See what he thinks.
Although, whathethinks or being worried about what he thinks is a huge part of the problem, so perhaps that’s counterintuitive?
A long, unhappy groan barely gets buried behind a sip of the beverage I was brought, and the lack of soothing it provides pushes me to retrieve my cell from my desk drawer to give her suggestion a shot.
It’s hard not talking about this shit.
We talk about everything.
From when he had his first “melted ice” dream to getting bullied by coaches to thoughts of worthlessness upon retiring, we legit talk about it all.
Er.
Almostall.
Thayne’s identity is one of the only things I’ve ever kept to myself.
Albeit I won’t be keeping it a secret much longer.
Especially not after all this.
A single video chat ring occurs before my brother’s face is in frame where I can see him shaking his head. “How are these thesameboys I coach on the ice?”
There isn’t time to comment.
M immediately shifts the camera for me to see them clumsily bouncing around a soccer ball, the point being to keep it in the air for as long as possible.
Grinning is instant, but when I catch a view of Thayne openly laughing, like he doesn’t have a care in the world, the expression falls to the pit of my stomach right alongside my aching heart.
Is this separationnotkilling him?
Isheover me?
Is this over?
Am I about to become a real-life 112 heartbreak anthem?!
M flips the phone back around and mirthfully grouses, “How do they have no balance on dryland?”
I try my hardest to smile again.
“Talk,” my big brother airily demands prior to sitting completely at attention. “Something’s very wrong.”
Letting my mouth crack open releases a small, familiar sound.
“Don’t try to lie to me, Gilly,” M sweetly scolds. “I can tell when something’s off.”
I force the expanding knot down the back of my dry throat. “You got a sec?”
“I’d make one if I didn’t.”
“M.”
“We’ve got a small delay in plane maintenance which is why the boys are fucking off in that field, and I have plenty of time to hear about whatever has my little sister not sleeping lately.”
“How do you-”
“Same wayyouknow.” His head tilts firmly to one side. “Now, talk.” Eagerness to help swiftly spreads through his stare. “You clearly need an apple.”
