“This is bullshit!”Ryan’s the first to react; we all knew it the second the words left Ian’s mouth.He shoots to his feet.“You can’t just walk away like that.”
“I’m not walking away,” Ian replies calmly.
“Yes, you are!There’s still time.Lads are still playing at forty!”
“Don’t push it, Ryan,” Nick cuts in.
“Ah, shut the fuck up!You knew, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t.I’m hearing it now, the same as you.”
“And you’ve nothing to say?”Ryan presses.
“I prefer to listen first,” Nick replies.
“Guys,” Karen tries to calm the brothers.“This is not the time for one of your carry-ons.”
“And you, Riley?Have you nothing to say?”Ryan asks my sister.
“I don’t get to decide for him, Ryan.”
“What about you, Jamie?”He speaks to me now.
“It’s his call.All we can do is respect it and back him up.”
“No fucking way!”Ryan has completely lost it.“You can’t decide something like that on your own!”
“It’s his life, Ryan, not yours,” Chris says gently.
“We… we’re…” Ryan presses a fist to his mouth.“You can’t do this.You can’t give up everything… You can’t give up on me.”
And there goes Dickhead Number Two, folding like a Jenga tower.
“After everything we’ve been through… You can’t leave me on my own.”His voice breaks.
Chris reaches for his arm to calm him, but Ryan jerks away and storms out of the room.
“I’ll go after him,” Chris says, pushing back from the table and heading out after Ryan.
“Don’t be upset,” Karen tells Ian.“You know how Ryan is.”
Ian nods, thinking it over.
“He’ll get over it, you’ll see.He just needs time to adjust,” Karen adds.
“Maybe I should talk to him,” Ian says.
“Let him cool off first,” Nick interjects.“It’s harder for him; he takes everything personally.”
“It hits him harder,” the Doctor cuts in.“Ian is Ryan’s older brother; they played side by side.For Ryan, having his hero right next to him is like a dream come true… No offence, Nick.”
Nick snorts and folds his arms across his chest.
“For him, it’s like losing something essential,” the Doctor continues.
“And how did you come to that conclusion, Doctor?”Nick’s tone sharpens; he’s not buying the hero talk.
“I could see it in the way he looked at him, in the urge to run over and hug him instead of roaring at him, and in the raw sorrow in his eyes.He knew this was the end of a perfect moment, one he’d never get back.”
