Chapter Seven

Atlas

I just finished my morning workout, stepping out of the elevator, into my condo. I see my sister, Lyra, and my brother, Van, have made themselves right at home. Lyra is currently standing in front of the refrigerator with the double doors wide open, and Van is rustling around in the pantry. I know what they are looking for and they will not find it in the kitchen. I knew it was only a matter of time before their supply ran out and they would come here to steal my stash. They are so determined to find it—they did not hear me come in. I decide to stand there and wait, watching them—dumbasses, why would I keep my stash in the most obvious place.

"I am not seeing it in any of the drawers, behind any of the fruits and veggies, I even looked in his meal prep containers! Van, please tell me you found them in the pantry!" Lyra sounds so desperate; I almost give myself away by chuckling.

"I am going to lose my mind if we don't find his stash before he gets back from the gym. I have looked in all the boxes, containers, hell, I even looked in his bin that holds his potatoes and onions. I know he can't be out—he never runs out at the same time we do. Plus, he puts himself on a strict diet during the season. FUCK!" Van comes out of the pantry looking frazzled, his hair is all over the place, more than likely from his hands pulling at his long dark strands. I swear, he needs a haircut, it is past his shoulders. Shaking my head at both of their dramatics over something they should have ordered more of when their stash was getting low. I decide now is the time to make myself known.

I quietly make my way to the breakfast bar that overlooks my kitchen, getting a closer look. It seems Lyra is looking a little worse for wear, right along with dear old Van.

"Is there a reason you both are rummaging through my kitchen at six o'clock in the morning on a Sunday, like two crackheads searching for their next fix?" I say this in a normal tone, no higher, no lower than my normal speaking voice, but it scares the shit out of both of them. I swear they jump two feet in the air, and Van, the dick that he is, pushes Lyra towards me as he steps behind her. Pussy.

"Oh, hey, Atlas. Good morning. Good workout? What did you think of the gala? Did you take that woman you were dancing with home? Did she take you home and you just got back?"

The questions pour from Lyra's mouth, but she has yet to make eye contact with me. I decide since they want to try and pull a fast one on me, I am going to make them sweat a little bit.

"Good morning, little sister. I always have a good workout. I thought the gala was great. I had a great time. I did not take her home. She did not take me home. We only exchanged numbers before she left, but she was hesitant. I was at the gym and when I walked in the door ten minutes ago, you and Van were here in my kitchen. Is there something I can help you find? Also, why are you both sweating and out of breath, looks like you both are stressed about something? Wait, I know, were you going to surprise me with breakfast? Were you making me French toast?!" I make my facial expression match the excitement in my voice. They know I very rarely go off my meal plan during the season, and when I do, those moments are few and far in between.

"We, uh, yeah, bro, we were going to surprise you with French toast, I know that's your favorite. We didn't know for sure if you would eat it though since you had some earlier in the week. So, we just decided to see what kind of food you had in the refrigerator and pantry. Maybe we will see something we want to get for our house. Right, Lyra?" Van rambles when he is nervous, or caught doing something he knows he isn't supposed to, which is hilarious to me, because hello, you are twenty-eight years old!

"Well, I am going to go jump in the shower, so if one of you want to make my smoothie while I am in there, I would appreciate it. I already had the berry banana one with my pre-workout, so maybe you can make the chocolate banana recovery smoothie, the recipe is next to the blender," I say, as I walk to my bathroom and turn on the shower.

I don't get into the shower just yet, I sneak into the room that has all my books stored in it, Lyra says it's a library, I just call it a sitting room. Due to me sitting in there while I read a book, but to each their own.

I quiet my steps, so they don't realize I am not in the shower and open the door to my sitting room, slowly closing it behind me. I wait, holding my breath so I can hear if they are coming down the hall, and once I know the coast is clear, I rush to my stash.

I press the almost invisible button next to the large picture that a friend of Lyra's took of the three of us on vacation. Lyra had it framed with a plaque with the quote by Michael J. Fox:

Family isn't an important thing.

It's everything.

She gave it to me a couple years ago as a housewarming gift when I bought the condo. Every time I look at the poster sized picture of the three of us and think of the quote, I realize we are always going to be there for one another, no matter how mom or dad acts or what they do, it will always be us against the world.

The bookshelf is slightly ajar, and I pull it open a little further to retrieve my stash. Behind the shelf is an entire room, just for me, a little man-cave if you will. It has a leather recliner with all the bells and whistles, it massages, heats, cools, reclines, rocks, you name it, it more than likely has it or does it. The recliner is set in front of a big screen that is mounted to the wall, with all my gaming equipment in a cabinet beneath it; different generations of Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, I even have an Atari. In the corner of the room is a cabinet with doors that I use as a pantry and a small refrigerator. It's not a full size nor is it one you would use in a dorm room, it is just smaller than a normal size one. I open the pantry and grab two bags of Bacon Caramel Toffee for my brother and sister, and when I close the pantry this time, I put the padlock on it, just in case they decide to follow me in here.

I take the goods with me to the bathroom, jumping in the shower and washing all the sweat off of me from my workout. Once I am dressed for the day, gym shorts and a Legends T-shirt, I make my way back to the kitchen, with the contraband for my siblings.

They both look up from the hushed conversation they were having when I walk in, probably trying to decide where to search next. Lyra holds out my smoothie, and I hand her a bag of the goods. Her eyes widen, Van must not have been paying attention, because when Lyra jumps in my arms he looks up from his phone and says, "It was just a smoothie, which is not something to give the jump hug, sis. Wait, you made the smoothie, why are you jump hugging? Did I miss something?" Then he hears the crinkle of the bag as she tightens her hold on it, like she is preparing herself for an attack.

"Where the fuck did you get a whole bag, Lyra? I have been sitting here talking to you the entire time Atlas was in the shower!" Van's voice is getting louder and higher in pitch. I am just waiting for the moment for it to crack, like the prepubescent boy that he is acting like.

"Atlas gifted them to me for making his smoothie. And before you ask, fuck no, I am not sharing with you. You ate my last three, asshole." Lyra glares at Van, while he is trying to glare back, but he is so confused about what is going on, he looks like he is in pain, or constipated.

"Can I have some too, Atlas. Please. I will wash your car. Walk your dog. Clean your house. I will honestly do anything for just a handful of those delicious treats right now. Please, Atlas, I'm your big brother, remember when I taught you all the things? Baseball, riding a bike, tying your shoes, washing your balls, masturbating—"

"Eww, too far, Van, too fucking far," Lyra gags as she spits out the words. "Besides, Atlas doesn't own a dog, and he has a housekeeper, so why would he have you do them. I know for a fact, he sure is not going to let you near his car, dumbass." I can tell Lyra is getting frustrated with him, the vein on her forehead is popping out.

I figure I have made him sweat enough, so I hand him the other bag, that I was holding the entire time, in my hand. All Van had to do was look at me instead of Lyra and he could have bypassed all the begging. He grabs it from my hand, looks at the bag, then to me, back to the bag, then to me again. Suddenly, the force of him jump hugging me, knocks me back a bit, as I was not expecting that from Van at all.

I pat his back and walk them both to the elevator and press the call button. No words are spoken between any of us because they are both caressing the bags of toffee like a baby kitten. I just shake my head as I push them into the elevator and press the lobby button for them. As the door closes, I hear, I love you, shouted from them both. I chuckle and make my way back to the living room, grabbing my smoothie on the way, to watch the replay of our last game.

I head to the clubhouse around eleven, we are planning to get a light workout as a team building exercise the coaching staff makes us do every so often. I understand why we do them, I just don't know why we do them.

Everyone on the team gets along, there have been no rifts between anyone who works for Riverside Legends since I have been here. But, whatever they schedule, we all show up to.

After the light workout with the team, and when I say light workout, most of us sat on the bikes, or slowly walked on the treadmill and chatted about random things. I head back home since I have the rest of the day off, and just want to relax. Maybe take a nap, read a book, play a game, just relax. I showered at the clubhouse, though I don't know why, since I didn't break a sweat while I was there. Habit, I guess.

I find my mind drifting again to the gala and last night's turn of events. Meeting Indya. Dancing with Indya. Holding Indya. She has not been far from my thoughts since we went our separate ways last night. I left right after she did, because let's face it, there was nothing else for me there. What I wanted had left, so I did the same.

Then I think about how my mom was acting and how she and Mallory keep coming up with these hairbrained ideas. I know I need to have a serious discussion with my mother about all this, but honestly, last night was the final straw for me. I hated that Indya was there to witness it all, especially after just meeting her. It was embarrassing as fuck. I could tell she was uncomfortable, which still makes me feel like shit.

I look at my phone that sits beside me, then my eyes go back to the television. They play this game a couple times, then I realize, why am I looking at the television, I haven't even turned the damn thing on yet, the remote control is still in my hand, my thumb is hovering over the power button. Maybe I will just shoot her a text. Is it too soon? Will I seem desperate? I can just say, hope you enjoyed yourself last night, or I had fun with you last night, or thank you for letting me hold you so tight, that I felt like our souls were intertwining as we danced among the stars— No, what the hell is wrong with me? Indya has me all twisted up inside and I can't stop thinking about the way she felt in my arms or the scent of her silken skin. Lavender and honey. I will never in my life forget the smell of her lavender and honey skin. I bet she tastes just as good as she smells. Jesus, I need to stop thinking like this, before I do or say something stupid.

I decide to stop being a pussy and pick up my phone, I will text Indya and just let her know I had a great time with her last night.

Atlas: hey— delete .

Atlas: hi, it's me. atlas— delete .

Jesus, who am I? Taylor Swift? No. I am not that cool. I just need to stop being a tool, type a message and press send.

Atlas: good afternoon :) send

Yep, it has been decided, I am a tool. I would not be surprised if she just blocked and deleted my number. Fuck why am I so dumb when it comes to this woman. Because yooouuu looove her. That voice sounded just like Lyra when she was eight. Definitely losing it.

I turn on the television and go to my saved movies, may as well settle in for a day with Sylvester Stallone and watch all five Rambo movies. Maybe the blood, fighting and war scenes will take my mind off of watching my phone for a reply. Please reply. I know for sure that voice was mine.