More Than Enough (Enough #2) (5 page)

    Chapter 4

                                                  
Athena

He actually talked to me. We hung out, and he was really fun to
be around at the end when he stopped acting like an asshole. Who would have thought that he had a great sense of humor? He always seems to be so serious, but I really saw another side of him at the end of the party. I was really hoping that he would want to see me again since we seemed to talk so easy, but he just said goodbye without any thoughts of continuing anything further.

I wish I could just push thoughts of him out of my mind and try to concentrate on another guy that has asked me out or wou
ld be interested in me, but it’s like I feel a connection to him that I never thought was possible with anyone. It feels so one-sided right now though, and I don’t know how to get him to see that I’m right here in front of him. Carter has such a strong hold on him that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to shake it. I just want to see more of the fun and relaxed Keller that was at the party, but I don’t know how to bring that out in him or when I will even see him again.

I decide to try to concentrate on getting
to my classes this week and understanding all my syllabuses, if I get to see Keller great. I walk into my first class of the semester on Monday morning, and I see Brayden in a chair with girls on either side of him trying to get his attention. He’s looking down at his phone and not giving any of the girls around him eye contact. He looks up and sees me heading to the back of the class. He jumps up and gathers his stuff and follows me.

    
“Hey, Athena, right?” “Yeah, Brayden, that was an awesome party on Friday. Tell Carter thanks for inviting me.” He smiles sheepishly and says, “You can tell her yourself because she’s supposed to meet me for breakfast after class if you want to join us. Do you mind if I sit with you. All those girls don’t know I’m taken yet, and I don’t want to have to press charges for sexual assault if it isn’t completely necessary.”

        
I can’t really blame the girls for their interest, if I wasn’t so interested in Keller, I would easily think Brayden was one of the sexiest guys I’ve ever seen. His eyes are just stunning, and the way he moves just makes you think of how he would be in bed for some reason. As soon as all the girls see how he acts around Carter though, they’ll realize they don’t stand a chance. At the party, I didn’t see him even glance at another girl. Why would he, when he has the male idea of perfection in his arms. I tell Brayden, “When they see who you are with, most of the girls will back off from an inferiority complex.”

Brayden laughs hard at that and agrees, “I know, Carter thinks most girls back off when they see her because they are scared. She doesn’t realize that it’s mostly just because they have realized that they definitely can’t compete with all that she has to offer. They don’t even know that I’ve been in love with her since I was fifteen. The only girl I have ever really seen any kind of future with is Carter. No one else will ever be able to compare for me.” I get sad as he says this because I think of Keller and how it’s the same story for him. I feel demoralized to even think of even being compared to Carter, but to have to compete against somebody that he has loved for years sounds almost impossible.

Brayden must have sensed where my thoughts were going. He tries to assure me
, “It’s different for him. He’s in love with her too. I’m not going to lie to you about that, but he’s never been able to kiss her or physically demonstrate his love for her. So he’s never had all that I have, and I think he might be able to still love somebody else to. He’ll always love her, but I think there is still hope for him to have something real with another girl.”

I look at him and ask, “If you were the one without her, would you have ever had anything real with anybody else?” He decisively shakes his head, “No, but I’m a selfish bastard. I would never be able to accept that we shouldn’t be together. Keller is alr
eady trying to accept that she’s happy with me. He is already starting down the right road. If you’re interested, I would be patient but not discouraged by where he’s at.” I look at him with a question in my eyes and decide to ask it, “Are you encouraging me because you don’t want Keller to constantly want Carter anymore, or because you think your brother and I would be good together.” The teacher walks in at that moment and starts handing out our syllabus. Brayden leans over to me and quietly says, “Both, the answer is I am encouraging you for both of the reasons you mentioned.”

We didn’t speak for the rest of class, but I felt happy that Brayden and Carter were turning out to be my friends. They both were people that I liked being around
and talking to. And seemed like genuine friends to have. We walked out of class together with all the girls staring enviously at me. Just wait till they got a glimpse of him kissing his beautiful girlfriend, they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.

Carter was waiting for us outside the building. It was comical to watch all the guys hovering close to her but not actually standing with her. It appears like none of them had built up the courage to actually talk to her yet. I watched all of the hopeful expressions crash as Brayden pulls her up into his arms and she wraps her legs around him,
good thing she was wearing shorts and not a dress. “Good morning, baby!” He says before he crashes his lips down on hers. When he finishes the longest good morning kiss I’ve ever seen, he says to her, “Guess who is in my Biology Class?” I step in Carter’s view, and Brayden puts her down. She smiles at me and says happily, “Athena, I’m so happy that you have class with Brayden. Now, we can all go to breakfast together on Mondays.” She stops for a minute, “Do you have a class this next period?” I shake my head. “Perfect,” she says, “Let’s go to breakfast because I’m starved.”

We head to the Bakery which takes my dining card but charges a little more than the cafeteria. I make a note not to come her
e every Monday, but this once won’t hurt anything. I like being with Carter and Brayden, and if there’s any chance of seeing Keller I’m taking it.

We order and I go to pay, but the cashier shakes his head at me. “Your bill has already been taken care of, miss.” I am so confused, “How has it already been taken care of? I just orde
red.” He points to Brayden who’s already sitting down with Carter on his lap. He tries to look innocent, but the cashier rats him out. “He paid for all of your bills. Not that I think he shouldn’t. He has two of the hottest girls I’ve ever seen with him. It’s only right that he takes care of your breakfast.”

I say thank you and walk off at that. Feeling weird that the cashier lumped us all together when Brayden and Carter are obviously a couple. They haven’t even noticed that the rest of the café has practically stopped eating and is just staring at them while they stare at each other. I have always known that I was attractive and have drawn some attention because of it, but I
haven’t ever seen the amount of attention that comes with being as attractive as Carter and Brayden. They are both friendly and talkative too which makes them even more intriguing to other people.

“It’s interesting how people react to them? Carter
is just so beautiful that she’s been helping boys make fools of themselves for a very long time, but add Brayden in with her, and people just seem to love to gawk and stare at them as a couple. I think they like to watch how two such attractive people can be so focused not on themselves but each other.” Keller is here, and he is talking intimately in my ear. Could this morning get any better? I turn to him slowly so that I don’t show how eager I am to see him and say as casually as I can, “Good morning, Keller. How’s it going?”

He starts walking to the table and says, “Good, and you?” I feel disappointed that he didn’t want to take any time just to talk to me, but I can tell his focus right now was getting to Carter as fast as he can. She is wrapped around her boyfriend right now, and he still want
s close. I have to start preparing myself that that might never change.

As I sit down, I tell Brayden, “Thanks
for breakfast, but you didn’t have to do that. I’m on the meal plan.” He waves me off like it’s not a big deal, and for him it probably isn’t. For me it’s an extra Saturday breakfast this week. I don’t share that with this table though because I definitely feel that my financial situation is very different from theirs.

Keller asks Carter, “Princess, what class do you have first. Do you know where everything is? I can show you if you need any help?” Brayden jumps in to say, “She doesn’t need----
“Carter touches Brayden’s arm and he stops talking. She says, “Kell, thank you, I’m good though. My next class is fashion design, and I’ve already had a tour of the whole fashion building so I know exactly where to go. Thank you so much for being concerned about me, though. I’m so glad you’re here to help Bray and I with everything.” I see Brayden roll his eyes, and I have to hold back an eye roll of my own. Carter does not need to be catering to Keller while she’s in her boyfriend’s lap, and Keller does not need to still be calling Carter, Princess, when she is with his brother.

I can see now why Brayden
is trying to encourage me. He’s not going to be able to deal with this situation forever. It’s already getting to him, and this is the first day of college. I decide to redirect the conversation and ask Carter, “Are you a fashion major, Carter, because that sounds like so much fun. I went with something practical, accounting, but I would’ve loved to do something more artistic if I would’ve had any talent in that direction.” Keller speaks for her, “Well, Carter already inherited a fashion line from her dad so her major is practical for her. Plus, she has double majored in fashion and business to be able to handle all sides of her line.” Shit, this girl already owns her own business. I feel like I stepped into a different world with these three.

I hung out with Rachel and some other college kids last year that were mainly like me. We all are just trying to get through college with
jobs and as small amounts of student loans as possible. These three have condos, businesses, and brand new cars. They also have the brightest futures of all of us too. Life just doesn’t seem fair sometimes.

I get myself together enough to respond, “That’s amazing, Carter. You must be so excited to get your degree and run your
own company.” She smiles modestly and responds, “I am, Athena, but I have a few goals along the way. I really want to win a college championship in volleyball before I graduate, and I would really love to play volleyball in the next Olympics. I also want to help get Keller and Brayden to the NFL if they both decide they still want to play in it after college. I help run the company now but am grateful to still have someone that handles the tedious everyday work that comes with a company while I get to have my college experiences.”

I’m just shocked that she has even more things she wants to accomplish. I’d just be happy to have one of the things s
he listed to work towards. I tell her, “That’s a whole lot of goals there, Carter. Sitting here with you three, I think how different you are from most college students I know.” Brayden interjects, “We aren’t that different than the rest of you, Athena. We just have different goals because we want to reach for things that we don’t have right now. You want to get your accounting degree, right?” I nod and he goes on, “Well, I want to get drafted to the NFL if at all possible. We both just chose the goals that can work for us. In our family, we had to set our own goals very young because no one was going to do it for us.” I tell them, “It was the same with me. My goals were my own. My parents were just involved in surviving each day and each other. They could never look at any long term goals for me.” Keller hasn’t said anything in this discussion since bragging about Carter, but he gives me a look of understanding when I mention the lack of parental involvement in my life.

Brayden gives me a look, and I wonder what for when he suddenly tells Carter, “Baby, I don’t want you to be late for your first class. Let me walk you there. I don’t want any g
uys in your class to think you’re single.” She laughs at him and says, “Bray, I think all the guys in my design class would be more interested in you than me, but walk me to my class. It doesn’t hurt for all the girls that are around to see that you’re taken. Bye, Kell, Bye, Athena, you guys have a good day.”

With that the two of them are holding hands and out the door, Keller looks at me suspiciously. I just shrug and try to look innocent, which I am mostly. All I know is that Brayden intentionally left us alone, nothing more. Keller says, “Well, I can tell that Brayden would definitely like something to happen between us. I hope he isn’t pushing you in to anything. I can’t be in a relationship with anybody right now. I know that you can see h
ow I feel about Carter, and I’m not one to pretend or lie to somebody. So I don’t really think it’s fair to date anyone else when I’m clearly in love with her. All that said, I think I would really like to be friends. You are not just the good time party girl that I originally pegged you as, and I think you might genuinely like Carter, which is a big deal for me. So I just wanted to say that I’d be good if you hung out with us, and I won’t give you any trouble. Friends?”