Page 4 of Finding a Melody

“It’s for my safety.”

“Just make sure he eats and you’ll be safe.”

I couldn’t stop laughing as we got to the front and put in our order. It ended up going by faster than I expected. We walked back with our loot in our arms, Justin holding on to drinks while I carried all the food. They’d be lucky if I shared my fries with them.

As soon as we got back, Toby descended on us, practically drooling all over the place as he claimed his food. For a moment, I really thought he was going to bite me, but instead he stole half the food and sat back down, passing a corndog to Calvin.

“Did you guys not eat before coming here?” I asked.

“We did,” Justin said, already shoving fries into his mouth. I learned quickly that Justin liked potatoes. Mashed potatoes, fries, tater tots. As long as they came from potatoes, he wanted them.

I snorted. Of course they did eat. I wanted stomachs like theirs.

The rest of the game ended up being fun. I didn’t understand what was going on that well, but once I found Paxon out there, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He moved so confidently up and down the field, kicking the ball around, and even stealing it. It was easy to tell that he was good. And that he passionately loved what he was doing.

I never saw him having so much fun. Not once did he stop grinning, even when the other team scored. He never looked so alive before.

And I wanted that too. I missed it. When I made music with my dad, I was like Paxon. So alive that I was untouchable. I still got lost in my music sometimes, and loved it, but it never felt the same. And Paxon was reminding me what I had lost.

“What’s wrong?” Justin asked.

I blinked back the memories and gave him a smile. “Nothing at all. Did you see his last interception thingy? That was pretty cool.”

Toby laughed. “Interception thingy? We need to teach you the ways of the best sport in the world.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think bowling can be pretty intense.”

Toby sputtered and it took him a moment to find his words. “Please, please, please tell me you really don’t think bowling’s a sport.”

I shrugged, loving his expression of horror. “Of course. What else would it be?”

“A birthday party event? A date? A game?”

“And a sport,” I said, wanting to tease him some more.

He stuttered out a bunch of nonsense before finally saying, “I can’t talk to this woman! Justin, fix her.”

“She’s technically right,” was his only response as he paid more attention to the game.

That only set Toby off more and left my stomach aching from laughing so hard as he ranted wildly.

Before we knew it, the game ended and we gathered at our cars, waiting for Paxon to come out. He was practically on a high with his victory, jumping all around, not able to stop talking about the game as we stood there. It took a while to herd him into my car so I could drop him off at his celebration party. They had wanted me to come, but I needed to go back home and finish up some work, especially since we were going to go to his first away game this weekend.

Chapter Two

I never knew how wild people got for away games at my school. Well, I guess I knew, just never really registered it. I had been happy in my safe, little bubble, away from everything, but this year it was different, especially since I knew their team captain pretty damn well. Friday ended up being crazy as the entire soccer team wore their jerseys and every time they met in the hallway, it became a whole ritual of chants, high fives, and fist bumps. They were still living on the high of their victory, and it looked like it was going to last until their away game on Saturday. It made it hard getting through the halls with Paxon as he was forced to join in on the craziness, though by the way he grinned all day, he was enjoying it.

At the end of the day, I was packing up my bag when Toby and Justin came over. “You’re still set for tomorrow, right?” Toby said, hiking his overfilled bookbag higher up on his shoulder. Did he have his entire locker in the thing?

“I wouldn’t dare miss it,” I said, closing my locker door.

Bryan leaned against the lockers, looking bored. “Seth will be driving us. Will you drive there, or are you coming with us?”

“I’ll drive,” I replied. “Prefer having my own car and space. I imagine we’ll be squished if all of us took Seth’s truck.”

“I don’t mind being squished with you,” Toby said with a big grin.

I snorted. “You say that now until you’re stuck holding Bryan in your lap.”