“Great. First one to get a girlfriend owes the other $50.” Milo smirks.

“You’re on!” I answer. We shake on it and leave the locker room to his car.

We get in his car and Milo says, “home?”

“Yep. Not like there is anywhere else to be.”

We drive and I put on some music. Milo hates it and being the kind friend he is… immediately turned it off and side eyed me.

We get to my house and I step out of the car. I wave to Milo and walk into my house. I am immediately greeted with “Hi!” by my older sister, Kendall.

“Hey. oh. Kendall. How long are you visiting?”

“Just a few days. I think I'm leaving on Sunday.”

“Good, good”

“So…Aiden…you have a girlfriend yet.”

“What the fuck? No.”

“Boyfriend? We don't discriminate.”

“No… no boyfriend either.”

“I'm just saying, if you did, it wouldn't be a problem.”

Mom walks in and hugs me. I shrug her off slightly.

“How was practice, sweetheart?” she says.

“It was fine. We had to run laps because some of the guys were late.”

I talk to my mom for a little then head up to my room. Its quiet. Then I hear a ding from my phone.

It's a text message from “Idiot” (Milo) asking if I “wsnt 2 pla.” I message back “sure” and hop on some random game with Milo. I don’t think anyone on this planet has worse spelling than Milo, other than maybe 3 year-olds.

I play for a while then I hear Mom calling me for dinner. I leave the game and go downstairs to the table. Already sitting there is Luke, Dad, Kendall and Peyton. I sit down in my seat and Mom serves food.

Luke and Kendall are twins but, unlike Kendall, Luke lives at home. I like having an older sibling here with me. Makes the house less empty.

“How's college going?” Dad asks Kendall.

I stop listening because I have heard this conversation too many times. After a few minutes of silence I look up and everyone is looking at me expectantly,

“What…?”

“Dad asked you a question.” Peyton replies annoyedly

My dad sighs and says, “I asked if you have got a girlfriend yet.”

“No. I have not.”

“That's a shame. When I was your age I had a new girl every month.” Dad laughs. “Don’t waste your good years on just studying.”

“Got it.” I say. I'm tired of girlfriend talk. Mainly because it's the go to thing to ask when there is nothing else to say. Maybe I don’t want a girlfriend. Nah, that's a lie. Now I have a reason to start dating. I am not lossign $50 to Milo.

Milo has had his eyes on our friend Madison since the start of the summer. I'm pretty sure Madison likes him back for some odd reason. Both of them are too chicken to confess so I have some time before the bet is over.