Theo hands me the burrito I completely forgot he was bringing me. “Dude, we got a lot to talk about,” he says, and I shake my head.
“Not here, we don’t.”
He lifts his hands. “Come on. At least give me the condensed version.”
“We’re engaged,” I say. “That’s pretty much all there is to tell.” I look around pointedly at the many,manyears that might overhear our conversation.
“Fine,” Theo says. “But don’t think I won’t bring this up again.” He pulls his headphones over his ears and leans against the window, leaving me with my own thoughts.
Twice now, I’ve had Sarah and then her brother tell me thatrealfeelings aren’t a good idea. That’s the safest way to keep anyone from getting hurt.
I can’t decide if they’re more worried I’ll hurt Sarah or more worried that she’ll hurt me.
17
CARTER
“Come on…three more.”Theo’s hands hover under the bench press bar in Holly’s garage, but he doesn’t touch it. He knows I’ll tell him if I need his help. I let out a groan, arms trembling, but I manage to crank out three more reps before finally letting Theo help me rack the weights.
“Good work,” he says as he adds a few more plates to either side of the bar.
“Dude, why are you adding more? I’m maxed out.”
He grins and motions for me to get out of the way. “But I’m not.”
I grumble as I get up and switch places with him. He’s always been able to bench more than I can, which is annoying. We have identical DNA, and I swear I train as hard as he does. Unless he’s sneaking in workouts in the middle of the night, there’s no logical reason why he can do more.
Holly walks in from the kitchen, a protein bar in his hand. It’s rare for any of us to train outside of the Jaguars’ practice facility, but after a win at home on Tuesday night, we have arare Wednesday off, and since Charlie is out of school for a teacher workday, we brought the party to Holly.
He has a decent amount of equipment in his garage, but we’re really here for him more than for the weights.
Him…and me, apparently. Since I’m all Theo and Holly want to talk about.
I’m surprised they haven’t gotten it out of their systems already. As soon as we landed in Boston, the two of them cornered me in my hotel room and demanded to know everything that happened with Sarah.
I did not hold back. From buying a ring to our first kiss to the conversation about house rules. I even told them about my confrontation with Miles when he accused me of hooking up with his sister.
In retrospect, I hate that I let Miles intimidate me. Like he’s the big brother warning me not to get handsy on prom night. He asked me to do this. Now he has to trust me enough to let me.
“I just don’t understand,” Holly says, his mouth full of protein bar.
“Why I’m so much stronger than my brother?” Theo says from underneath the bar, which he is lifting with annoying ease.
“Why Miles seems to think Carter is a bad idea,” Holly says, completely ignoring Theo. “And Sarah, too. He’s, like, the perfect guy to take home to your parents.”
Theo racks the weights on his own and sits up. “Boring. Reliable. Perfectly respectful. I see what you mean.”
I tug the towel off my shoulder, tossing it at Theo’s face.
He tosses it right back. “I don’t think it’s about Carter,” Theo says. “We’re talking like the people are the problem. But what if it’s the situation?”
“Explain,” Holly says, and I nod.
“Yeah. Explain.”
“We’re assuming Sarah doesn’t want to be with Carter because he’s Carter,” Theo continues. “But what if it doesn’t have anything to do with him? Nobody wants to be the convenient choice. The default. People want to be chosen. You and Sarah didn’t pick each other. So, you move in together, you get comfortable, you think you’re into it…but then you realize you were only into it because she was right in front of you, not because you would have picked her. Know what I mean? It’s not the same thing.”
“But hewouldhave picked her,” Holly says. “He was into her before all this happened.”
