Page 14 of Coastal Runaway

The energy in the air was unmatched as I waved my pom-poms in front of the stage on the quad. The Dean of the university was closing out his speech, speaking on camaraderie and loyalty. I’d heard this speech four times now, but every year the crowd of students and their families still went absolutely wild.

When the Dean finished, I motioned for the girls to move forward and prepare for stunts. Left and right, they were tossed into the air performing twists and flips before landing back in the arms of their teammates. The crowd cheered us on. This was my happy place; performing with my best friends by my side and just enjoying life.

After the crowd dispersed, the team walked as a group back to the field house to grab our bags. As I walked outside, I saw Maeve through the clear glass doors of the field house.

She was standing off to the side, leaning back against the building, knee bent and foot propped against the wall while twirling her hair around her finger. A football player who was at least a foot taller than her had one hand placed on the wall above her head.

That poor little man had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Knowing Maeve would be a while, I pulled myself up onto the hood of Baby Blue and started scrolling mindlessly through my phone.

Maeve always had this flair about her that could ease even the most tense room. I swear she could walk into a room of politicians and leave with everyone on the same side— hers. She was the sounding board of the family: when the boys fought, she broke it up, and when I needed a shoulder to cry on, she’s always there.

Always.

You would think that I would have been jealous of her ability to naturally fit in, but I kind of liked that we’re opposites; she’s the yin to my yang, the sweet to my sour, the happy to my sad. Sometimes I still worried about her though.

Maeve had it the toughest of all of us. She was so young when mom died. She had less pictures and stories to fill the lost memories compared to the rest of us. Then, when Nolan, Aiden, and I left for college, the Kelly estate in Connecticut was suddenly like a prison. It was quiet and cold after it used to be filled with the constant chaos of life.

She had more freedom than a teenager should have. You would think that our dad would’ve stepped up to be around more since she was alone, but instead he hired a live-in nanny for the sole reason that he couldn’t leave his sixteen year old daughter completely alone for months at a time.

I think that a big reason she liked so much attention was because for two years she really got none at all. She used to call me crying, begging me to fly her out to California so she could finish high school virtually. It was a dark time, and we don’t talk about it.

I was looking down at my phone, scrolling through my Instagram feed, when Maggie walked up and rested her elbow against the hood of my car.

“That girl,” She gestured towards where Maeve was shamelessly flirting with her victim, “must have a magic pussy or something.”

I laughed, “she’s always been like that. Even when we were younger.”

“Okay, so I was thinking, maybe tonight we can have an old-fashioned girls night.” She wiggled her brows at me.

“Do you mean a pizza and wine kind of night? Or, do so many tequila shots that I end up puking off of your balcony onto your neighbors head, kind of night?

“First of all, it was one time and they got over it after I slept with them–”

“Wait, what?” I cut her off.

She raised her hand silencing me, “second, the way you reacted yesterday calls for all of the above,” She pinned me with a glare, “you still have yet to tell me why you freaked out that way when that brutally hot guy walked into the party.”

I shook my head, “okay I’m in. I definitely need alcohol for that story.” I gestured towards my sister, “but, who’s going to wrangle Maeve this time?”

We looked over at Maeve and then back at each other, bursting into laughter. Maggie raised a fist and put it in her palm. I mimicked her gesture for our usual deciding game of rock, paper, scissors.

“On three,” I smiled, “one, two, three.”

Maggie moved her hand. Scissors. A losing move to my rock.

I smirked and patted her leg, “let him down easy.”

Maggie humphed then pushed off the car, heading towards Maeve and her flavor of the day. I watched as Maggie put her arm around Maeve and whispered in her ear causing Maeve to look up at her man with a sorry smile. With a pat to the guy's chest, they turned toward the Jeep with a skip in their step.

We piled into Baby Blue and headed towards Maggie’s apartment in University Park.

“Sorry we interrupted your flirting.” I giggled as Maeve connected to the aux and chose a song.

“Eh, I wasn’t feeling it anyway. I’d much rather get drunk with my girls.” She smiled broadly at me and settled on playing Is It Over Now? By Taylor Swift. We scream-sang the lyrics and laughed the entire short ride to Maggie’s. I couldn’t help but feel like this was just what I needed.

Tonight was going to be fun.