A boy from Zeeland and the draft

[Thunfish 72]

He observed in silence the glass of strawberry milkshake he had ordered from the restaurant, a small but visible frown on his face while his hands remained interlocked, placed in front of his mouth. A voice cleared near him, causing him to lose his focus towards what was essentially nothing but a dairy product, making him focus on a ginger girl in front of him, her arms crossed.

"Ah, right. Sorry, Nikki." Sunrise said before taking a sip of the milkshake. He could remember it now, he and his childhood friends had scheduled to make a nice trip to Amsterdam before going back to Schubbekuteveen and then relocate to wherever fate took them, but his mind was obviously elsewhere. It wasn't even on the draft, either. It was still all going back to his father's words about the farm. He confirmed the workload had gone bigger without him but that it had dawned to him (and the rest of the family) that Sunrise didn't think himself of as a farmer, but as a hockey player, and any effort in trying to bring him back would be useless for now. "Once you're done thinking yourself to be too good for this, Big Papa will welcome you back, boy." 

Had his father not said that, everything would've been nice and the draft prospect would be surely busy trying to pick up on the news of his friends while also parting them with some knowledge he gained back in Mexico and maybe even some hopes for the draft, maybe even helping a prediction or two. But his dad had to screw it up. He had to say those words. He had to suggest that his boy was stuck up for farm life. Where did that come from? Why did he suddenly think so? Before he could get himself lost in thought again, however, Nikki cleared her throat again.

"I swear, Sunrise. What's wrong with you today? Is it because we're not gonna do this again for a while?" The girl inquired. She wasn't wrong, he thought; his entire crew of friends were on their way to figure out their lives - by the time they've made their decision, he was certain he wouldn't be around in person to congratulate them. "I know it can be worrisome but... you know we missed you when you left for hockey."

Sunrise shook his head, letting his glass back down before smiling towards his friend. "Nah, I was just thinking about... things, you know. Like, has it ever passed your mind that maybe you're doing something against the needs of others?" To his surprise, the girl nodded while then handwaving it without much of a thought. "Sunrise, we're all farm kids. Anything we do that isn't literally related to living forever in the farm is against the needs and dreams of our relatives. I mean, look at me. I'm moving to Germany, gonna study mechanical engineering and then, hopefully, get to work on motorsports. You get to play hockey for a living, it was your dream, just hold onto it and do your best."

"Is he still giving you trouble over his daddy's wishes?" A male voice asked, trying hard to hold onto something between his teeth. Eventually, that voice was followed by a dark-haired, burly teenager, looking somewhat worse for wear after what had to be another rough day on the farm. "I'm already sick of listenin' about it. I get to look up cows' buttholes for a livin', and this guy keeps having a moan about hockey." Nikki frowned, while he himself shrugged. "Watch yourself, Eddie. You know how Sunrise is..." she warned him, only for Eddie to keep his shrug. "You get to play with legends in a couple of years. What your dad thinks? Pffft. Hell to 'im."

Sunrise could only nod. "I dunno why I'm so messed up over the words, to be honest with you two... wait, where's the rest of the gang?"  The blonde seemed to have only noticed that now. The ginger chuckled. "Nina is readying her stuff to move to Dublin, Marie says she's running a little late because her mother needed help cleaning the house and Aerith is supposed to be attending her programming classes." Eddie completed with a sigh. "Matt is attending a football trial at Rotterdam and he brought his twins with him, the girls apparently wanted to check for openings on a museum... Adelheid and his sister Rose are busy fixing that air-machine again and finally, I think Leona, Cody and Kevin are studying at the police academy right about now." Sunrise nodded. "And I imagine the rest is on the farmside." The two nodded, causing him to merely look upwards, thinking.

 

"Guess if I just stay still, I won't get anywhere in life." He let out, the battle on his head already pushed aside for now.