Together, We Rise

Chapter Two: Meet the New Family

Chapter Two

Luke

I sighed as I missed yet another free-throw shot, one of the many just today. I hated to admit, but my mind wasn't all into today's practice. It was kind of hard to be focused with everything going on.

Luckily for me, I heard an alarm go off on my phone, so I hurried to my bag and pulled my phone out. I smiled at the reminder on my screen as I put my phone back in my bag.

"Guys?!" I called to the rest of my team. "I have to go now. You coming, Matt?"

Matt Maynard shook his head. "Nah, I'm going to keep practicing. You know, unless you tell us what's going on in that mind of yours."

I scoffed. "Not happening."

"Come on, Luke," my somewhat best friend, Briggs, said. Last year, we had a bit of a fall-out and he was dating my ex-girlfriend, but we made-up. We weren't as close as we were before, though. "You've been missing free-throws like crazy. During the tournament last year, you normally make ninety percent of your throws. But now? You make about twenty-five percent."

"Yeah, and you should know all about percentages," Alex, one of my teammates said. "Since you turned out to be a math nerd." That resulted in a few snickers from the team.

I glared at Alex. "Haha, very funny. Joke as you want, but I am going to go leave now to go meet my girlfriend at the airport."

"Finally!" another teammate, Mike, said. "Now he won't be complaining that his girlfriend is all the way back in Vermont!"

"Well, sorry if all of your girlfriends are cheerleaders and are also here in Miami," I replied.

"Mine isn't," Briggs pointed out. "She had to stay back in Vermont because of.....Yeah."

"And mine isn't here either," Matt added. "You don't see us complaining."

"That's because our all-star team captain is madly in love," Alex said. "Kind of like puppy love." He gasped. "Maybe that's why he isn't thinking straight during practice!"

I glared at him. "It's not." I turned back to Matt. "So, you're not coming to meet Crystal and Melody at the airport?"

Matt shook his head. "They'll be here soon. I'm going to keep practicing."

"Okay," I said as I picked up my bag and hurried out the back door of the gym. The hotel I was staying at had a gym on the bottom floor, which made it easy for our team to practice.

The cab ride to the airport, thankfully, didn't take that long. Unfortunately, the flight wasn't supposed to land for another twenty minutes. I was hungry, though, so I pulled my wallet out of my bag and looked around for a food court or anything.

During my walk around the airport, I notice a woman trying calm down a crying baby she held in her arms while carrying a bag of groceries, to which I had no idea why. Two teenagers -a boy and girl- were sitting on a bench nearby, and I guessed they were related to her, considering how much they looked like her.

The woman ended up dropping the groceries, so I hurried over to her. "Let me help," I said as I bent down to help.

"Oh, thank you," she said. "If only my niece and nephew were so helpful."

The girl sitting on the bench pulled out her earphones. "Aunt Jane, do you need any help?"

"Not anymore, Laura," the woman replied. "Where were you when your sister was crying and I had to hold the groceries?"

The girl -Laura- sighed as put her iPod away and walked over to us. She picked up the baby from her aunt's arms and started bouncing her up and down to calm her.

I finished helping her with the groceries and stood up. "Thanks for the help," she said. "I just came from the grocery store only to realize that my brother's flight is coming in soon so I had to hurry to the airport and......I'm just rambling now."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

"Well, thanks again for the help," she said. "I'm Jane."

"Luke," I replied.

"So, Luke, what brings you to the airport?" Jane asked.

"My girlfriend is flying in from Vermont," I replied. "I'm in the Nationals tournament and she's in an art show so we both had the opportunity to come heer to Miami."

"Ooh, Nationals," Laura said. "I'm in it too. Well, kind of. I'm a cheerleader. I keep telling my brother to try out for the basketball team, but he won't." She sent a glare to the boy sitting on the bench, who was typing away on his laptop.

"Yeah, no thanks, sis," the boy said. "Sports and me do not mix."

"I'm surprised you even got out of your room today to come grocery shopping," Laura said. "Seriously, Elijah, you need to get out more often."

Elijah looked at his sister and rolled his eyes. "Not while I'm in the middle of a very important project. Just a few more hours......"

"Dad's here!" Laura said, pointing to a man retrieving his luggage.

"Thanks again for the help, Luke," Jane said.

"No problem," I said as the family walked off to greet their brother/dad.

I didn't even notice that the plane from Vermont landed, because I suddenly saw Melody, Crystal, and Melody's uncle getting their luggage as well.

I walked over to them, not having them notice me yet. I stood behind Melody as she picked up a suitcase. "Need help with that, Miss?"

Melody turned around, only to smile when she saw me. "Luke!" she wrapped her arms around me and I returned the hug. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," I replied. "How was your flight?"

Melody pulled away. "Horrible. Remind me on the flight home to sit either on the end or near the window."

"Air sickness, huh?" I asked. "Cute." I gave her a kiss, to which Crystal scoffed at. Melody and I looked at her with my eyebrows raised.

"You two are acting like you haven't seen each other in a year," Crystal said. "It's only been a week! A week!"

"Oh, please," Melody said. "We all know you missed Matt as well. Speaking of, where is my brother?"

"He stayed back at the hotel to continue practicing," I replied. "We were in the middle of practice."

"We should be going then," Daryl, Melody's uncle said. "I'm feeling a bit jet-legged and all I wanna do is rest."