“His latest and greatest is in there.” Zade joined me at the end of the hallway. “I bought you a stack ofPlayboys.”
“Dude.” I laughed at the bag he handed me. “You get sick of using them or did Callie make you throw these out?”
“Asshole.” He grinned. “It’s been some time since you and Greta started the deal. I figured you needed them.”
“Thanks. Let me lock these in my room before we leave for the stadium.”
“Sure.”
I joined Zade within a minute and we headed toward a leadership presentation for the captains. As we walked out, the door slammed and a tall girl ran off in the other direction.
“Damn, did you see her necklace?” Zade asked, laughing.
“Yeah? What about it?” She had a black, collared thing around her neck. Greta wore one every once in a while, and they were in style.
“I call those blow job black belts.”
I thought about it, then doubled over in laughter. “Shit. You’re right.”
“You’re welcome.” He patted my back when I kept laughing. “Callie even agreed with me. Now, every time we see one we burst out giggling like teenage boys.”
“Callie has the humor of a teenage boy,” I quipped back. He knew Callie had a soft spot in my heart. “Speaking of your sexy woman, why hasn’t she cooked for us in a while?”
“Her classes picked up. Trust me, I’m suffering, too.”
“Yeah. Suffering,” I mocked him. The guy walked around with sunshine coming out of his ass.
“You ask Greta about the charity thing coming up soon? I know Callie knows about it but I’m not sure if I demand she goes or if I gotta ask her. What you think?”
“Shit.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m not sure. I haven’t asked Greta. I should today.”
“What are you gunna do for her after all this is done? I mean, it’s your call, but I would buy that girl a car or something.” Zade said it so casually, I had no reason to react to his words. There was no reason for my blood to turn to ice and sheer panic to replace the calm.
Iknewit would come to an end. But we still had weeks left. Plenty of time to deal with all that later. I pushed the unwarranted, annoying feeling down. It made no sense to have a feeling of dread. I was almost in the clear. I should be living it up, celebrating. I shook my head. “I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Think about it. You owe her. Your life has been a hell of a lot better the past four, five months, don’t ya think?”
“For sure, man.” I wanted to change the topic. Anything. “How’s your sister?”
“Zaria?” He laughed. “Student teaching. Can you believe she’s gunna be teaching high school math?”
“Hell yeah. She’s smart as a whip.” I’d always had a little crush on Zaria. But she rarely hung out with us and was the female version of Zade. It would’ve been weird regardless of how good-looking she was. “She still trying to get to know your half-siblings?”
His face blanched and I regretted the question. I wanted the attention away from me but not enough to upset him. “Never mind, not my business.”
“No. Don’t worry about it. She’s…yes. She’s seen them about three times. She’s getting resistance, though. Apparently, their mom had another son from a previous marriage. He’s causing some problems. Preventing her from getting to know them. She didn’t explain it the last time I talked to her, but I’m picking up that he thinks she’s after his money.”
“Dude. You both donated the money he left you. Why the fuck would he think that?”
“No idea. I’m going to the next meeting they have, though. I don’t like this guy at all.”
“Let me know if you need help, man.” I hit his back.
“Will do. Now, let’s get this leadership course over with. I get the need for it, but I don’t enjoy doing it on a weekend.”
“What, you don’t want to work on your leading abilities? For starters, don’t be an ass. Encourage. Inspire. Have integrity. Blah.”
“You’re already there.” He chuckled. I hadn’t been invited the year before and the thought that Coach wantedmeto go meant a lot. It meant I wasn’t a total failure. “Why haven’t you embodied those qualities?”
