Page 52 of Blindsided

“Aww, fuck, man. I’m sorry,” Nolan says quietly.

Carter very rarely mentions who he’s dating. I’m not sure if it’s because he prefers to keep to himself or if he feels uncomfortable talking about going on dates with guys. Adam and I have done our best to prove we couldn’t give two shits about it. We just want him to be happy.

“It was inevitable.” Carter shrugs.

“Still hurts like a motherfucker,” I tell him.

“Preach.” Sara holds her hand in the air. It makes Carter laugh, and we all relax a little. He’s always been the most chill, go-with-the-flow Ellis sibling. Seeing him tense and disappointed is hard on all of us. We just want to make things better.

“Wanna get drunk at O’Malley’s tonight?” Nolan waggles his eyebrows. “Adam can buy.”

“Hey!” Adam punches Nolan. “I mean, I will, but I’d like to offer myself, thank you.”

Carter shakes his head, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Maybe some other time. Some of us have to work on Fridays.”

“Oh, right. Ha. Losers.”

Sara launches herself at Nolan, tackling him to the ground and digging her fingers into his rib cage.

“Ow, fuck! Get your dagger fingers away from me,” Nolan growls.

She finally gets off him, her ponytail askew, and Nolan smirks like he won that match. Sometimes I wonder if Nolan is a clown because without him we’d all act a lot more serious than is necessary. At the same time, I’m not entirely sure he could stop the words that flow out of his mouth if he tried.

“You know, what we could do is go egg his house. I haven’t had a good egging in a few years,” Nolan muses.

“A few years? You’re twenty-seven,” Adam points out.

“And? What does that have to do with anything?”

“No, Nolan. We don’t need to egg his house. This is for the best.” Carter shakes his head.

“Oh… Are you sure? I kinda got my hopes up there for a second.”

“Maybe we can egg his car.” Carter bites his lip as if the idea shouldn’t bring him joy.

Nolan’s fist rockets into the air. “Yes! I am in!”

We start packing up our stuff to leave. Nolan keeps throwing ideas at Carter. Things like they should have Mom make deviled eggs to throw or cover his car in sticky notes. Carter just smiles at Nolan, and I know the right brother is taking care of him this time.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Adam raises an eyebrow.

I shrug. “They’re not going to do anything truly illegal. I think Carter could use the levity, and Nolan will be all too happy to provide it.”

“I hate when Carter gets that sad look in his eyes.” Sara throws her duffle strap over her head.

“Do we know anything about their relationship? I only found out he was dating someone at the start of the year,” I ask.

“I asked him about it over Christmas, and he told me he’d been seeing someone, but he didn’t think this guy liked him very much.”

“What a jack-hole. How could someone not like Carter?” I shake my head.

“I’m sure it’s not easy for him to date here. Small-town gossip can be brutal,” Sara says. She has a point. Not only is the dating pool incredibly small, but I can’t imagine how hard it would be to go on dates in this town.

“How are things between you and Tilly?” Adam asks.

My grin stretches across my face. “They’re great. I finally understand the madness you two are in.”

“I told you!” Sara gloats. She’s said on multiple occasions that I underestimated the power of having a partner by my side. I get it now.

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