Page 106 of Escape Velocity
Silence falls between them for a bit.
“I wish I could come to your place for dinner. It would be better than just me, my dad, and Tammy.”
Mason turns over onto his stomach on his bed. The telescope Callum got for him stares at him on his dresser, making Mason’s heart flutter.
“I think it would be a shitshow. You, Joel, and my parents all together? It would be one for the ages.”
“Better than my dad pestering me about everything and anything football.”
Mason sighs and looks out his window, admiring the dancing Christmas lights hanging on the trellis through the frost-covered window.
How he wishes things were easier for them. He justwishes they could live their lives doing what they loved. Callum is doing it, but he’s so anchored to feeling pressured and so self-effacing in his methods that it made it impossible for him to fully enjoy it.
A knock raps at his door.
“Dinner’s almost ready, Mason,” his mom’s voice calls from the other side.
“I have to go. I’ll call you after dinner, okay?”
Callum sighs through the phone. “Fine. Just—let me know if you need to escape, okay? I’m one call away, Mase.”
Mason grins. “Same for me. If you need to get away, you’re welcome here. I’ll hide you in my room.”
Callum laughs. “I might take you up on that.”
Mason sighs. “Alright, gotta go. Talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Mason.”
Mason hangs up and groans as he gets off his bed and leaves his room.
He’s expecting the worst but hoping for the best. Dinner is always the most tense, especially with Joel holding court.
Maybe it’s time Mason pestered Joel for once.
“I like to think that I’m a more underrated player on the team being a running back.”
Mason rolls his eyes. Joel’s still going on about football. Does he have nothing else to talk about? There has to be something deeper to him than snark and football.
Something awakes inside of Mason as no one else decides to respond to Joel.
He takes a forkful of green beans and smiles with mirth at Joel. “What do you like about football, Joel?”
He’s not sure what’s gotten into him, but he’s trying to get under Joel’s skin now. He’s stoking the fire, and he knows it, but what does he have to lose?
If Joel wants to do something about Mason’s secrets surrounding his major, he would have done something about it already.
If Joel has some kind of agenda, he would have revealed Mason’s secrets ages ago. All he’s doing is bothering Mason just for the fun of it, because he can.
Joel furrows his eyebrows at Mason. “I like the game obviously.”
Mason shrugs. “Yeah, but what is it about it that makes you feel so alive? That makes your heart soar? I haven’t heard you ever speak a word about what you love so much about it,” Mason says innocently.
Joel scoffs. “I think it’s fun,” he mumbles.
Mason knows he’s setting Joel on edge. All he talks about is the prestige of being on the team and wanting more attention, but he has nothing to say when it comes to actually liking the sport itself.
“Well, I’m sure if I ever do a player profile on you, you can tell me more about what you love about it,” Mason says, taking another bite of his green beans.
