Finding You

Sarah “Ahhhh! Wake up!” My body startles as I land with a thud on my hardwood floor. Ouch. It takes me a minute to open my eyes as I hear familiar laughter coming from the other side of my bed. I push myself off the floor, I don’t need to ask what happened, I can guess. “What the hell is wrong with you Walker?” I glare at my brother as he’s doubled over holding his belly. I groan as I push him over on my way to my closet. Pulling out a tank and a pair of shorts, I leave him on the floor and head for the shower. Twenty minutes later, I’m dressed and headed downstairs since my brother is nowhere to be found now. My belly growls as the smell of Pancakes infiltrates my nose. “Good morning little sister.” Walker greets me with an amused smile on his face. I roll my eyes at him as I grab a plate and start filling it with pancakes. “Have a good wake up call, baby girl?” Dad asks as he tries to hide his smile behind his coffee mug. Mom chooses this moment to enter the kitchen and about chokes on her Orange Juice. “Ha Ha” I stick out my tongue at Walker before taking a bite of my breakfast. “What are you doing here anyway?” I ask in between bites. “Well, I wanted to surprise my baby sister and take her to college but now I’m not so sure.” He eyes my mouthful of food. I open my mouth wide showing him the rest of the food in my mouth. “You’re gross.” “Then look away.” “I can’t. It’s like a car wreck. You don’t mean to stare but you just can’t help it.” He cringes as he says this. I can’t help but laugh at him. “Really, Sarah? You’re moving into your college dorm today. Don’t you think you should act a little more mature?” My mom shoots me a look. “Seriously, mom? Walker is in his Junior year and he still acts that way” I argue. “It’s true” he admits, “I’ve gotta be serious when it comes to football that I’ve gotta let it out somewhere. That’s where you come in little sister.” He turns to me and winks. I stand up and bow to him, “Glad I could be of service, sire.” He snorts as I sit back down, making us both laugh. Dad joins in and mom looks at us as if we have all lost it. “What time are we leaving? I need to be there by three” I tell him. Nodding his head, “The sooner the better if I’m gonna help unload. I need to be back at school too.” “Everything is packed already so we just have to load it. Jake said to let him know when we got close and he will help,” Seeing that my plate is clear Walker asks, “You ready?” I stand up grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and lead the way to the living room where most of my boxes are stacked. With everyone helping, it takes no time at all to load the car. I let Walker load the last box as I run up to my room to double check that we got all of the boxes. Grabbing my phone off my dresser, my eyes catch my old purple bracelet. I walk over to it, threading my fingers through it and shove it in my pocket as I head out the door. Normally it takes about an hour to get to RCU but since it’s “move in” day for the Freshman, it takes over two hours. “We are almost there so why don’t you go ahead and call Jake so he can help us unload.” “K” I pull out my phone from my pocket, find Jake’s number and hit the call button. It’s so hot out today that the phone slips all over my cheek. He answers on the third ring. “What’s up sis?” He sounds out of breath and I hear someone giggle in the background. Oh Lord. “Hey Jake. Walker and I will be on campus in about ten minutes or so.” “Uhh.. Yeah. You might have to move in by yourselves. I’m a little busy.” Que more giggling. “You’re a pig.” I take a second to wipe off my screen on my shirt before speaking again. “One of the main reasons mom and dad didn’t come to help was because YOU assured them that you and a couple buddies could handle it. It’s pretty shitty of you to flake on your sister, all for a piece of a*s that you’ll probably never talk to again.” I glance at Walker who is smirking at me. I hear a loud sigh on Jake’s end. “Okay. Meet you in twenty.” Before I can respond, the line goes dead. Asshat. I wipe sweat off my phone in frustration as Walker shakes his head. I shoot Jake a text as we pull up at least to let him know that we made it. We park as close as we can to my dorm and start to unload the car. Grabbing some boxes, we head to find my dorm room. As we get closer to the dorms entrance, I spot Jake. And as usual, he’s surrounded by a sea of people. Walker is a little ways behind me so I stop to let him catch up as I watch Jake, waiting for him to notice us. I see him scan the parking lot a few times and I laugh because I know he’s looking for us. I expected him to show up late because of how the phone call ended. But he has always proved that he’s only loyal to two girls. My mom and me. He would never fully flake on his family. One of the girls that’s pawing my brother notices me staring and gives me a dirty look as she edges closer to him. Oh, poor girl. If only she knew that after one night, he would never talk to her again. Jake doesn’t do relationships. He never has. I used to feel bad for some of the girls that fell for Jake just to get thrown away but after having multiple of them befriend me just to get to my brothers, they deserved what that got. Walker catches my eye and I nod toward Jake. He laughs to himself as he walks over to me. “Typical” I shake my head, “but he has been scanning the parking lot every once in a while, so I will give him some credit.” I feel the sweat rolling down my back as we stand there. “I dare you to walk over there and pretend to flirt with him” Walker says amused. “I should.” I entertain the thought, “but I don’t feel like having random girls trying to claw my eyes out. So, I’ll pass.” “Jake” I say his name loudly but not loud enough for him to hear so I try again. “Jake!” I know I’m loud enough this time because the girls he’s with keep throwing me annoyed looks and checks out Walker at the same time. Oh whatever. I see him take out his phone and mess with it. My ringtone goes off a few seconds later so I’m guessing he texted me. I don’t check it though, I don’t wanna put the box down. So, I head in his direction. As I get to the edge of the group, one of the girls stands in my way. “Where do you think you’re going?” she snaps at me. I just walk around her. I feel multiple eyes on me but I don’t turn around. Jake is oblivious to everything. He grunts as I shove my box into his chest looking shocked. But when he realizes that it’s me he laughs, “Not cool Sarah.” “Yeah well, if you would’ve taken your eyes off of all of the fake t**s in your face then you probably would’ve spotted us.” When the word “us” leaves my mouth, his eyes swing behind me. A smile spreads across his face when he spots Walker. Neither of us have seen Walker in almost a year since he’s been busy with school and football. I know he’s been eager to see him. Jake bends down to kiss my cheek then puts his arm around my shoulder, “come on” and walks us over to Walker. The group of girls whine as we walk away but he just ignores them as he nods to a couple of guys to follow him. Walker sets his box down as we close in on him, Jake mimic’s his move. I smile as they give each other a bear hug. Not some silly handshake but a genuine hug. I take them both in. Most of their features clashing with the others. Walker with dark hair like mine but a lot shorter, and Jake with his curly, blonde surfer hair. Walker with more of a stockier build while Jake’s is more lean. Walker’s also more quiet and reserved compared to Jake’s loud and outgoing personality. But the one feature that we all have in common is our eyes. We all have the same ocean blue eyes. It’s those ocean blue eyes that find me as Walker says, “Get over here squirt”. I feel my smile widen as I walk toward them. They part to let me in on the hug. It’s this moment that makes me realize that I’ve actually missed my brothers. No matter how different we are, we will always have each other’s backs. That’s how it’s always been and how it will always be. I notice everyone staring when we pull away but my brothers either don’t seem to notice or don’t care as they pick up the boxes and walk into the building. The directions are pretty straight forward so we find my dorm with ease. Using my key, I let us inside. “Welcome to Rush Creek University, sis.” Jake says as he takes in my room. It’s more spacious than I thought it would be. Two beds, closets, sets of drawers, two desks and one bathroom. The colors are dreary though, the walls a light brown but look like they need washed. The sunshine coming through the windows brighten it up a bit though. “It’s not bad” I say to him, “but compared to the house that you stay in, it’s probably tiny.” “I don’t know about that.” I look over to the guy that speaks, one of Jake’s friends. “I mean it’s big but you only get a bedroom to yourself, the rest of the house you have to share.” I purse my lips and look at the two random guys that followed us up here. I swing my eyes toward Jake, raising my eyebrows at him. Hoping he can see the “who are they” on my face. It takes him a minute. “Uhh my bad. Guys this is my sister, Sarah, and my brother, Walker.” He points to us as he says our names and vice versa. “This is Chase and Mike. They’re on the team and they said they would help move you in.” We all nod at each other. “Hey, well, thanks for helping. We’re gonna need all the help we can get since Walker has to leave soon.” Jake’s smile fades, “You’re leaving already?” “Not until all the boxes get out of my car so we gotta make it quick” Walker answers. “I would’ve had a little more time but with traffic, it took forever to get here.” Jake nods. “Okay then. Let’s get the boxes.” He claps his hands together and ushers everyone out the door. With five people carrying boxes, it doesn’t take long to unload the car. When there are only a few boxes left, I start to unpack. I notice Mike lingering in the doorway, watching me. I noticed it a few times before but I just ignored it. Now, he’s standing there as if he’s daring me to say something. I watch as he pulls his shoulder length hair brown hair back, securing it at his nape. He’s tall with broad shoulders, wearing a gray t-shirt that looks to be about two sizes too small stretching across them. Dark basketball shorts cover the tops of his legs. He’s good looking but he knows it, and I hate that. I’m taken out of my thoughts when someone clears their throat. I look up, Mike has a cocky smile on his face and Jake looks like he’s going to kill him. Oops. By the time we were done, I learned that Mike was a Junior. He also not so subtly hinted that he was single which made Jake glare at him. I learned that Chase is a Freshman, he has a big family and he has a girlfriend, who is at another school. He seems sweet. His blonde hair is cropped close to his head with green eyes and a stocky build. I could see us being friends. As soon as the last of the boxes are in my room, Walker says his goodbyes. “You’ll be fine, sis. You always are.” Walker assures me as I hug him harder. “I love you big brother.” “I love you too.” Jake walks in with the last box, doing a double take at Walker and I, “You leaving now?” Walker nods his head, “Yeah. Coach will have a fit if I don’t make it back for film tonight.” Jake nods his head and laughs, “I know how that is.” They give each other a high five and a pat on the back before they give each other a real hug. “Be careful heading back.” “I will.” Walker claps him on the back, “Love you brother.” “Love you too bro.” He gives Mike and Chase a handshake as he thanks them for helping us today. He stops at the doorway, turns around giving me a wink, and then he’s gone. I promise myself that I will call Walker tonight as I go back to unpacking. I expected the boys to leave but they stick around opening boxes for me. I open the box that has my underwear in it. Glancing around to make sure that no one sees, I decide to wait until they leave to put those away. Shoving the box aside, I grab another one that has clothes in it. I’m halfway done with the box when Jake grabs me by the arm and drags me to the hallway. “Ouch. What the hell Jake?” He lets go of my arm, “Could you at least wear clothes around campus?” he demanded. My mouth drops open as I squint my eyes. I’m not sure what I was expecting but that definitely wasn’t it. “What are you talking about?” He looks pointedly at what I’m wearing. “I wear these clothes at home. You’ve never said anything before. What’s the big deal?” To be honest, I’m not sure what to say. My brother has never tried to tell me how to dress before. This would be a first. I notice the hallway has gone quiet but I don’t take my eyes off of Jake. Taking a deep breath, Jake runs his hand over his face. “I just can’t stand to see Mike looking at you like you’re a piece of meat.” I shrug my shoulders, “I can’t help how he looks at me.” “I know. I guess I’m just not used to anyone looking at my sister like that.” “You mean the way you oogle any girl that walks by?” I tease but it’s true. He playfully shoves me, “Shut up. But yes, that way.” I can’t help but laugh. Mike chooses that moment to poke his head out. I’m pretty sure he wants punched because he looks me up and down. “Yeah, dude, it doesn’t matter what she wears. Guys are gonna look.” Jake doesn’t hesitate as he lunges at Mike and I’m not surprised. He pushes him against the wall while one of his arms fly up to crush Mike’s throat. My brother may be smaller in the muscle department but he’s definitely not weak. I back up a few steps so I don’t get crushed as I yell for Chase because Jake’s not letting up. His face looks murderous. The hallway stays silent as Chase rushes out of the room and tries to pry Jake off. I feel an electric current run through my body. I turn my head as a hand finds my shoulder. My eyes travel up the owner of the hand and my breath catches. I’ve never seen such a breathtaking human being. Khaki shorts and a black V-neck never looked this good on anyone. His skin looks as if it were kissed by the sun. But it was his eyes that got me. So dark that they almost matched his black hair. A small laugh escapes from his mouth and he smiles at me, his smile is blinding next to his tan skin. It was as if time had stopped. I swear I saw recognition in his eyes but I could’ve imagined it because it was gone as quick as it had appeared. Our eyes remain locked as he moves his hand from my shoulder and I shake my head, trying to get out of the daze. We finally break eye contact when we hear a loud c***k. I turn my head in time to see Mike’s head fly backwards. The guy I’d been staring at walks up to Jake and grabs his shoulders. “Jake take it easy. He’s not worth getting benched for.” It comes out low and calm but I can still hear him. This seems to make Jake relax a little. He hesitates for a minute but finally lets go of Mike. The mystery guy tells Chase to get Mike out of here as he leads Jake in the opposite direction. They’re a few feet away when Jake turns toward me to say something but he must change his mind because he shakes his head and turns back around. As soon as he’s out of sight, I ignore everyone in the hall and walk into my room. I let out a deep sigh as I collapse on my bed and wonder what the hell just happened.