"This is the wrong side of the bleachers Carson, now we have to awkwardly cheer from the side of our opponents."

"You know what Leah, I decide to come home from college for the weekend and you have done nothing but pick on me. Tell her Adelaide."

"I can do nothing of the sort. You spilled my hot chocolate, again."

The boy who I assumed was Carson let out a whiny groan before turning to the girl beside him, "Maylan?" He pleaded.

She took a deep breath as if giving herself time to think of an answer, "I love you?"

He clicked his tongue as Leah giggled from the side.

"You can keep your pity love, you betraitor." Betraitor? Is that even a word?

"Nah I think you're right Carson. This seating arrangement is better. That way when we cheer for Tristan, it'll be more distinct, ya know?"

"Yes, I know! Thank you, Tate. You see ladies? That's the right way to show a little appreciation."

When he moved to give his friend a fist bump or whatever the fuck he was trying to do, his elbows hit the girl he called Adelaide, causing the cup in her hand to fall over.

Some warm liquid got onto the blanket that I had wrapped around myself. She gasped, "I'm so sorry my brother is such an idiot. Here take some napkins." She handed me some already in her hands and I used it to wipe the blanket.

"Sorry Adelaide," Carson sighed, "I know the drill, I'll go get you more hot cocoa."

"What, so you can spill that one too?" She snapped, then looked over to me and gave me a polite smile. "Let me help you with that."

"You're good, it hardly even hit me." She helped wipe some spots anyway.

"I'm Adelaide."

"I'm Rowena, and this is Natalie and Lillian." Natalie turned to smile at them while Lillian was too distracted, still staring at Cyrus from the field.

"Natalie, I love those earrings! You got those from Bradshaw Boutique didn't you?" The blonde one, Leah, asked.

"Yes I did, I love that store!" She replied, putting her hand up on the studs she had on her ears.

Tate replied before Leah could. "Yeah so does she, do you know how many times I've been dragged to that store?"

"Man, I know what you mean-"Carson stopped short, looking at Maylan's frown on her face. "We love that store."

"Oh, look here they go!" Lillian shouted and my attention was drawn to the field once again.

Our team had the ball and Duncan was shuffling it between his feet before passing it off to Cyrus. He made it a few paces ahead of him when one of the other team's defenders was on his ass. Cyrus took the tiniest peek up to see who was around him, his arm out to keep his opponent at a distance, before passing the ball to a teammate.

In his teammate's attempt to pass to Declan, the ball was intercepted by the other team.

"LET'S GO TRISTAN!!!!" This man was going to burst my eardrum. The people around us turned to stare at Carson as he was rooting for the wrong team. He shoved Tate in the shoulder before mumbling, "Wrong team, weirdo."

Tate shoved him back with a glare and he gave a silent "ow" in response.

Then, later in the game when their team managed to get the ball once again, Adelaide yelled, "FUCK YOU WALTER!!"

I turned to her in confusion, "I thought that was your team."

"Oh, it is, but we don't like him." I nodded my head in silent response as the people from the stands cheered on Declan when he managed to get the ball back from the other team.

Watching the game, I began to wonder how people found soccer boring. I get that it just seemed like a lot of passing the ball around, especially in professional games, but the rush of adrenaline that came when a goal was finally scored was unbeatable.

So, when Cyrus was running up closer and closer to the goal, I had anticipated exactly what was going to happen. Only, the last moment he was going to score, a defender almost snuck up on him. He looked for an opening and quickly found one when Declan ran up. He tapped the ball to him, and Declan didn't hesitate as he struck the ball with his laces and scored the first goal of the game.

"BOOOOOOO! YOU'RE A DISSAPOINTMENT TO HUMANITY YOU PICKLE SUCKER." Leah shouted at the goalie of her own team. I turned to look at Adelaide for an explanation.

"Maylan's cheating ex-boyfriend," She cringed. Maylan was just laughing at Leah with Carson's arm around her shoulder. At least she seemed happy.

"Is there anyone on your team that you actually like?" I asked.

"We're pretty much just here for my boyfriend Tristan. He's number six. Oh, and Bryan. His mom forced him to join the team after he threw that party that broke all her fine china."

"Sounds reasonable."

I noticed her boyfriend Tristan had some impressive footwork. It seemed he was the most skilled one on his team. He had really good control of the ball when it was in his possession. "He's pretty good, how long has he been playing?"

"This is his first year actually." I gave her a surprised look and she continued explaining. "He always liked soccer, he just never had time for it." She seemed to hesitate with what she was going to say next. Then she gave her shoulders a shrug and said, "He was on the wrestling team, filled all of his free time."

She watched the field and it looked as if an idea popped her head. "Carson, I need paper."

Carson just looked at her blankly, but Maylan reached into her tote bag and pulled out a notebook with a pencil attached to it's spiral. She handed it to Adelaide who quickly flipped to an empty page and started scribbling vigorously over it.

"She's an artist," Maylan explained in a soft voice. "She gets these random bursts of inspiration but never remembers to bring her own supplies so," she pats her tote bag at her side.

She's an artist, Maylan said. I looked over at Adelaide's page. It was a doodle. A doodle of a boy with the number six on his jersey. He had a smile on his face and his feet were abnormally large with twinkle stars around his toes. I had assumed his last name wasn't Grumpy, but that's what was written on his jersey.

It was a cute doodle. Not on a professional artistic level, considering it consisted mainly of stick figures, but she was cool, so I kept the thought to myself.

We spent the rest of the game shouting, cheering, talking, and eavesdropping on arguments between Adelaide and her brother Carson.

The game ended with our team scoring two more goals than Eastwood. Declan scored one, Duncan scored two, and Cyrus scored another.

We separated from Adelaide and her friend group as they met up with Tristan. Adelaide greeted him by hopping on his back. He looked at her from over his shoulder and planted a kiss on her lips.

I studied them for a moment, at how happy they were together, and wondered if and when I would find that for myself. I had never been in a serious relationship like they seemed to be in and they made it look really nice.

-cut off-

🥲

❤️❤️