When The Whistle Blows

Chapter 24

Luka

Monday came all too fast thanks to our away game, but we all had a couple of hours before our first classes of the day.

Coors sat silently, watching the TV with me while his twin snored loudly in the guest bedroom.

Bentley and Henrik were busy cooking breakfast in the kitchen. And no one had heard anything from Astrid yet.

"You reckon they've ever driven that thing over a pond?" Coors asked while he pointed to the 18 wheeler on the screen.

"I'm sure someone's done it." Henrik chimed in.

"Done what?" A sweet and light voice surprised us all.

All heads turned to the hallway where our beautiful redhead now stood. Her toned legs were showcased in black shorts, but the rest of her was covered with a black hoodie. I noticed she still looked really tired.

"Morning." We all chimed at her.

"How's it-" Corey's words were cut off as a figure stepped out of her room behind her.

The fuck?

My eyes went wide as I stared at Ryder. He was still dressed in yesterday's clothes. We all figured he went home last night.

He walked past Astrid, though his hand being briefly on her hip did not go unnoticed.

As if the world wasn't on fucking fire, Ryder strolled into the kitchen and asked for breakfast.

Coors, Bentley, and I exchanged a look while Ryder and Henrik moved into a conversation.

Soft footsteps caught my attention and I turned to see Astrid padding towards me.

"Luka." She greeted me as she set herself down in my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Ash." I wrapped my arms around and waist and pulled her tightly against me. "Everything alright?" I asked kind of hesitatingly.

"Mhm hmm." She nodded and buried her head into my neck.

Her suddenly affection behavior kind of caught me off guard.

I looked over to see Coors with his eyebrow quirked, a question clearly written on his face.

Before I could mouth a response, a door opened and a loud yawn filled the hallway.

"Morning," Colten mumbled as he zombie-stumbled into the living room and sat next to his twin.

Bentley announced breakfast was ready and everybody moved to the kitchen.

Well everybody besides Astrid.

In fact, her soft snores ticked my neck.

Henrik noticed my predicament and chuckled. "Looks like somebody's tired."

Ryder glanced briefly at her, before frowning slightly.

"Anyone else ever notice she doesn't sleep well?"

We all slightly gawked at him, as none of us had ever actually slept with her.

Ryder scoffed and waved a hand. "Oh relax. Nothing happened between us. She had a nightmare and I comforted her."

I couldn't tell if I was jealous or relieved by his words.

How come she never told me about her nightmares?

Everyone fell into a comfortable silence as they all ate.

I started gently rubbing my hand down Ash's back. Her sigh of content made me happy.

"Anyways..." Corey drawled. "We need to get going." Colten glanced at the time and seemed to reach the same conclusion as him.

The only one of the seven of us that didn't have class today was Henrik, so he announced he'd stay here and clean up breakfast and keep an eye on Astrid.

Bentley and I conveniently had the same first class. So after I gently set Astrid down on the couch, we both got ready and left for class.

We got in my truck and I drove us to campus.

I put my truck in park as Bentley spoke. "Do you remember when those two would bicker overnight and day?"

"Yep." I chuckled and reached for my bag in the back. "Why?"

"I think she's finally warming up to us and trusting us." Bentley smiled proudly. "Whatever those bastard high schoolers did completely destroyed her, but I think that finally, we've started to wear her down."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked as I turned my truck off.

"Definitely good." Bentley and I got out and walked to our class together.

"You've known her for a while right?" Bentley asked. We sat down at our usual seats.

"For her college years, yes." I nodded.

"Have she ever talked about her parents?" Bentley asked.

"Well uh... Briefly. She and her parents don't seem to get along very well. Especially her and her mother." I explained. "Her mother live in Norway and while she never talks about her father, she sure does dislike her mother. Why do you ask?"

"I just can't believe that her parents would ever let her go through what she did at a high school level and then let her play college." Bentley shook his head, slightly frustrated by trying to figure out her parents.

"From my understanding, they don't know. She barely opened up to me about her experiences, but I have a feeling she never told her parents."

"Why not?" Bentley asked

"Why would she?" I countered. "Her mother tries to take advantage of Astrid any chance she can."

"What?"

"Astrid's mother is a famous writer/journalist, and any time anything happens to Astrid, her mother makes some huge article about it."

"That's disgusting."

"That's why Astrid never talks about her mom, she's afraid even mentioning her will summon her." I shrugged.

"And she never talks about her father?" Bentley asked.

"Not once."

"Odd."

"Yes indeed. But one step at a time." I told Bentley. "Right now we need to help her overcome her current obstacle, then someday in the distant future, we can worry about meeting the parents," I smirked at Bentley.

"You're right." Bentley nodded. "We should enjoy her right now, while we have the chance."

We sat in silence for a couple of seconds.

"Hey, Bentley?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Yeah?"

"Do you love her?"

"Yeah," Bentley said. "And you?"

"Since the first time we shared a PB&J."

We both nodded our agreement and sat silently as the professor walked in and started talking.

Astrid. The uniter of men.

~~~~~~
Thank you for reading Chapter 24. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm so sorry for not posting. I'm getting really bad about this, but my life has been crazy since December. I hope y'all have a great weekend! Feedback and Comments make me happy!
~Until Next Chapter