The perfect timing

We spent another half an hour on the sports field, chatting and waiting for Reece’s training to be finally over. When the time came, we arranged, that we would meet Reece at his car, because he needed to change and take a quick shower.

During his training I studied Eric, because I couldn’t help myself and I was too curious to not too. He had changed a lot over all these years, not only in appearance but also his attitude. All his teammates seemed to like him and they were laughing and having a good time while they were playing together.

The guy was also amazing on the field. His skills are incredible and when he passes the ball, it always lands where he wants it to be. The other players on his team could easily catch it and he must have trained really hard to become this good. I was really impressed by all of that and maybe he had changed for good over the years. I really hope so.

On our way towards Reece car Kitty suddenly called out that she need to go to the toilets quickly and so we arranged to meet at my locker because it was close to the exit. And as I was waiting for Kitty already next to my lockers, I couldn’t get Eric’s face out of my mind and I desperately wanted to tell Aiden about him.

Like he heard, that I was just thinking about him, Aiden suddenly appeared next to me. Well, he was more passing by, wearing his baseball uniform, ready for the extra training he was attending, because they had an important game this Friday.

So when he noticed me standing there, he approached me.

Confused and with an unconscious frown on his face he asked. “Celia, what are you still doing here?”

For some reason I was too eager to tell him about Eric and didn’t bother answering his question.

Instead I said. “You will never guess, who I just met.”

Even more irritated by my behavior my best friend questioned, “Who?”

“Eric,” I exclaimed and added when I saw the incomprehension on my best friends face. “Eric the guy from kindergarten.” He was the reason, why we met and became friends.”

Finally Aiden seemed to get the message and shouted out. “No way!”

“Yes and it gets even crazier, because he is apparently going to our school now.”

“He is going to our school,” Aiden repeated the words I just said, and he was about to tell me something else, when a girl’s voice interrupted him.

“Oh hey Kitty,” I said when I recognized the girl who was standing just a few feet away from us with an amused smile on her face.

“Hey,” she greeted me back, but was facing my best friend instead of me. She was looking at him curiously and both of them were probably waiting for me to say something, because they didn’t say a word, so I introduced them.

“Aiden,” I said glancing at him. “This is Kitty. And Kitty this is my best friend Aiden.” I told her mentioning at him with my hand.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Kitty greeted him.

But instead of greeting her back Aiden asked with a suspicion of a smile. “Kitty? Like Hello Kitty?” For a moment there was a silence and then Aiden began to laugh about his “hilarious” joke however he was the only one laughing.

Really Aiden, I thought and wanted to face palm myself, nevertheless I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

His joke was just too bad to not smile about it and it was Aiden after all. But Kitty didn’t look as amused as I and said. “Yeah, do you have a problem with that?”

Noticing that Kitty didn’t take his joke well, he abruptly stopped laughing and apologized for his behavior.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to insult you and it is really nice to meet you too. You are Reece sister, right?”

“Apology accepted.” Kitty told him and just like that she was her happy self again. “It was a miracle to me, how she did that. And yes Reece is my older brother.”

“Nice to know,” Aiden said and then added after looking at his watch. “But I have to leave now, otherwise my coach will let me run two extra miles.” he told us seriously.

At the moment his coach really was a bit sensitive because he didn’t want to lose in the end game like last year. He even ordered his players, how much they have to sleep and what to eat. In my opinion he was exaggerating, but everyone did what he was telling them. But before Aiden left he faced me, giving me a smile like he always did.

“I will see you tomorrow at your apartment,” he told me and I laughed at his proposition.

“I know Aiden, like you almost do every day,” I answered him, shaking my head lightly. The next moment Aiden was running away and towards the baseball pitch, leaving Kitty and me behind. Our school has its own pitch because our principle is a big fan of all kinds of sports and thinks highly of it.

When I couldn’t see my best friend anymore, I turned around towards Kitty and asked, “Ready to go?”

“Sure,” she replied, giving me a strange smile which I just ignored, because it was kind of creeping me out. As we were then waiting for Reece at his car and she was still smiling like that, I burst out. “Why are you smiling like that?” It kind of gives me creeps,” I told her shuddering a bit at the thought.

“You already know,” the girl who was leaning at her brother’s car, said smiling even wider at me.

“No, I really don’t know.” I told her shaking my head in confusion. “If I would know it, I wouldn’t have asked.”

Like it was the most obvious thing in the world Kitty exclaimed. “The thing that is going on between you and your best friend.” She even made air quotes at the words best friend, but I couldn’t follow her.

“What thing do you mean?”

“Oh come on don’t play dumb,” she said smirking and also nudging me into my side. “There must be something going on between you two.”

Finally I understood what she was talking about and doubted if I should laugh my ass off or ask her if she was crazy. So I did the only logically thing and did both.

“But there is something between you,” she argued pouting. At her comment I just had to laugh even more and hold on onto Reece car.

“What is so funny?” a voice, which belonged to Reece, asked suddenly out of nowhere.

I was about to tell him about Kitty’s suggest, but then remembered, who I was talking to and said instead. “Nothing.”

Like he expected no other answer Reece casually unlocked his car and put his bag into the trunk. He then turned his body in my direction and told me with a grin. “You have to know that I’m a curious person.” And if you don’t want to tell me now, you can tell me on our common car ride.”

“What car ride?” I asked dumbfounded looking at his car in confusion.

“The one we are having any moment,” Reece told me and added, “And you can’t say no, because it is a thank you for waiting with my sister for me.”

Sensing that I couldn’t have anything against his argument, he even opened the door for me and I got into the backseat of his car. Kitty was already in and was playing with the radio to find a station she liked. She smiled as our glances met and I smiled back. It couldn’t be that bad to ride with the Matthews. The next thing I heard was Reece closing the driver’s door, as he got into his car and then starting the engine.

The car ride wasn’t actually that bad in the end. We spent it with making light conversation and I actually got to know a bit more about the siblings.

“So your parents are working both in the same company?” I asked them, trying to get everything together they just told me or more Kitty told me, because she was doing the talking most of the time.

“Yep and if we don’t tell them to take a pause sometimes they would work 24/7,” she told me with a sigh. They are workaholics.” Reece added glancing into his mirror and meeting my eyes at his movement. By the looks I could tell that they both didn’t like their parents to work so much, which was understandable.

“What about your parents?” Reece asked me then wanting to change the topic as fast as possible. I hesitated for a moment if I really should tell them about my dead parents, but in the end told them about it. It was needless to lie, and I had accepted the fact over the years that they were never coming back.

So I took a deep breath and tried to say as casually as I could. “They died in a car accident.”

Kitty immediately turned around at my words, looking at me shocked. “I’m sorry to hear that. And if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” She added with a sympathetic smile.

“It is fine,” I told her and gave her a reassuring smile, to show her that I was fine. She smiled back at me and then faced the front again.

Curious I glanced at Reece who got really quiet at my confession and I saw him gritting the steering wheel, tighter than was necessary. I was about to ask him, what was wrong, but then he stopped and I looked around to see my apartment.

“We are here,” he told me in a monotone voice, which confused me even more. What was wrong with him?

“Thanks for the ride,” I said, and he nodded not even looking at me. Then I unbuckled my seat belt, took my bag and got out of the car.

The moment I got out Reece immediately drove away, and I made my way irritated towards my apartment. Arriving in my room I let myself fall into my bed. This day was just too exhausting and Reece odd behavior was still nagging at my mind.

But when I thought more and more about him, something terrifying came up into my mind.Reece Matthews just drove me home, which isn’t actually that shocking. But the horrifying thing was he knew where I lived even if I never told him my address. Something was terribly wrong with this and I had to confront him about it. I didn’t think he was some kind of stalker, but it isn’t normal that you know the address of someone you barely know.

The next day I began searching for Reece to confront him about it, but the problem was he didn’t show up at school. The same happened the next day and so on.I also asked Kitty, where her brother was, but she just told me that he suddenly got ill, which got me even more suspicious. Two questions didn’t leave my mind and were bothering me. How did Reece knew where I lived? And why did he acted so oddly all of a sudden?