The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

“Vanessa,” Aiden called my name. “Come here.”

I swerved my attention over to find him standing there with his hand extended in my direction. I hesitated maybe half a second, not long enough for his friends to turn around and notice, but long enough for Aiden to raise his hand an inch from where it was upturned. His face was so… expectant, so fucking expectant like he didn’t doubt I could play this off, that I realized how badly I needed to, how much my terrible-lying-ass was willing to do to make sure he was happy.

I walked forward and took his hand, steeling myself for this massive lie sitting on my soul.

“You know Drew and Chris,” Aiden said as he gestured toward the men in front of him. Drew was carrying Leo in his arm, letting the little guy go to town nibbling at one of his dreads.

Squeezing Aiden’s hand, I smiled at the two friends I’d met before and reached forward to shake their hands as the blond-headed man took a step forward out of the corner of my eye. “Vanessa?”

It took me a second to recognize the handsome blond-haired, green-eyed man standing in the living room. His hair was a lot shorter than it had been the last time I’d seen him more than six years ago. The fact he’d filled out even more and gotten older only made him look so much more different than the nineteen-year-old I used to know.

“Cain?” I took a step forward, grinning wide.

“No fucking way.” He blinked for a minute, shook his head, and grinned so wide I wasn’t paying attention when he cut the distance between us and hugged the hell out of me, pretty much crushing me against his chest for a moment before pulling back and shaking his head some more. “I can’t believe it.” He hugged me again. “What a small world.”

“I know.” I smiled, so shocked to see him I really couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I’m gonna guess you know each other,” Drew said.

I glanced at him and nodded, glancing back at Cain in surprise. “We went to school together.” Then the pieces all clicked together.

But Cain explained it anyway. “Before I transferred to Michigan, I was at Vandy.” Those green eyes flicked back in my direction as he smiled. “We had what? Three classes together?”

I nodded. “Yeah, and you tried copying off my quizzes for the first two weeks until you talked me into helping you study.” What he hadn’t known was that I didn’t give away my hard work for free, but he’d learned that quickly after I shot him down time after time.

“I can’t believe you’re Aiden’s Vanessa.” Cain glanced at the big guy, who was standing just slightly behind me and to the right.

I wished.

“That’s me,” I said, taking a step back, the side of my hip and butt bumping into Aiden. Almost instinctively, a wrist and then an elbow climbed over my shoulder and the heavy weight of his arm draped over me. I had to tip my head back to find his gaze. Why did he look so serious?

“Where’s Zac?” Drew, Aiden’s friend, asked.

The big guy seemed to shift next to me, his side pressing into mine. “He’s at the gym, isn’t he?”

He was and I was so happy he was taking it seriously enough to keep training even though the season was over and most players were taking a small break—hence, the four of them standing in the living room. Well, at least I knew Chris and Drew played professionally; I wasn’t sure what Cain did now. “Yeah. He’s usually back by four.” We always went for a run afterward, but I wasn’t sure if we were going to go since Aiden’s friends were in town. Then again, they were Aiden’s friends, Zac just happened to get along with them; he got along with everyone.

“Well, I’m hungry, who wants to go out to eat?” Drew asked.

“Me,” the other two that didn’t live with me replied.

The arm around me tightened. On the rare occasion he went out to eat, there were only a couple places he liked. “I’ll choose the place.”

I snorted. “I need to finish two covers by tonight, so I’m going to get back to work. You want me to keep Leo?”

Aiden shook his head. “It isn’t that cold. We’ll take him. I want him to get used to riding around in a car more.”

“Well, you guys have fun. I’ll see you later.”

With a wave to all of them and an extra smile thrown in Cain’s direction, I ran back upstairs. The two covers I was working on were going to be hand-drawn designs, so I set up my brand new tablet and quickly got to work. I’d already jotted down ideas I had, so I quickly set forth drawing the bones for one of them so I could send it off before going any further.

One hour bled into two, and at some point, I heard the door open and a handful of male voices float up the stairs. The low hum of the television reached the office, but I kept on working.

It wasn’t until the garage door opened once more and the voices got louder that I sat up and listened. Sure enough, a few minutes later, someone pounded up the stairs and “Van!” reached me.

“In the office,” I yelled back, already saving my work.

Zac peeked his head into the doorway and grinned. “We goin’?”

“Sure. Let me get dressed.”

He nodded, disappearing in the direction of his room. Sneaking into my bedroom, I grabbed my running clothes—leggings, a long-sleeved thermal shirt, sports bra, socks, and shoes—and darted into Aiden’s room to change. I had just finished pulling up my leggings when the door to the bedroom opened and Aiden came in, shutting it behind him.