Styles Triplets

Ari could always sense when something bad was going to happen, whether it be to her or to someone close to her. It was like her weird sixth sense, her own personal Spidey Sense. Today was no different. All during the school day, her anxiety spiked to an ultimate high, and, if she wasn't bouncing her leg, she was tapping her fingers against any available surface like a table, a wall, or her own leg.

Her friends assumed she was just restless because of the upcoming game that night, and, technically, they were right, but it wasn't really the game itself that had Ari on edge, it was the two triplets on the boys' team. Ever since their little squabble at practice, they've been giving the other nasty glares, purposely knocking into each other, and basically being a pain by constantly being at the other's throat.

The relationship between Marcel and Edward had never been a good one. In fact, the relationship between all of the Triplets had always been strained. If they didn't look alike, the realization the they were related and not in some trivial family feud would be a shocking discovery. To any bystander, it seemed like they absolutely hated each other. To Ari, though, there was so much more than that stupid sibling rivalry.

Ari was still jumpy with nerves when the teams huddled together right before the game so that the captains could give their encouraging speeches in order to get spirits up. After doing this for almost three years, it should get easier to hide the nerves, but Ari couldn't stand still, and her team could easily see through her façade.

"Why do you look like you are about to be sick or faint?" Sarah, one of their starting forwards asked.

"It's just pre-game jitters mixed with the piece of cookie cake I ate earlier, nothing to worry about," Ari shrugged off. "Now, who is ready to win a game?"

Both teams cheered before doing their usual chant and going their separate places to warm-up for the games. Ari led her team through the exercises before telling them to do some passing drills. She walked across the field to the bench and grabbed her water bottle. She did more stretches before bouncing up and down in one spot trying to shake her nerves.

Suddenly, she felt a weight on her shoulder and jerked around with her hand on her chest. Edward was standing behind her with his hand on top of his recently dyed blue hair and a sheepish expression on his face.

Since their last encounter, Ari had made it her job to avoid Edward as best as she could. Though she hated to admit it, Edward's words hurt, a lot.

"What do you want, Edward?" She sighed, not wanting to deal with him when she already felt like she was about to have an anxiety attack.

"I just wanted to check on you. You seemed a bit out of it in the huddle." Edward said.
Deciding to be petty, Ari responded with, "Why do you care? I am not the boys' captain. Shouldn't you be focusing on your own team."

Edward chuckled, running his hand through his hair. "I guess I deserved that. I didn't mean it, Ari. When I'm angry, I'm more of asshole than usual."

Ari shrugged, "Whatever, I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Are you sure you're okay? You look a bit pale," Edward said. Ari could detect a hint of concern in his voice.

So the bastard does care. Ari thought rolling her eyes.

"Just have a bad feeling, and it's making me jumpy," Ari confided.

Edward nodded. "How often are these feelings right?"

Ari thought for a moment before answering, "9 out of 10."

"Well take some deep breaths. I honestly doubt it's going be some catastrophe."

"I hope you didn't jinx it, but I will try to calm down. You have like a minute left to be ready, so I suggest you go to your team while I take my girls to the sidelines."

He nodded and jogged across the field to his team. Ari's eyes followed him to the boys' huddle that was forming. As Ari looked away, she caught Marcel's gaze that seemed to be glued to her. She gave him a smile and a slight wave.

Even from the distance between them, Ari could see the faint blush that dusted Marcel's cheeks. He's so adorable, Ari thought to herself. Totally Nessa's type. She then jogged to her team to get them off the field, so they could watch the boys from the sideline.

***

Nobody really knew who threw the first punch, but, by the time Ari made it on the field with Coach to break them apart both boys were bloody and rolling around on the ground. Coach put Marcel over his shoulder and walked to the gym, and Ari grabbed Edward walking him to the side entrance of the school that lead through the library.

Edward was trying to pull his arm away, but Ari had the grip of a woman in labor, firm and unforgiving. She pulled him into the girls' restroom and pointed to the sink.

When Edward just stared at her, she grabbed the collar of his uniform and slammed him into the wall. She doesn't know where the sudden burst of strength came from, but she didn't question it. Ari was past seething. She was furious!

"What the hell was that out there!? Two red cards! That means the boys will be down two players for the rest of the game, and you are benched next game and probably a few after that! You and Marcel are two selfish brats who need to get their shit together! This is absolutely ridiculous! You two don't like each other? That's fine, avoid the other then. Don't bring the team down with your stupid sibling rivalry!"

Edward was silent, eyes wide in shock. Ari was rarely one to get mad so her yelling and cursing at him was probably surprising.

Ari glared at him for another breath before getting paper towels and wetting them. She wiped the blood from Edward's split bottom lip that covered his face and some from his knuckles, probably a mix of Edward's and Marcel's.

After cleaning him up a bit more, Ari assessed his injuries. Other than bruised knuckles and a split lip he was relatively fine. From what she remembered, most of the punches were aimed at the torso area anyway.

"Lift your shirt," Ari said.

Edward raised an eyebrow but listened anyway. Like she had guessed, he had a couple of bruises on his stomach, though they were barely visible against the tattoos that covered his chest and stomach.

Man, he is fit. Ari thought to herself as she took in his toned abs and pecks. She shook her head to leave her small trance.

"Pull your shirt back down, put ice on it, and you should be fine, Ari said while washing her hands. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have another Style's Triplet to yell at and check on."

Ari stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Edward to his own devices as she stomped toward the gym to let Marcel get his speech.

Notes