Page 13 of Fair Catch
They ignored the accident Zeke caused, and the repercussions of it, like it never happened at all.
My brother always said he preferred it that way, that he didn’t want to always be talking about his chair or his legs or the accident. And I understood that, I did — it was just like how I didn’t always want to focus on the fact that I was a girl playing football.
Still, I hated that Zeke never had to pay for what he did, that he was still afforded the spot as my brother’s best friend when he didn’t deserve it.
There was only once that I let my anger boil over until I blew up at Gavin — the night before our senior graduation. I demanded he wake up and realize what Zeke had done, that he make him face the consequences, that he stop pretending like nothing had changed.
“You don’t understand everything about that night,” he’d told me.
That had only pissed me off more.
“What more is there to understand?! He drove when he was too intoxicated to do so. He put your life at risk. He’s the reason you’re in this chair!”
I could still see my brother’s nose flaring, his eyes glossing over, the emotion too big to handle. But then he’d forced a calming breath, his eyes finding mine.
“I need you to trust that I have my reasons, okay? And I’m asking you to do the twin thing. Love me and support me — even if you don’t understand.”
It was the card we only pulled when necessary, the one that reminded us both that through whatever this life threw at us, we’d always have each other.
What could I do, other than nod and let it go?
It was that reason and that reason alone that I put up with Zeke as much as I did, from when he helped Gavin train me to try out for our high school team, to when he picked NBU out of the dozens of scholarship offers he had, despite his terrible GPA.
He was like an ugly mole I couldn’t get rid of. I had no choice but to embrace him and try to make peace with the fact that he’d always be a part of my life whether I wanted him to be or not.
“Wanna play some Madden?” Zeke asked Gavin, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “My Xbox is in the car. I can unpack the rest of my shit later.”
“If you’re looking for an ass spanking, I’m always here to deliver,” Gavin said. “Just call me Daddy.”
Zeke smirked, and then his eyes flicked to mine, and I tore my gaze away, pretending like I hadn’t been listening as I pulled out my clothes and packed them away in my dresser, laying the ones I wanted to hang on the bed.
“You wanna join?” he offered.
“No.”
“Aw, come on, roomie,” he said, walking over to my door and leaning a hip against the frame. “It’ll be fun. Bonding time.”
“I’d rather saw my right foot off with rusty scissors,” I said, standing and smiling sweetly at him as I shoved my socks into the top drawer with more force than necessary.
Zeke smirked, covering his chest with a hand and stumbling back like I’d wounded him. “So hostile.”
Gavin gave me a look from where he was still sitting in the living room, one that told me to play nice.
I ignored it, shoving Zeke out of my room, instead. “My space. Stay out.”
“Should I make you a sign? No Boys Allowed.”
“Oh, there are plenty of boys who are allowed,” I said, crossing my arms and leaning my hip where he’d just been with a wide grin. “Just not you.”
Zeke was still smiling, but something of a shadow slipped over him at those words. I couldn’t figure out what his expression meant before my brother called his attention.
“Come on, man. Let’s get it hooked up. Twenty says I beat you by at least seven in the first game.”
Zeke’s eyes trailed down the length of me, like he still had something to say, but he clamped his mouth shut.
“I’ll take that bet,” he said, thankfully leaving me alone as he and my brother exited back into the dorm hall.
As soon as they were gone, I slammed my bedroom door and turned on my Bluetooth speaker, blasting Travis Scott as loud as the volume would go to drown out the noise in the hall.
And in my head.
Zeke
“Throw the damn ball!” Gavin yelled, but it was too late — by the time his player prepped for the throw, mine was already sacking him to the ground.
“Sack lunch, baby!” I announced, standing up and jumping between my best friend and the television screen. I pretended like I was eating a big sandwich right in front of his face, chowing down on it with a nom nom nom sound effect.
