My Night Breeze (The Breeze Series) (5 page)

Audra ma
de a quick run to the front door, slipping inside and jogging up the stairs only to be stopped at the top. Jim slowed at the sight of her rushing towards her room, and she wrapped her arms protectively around her waist. The last thing she needed was for him to get in her personal space and get a whiff.

“How’d studying go?” Jim asked
.

“Good
, but I’m tired now,” Audra replied.

“You don’t look tired.”

Audra opened the door going inside. “’Night.”

“Good night
,” Jim said unhappily.

“He has some serious moves on the dance floor. And that’s saying something coming from me,” Stephen commented.

“I’m sorry I missed that. Maybe next time
,” Audra replied.

“I can’t believe you left…the party hardly started.”

“You know how it is. Besides, I was really tired after getting up early,” Audra admitted.

“Chris wanted to spend more time getting to know you, since you’re my other half and all.”

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing plenty of him between study group and stuff.”

Stephen
dreamily sighed over the phone line. “What were you and Mateo doing outside?”

Audra bit
the inside of her cheek. She knew the subject would be brought up, but she had yet to figure out a suitable answer that would placate Stephen. Especially while he was clearly in the matchmaking mindset. She sighed right back over the line in an annoyed tone.

“Just talking about my game tomorrow.”

“So he is coming?” Stephen persisted.

“He doesn’t have anything else to do. And that’s a quote.”

“Wow…he really likes you. He’s playing hard to get,” Stephen advised.

“Or he is being honest. I’d go with that. I mean seriously, it’s Monday.”

“I wish I could bring charges on Jim for messing you up like this.”

“There isn’t anything wrong with me. I just don’t see love everywhere like some people. I see reality and normal conversations
,” Audra complained.

“You would see love if they didn’t close off every opportunity
,” Stephen retorted.

“I
have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“
Hey, don’t get mad at me for speaking the truth,” he continued.

“I’m not
, but you bringing it up all the time is annoying. How am I supposed to live my ‘closed off’ life with constant reminders of what could have been? It just makes it harder than it already is. I don’t need that.”

“Al
l right, I’m sorry. I’ll tone it down, but you have to admit to me that it’s different with him. You’re different around him.”

“Maybe
, but remember he is as new as Chris is. You don’t know him, so be careful.” Audra said.

“Always
. Talk to you later.”

“Later.”

Audra ended the call and placed the phone beside her on the bed. She closed her eyes and thought back to the night before, looking at the sky, hand-in-hand with Mateo. The calmness of experiencing nature with another person who didn’t fill the empty silence with meaningless words. Even as frustrating as his silence could be, she appreciated it especially like last night. The moon cast the light upon them like grace from the unknown only to glance back to his curious gaze.

“Knock knock
,” Jim said, barging in.

“You’re lucky I’m not naked
,” she warned.

“Don’t
be gross. You wanna play ball or what?”

“Sure.”

Audra rolled off the bed and slipped on her sneakers. Jim led down to the driveway, passing her the ball while he set up the hoop. She dribbled around herself and between her legs a few times before passing the ball back to her brother. His smile lit up his eyes before he turned to throw it in the basket.

“I heard you swept
up in gym.”

“Did you also hear that I cheated?” Audra
asked.

She grab
bed the ball, spinning on Jim to jump up and make the shot. He laughed, managing to steal the ball from her hands and making a lay-up.

“Let me guess…Stephen?”

“The one and only. You were blamed for ‘training’ me.”

“If I trained you, you’d be better
,” Jim scoffed.

He bounce
d the ball between her legs, going around her to make another lay-up. Audra glared in response. When he attempted to make another shot, she bumped into him roughly, stealing the ball to make her own basket.

Jim laugh
ed darkly. “Oh, really? Is that how you want to play?”

Audra dribble
d, trying to get around him and decided to charge full force towards him. Before she touched him, she took two quick steps back, shot and scored. Jim smiled proudly and shoved her shoulder.

“Al
l right, so maybe I did train you a little. Listen, about last night, I just wanted to apologize.”

“Don’t want to talk about it. Today is a new day
,” Audra said.

“I wish I didn’t have to. But we both know what it would be like if I didn’t.”

Audra nodded before shooting and missing. Jim grabbed the ball and made a fade away shot.

“If only he could see
the damage he has done,” Jim commented.

“I’m not damaged.”

Jim walked closer to her and she wrapped her arms around her waist. He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

“Don’t do anything stupid. You’ve been arguing with me for the last couple of days
,” he warned.

“He can’t expect to take over my life and have me deal with it quietly.”

“Just be smart. You know what will happen.” Jim stated.

Audra shove
d away from him and walked back to the house. She didn’t need threats or guilt trips from her brother. It’s not like she wasn’t aware of what was going on, but it seemed to be more of an issue now. She shook her head as she went up the stairs back to her room. For the way her brother was treating her, it’s like she had committed some sort of crime. She hadn’t even done anything. She grabbed a change of clothes and took a shower.

Every Sunday was family night
, but the truth was in the undertow. Audra nibbled on her vegetables while Jim discussed how his week was. She kept her eyes on the plate before her; she already knew how this would end up. Mom sipped her glass of water as Dad started to clear his throat.

“Tell me of your week
, Audra,” Dad said stiffly.

“School. Homework. Studying
,” she replied.

“Mhmm…” Dad
said. “Speaking of studying, what did you study last night?”

“Mostly science.”

“I expect to see the grade to your next test. If it’s not higher than a B+, you won’t be going to anymore study sessions on a Saturday night. Do you hear me?”

Audra nod
ded. No point in answering.

“She did well in gym this week
,” Jim piped up.

“Uhuh
,” Dad replied.

Audra glance
d at her brother and nodded her acknowledgment. It never helped, but he tried.

“I’m proud of you
, dear,” Mom said.

Audra
looked pointedly at her father, but he didn’t respond. Not that she expected him to. She made quick work of clearing her plate and escaped to her room. She pulled out her science material for more studying until her eyes blurred with strain. She shut the book and lay down in bed.

Her mind flutter
ed with the useless memories of family night. One day, things would get better. There was no reason for things to be so uptight all the time. One day, family dinner would be about being a family, not impersonal interaction. One day, she would be able to prove herself worthy of being held responsible for her future. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life living in the past.

*****

The cafeteria was buzzing with conversation, but Audra couldn’t keep the worry from plaguing her thoughts.

“What di
d Mrs. Palamino say?” Molly asked.

“I already have an extra credit assignment and notes for studying on the next test.”

“Don’t let it get you down. We all struggle with at least one class,” Molly said.

Audra shrug
ged, sipping her water and playing with the cap.

“I’m so ready for the game. I can’t stop thinking about it
,” Molly said.

“I’ve been so stressed, I forgot about the game. At least it’ll give me added reason
s to pound the ball,” Audra admitted.

Molly chuckled
in response.

Audra ma
de her way back to the classroom and proceeded to spend the rest of the day in preparation of the game. She placed her notebooks and books in her locker to collect after the game. She headed into the gym locker room, changing into her uniform as the rest of the team started to come in and do the same.

The team walk
ed out into the gym as two players began to set up the net. Coach sat on the first row bleachers while scanning the rotation for the evening. One of the teammates put on the warm up music, and they all started off with a jog around the gym before stretching out. In the middle of the stretching, the rival team came out and did their own stretches. Molly brought out two carts of volleyballs, one for their team and one for the other.

Coach set
balls allowing Audra to get in a few strikes before doing lines of blocking jumps. Audra did an extra set of blocking jumps just as groups of friends of both sides started to come into the gym. Stephen and Chris came in together sitting in the middle of the bleachers. Audra smiled at them before starting her serving sets with ease. Molly started to load up the free balls into the bins with help from a few teammates while Audra jogged over to the bleachers.

The referees g
ot in place as Coach showed the lineup for the first game. Audra got in line as the national anthem began to play. When it ended, the teams slapped hands under the net getting into position. Audra started in the front left position ready to transition to middle, her favorite place to be, just as the doors opened allowing more people to come in. Mateo walked in with the same blond guy she saw him talking to on the first day. His eyes met hers for a moment as his tiny smirk appeared. She smiled back and then took a deep breath, getting her head back into the game.

The first game started and ended within a blink of an eye. Audra had three blocks in by the time the whistle was called for the end of the first match. Cheers rang loudly from her side of the court
, but her heart was pounding a mile a minute. The rival team didn’t even manage to get into double digits, but from the look upon their faces, the next round wouldn’t be so easy.

“Audra!” Molly shout
ed. She handed her a bottle of water, from which Audra took quick, small gulps.

“Thanks
,” Audra replied.

“Audra, I need you and Molly to double up on blocking. They won’t anticipate this lineup
, and it’ll throw them off,” Coach said.

Audra nod
ded and fist-bumped her teammate. She liked blocking with Molly, a comfortable companion on the court with as much passion for the game as she had. Audra walked over to the bleachers pulling a fresh towel to wipe her face and locked eyes with Stephen. An unstoppable grin forced its way upon her face. He gave her the thumbs up and a wink, which made her chuckle to herself.

Audra got
back into the lineup with confidence. As she waited for the ref to blow the whistle to get started, Jim and Tobias walked into the gym. She took another deep breath, trying to focus on the game that was about to start. She didn’t expect Jim to show up after yesterday, but she was grateful for his appearance. The opposing side served the ball first, and she prepared for the double block when it was short. It barely got over the net, but with a quick adjustment, Audra set it high enough for Molly to get up and spike it down earning the point.

Their team easily won the remainder of round two and round three, as well
. The crowd on the home bleachers cheered loudly as the opposing team hit the ball out of bounds. Audra slapped hands with the opposing team before huddling back by the bleachers with her teammates.

“You guys did good
, but we have some work to do,” Coach advised.

Audra towel
ed off her face and gulped down a bit more water before replacing the items back on the bench. Molly nudged her shoulder with a huge grin. Tonight was an easy win, but she knew to appreciate every single one of them. The next game would be more challenging. As the crowd descended the bleachers, Stephen made point of being first to cheer her on.

“You were awesome
! Not that I expected any less,” Stephen said.

“Thanks
,” Audra said.

“Great game. We’ll have to come to the next one
,” Chris said cheerfully.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

As Audra turned, her eyes met Mateo’s, and her heartbeat started to pick up. She was so focused on the game, she forgot that he was here watching. She couldn’t even begin to take stock of what she might have looked like. At least she didn’t look worse off than the other players.

“Ryan! I can’t believe you came
,” Molly called out.