Last Summer || Damon & Brylan

Two || Brylan

Pressing my fingers across the bottom of the volleyball I toss it straight up. Making sure it goes high it gives me enough time to move back and spike it over the net. Almost falling over, I make sure to catch myself this time. My biggest flaw is not moving fast enough in the air. I'm relatively short so it's harder for me to fix it. Working near the ground is what I'm better at. I can get down faster than most of my teammates but I find myself relying on their height a lot which will only inconvenience me in the long run.

'Why don't you just join the team already?' A voice suddenly fills the empty gym. Flinching when I hear it, I assumed I was alone.

Looking over to see it's just Jasmine and Elaine, they're seated at the top of the bleachers. I don't remember seeing them when I came in here so they must I've snuck in when I wasn't focused.

'You're better than half the team,' Elaine adds onto what Jasmine had said.

'I suck at my landings.' I walk back to the ball before picking it up.

I've started coming in here on Thursday lunches to practice when I realized that they never take down the volleyball net on this day. Usually they have competitions in here on Wednesday nights so if I'm lucky they forget to properly pack up.

'You're fast though. You can set for yourself pretty efficiently,' Jasmine gets up and begins walking to me so Elaine follows. I wish they just left me alone for fucks sake.

They where so comfortable with ignoring me when I had nothing to do with Damon but god forbid I talk to him and suddenly I'm involved. All of them started talking to me and occasionally they would drag me to come sit with them. Damon doesn't even go to this school anymore but they're always following me. Guys who used to tease me when I was a freshman suddenly wave at me as if we've always been friends for years. It's all so fake.

Most of the time they don't even have anything positive to say about me and Damon. They're always saying shit that makes me second guess myself and I hate it. It's always 'how do you know he's not bored' or 'he's always lacked self control? How do you know he's not with another girl right now?'

I never used to let it get to my head but sometimes I'll be on call with him and he'd suddenly give me an excuse on why needs to leave urgently. He'll tell me he's busy with schoolwork then I'll see one of his University friends posting about them being at a party. I understand that he just doesn't want to hurt my feelings and that he had more going on then just me but it makes me feel like a burden.

'Are you and Damon still together?' Jasmine starts the same bullshit I'm tired of hearing.

'Yes.' I squeeze the ball before serving it over to the other side of the court. I'm not sure if it's because I'm frustrated or my game is off today but I shoot it too far.

Cursing under my breath I begin to walk to it but something Elaine says catches my attention. 'Do you know who Sophia is?'

'No.' I don't care for the names of any of their friends. None of them like me anyways, even though they pretend they do. It's not like they gain anything from acting like my friends but they still pretend.

'Really? I figured you'd be all over her. She seems so close with Damon,' Jasmine questions me so I pause.

'I've never heard of her before so I doubt they're that close.' I want them to take the hints in the tone of my voice and fuck off. I'd tell them directly if being on their bad side didn't have negative consequences. I'm just trying to mind my own business and they're making that so difficult when it doesn't need to be.

I saw what happened to Lilah and I don't need that right now. As long as I keep my distance I should be fine.

Picking up the nearest ball I go to practice with it but they keeps disrupting me.

'I don't know,' Jasmine holds her phone up to me but I just look away. He would've told me about her if she was a relevant friend. It's not like he doesn't talk to girls, he comfortably mentions the girls he talks to whenever we talk. He doesn't hide it because he knows he has no negative intentions with them and I love that. 'They seem pretty close to me,'

Wanting to ignore her it becomes harder when she increases the video's volume. Hearing his voice I bite the inside of my cheek. Giving her what she wants, attention, I move my body towards her. Reluctantly taking her phone I realize it's a temporary social media post. Its about to expire soon, so it's recent.

Tilting my head in an attempt to figure out what exactly I'm looking at. The video shows a girl I've never seen before leaning on someone's shoulder. Besides the fact that she's gorgeous, I don't understand what's going on until she speaks.

'Going to Duke guys, their campus is so beautiful. The volleyball, basketball and soccer teams are versing each other.' She looks up to the person she's leaning on. 'Don't you have a friend that goes there? Callum or something?'

'It's Colton,' The camera turns to show that she's leaning on Damon. Realizing he's being recorded he smiles before going back onto his phone.

'You guys are disgusting.' The camera turns from a Damon to another guy. Making it clear that she's sitting in the isle seat the guy who spoke is putting a bag in the carry on luggage compartment. They're on a plane. 'You know that PDA is illegal in most places?'

'Shut up Benji.' Damon laughs. 'There is absolutely no reason for you to-,'

I skip the video. The rest are just photos of the sporting games. Almost all of them include Damon. Pausing when I get to one of the photos, she's wearing a volleyball uniform. Sitting in a nurses office she's crying but she smiles for the photo anyways. An assumed nurse is wrapping her wrist so I assume she must've hurt it but that's not what I'm focused on. The benji guy, Damon, and one other guy I don't know, are in the photo. The other guy takes the photo like a selfie with Sophia, Damon and Benji in the background. They're wearing her volleyball number. He's wearing her volleyball number.

Handing over Jasmines phone I chuck the volleyball to the side before leaving the gym without another word. I still have ten minutes of my lunch before class so I head to my locker and pull out my phone. Immediately opening Damon's social media page he has stories I hadn't seen. Clicking through all of them, not a single one has a photo of Sophia. It's as if she wasn't there.

Scrolling through his page he doesn't even have any posts with her. They seemed close in the videos and photos on her account. Pausing when I notice her in a group photo, it seems as if a bunch of them went out for an informal dinner. The photo was taken by someone else but she's seated next to Damon. It seems like they're watching something on her phone.

Clicking the post I frown when I realize that everyone is tagged except her. Searching her name up in his following I groan when I realize that she has a private account so I can't see her posts.

'You need to stop disappearing,' Katie appears out of absolutely nowhere. Jerking my head to her direction I exhale. For a second I thought she was Jasmine. 'You okay? You seem stressed?'

'Yeah I'm fine. I'm just confused.' I hold my face awkwardly. 'Jasmine and Elaine told me that-,'

'Overruled. Unreliable source.' Alex makes me aware that he's here.

'No but they-,' I drop my hands but he just repeats himself as if I didn't hear him the first time. Laughing under by breath, I gently cup my face after gently putting my phone back into my locker. Was Jasmine following her? Wondering if they're friends, she had to at least know her for 'Sophia' to accept. Her following count wasn't shockingly high so I wonder if she's picky with who gets in or not.

'Come back to earth please,' He won't let me think about it. 'They're not a unreliable source Brylan, you know spiteful people who like to see others suffer. Ignore them.'

'I second that,' Katie smiles.

Talking a deep breath they're probably right and I'm most likely other thinking it. I'm allowing them to get through to me when I shouldn't be.

'Yeah.'