Page 1 of Charger

ONE

Six Years Ago

Jules

Have you ever had that one best friend who completed your whole world, made everything make sense? That person you always wanted to be around. Who made you feel safe, made you feel like no matter what, they would always be there for you? The one you could always count on.

I have. In fact, I still do.

The door to the kitchen flies open, the sounds of screeches from their shoes filling the room.

“Go long!” My brother calls out to Zach, whose tall, lean, muscular frame towers over us.

He’s waving his arms in the air, signaling for the football, and I’m incredibly thankful for his old, ratty, shrunken t-shirt that he likes to work out in. It rides up while his sweatpants hang low enough to show the subtle V-shape of his torso. Yeah, you can say I stole a glance or two, but who wouldn’t? Zach’s a work of art. He’s always been hot, but lately he’s been really, really hot.

When he glances over at me, I quickly divert my eyes to a less interesting plate of food sitting in front of me. My heart skips a beat, followed by a warmness that floods my cheeks.

Knowing my mother, her patience for an airborne football in the house is about a zero. Not because she’s uptight, but because she doesn’t want her home in chaos.

One… two…

“Garrett Patrick, I think not. You boys know better than to throw a football inside, please.”

My father grunts behind his newspaper, reaching for a piece of toast. It’s not even eight a.m. and my dad’s annoyance level is at a limit.

“Come on, mom, we weren’t going to actually throw it.”

“Yeah, you know us, Mrs. T, we would never try to cause harm to your beautiful home.” Zach moves swiftly, planting a kiss on my mom’s cheek while trying to butter her up.

“Uh-huh, grab a plate and get some breakfast before you three are late for school.” My mom scoops up some of her delicious cheesy scrambled eggs, setting them on a plate. “And are you two going like that? You boys smell.”

I can’t help but crack up, letting out an unattractive snort.

“Oh, you think that’s funny, Specs?”

I have to laugh to myself because Zach likes to call me that, a lot. It’s like his own personal pet name for me. Actually, scratch that, I don’t think “Specs” qualifies as any type of pet name.

He throws his sweaty, muscular (more so than I remember) arm around my shoulders. His embrace is warm and comforting. And I can’t help but melt at his touch.

“Ew, Zach, gross.” But I don’t find myself pushing him away. Maybe it’s the sick fact that his post-workout scent is actually a turn on. Or maybe because he’s ever so smoothly making circles with his thumb on the bare skin of my arm. With each motion, it’s like a shock through my body.

“Whatcha reading?” He nods his head toward the book I’ve been scanning between breakfast bites.

“Our summer reading assignments. You know, the ones Mr. Applewood assigned to us and the ones that he always likes to drill us on the first day about.”

“Shit, I forgot about those.”

“Language!” My dad’s aggravated voice carries over from the other side of his paper.

“I kind of forgot about those too,” Garrett adds.

My mother rolls her eyes as she slides a plate in front of Garrett. “Good way to start off your first day of senior year, guys.”

“Mom, you know Coach would just pass us anyway, so it’s no big deal,” Garrett tries to reassure our worried mother.

It’s true—even though both my brother and Zach are straight A students on their own, Coach Russel would never let them fail. Not when they’re our school’s best football players and my brother’s riding on a full football scholarship for college. He has dreams of making it into the pros and if he wanted to, he could do it. Being the star quarterback is one thing, but being one of the best in his age range is another. Zach, on the other hand, never talks about football like my brother does. To be honest, I am not really sure it’s what he wants to do after we graduate. I’m not even sure it’s what he wants to do now.

“I don’t think you should be relying on a free pass from your coach.” She warns him. “We taught you better than that.”

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