Rhody Visits for the First Time || Super College World 1??
If anyone would’ve asked Rhody even a year ago if he would’ve been taking off work to go to parents weekend at his sisters university he would have laughed at them. The levels of which that was humorous were almost innumerable. Addie in college? Them being able to afford taking him off work? Addie actually caring about an organized school event? Having people she wanted him to meet? No it all seemed so improbable. And yet, here he was. Riding onto campus to surprise Addie for the weekend.
She had brought up and assured him that it wasn’t a big deal, she didn’t even think anyone;s parents were coming, but if he could come it may be fun. Rhody could read between the lines. It wasn’t like she was ever going to bother to ask their parents, but clearly it was something she wanted to be a part of. Sure she would be fine if he couldn’t come, she always was, but it would be nice. He had told her that he wasn’t sure and eventually she had dropped it. Addie had stopped asking for extra from Rhody. Not because he didn’t pull through or because she didn’t want it, but because at the end of the day it didn’t seem fair when he did everything under the sun for her. But for once, Rhody could make this.
That was how he ended up standing outside of a random apartment on a college campus to surprise Addie. When he had decided to make the trip, he figured it was best to surprise her. If something did come up, he didn’t have to disappoint her twice. A girl with black hair and markings opened the door. He had been sent enough pictures he recognized her as Akari. “Hey. Um.. Is Addie here?” The girl raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?” smart Rhody thought. “Im her brother? Rhody. I wanted to surprise her, I saw shes here.. Here.” He passed over his phone that he could see their conversation and the GPS to prove who he was.
“Oh my god!” She clearly believed him. “Come in. Come wait in the kitchen I’ll go get her. She’s going to freak out she was so disappointed you couldn’t come tomorrow. Not that she really talked about it, but you know you can tell.” Rhody actually didn’t know. He could tell when Addie was upset but with everyone else, he had always known Addie to be incredibly closed off. This group must be different. He followed Akari to the kitchen while Akari kept going to the back yard where everyone was sitting around studying and hanging out. “Addie? Can you come help me with drinks?” Rhody could hear Addie even from the kitchen. “Why doesn’t Tyler ever help? It’s his apartment.” Rhody smirked. Atta girl. “Because you can float things dumbass. So we can carry more. Just come help.” Addie must have agreed because Akari pushed the door open wider a second later to let someone in.
It took Addie a moment to process what she was seeing, but the moment she did she screamed. “No way. No you’re not here. No way!” She ran at at Rhody and jumped at him, clinging on like she was a kid again. Her screams had summoned the rest of the yard and the entire rest of the gang came filing in at record speed. Addie wa still clinging onto Rhody even though her feet had made it back to the ground. She wasn’t ready to share him with her friends just yet. “You said you couldn’t come.” Rhody tried to pry Addie off of him, but it was pretty clear that that wasn’t going to happen until she was ready. “I wasn’t sure if I could get off work and I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
“So you’ll be here all weekend?” Lydia asked from her spot by the door. Her voice seemed to snap Addie back to the kitchen where she turned just in time to see Lydia exchange a look with Noelle. Jeb was also there looking like he was going to throw up and everyone else just looked confused. “Oh my god! Wait you have to meet everyone.” Even though that was clearly already going to happen. “Okay so-” She started pointing people off, “- you met Akari, but that’s Nate in the back next to Tyler? They live here, Ty helps tutor me sometimes.” Most of the time, because her and Jeb had gotten frequently less productive, but she left that bit out. “And then Noelle, Nate’s sister and Kai her boyfriend.” Of course Rhody knew everyone from the pictures Addie sent and posted, but she was so excited he just let her continue to go on. “Lydia and Elliott and..” Addie stopped at the sight of Jeb, but Tyler nudged him and he seemed it pull it together. “Jeb.” He said, stepping forward and clearing his throat before shaking Rhody’s hand. “Addie talks about you all the time. It’s nice to meet you.” He sounded like a southern gentleman, causing Addie to beam while the rest of the group held back laughter.
“She talks about all of you too. It’s good to finally be here.” Addie was just beaming up at her brother, none of her friends made a joke about what she could have possibly shared with him or how much they talked. “Well listen, man, we have pizza coming. You’re welcome to stay.” Ty offered, looking at his watch to see when the pizza actually was going to arrive because the more they talked the more hungry he got. Rhody shook his head. “I was actually going to take her out to dinner, catch up a little. Thanks though.” He turned to Jeb. “Do you want to come with us?” That was the last thing Jeb could have ever expected and he gaped at the question. All eyes were on him, he could practically feel Kai’s glee at his discomfort and nerves. It was as simple yes or no but his brain seemed to short circuit. Luckily Addie came to his rescue without even trying to. “Um.. I’d actually really like to catch up just the two of us?” She turned back to Jeb, “If that’s okay? I mean we’ll come back after for the bon fire obviously.” Jeb wasted no time nodding his head. “No of course. It should just be you two. We can hang out later and umm..” He finally looked at Rhody. “I’d love to talk later, man, when you guys get back.” Rhody nodded with a smirk while Addie ran out back to get her books together. “So you’ll really be here all weekend?” Lydia asked again, her first question going unanswered. Rhody smirked. “Bonfire, tailgate, the whole 9.” The redhead seemed satisfied with that and glanced at Noelle while Ty and Kai glanced at each other from behind their backs.
“Okay! I got it all, we’ll be back. Let me know if you need me to grab anything!” Ty nodded, a grin splitting across his face as he watched Addie drag Rhody off. He had done his best to step into Rhody’s shoes when Addie had gotten to school, and he thought he had done a good job, but there was clearly no one who was ever going to be as good as the real thing. The gang watched Addie get into Rhody’s truck and drive away in a stunned silence. Finally Elliott broke the silence. “Jeb you have to breathe you’re going to pass out.” to which Jeb responded with a punch as everyone started talking at once.
“So he’s staying all weekend?”
“Did anyone know he was coming?”
“She didn’t say anything to me.”
“Does this mean we have to clean?”
“So her parents are coming too then?”
“I didn’t think she had parents.”
The final comment caused Elliott and Tyler to exchange a look, but Jeb was the one who answered. “She has them, they’re just not really in the picture.” The group was silent for a moment. They all had their problems with their parents, but none were out of their lives at such young ages. And Addie would talk and talk about her brother, but never about her parents. They knew the youngest girl was always strapped for cash, but they had never thought too much into it. Jeb knew some, of course, and Elliott and Tyler had put some pieces together but none of them knew the extent.
“Interesting..” Lydia finally said. “Well.. I think tonight is going to be very informative.”
While the gang back at the apartment ate pizza and got things ready for the party, Addie and Rhody sat in a booth at the best burger joint on campus while Addie talked a mile a minute. Her and Rhody talked as much as they could with her gone and him always working, but it still was never enough especially in comparison to having a captive audience. She was barely touching her food, but she was making sure that Rhody knew all about her lessons and working with Elliott, how Tyler had become a brother at school and how much Rhody would like him, how Kai had been her first friend, but his relationship with Noelle had recently made it a little distant. How Addie was positive Noelle didn’t actually like her and Addie was determined to change that. She didn’t like Lydia liked her either, but recently she has started coming around and even offered to help her get ready for a party. All of the drama with Noelle and her boys and Lydia and her boys. How everyone thought Nate really needed to have some fun, but Addie thought he loved having everyone around. That Akari was the coolest girl she had ever met and, of course, everything about Jeb.
Rhody listened to everything and, for the first time in months, was able to actually watch his sister. She was clearly happy, the happiest he had maybe ever seen her. It seemed like she had lots of goals which was another positive change, even if none of those goals were necessarily school related. Addie had surrounded herself with a group that clearly cared about her and wanted her to succeed. It was all going much better than he could have ever suspected when he had left campus that first time.
“Okay..” Rhody cut in when Addie finally came up for air and a sip of Rhody’s beer. “What do they know about you?” Addie raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? They know everything. They know we have powers and they know I work and they know I’m bad at school and they know that I’m probably the most fun thing that has come into any of their lives. Did I leave anything out?”
The siblings looked at each other. They both knew exactly what Addie had left out. The younger siblings sighed. “I dont talk about mom and dad. Jeb knows they exist.. I let slip to Elliott that what side they work for but that’s it.” Rhody nearly slammed his beer on the table. “You what?” Addie hadn’t thought that any of it was a big deal until now and she was starting to get nervous. “He was.. When he agreed to let me work with him? He was giving me a hard time, acting like everyone was going to judge me or whatever and I got sick of it and I said you don’t work for anyone and they aren’t the good guys so he would shut up. That’s it. I swear.” She bit her lip. “That’s okay right?”
Rhody sighed. Addie had never had close friends, her slipping up about the family was nothing he had ever had to worry about before. “Yeah.. I mean just don’t give details. People could get the wrong idea, try to use you to get to them.” Addie scoffed. “They would neve come for me.” “But no one knows that. If you’re going to talk about who they work for, talk about who they are too. That’s all I’m saying.” Addie nodded. Neither voiced that Addie was much more likely to be used against Rhody one day than their parents, but both thought it. Nothing they could do about that at this point though, that ship had long sailed.
Rhody finished off his beer while Addie finished off her onion rings. “You’re happy though?” Addie nodded quickly. “Probably the happiest I’ve ever been. My grades are even okay. I’m not failing anything and I think I even have an B in my psychology class?” Rhody could see it in her. The anger that had always fueled her seemed to have subsided. No doubt still there, but no longer the leading emotion. There was a light in Addie that he hadn’t seen since she had been a little kid. He nodded. “And Jeb?” She flushed. “Jeb is the nicest, funniest, most caring guy. He’s funny, he listens.. He just gets me. So you have to be nice to him tonight because he’s going to be nervous so please don’t mess with him.”
Rhody held up a hand to say he surrendered. How could he be so hard on a guy that clearly was the cause for this light in his sister. “I’m just going to talk to him and get to know him. Nothing weird, promise.” Addie ndoded, satisfied. “But you’re being safe right?” Her head whipped around to see if anyone could hear them, even though the bar was plenty loud. “Can you not?”
“it’s a yes or no question.”
“You can’t jeopardize all this by being stupid.”
Addie put her head in her hands. “I’m not! I mean.. I’m not jeopardizing this. Yes it’s all safe now can we go? We’re going to be late.”
In the time that Addie and Rhody were at dinner, the rest of the gang had housed a few pizzas and cleaned the apartment to an actually acceptable standard. And although the group stayed the same, the energy changed from day to night with a change of clothes and plenty of drinks put out on the counter. And even thought it was just their crew and fringe friends, all three of the older girls - and Jeb- were slightly more presentable than they would have been any other time. Something that absolutely did not go unnoticed by Elliott when everyone came back from showering and refreshing.
“What The Bachelor comes to town and suddenly you have to get all dressed up? Are we not good enough for you?” He feigned offense with a look at Akari, but it was Lydia who answered. “Aw, babe, we’d get all dressed up for you too if we thought you’d ever stop looking in the mirror yourself to notice it.” It was a point that Elliott couldn’t really argue with so he grumbled something about going to get drinks and headed back towards the kitchen. Kai and Ty came in from helping in the back and greeted each of their girls respectively. The pang in Noelle’s gut when Ty kissed Lydia came as expected, but as usual she ignored it. It was getting harder and harder to do, but she was determined to hold out at least one more weekend before finally confronting her best friend.
Kai could feel it, but he also knew it wasn’t anything personal or against him. He squeezed Noelle a little tighter. “Come on, let’s go check on Jeb.” A nod of agreement and Noelle and Kai headed towards the kitchen where Jeb had busied himself cleaning the counters and rearranging drinks time and time again. “You know whatever you do he isn’t going to like you right?” Kai earned a soft smack in the gut from his girlfriend for that one. “Stop, you don’t know that. Nate liked you right away!” a “no I didn’t” and a “no he didn’t” came from the two men simultaneously. “Wait what?” Noelle looked over at Nate who shrugged. “I didn’t like him. I didnt tell you because when have you ever listened to me about relationships but Kai knew.” Kai grinned. “I don’t blame him, have you met me?” Before Noelle could answer Jeb threw a clorox wipe at them. “None of you are helping.”
“Hello?” Addie’s voice called from the other room. Jeb blanched, but Noelle had his back “Kitchen!” The brother and sister duo followed the voices to find the little party, all plenty amused, in the kitchen. “What did we miss?” Addie asked, walking over to give Jeb a hug and a kiss which was very stiffly returned. “Nothing, I think everyone else is out back.” Addie nodded and headed to the door but Jeb stayed back. “Um.. I want to talk to your brother real fast if that’s okay?” Addie just shrugged. She wasn’t going to make it a bigger deal than it was so she allied Noelle to pull her out into the yard while Kai followed them after mimicking choking to his younger brother.
Jeb wanted to absolutely throttle Kai, but what good was that going to do for his case? So instead, he stood there as calm as possible until he was alone with Rhody. The older man grabbed a beer off the counter with a smirk. “What could you possibly have to talk to me about?” He asked, a knowing look towards the younger one. All Jeb wanted to do was crawl out of his body and die, but instead he took as deep a breath as he could without being noticeable. “I just wanted to say that.. Addie.. She’s great? And I wanted you to know that I care about her a lot and that I can’t believe she’s giving me the time of day but I’m glad she is. And that I’m a good guy, at least everyone tells me so and that I’m not trying to hurt-” Rhody held his hand up to cut Jeb off. “Dude. I’m not here to defend Addies honor. She can defend herself if she ever needed to. She could kick your ass before you even got a sentence out.” Jeb didn’t really have a response to that because it was definitely true so he just let Rhody continue. “I’m just asking that you don’t give her a reason to. Shes been through more than enough. Just be straight with her whatever it may be.” Jeb was confused. That wasn’t what he had expected, but it wasn’t bad either. “So.. you’re saying you’re fine or you want us to break up?”
Rhody laughed. “No, I’m saying if it comes to that don’t draw it out or make it worse. But It doesn’t matter if I”m fine or not. Addie is a grown adult and have you ever tried to get her to do something she doesn’t want to do?” That felt like a trick question, but for once Jeb’s brain worked quicker than his mouth. “Studying mostly.” He admitted. Rhody nodded with a little smirk. “So then you know that it’s pointless. But for what it’s worth you seem fine.” The older one raised his beer before turning towards the bathroom. “I’ll meet you all out back.”
There was no time wasted between Rhody turning around and Jeb bolting to the backyard. “AYYYE HE LIVES!” Elliott cheered as the door slammed behind Jeb. “KAI, LYDIA AND NATE TAKE A SHOT!” Jeb looked at his own brother as Addie slid comfortably under his arm. “Dude what the hell?” Lydia was the one who answered. “We figured you’d go ghost and really lose any sort of confidence you had in the situation.” Addie looked up and gave a little peck on his cheek. “Clearly I did not take the bet.”
“For what it’s worth, neither did I.” Noelle pointed out. Fair as it was very un-Noelle to be on Jeb’s side. But there had been a shift in their relationship recently and she had softened towards him. Everyone could see it but no one bothered to point it out. “Addie wouldn’t let me take the bet.” Ty admitted as Rhody came to join the party. All of the other girls stood up a little straighter with their respective men sharing a glance. The only one that probably had anything real to be worried about was Tyler, but regardless none of the men were blind. The rest of the more fringe friends started showing up as the losers took their shots and the party was off.
The cheers from beer pong and cornhole filled the backyard along with the music Elliott was DJing. The laughter, the mingling, the flirting. Rhody took a step back to take it all in. When he was supposed to go be a freshman in college, Addie had been 13. Going had never felt like an option for him. He took a second job, he got the little apartment, he got Addie out of their parents place by the time she was 15. And never had Rhody ever regretted the choices he had made and he would make them again because it what was right for both of them. But, standing in the backyard looking at what he had missed out on did tug at something that he thought he had made peace with long ago. “No one should be that deep in thought at this type of party.”
Leave it to Lydia Reagan to pull him back to reality. Rhody looked down at the red head with a grin. “No, no I was just watching everyone and trying to figure out why so many people are actually horrible at cornole.” Lydia smirked and took a sip of her own drink. “I’m still trying to figure out why it’s even a game.” She was quiet for exactly two seconds before she just couldn’t help herself. “So what’s your story?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific, we don’t have enough time.”
“Fine. Did you go here like Addie?” The question was so ironic, Rhody remembered to ask someone if maybe she could read minds. “No it wasn’t for me. I worked instead. Didn’t think it was for her either but clearly.” He gestured to indicate that he was wrong. Lydia nodded. That was interesting. “What do you do then?” He had to give it to her, Lydia was clever. “I’m an EMT and then I work at a garage on off days.” The same kind of work ethic Addie hm constantly trying to get extra shifts and get as much as she could. It was no secret Addie didn’t come in like the rest of them, but maybe it was a lot worse off than any of them suspected. “EMT.. that’s kind of hot.” She was clever and shameless. If she hadn’t been one of the only real friends Addie had ever had, she would have been just his type.
“And what about you? Hoping to become a national beer pong champion or what?” Lydia grinned. “That was the initial plan, but I couldn’t find a partner to keep up with me, so I settled on a doctor instead.” And she was smart. “Well as admirable as that is, you shouldn’t give up on your dream. Want to give it a shot?” He had knowingly played right into her hand, but maybe he didn’t actually care that much if she was Addie’s friend. “I’ll go claim next game.” Lydia walked away just as Addie was practically running up her brother.
Whatever concoction was in her cup sloshed all over as cornered Rhody with drunken annoyance that Rhody had not missed having to deal with. “Are you kidding me?” She hissed with a knowing look back at Lydia. “You’ve been here like 6 hours and already messing with one of my friends?” Rhody rolled his eyes. “Trust me she wants to be messed with.” Addie wrinkled her nose. “Ew.. Look I’m trying to figure out tomorrow morning? Where are you staying tonight?” He hadn’t actually thought about that at all. The possibility of actually getting to come had been so slight he hadn’t bothered with any details. He looked over at Tyler who was approaching and just shrugged. “The truck probably. Unless a motel has a cheap deal.”
Before Addie could even ask, tyler seemingly read her mind. “No, man, that’s stupid. Sleep on our couch. Everyone is coming over tomorrow morning anyway, it’s probably just easier.” Rhody would have protested, but even in her inebriated state, Addie cut in before he ever had that chance. “Thank you! Oh you’re the best, I didn’t want to ask.” She gave a quick hug then ran off to find Jeb, Elliott and Akari without a word to the other two.
“You really don’t have to do that, my truck is actually more comfortable than it looks.” Tyler shook his head. “No really it actually works because you can help us clean up tonight.” He looked over at Rhody and stuck a hand out. “Tyler by the way. We met on-” “Move in day. Yeah I remember. Tough gig, offering to help move some boxes and then you got stuck with Addie apparently.” Ty grinned and looked over at the girl who was now arguing with Elliott over his music selection. “Guess I did. It’s fine though, she’s never boring.” Tyler actually had so much love in his heart for the younger girl who had only come into his life a few months previous. They had slipped so seamless into each others lives, filling sibling rolls for the other that neither knew needed filling. “I wanted to thank you for that actually.” Rhody was more serious than he had been the entire night. It had been something he had been practicing to say to Tyler for weeks. “I know Addie and for better or for worse she can be a lot to deal with. And I know she can handle herself, but I’ve always been able to see her every day, check in and I was worried about her. It’s just us you know and.. Well I don’t need to explain it, you understand.” Tyler nodded. Addie had told him more than any of the others. Thody continued. “But she started talking about you and telling me what you were doing for her just all that stuff and I started to feel a lot better so.. Just thanks for looking out for her for me.”
Rhody downed the rest of the beer like that speech had, emotionally, taken 10 years off of his life. Tyler, meanwhile, wasn’t able to contain the smile that cracked over his face at the acknowledgment. “Well you know.. I didn’t come to college with the intention of essentially adopting a sister but best laid plans and all that.” Ty genuinely believed that he knew what it was like to not be an only child now that Addie was in his life. “Don’t mention it man. She’s a good kid.” Rhody nodded in acknowledgement and the two parted their ways without a further word. Rhody playing beer pong with Lydia and Akari and Noelle before finally stepped in out of sheer annoyance with all parties involved.
The party died down and the group started to break up, each confirming their plans for the morning before making their way home. Addie squeezed Rhody and promised to bring breakfast in the morning. “Alright.. Text me when you get in. Get home safe.” He shot Jeb a look who nodded and stood up a little straighter like getting them both back was the most important task he was ever given.
Goodnights were said and the duo finally started on their way home. “So?” Addie asked the question she’s be wanting to ask all night but had waited in agony until they were alone. “So what?” Jeb smirked. Addie pushed him gently, although it was quite the risk for the stumbling pair. “You know so what! It seems like everything was good?” Jeb nodded, thinking back on the blur that was his conversation with Rhody. “Yeah.. everything was good. He said I seemed fine and he was happy you’re happy.. Told me you could kick my ass faster than he could so there wasn’t a point in saying it.” Addie grinned. A joke meant Jeb was in, let alone the fact that he was walking her home instead of her brother insisting. “I told you you two would get along fine, you were all worried for nothing.” Outside of Addie’s dorm, Jeb leaned down to kiss her like he had wanted to kiss her all night. “No I was worried because this is absolutely not nothing.” Addie beamed leaning up for another kiss before checking the time. “You know.. We have to get up soon anyway, don’t you think you’d get more sleep if you didn’t have to walk back?” Jeb raised an eyebrow, grabbing Addie’s key card to get in without any hesitation. “Nope.” And the door slammed behind them as the two ran upstairs, more than prepared to risk being zombies the whole next day for a few more hours together.
