“I’m sorry, it’s nothing, truly, it’s just.” I place a hand on my chest like it’ll stop the laughter, but Declan just holds up a hand.
“We don’t need to know.”
“Okay.” We finally calm down as they walk into the house a bit further.
“We can go work on the project in my room.” Declan motions toward the stairs, and Ember heads up; he follows behind her.
The second we hear his door shut, I look at Jaxon and then at Zeke. I roll my lips in, holding back my laughter, as we sit in silence.
Zeke picks up the controller, presses play on our game, and everything returns to normal.
“Just saying,” Zeke’s eyes stay glued on the screen, “I’m so gonna win this bet.”
eleven
Tate
Idon’t even know why we’re heading home.” Fletcher flips on the windshield wipers to help remove some of the snow gently falling on top of our car.
“Maybe because your moms miss you.” I pull my foot up onto my seat and start painting my toes, leaving my other foot to rest on the ground to dry.
“You realize you’re wearing boots.”
“So?”
“So, no one’s going to see your painted toes. There’s literally no reason to be doing them. Just like there’s no reason to be driving home for two days.”
“First of all, you love being home for Thanksgiving. Secondly, even if nobody sees my feet while we’re there, I’ll know if my toes are painted or not. That’s what matters.”
“I just have so much to do. We have a couple of hard games coming up this week, and I just want to get as much practice as possible and—”
“Fletch,” I rest my hand on his shoulder, “you don’t need to be Jere. No one expects you to work ten times harder because he’s out right now. Fuck, you guys already put in so muchwork to make this team function; I don’t want you to burn yourself out because you’re worried that people will blame you if the team loses.”
“We were on a winning streak with Jere.”
“And our team has continued to kick ass without him. It’s not all on you, okay? So, let's enjoy these couple of days with your family, and then you can worry about the games once we’re back.”
“Fine.” He lets out an anguished breath. “But if we lose this game—”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s on me. Whatever.” I move my attention back to painting my toes as Fletcher flips through the radio.
“I can’t believe your folks aren’t going to be home for Thanksgiving.” His eyes stay on the road, and I know this is something he’s been dying to bring up, but he didn’t know when the right time would be to do so.
“Yeah, well, they never take any time off and were both forced into taking a week-long vacation. Rather than spending it with me for Thanksgiving or coming down to campus next week to watch me perform, they chose to take a cruise.”
“And they didn’t even ask if you’d want to go?”
“I wouldn’t have been able to, but no, they didn’t. They didn’t even tell me they were going until I was on my way to Friendsgiving.”
He glances toward me.
“They told youthis weekthey wouldn’t be home for Thanksgiving?”
“Fletch, have you met my parents? I’m lucky they told me before I showed up at our house, and no one was home.”
“I thought your dad would’ve at least given you a heads up, like a decent one.”
“Once I moved away for school, they stopped caring about giving me a heads up. Honestly, I’m surprised they still pay for my apartment.”
