“Nope.” He shook his head. “All clear.” After catching wind of his joke, the hockey coaches weren’t taking any chances, dragging him to the infirmary for testing. The boys played Ames next weekend, and nobody wanted Charlie sidelined.
It was strange when Charlie broke the silence by saying, “So Nick and Emma, huh?”
My heart stilled. Neither of us had mentioned them yet, and I’d hoped it would stay that way. Luke was the only one I wanted to talk to about them, the only one I wanted to cry to about them. But here Charlie was, bringing it up. “Yes,” I heard myself whisper. “Nick and Emma.”
Charlie moved close. “I’m sorry, Sage,” he said. “The things I said…” He shook his head. “I was a total asshole. I just…” He trailed off. “He’s my brother. He’s the best of us.”
“Yeah, he is.” I nodded, eyes prickling. But I mustered up a smile. “No offense.”
Charlie laughed and wrapped me in a hug. “I love you, Sage.”
I hugged him back. “I love you too, Charlie.”
“Hey, that’s a good-looking hat!” someone called to us, and I turned to see Luke with his signature smirk on full display.
Charlie reached up to touch the brim of his faded blue baseball cap. “Thanks,” he said. “I didn’t think hats were my sort of thing, but this one’s pretty cool.”
“Where’d you get it?” Luke asked, closing the final steps between us. He and Charlie made no moves to embrace each other.
But of course they wouldn’t, I thought.We’re in public.
“Actually, I’m not sure,” Charlie said. “Someone gave it to me.”
“More like youstoleit from someone.”
“Hey—”
“But either way,” Luke continued, “that someone has cool taste.”
Charlie smiled. “The coolest.”
Luke smiled back and reached out to squeeze Charlie’s arm.But he snatched his hand away when Charlie recoiled. “Oh, um, sorry…”
“No, don’t be,” Charlie murmured. “Just, um, look.”
Luke and I followed his gaze to find Reese and Jennie getting their tickets scanned. Jennie waved when she spotted us. I glanced back at the boys: Charlie was staring at the ground, and Luke…looked bummed.
“How did they know we were coming?” he whispered as Charlie took two giant steps away from him. “I thought they were ice skating.”
“Yeah, me too…” I agreed. Sometimes in the winter, the rink was kept open late for student skates. Reese and Jack had done a head count this morning so they knew how many pairs of skates to rent, and I’d said I didn’t need one…
“Oh, crap,” I said to the boys, “I might’ve mentioned we were going to the movies.” I looked at them. “I’m sorry.”
Before they could respond, Jennie bounced over, Reese on her tail. “Hey, guys!”
“Why aren’t you at the rink?” Charlie asked.
“Too crowded,” Jennie answered. “Waytoo crowded.”
“And Jack can’t stay on his own two feet,” Reese added, waving a hand. “I left him in Paddy’s care.”
The three of us nodded.
“Well,” Charlie said, “should we head in, then?”
Halfway through the movie, I noticed Charlie was no longer watching it. He was watching Luke watch the movie, and when we accidentally made eye contact, he gave me a sheepish smile.
I smiled back, but gestured that I needed to go to the bathroom. Reese and Jennie didn’t see me leave, too preoccupied with Chris Hemsworth shirtless on-screen.
