A brother and a sister.
One is the captain of the hockey team in a small town while the other aspires to be the best figure skater out there. But what happens when they cross paths after a year of being apart, and everything has changed.
One doesn...
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| Angus Armani |
I watched, as the girl that I had seen be nothing but perfect, fall asleep in my arms. She was purely so exhausted from crying, that she had worn herself down in my arms. I pulled her as close to my body as I possibly could, hoping to keep her warm.
My eldest brother, Alistair, had come with me to my interview with the head coach of the USA development program. I was projected to be playing in the world juniors at the end of this season, which would then lead to me being selected in the draft between the end of this season and next season.
I was supposed to be within the top three for the draft, but right now, it felt as though my world had stopped. I was cradling the captain of my ice hockey teams little sister in my arms, all while my eldest brother was supposed to be getting dinner for Archer and myself. Archer had been at training while Alistair had taken me to my interview, all because my parents were still overseas, like usual.
They didn't travel much, but whenever they did, it was usually when something important came up for me. I had known about this interview for weeks, as did they, but they still decided to go on the trip. One of them could have stayed, but they both had to go, leaving me with my broody eldest brother.
Growing up, he had always kept to himself, and never involved himself much with me, but whenever he did, it was to show me his harsh love. Like, for example, throwing me into the pool then forcing me under to see how long I could hold my breath or pretending to run me over with a car. He even chased me through a field on our old farm, causing me to fall down a hill, breaking my arm on the way.
But none of that had prepared me for holding a sleeping girl. I had had to watch her hold her mouth shut when she so badly wanted to tell me something about herself. She diverted the conversation away from herself, and onto me, but I knew what she was doing. I had learnt how to do it myself.
Back in Canada, whenever we would go to big family gatherings, all of my aunties and uncles would ask about my two older brothers, but they never really cared about me, because at the time, I was too young to be anything great. The only thing that got me through it all was the inspiration and back bone that my older brother, Archer, gave me.
Watching someone else do the same things, knowing just how much it hurts deep down, hurts worse. I knew what Annalise was doing and that was what hurt. I knew her tactics, and really hoped that that wasn't what would happen when you got to see her alone, and away from everything else that is going on.
I thought that she wouldn't need to be like this when she always looked happy, well, that was until she saw me at the ice skating rink. She never needed to know it, but I would watch her whenever she was training on her own, perfecting her routine. It was the best time to watch her, without her coach breathing down her neck or her brother being an annoying prick to her.
As much as Aiden was a much nicer person towards the rest of the team, I knew just how much of a prick he was to his little sister. Clearly, there was something that had happened between the two of them, that went way back, but I wasn't one to pry, it was just obvious. As much as Aiden tried to hide it, I could see whenever he was watching the way that Annalise was being treated by her coach, made him angry.
