Page 82 of We Thought We Were Invincible
“Sure.” I bumped his shoulder back, finally getting a smile.
“Is Jamie doing okay? I can't get him to talk to me.”
“You guys have never been very brotherly.”
“Cal, I just need to know that he's OK. He may not care one ounce for me, but I still worry about the knucklehead. He just can't see past my relationship with my father.”
“To be fair, your dad is an ass.” Looking toward Jamie, I knew I'd defend him to anyone, even my best friend.
He ignored my comment, but the corners of his lips pulled down. There were some things we didn't talk about. “Jamie doesn't seem like himself these days.”
My shoulders sagged under the weight of that statement and I couldn't honestly refute it.
“He's changed,” I admitted. “The other Jamie is still there, he's just more, I guess.” I met Jay's eye. “He's kinder than he ever was before. He tells me what he's feeling. Before, when we were sneaking around, I was sure he'd be done with me quickly.”
“Not you, Cal,” Jay admitted. “Jamie has had this thing for you since we were young. I thought it had gone away until the two of us started dating. Did I ever tell you he hit me?”
I choked out a laugh. “No.”
“He'd been drinking. Called me a bastard.” Jay looked away. “I told him I wasn't the bastard in the family. The only time I've ever thrown that in his face.”
I closed my eyes for a moment as Jay continued.
“At the time, I thought I was in love with you too.”
My eyes snapped open.
He smiled sadly. “I think the two of us just wanted to love each other.”
“Would have been easier.”
“Do you love my brother?” he asked.
I couldn't help the smile that came to my lips. “I do.”
“I wasn't okay with this initially, but I'm happy for you. Just please watch out for him. He's always been the kid who got by fine despite the lack of direction in his life. But the real world is coming, and he can't survive it being the little lost boy anymore.”
The ball came sailing toward us. I snatched it out of the air and glanced up to see a now shirtless Jamie running toward us.
“Aren't you cold?” I laughed.
“Nah.” He shrugged.
“You're nuts.”
“Aw, babe, I love it when you talk about my nuts.” He smirked.
I kicked sand at him and threw the ball as hard as I could toward my brother so he could dribble away from Jamie.
Jamie shrugged as he plunked down in the sand near me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“Ew,” I shrieked. “You're all sweaty.”
“I want a kiss.” He rested his chin on my shoulder.
“What if I don't want to kiss you?”
“Oh, you do.”
