Second Chance At Love

Hook Up.

Brynn

"What are you doing for your birthday, little sister, it's the big 21," Ripley asks through FaceTime, winking. I have my phone propped up on some car phone holder thing I ordered from Amazon last year. "It's October 11th, my birthday isn't until the 21st," I tell my brother. Over the years, I've grown iffy about celebrating my birthdays. It's not something I like to do even though my family loves to celebrate each other's birthdays. They always go all out and although I haven't mentioned anything to them yet about me not wanting to do anything, I will now that Ripley reminded me.

"You're turning 21 on the 21st! That's fucking cool. Party for me, since I won't be able to be there," he says with a frown, ruffling a hand through his light brown hair. "I won't be having a party and I will make sure to tell mom and dad that as well," I tell Ripley as I pull into the Starbucks drive-through. "Hold on Rip, I'm gonna order a drink," I say. He nods and I order a mango dragonfruit lemonade refresher and a cake pop - that's for Lauren. "I'm all for you not celebrating with mom and dad although I'm certain they'll want to celebrate you. But I would rather go out myself and get plastered with friends," Rip says with a shrug.

I laugh and shake my head. "I will not be doing that either. I'm going to stay in my dorm and do homework or sleep, either or," I say. He rolls his eyes. "You're extremely monotonous, sister," he says flatly. I fake a smile and shrug. "It's my idea of the most perfect twenty-first birthday," I admit. He raises his eyebrows and his eyes widen like he's disappointed in me. "I'm going to get absolutely shit-faced when I turn 21," he says. "You do that, brother." I pay the girl at the window and she gives me my drink and cake pop.

"Oh, I will. And I'm going to go twice as hard for the both of us," he says. "No. You'll die of alcohol poisoning!" I exclaim as I bump up onto a sidewalk. "Shit," I say. "You're a terrible driver. I'll let you focus on that. Talk later?" Ripley asks. I nod before we say short goodbyes and hang up. I'm on my way to meet Lauren and Sabrina at Lauren's apartment. We agreed to meet up there before practice in a couple of hours to have some time to talk about things. Sabrina is a freshman, the only one on the team, so she hangs around us upperclassmen all the time. Lauren has taken her under her wing too so they're always together.

I knock on her door once I arrive and Lauren opens the door quickly. She takes the cake pop from me and smiles. "Thank you," she says. I follow inside the apartment, closing the door behind me. The two of them sit on the couch, Sabrina distracted by her phone. "Hey, Brynn," Brina says anyway. "Hi," I reply and plop down next to them. "What's going on with her?" I mouth to Lauren. She shrugs at me. "You okay, Brina?" I ask. She looks up quickly and nods. "Perfect. Fine. Not terrible at all," she says with a fake chuckle.

Lauren sets her cake pop back in its little bag and sets it down next to her. "What's going on, Sab?" Lauren questions, her voice a lot more questioning. "Nothing," the freshman replies quickly but doesn't look up from her phone this time. Lauren waits a couple of seconds before snatching her phone from her hands. Both of them stand up, Sabrina jumping on Lauren's back. Lauren stays in place, gripping her phone. "Oh God," I mumble. "Lauren, give it!" Sabrina says while trying to grab the phone but not fall back at the same time.

"You little hoe!" Lauren says, her mouth in an o shape. Sabrina groans and jumps off her back as she's been caught for whatever Lauren just saw on her phone. "What?" I ask. "This little bitch is talking to DJ!" Lauren tells me. Sabrina covers her face with her hands and sits back down on the couch. "Dion?" I ask. Lauren nods. Dion Jacobs, or DJ, is a junior and one of Cgc's friends and teammates. "He sucks at flirting!" Lauren laughs, tossing Sabrina's phone back to her. When she uncovers her face, she has pink blotches all over her pale skin. "You can't tell anyone!" she says.

"Who would I tell?" Lauren questions and sits back down next to her. "You either, Brynn. It's a lowkey thing, honestly. No one knows," she tells us. "Maybe if you weren't a bad liar it would still be a lowkey thing, "Lauren teases her. She groans again and throws her head back against the couch. "I think I like him more than he likes me, though. That's bad, like really bad," she says in a panicked voice. "That's really bad," Lauren says, her voice muffled from the cake pop in her mouth. I give her a look that says really as Brina looks even more panicked now.