Page 58 of All the Discord
I eyed his shirt. There was some definition that came through. I doubted he needed to worry about extra weight.
“So Paxon is doing soccer, Justin does swimming. What else do you guys do?”
“Nothing else.” Bryan grabbed a dinner roll and tore it open. “The rest of us don’t like to torture ourselves and prefer getting off school grounds as soon as we can.”
“I did lacrosse,” Seth said. “They have a town club that I’ll be joining this year for the young adults. They start in the spring and go through the summer.”
Calvin nudged me to get my attention. “Do you play any sports?”
I snorted. “No way. I’m busy enough.”
“Never wanted to?” he asked.
“Nope. Never gave it a thought.”
“If you could play a sport, what would it be?” Paxon asked.
“Maybe volleyball? That always looks fun.”
We talked more about sports and Paxon’s schedule for the next couple of weeks. His soccer schedule was insane, with games every few days. Apparently, he had to get in at least a game a week before the sub regionals in November. So far, he’d played two games, winning both of them. Our soccer team was always one of the ones to get into at least the regionals each year. Last year they lost in the championship and the year before that, they made it to the semifinals.
Everyone was hopeful that they were going to take the championship this year, and so far, they were doing well enough. They just needed to keep winning.
I smiled. “You guys are going to kick ass this year, don’t worry.”
Paxon blushed, bowing his head to try to hide it. The others caught it though and began laughing. They weren’t the type to let an opportunity to tease someone like this by.
“And we’ll be there cheering you on like we always are,” Toby said.
“When is your next game?” I asked.
“Game on Thursday, and then an away game on Saturday,” Paxon said. “It’s our furthest away game, so we leave after school Friday and come back Saturday evening.”
I quickly mentally went over my schedule for work. “I’ll be there for both of them.”
He blinked. “You don’t have to be.”
Shrugging, I said, “I’ll still be there. I want to see you in your element. Besides, it’s only fair. You supported me. I want to do the same for you.” I tried to pretend my cheeks didn’t feel like they were getting hot.
“We’ll all be there too,” Seth said.
“Damn right,” Bryan said. “I need time away anyway. My parents are riding my ass.”
Seth frowned as he glanced at Bryan. “Are they giving you a hard time again?”
“Just the normal bullshit. They want me at an Ivy League school and keep trying to get me to apply.”
Toby groaned, leaning back in his seat, letting his head hang over the back of his chair, arms at his side. “Don’t talk about college at the dinner table. It’s rude.”
“The problem won’t go away just because you refuse to talk about it,” Paxon said.
“Am I missing something?” I asked.
“Oh.” Toby popped up and smiled. “Where are you applying?”
“For college?”
Toby nodded.