Page 14 of Hitting the Goal Line
“Yeah, I think so too,” she says, giving me a big smile. “He did good.”
I nod in agreement. “He did really good.”
CHAPTER FIVE
BLAKE
I’m goingto be honest. Spending Christmas in California with Hunter sounded like the worst thing in the whole fucking world.
We’re supposed to love our siblings and want to spend all the time with them all that we can, but when you don’t know them or talk to them all that often, and at times they remind you of your asshole father, it’s a bit hard to show the love.
When mom brought it up, I got mad. Going to California would ruin my Christmas tradition of spending Christmas Eve with Sophia and her parents. Not only that, but if we went, that meant that not only where going to spend not one day but a whole four days with Hunter. I honestly can’t remember when I spent more than three days with him. When he comes to visit us, he stays at most two days but most of the time he gets there Saturday morning and leaves twenty-four hours later. I didn’t want to spend four days with the guy, especially if he was going to talk to me like Roy does. Sure, we were talking more and more, and he had even made plans to visit me in California while I was there with Sophia, but interacting with him on the phone and in person are two separate things.
But mom and Jainie were excited about going, even my stepdad, Daniel, my mom’s new husband, was all encouraging, so I couldn’t say no.
I grumbled the whole flight to California and when we arrived at Hunter’s apartment, I tried my hardest to act like the broody teenager that I am, but that only lasted a few hours.
Things shifted when I started to see how he was being with Jainie and mom, and how he really meant it when he told me he wanted to make things better. The act I was putting on quickly went out the door.
For four days, I had my brother back. The person that looked out for me when I was a kid, the kid that taught me how to tie my shoes and went to all of my games before he moved away, was back in my life and I couldn’t have been more grateful for it.
Sure, there are still a few bumps in our relationship that we need to fix, but we’ll get there. Hopefully.
“Hunter, tell me about Selena,” Mom states from the back seat of Hunter’s truck as he drives us to the airport.
I laugh.
Last night after Hunter’s bowl game, the guy ditched us. He said he had to deal with something but in reality he was meeting up with a girl. I guess he fucked up with her a few weeks ago and she showed up at his game in hopes that they could kiss and make up.
Given the hickey the asshole has on his neck, I would say they did just that.
Mom had asked him where he had gone at breakfast, since he didn’t get back to the hotel until about five in the morning and instead of lying that he went out to party or something, he told mom about this new girl in his life.
“I told you all about her at breakfast,” he says, getting onto yet another freeway. Driving in California is so damn confusing.
“Telling me that her name is Selena, that she’s twenty-two and that she goes to Cal U, isn’t telling me all about her. How did you two meet?”
The way Hunter gets all red is very telling.
He clears his throat a few times before answering mom. “We had a class together this last semester.”
I hold in a laugh, because with the way he’s acting, they definitely didn’t meet in class, but I keep my mouth shut.
“And do you really like this girl?” Jainie throws out, adding to mom’s interrogation.
The girl is only eleven but she knows how to bust someone’s balls when she feels like it.
I turn slightly to look at my brother and see him smiling like a total dweeb. Damn, I never seen him smile like that. Has he always had that smile or is this Selena girl the only one that has been able to pull it out?
“Yeah, Jain. I really like this girl.”
I have to be going crazy because I swear I see his eyes fucking twinkle.
“Oh shit,” I voice out loud without wanting to.
“What?” my mom asks, leaning forward in her seat to see why I called out. Might as well give my brother some shit.
“Your oldest son is in love,” I say and as soon as I do, a punch lands on my shoulder.
