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Sunlight was softly streaming in through Sharon's blinds even as she rolled over and buried herself deeper under her sheets. Kelly blinked her eyes open from where she had slept on the floor and sat up to check on the time.
'Hmm, only 8:15… I guess I can let her sleep a little longer,' she grinned as she settled herself back down comfortably, her mind wide awake, and recalled the events from last night.
A come from behind win for the Dragons had caused the entire home side of the bleachers to pour onto the field to congratulate the team, leaving a stunned opponent to wander off and lick their wounds elsewhere.
Sharon had dragged Kelly onto the field as well and Kelly had been instantly overwhelmed by the energy of everyone around her. Everyone was hugging and laughing and patting each other on the back… Faces were flying by as Sharon pointed out and introduced people that Kelly had sometimes heard about, but Sharon was relentless in her search for someone in particular…
Ana found them first and immediately drew Sharon close to yell something to her. Whatever Ana had said was lost on the rest of the crowd, but it had made Sharon blush – Kelly found herself liking Ana instantly.
After a quick introduction, Ana led them both by the hand through the crowd. "How do you know where they are?" Kelly had screamed the question.
Ana turned back with a smile for a second and winked. A short time later, Ana answered the question verbally. "After growing up with these guys, you learn a thing or two about them." The small group left the crowd on the field and approached the bench where a few members of the team were spending time with their families, the crowd respecting their distance.
"Sharon! You made it!"
Kelly watched as a tall, handsome Filipino guy ran over and swung Sharon around. Kelly tugged a little on Ana's arm and asked quietly. "That's not Damon, right?" as she looked the guy up and down, trying to remember his name from the pictures Sharon had sent so far.
Kelly caught the look Ana shot her way, but chose to ignore it for the time being. "Right. Kelly, this is Vin. Vin, meet Kelly, one of Sharon's friends."
"It's nice to meet you," he answered. Kelly shook Vin's offered hand, but still kept her thoughts silent, seeing that Vin still had one arm wrapped around Sharon's shoulders. "What did you think? Wasn't that a great game?"
Ana answered for her. "Please! After the way you boys were playing the first three quarters of the game? You guys almost lost it!"
"But we came back and crushed the other guys! Doesn't that count for anything?" Riley asked, joining the group and coming to stand next to Ana.
"Only that you guys got lucky this time," Sharon laughed. "Did you guys really want to give us all heart attacks there? I mean, poor Mr. West!" she kidded.
"Pay no mind to them," Riley said, turning to Kelly. "The ladies just don't like seeing the fact that guys can be successful too. I'm Riley."
"Kelly," she replied, shaking his hand.
"Ahh, so you're Kelly. Sharon has told us so little about you. Please, enlighten us."
Kelly laughed even as Sharon exclaimed. "Riley! I'd appreciate it if you didn't scare her away just after she's come to visit!"
"Right, as if anyone could be scared by this big teddy bear," Ana smiled, giving her boyfriend a hug.
The chatter continued easily for a couple more minutes until Vin's father called his son away. Kelly then found herself trying to place another voice as it cried out, "Sharon! Sharon!"
A smile broke out on Sharon's face as soon as she heard her name being called and she turned to catch the little girl who was trying to run towards her. The little girl was being held back by another football player, however. The child turned to the guy and tried to swat the hand away that was playfully holding her back. "Damon! Let me go! I just want to say hi to Sharon!"
Kelly immediately looked back up at the guy and tilted her head a little to inspect him closer. The boy was tall… Not as tall as Riley, but definitely a good height for her friend, who was herself 5'7". His black hair was swept back from a pair of bright blue eyes.
'Kind eyes,' she noted. 'Not hard and cold like Patrick's had been.' She continued with her quick assessment. 'Good build, nice stature, seems like an okay guy so far…'
Then Damon let out a laugh as he finally let his little sister run ahead and Kelly knew instantly what Sharon had seen/what had drawn her best friend to this guy.
'If not for the already high cute factor the boy has, he definitely has warmth.'
"And how's the princess doing today?" Sharon asked, holding the girl in her arms.
"Sharon, at the rate you keep calling her princess and treating her like one, she's going to end up believing that she's royalty," Damon joked.
Ros stuck out her tongue at her oldest brother. "I'm okay Sharon. Where were you sitting? I didn't see you when the game started."
"I was a little late. I had to pick up my friend from the airport. Here, say hi to my best friend."
Ros turned in Sharon's arms and waved shyly towards Kelly.
"Shy again Ros? Come on," Damon said as he took his sister from Sharon's arms and carried her himself. "Hi, I'm Damon, this is my little sister Ros, and you must be Kelly. It's a pleasure to finally put a face to your name," he said, shaking Kelly's hand warmly.
"And it's nice to meet you too."
Damon turned back to the girl in his arms. "See? That wasn't so bad was it?" Ros shook her head, grinning. "Then come on, you try."
"No," she grinned.
"No?"
"No."
"I must be mistaken, because I keep hearing a little no, but if I heard that, then I'd have to tickle whoever was saying no, right Sharon?"
"No," she answered back, cheekily.
Damon grinned. "Oh, I'll have to get back to you for that one. Now Ros, did you say no to me?" Ana rolled her eyes towards Sharon, who just laughed.
"No…"
"What was that" Damon asked as he started tickling her.
The little girl's laughter rang in the cool evening air as she tried to fight away his hands. "Put me down! Put me down Damon!" Damon willingly obliged after a few more torturous seconds. Again, Ros stuck out her tongue at him. Then she turned to face Kelly. "Hi. My name is Rosaline," she said confidently, sticking out a hand.
Kelly squatted down until she was eye level with the child. "That's a very pretty name Rosaline. My name is Kelly, and it's very nice to meet you."
"Not like my big brother, huh?" she grinned before darting away to evade Damon's grasp.
"Please forgive her," he said as the group laughed. "She's turning out to be quite a handful."
"Well, you know, little sisters are supposed to look up to their older siblings," Ana joked.
"So that makes me wonder where she got that attitude from…" Riley added.
"Very funny guys. Are we meeting up tonight?"
Kelly gave Sharon a questioning look. "We usually go to the ice-cream parlor after the game to hang out for a bit. Are you up for it?"
"Yeah, come with us," Ana pled. "It'll be fun."
"I'm good to go."
"Great! So we'll see you in a little bit."
"Definitely," Sharon replied.
The two best friends waved bye and headed back to the parking lot, leaving the others behind to grab their stuff from the locker rooms.
A pillow hit Kelly in the face, and she let out a startled yelp. She tossed the pillow right back to Sharon. "What was that for?"
Sharon grinned. "I just wanted to see if you were awake or not."
"Gee, you could have just asked."
"This way was more fun."
"So I can throw a pillow to see if you're awake tomorrow then."
"Nope. My house, my rules."
"But I'm a guest," she retorted.
Sharon answered by tossing the pillow back.
"Ugh, you're so immature!" Kelly laughed as she fell back, hugging the pillow to her.
"And you're not? Yeah right!"
"I am two months older than you."
"And you know age is nothing but a number, or so your mom says."
"Hey, leave my mom out of this!"
"She's not in this," Sharon agreed, smiling. "How is she, by the way, and your dad and brother.
"Oh you know, we're all fine. Just wondering how you're doing is all."
"And what are you going to tell them?"
"That you're definitely a lot happier here than you were those last couple months at home. It's almost like you're the person I knew before Patrick was in your life. You're going out, having fun with a great group of people-"
"But certainly not greater than you and Ivana and Jan of course," Sharon interjected.
"Naturally. And don't you ever forget it."
"I wouldn't dare. But still, it is nice. I'm really lucky to have found a group of people who accept me for who I am."
"Do they know about Patrick?"
Sharon shook her head.
"I think you should tell them," Kelly said. "It would be good for you."
"Oh yeah? And how do you figure that one?"
"Sharon, I can't be here all the time for you, like it or not, and neither can the girls back home. I just think it would be a good idea if some other people knew, people who weren't directly involved. They might have other insight on the whole ordeal."
"What else is there to know?" Sharon found herself spitting out. "I was in an abusive relationship with a guy and it got a little ugly. Thankfully, things stopped before they could get any uglier. End of story. I don't need more people to tell me I screwed up by going on with that relationship, thinking that I could fix things if I had tried just a little harder, held on just a little bit longer."
"Sharon, I'm not telling you to write your autobiography here and hand a copy out to anyone new who comes into your life." Kelly continued, gently now. "All I'm saying is just think about it for now. And if this group of people is as great as I think they are, I doubt they'll hold your past against you."
"I know, I know. I just… It's just hard enough thinking about it. I'm at the point where I'm finally not thinking about Patrick each time I go to bed or wake up in the middle of the night with the thought of him here. I'd like to keep it that way."
"Talk to Ana. See what she thinks and go from there."
From where she lay in bed, Sharon just nodded and hoped that in bringing up her past, she wouldn't be welcoming back the nightmares at the same time.