Page 32 of The Handoff

Chapter 17

David

Icouldn’tbelievemy ears. I was at home, sitting down, getting ready for finals. I liked to study early, not last-minute, which was why I tended to go over my notes every weekend, to make sure when it came to the exam, I was more than prepared to take them.

I went over all my material, and even some of the material for classes which we hadn’t had yet. I loved studying, and my brothers teased me about being a nerd, but it was clear without the grades and me studying like crazy, Dane wouldn’t have a full scholarship and he certainly wouldn’t be looking at being a professional football player. It didn’t just take his performance on the field, but his grades, too—one thing his football buddies admired about him. If only they knew that he was as thick as them. I wondered if they would look up to him even more for it, I think they probably would? Shallow people seemed to admire people that are on the same level as them, rather than if they are a level above, which is what they deem Dane to be at the moment—smart and good on the field.

Sometimes, when I’m with them, I’m so damn tempted to tell them the truth. They make stupid comments like, “Damn, Dane, wish my brain was as big as yours.”

“I study a lot,” I’d tell them. They would pat me on the back and say, “Sure!”

Dane strolled into the kitchen, and casually said, “I’ve asked Lisa to be my girlfriend.”

“You have gone and done what?”

“I asked Lisa to be my girlfriend,” Dane repeated calmly as if I didn’t hear him the first time around. It was gone past one, and I was pretty sure the last bus stopped running a long time ago. I studied him carefully, wondering if he’d taken drugs, but then with his ruffled hair and his shirt half hanging out of his pants, I knew it meant only one thing. He’d done the deed with her.

Daxon walked into the kitchen, and Dane said to him what he’d said to me. Daxon was half-awake before hearing the good news from Dane, and now he was fully awake. He slammed his fist on the table; he wasn’t mad, he was fucking angry.

“You know the rules, Dane. We can…” I struggled to talk like them, but right now I felt as if I had no choice. Just so they would understand what was going on.

“Fuck, but no relationships. Lisa’s no idiot. I mean, she may not realize today, but sooner or later, she’ll figure it out. You want to give up nearly four years of college for some ass?”

I wasn’t happy about Daxon describing Lisa as some ass… She was more than that, even if Daxon didn’t want to admit it. There was no denying there was something special about her, but I didn’t feel she was so special to ruin what we’d worked for so many years.

Dane choked. “Yeah, so keep your grubby hands off my girl.” He ignored the part about Lisa being some ass and focused on Daxon back in sixth grade when he tried to hook up with his girlfriend at the time. We were only in sixth grade at the time, but either way, this was why we made up the rule, to stop history from repeating itself.

Did Dane even hear himself?

“Keep our hands off your girl? But we are all supposed to be the same person. How the hell is it going to work without one of us going up to her at some point when we are on campus? I mean, you are not there all the time. If you had to take your exams, we all know you wouldn’t pass with flying colors!” I had to give him a reality check, he was talking with his dick and not thinking straight at all. The guy had no brain, he was my brother and he drove me crazy, but there was no denying he was no better than Forrest Gump. Totally misunderstood and lucky.

Daxon chimed in, “Yeah, this isn’t making any sense. All three of us go around campus. She’s going to find it weird if I ignore her one day and David does the same, and then you are all loving with her the next. Did you even think this through?”

He ignored us both, and before he could even reply, Mom came in the room in her pjs with her eyes half-open. She headed to the fridge while she spoke. “Guys, can you keep your squabbling for the daytime. Some of us have work in the morning.”

I nodded. “Sorry, Mom.”

Her tired eyes traced across the kitchen before she opened the fridge. She looked at both Dane and Daxon for confirmation, and once they gave it, she took out a bottle of water and then shuffled into her bedroom.

"What's up with Mom?" Dane asked, changing the subject.

“I dunno. She’s been coming home late and not talking much, and she’s been eating even less. You would know if you could keep your dick in your pants.”

She told us to keep it down, but we were going to argue even more as the confirmation of Dane fucking Lisa hit home. Why else would he be talking about keeping our hands off.

“You had sex with her?” I growled.

“Yeah, and?” Dane replied, challenging me across the kitchen workspace.

“Cool it. We’ll talk in the morning,” Daxon said.

“Yeah, I have a game in the afternoon, so I really need some z’s,” Dane said.

I moved away from Dane, feeling happy that we didn’t share a room. He slept in the living room, while Daxon and I shared a room. We took turns in who shared the room. It was big enough for two people, but three just became a crowd. I took a deep breath as I hesitated once I reached my door. We now had a girlfriend, which was never in the plan. Dane was the only one with a future, one that had been defined, whereas Daxon and I still had to figure it all out.

As I headed out of the kitchen to the bedroom, I realized I was too wound up to study. I opened the door and Daxon scuffled behind me. Part of me wondered if I was annoyed about Dane having a girlfriend or the idea of him fucking Lisa—the one that I secretly thought about day and night. Her smile and blue eyes lit up a room whenever she was near, and pretending to be Dane was hard, but now it just got that much harder.

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