my mouth straight and shoulders back.

After a second he looks away and towards his feet.

Once we're farther away Jesse starts to quietly laugh to himself. I turn to him and pull my eyebrows together, confused.

"Nothing- it's just-" his laugh interrupts his words but he quickly gains composure. "It's just that he looked like he pissed himself."

"Good." That's the goal.

Jesse and I continue talking as we head off the field and into the parking lot except he stops mid sentence when he glances up ahead.

I look to see what he's looking at.

Annalise is sitting on the ground with her knees hugged up to her chest. Wire headphones are plugged into her ears and a book rests on top of her knees. She bites her nails as she reads.