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“See you at home.”
I leave, carefully closing his door behind me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
HOLDEN
Ahorn blares to my left, scaring up an entire flock of pigeons. I hold my arm up to block my face, concerned a bird is going to fly right into me. Sidestep a pile of trash bags.
If by some miracle I get drafted and end up playing in a major city, it’ll be a big adjustment. I liked growing up in a small town. And Richmond might be large, but the closest town has fewer than ten thousand residents.
Sydney attends a tiny, artsy school. The campus is literally just a couple of city blocks, nothing like Richmond’s sprawling size.
I was worried about Sydney’s future when she decided this was her dream school. Supposedly, they have one of the best theater programs in the country. But nothing in the shiny pamphlets Syd drooled over said anything about their graduates’ employment prospects or median salary.
Maybe that concern was rich, coming from me. About one percent of Division I basketball players make it to pros. I’m not exactly angling for a set future. And I don’t have many marketable skills. If I wasn’t playing basketball, I was rarely studying. I’ll graduate with a degree, but none of the accoladesCassia earned. The money my dad left me is mostly untouched. Richmond offered me a full athletic scholarship.
But I’m not about to have a kid.
Any worries I had about Sydney’s future in theater are amplified now that she’s pregnant. Now that she’s decided to keep the baby.
I didn’t raise any concerns when she decided on school here because Sydney has always been reasonable and mature. I trusted her to figure out what would work for her. And it was money our dad had left for her. Sydney’s to use as she wanted.
I’m stressed about my future. Cassia’s. And now I have Sydney’s to worry about as well. She was supposed to be happy in New York next year. Not having a baby to take care of.
The first building I walk into is the Admissions one. I wave at the woman at the front desk apologetically and then head back out onto the street.
Sydney might not even be on campus, since it’s a Saturday. But every time I’ve talked to her on the weekends, she’s been here. She doesn’t seem to spend much time at the shoebox she calls an apartment. Not that I blame her. My freshman year dorm room was bigger.
The next building I enter is the student center. I pass a bookstore and a coffee shop before I spot my sister.
She’s laughing with two other girls on a sectional couch.
Laughter that comes to an abrupt stop when I approach.
“Well,hello there,” one of the girls says, looking me up and down. It’s an interest I’ve gotten used to over the years. As much as you can get used to it, I guess. Sometimes it’s entertaining. Annoying at others.
This is the former, since Sydney has always been irritated when her friends showed any interest in me. I think the only reason she was okay with Cassia is that she saw us grow uptogether. Before my high school idiocy, Cassia and I were closer friends than she and Sydney were.
Or maybe she saw the same thing I realized—Cassia was always going to beitfor me.
“He’s taken, Ruby,” Sydney says, rolling her eyes. “This is my brother, Holden. Holden, this is Ruby—” She points to the brunette. “And Bella.” Sydney nods to the friend with overalls and a bob.
“Verynice to meet you, Holden.” Ruby smirks, then stands. “We’ll let you two catch up.”
Bella waves at me and follows Ruby toward the coffee shop.
“What are you doing here?” Sydney asks, eyebrows raised. “Is everything okay?”
I take the open seat next to her, glancing around the space a little more. There’s a wide array of artwork hanging on the walls, a clash of color and styles that’s visually shocking. All student work, I assume.
“Everything is okay,” I answer. “I just wanted to come…check in.”
“What, you were in the neighborhood?”
Aside from moving Sydney in and out of the series of small, shitty apartments she’s lived in, I’ve never visited her during the school year. We’ve always had separate interests that translated into separate lives. I play sports; she makes art. I like small towns; she lives in a big city. I draw attention; she avoids it. We’re as different as Cassia and her sister, Maggie.
“No, I wasn’t.”
