Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”
“Oof … morning, buddy,” Sergio says and despite his discomfort, a small smile pulls at his lips while Gus hisses and runs out the door.
He is back to kissing Jeremy Owens once every day.
He’s done that by carefully following his eleven-step plan for the last three days.
And also, luckily for Henry, he only dropped Henry that one time.
Though, it’s not like Henry remembers it anyway.
“Dad said to come get you. Breakfast is almost ready.”
“Pancakes, bacon, and fruit?”
Henry nods with the carefree exuberance of a five-year-old, shaking the bed.
“I guess we better not keep him waiting then,” Sergio says and gets up. He ruffles Henry’s hair. “Go wake up Uncle Adrien.”
“Okay!” Henry yells and throws two very enthusiastic thumbs up into the air, then runs out of the room.
“Gently!” Sergio yells, poking his head out the door.
Running, Henry holds up his thumbs higher, then bursts into Adrien’s room.
“Hey, buddy.” Sergio hears Adrien’s groggy voice as he walks past his room and heads down the stairs.
Once in the kitchen, he’s greeted by Holden’s usual and jovial, “Good morning, shithead!”
“Good morning to you, too!” Sergio greets, slapping Holden a high five.
He’s feeling so high off those three kisses, he doesn’t even get frustrated when he trips over Gus yet again.
After he regains his footing, he grabs the plates out of Rose’s hands without a word of explanation and starts to set the table, properly now, no longer forgetting his task not even a quarter of the way through.
Once the coffee is ready, he grabs four mugs and begins to pour, making sure to lead with Rose’s.
“Thanks …” she says, raising one eyebrow and tilting her head slightly.
“You’re welcome.” Sergio winks at her and then holds out a mug of coffee for Adrien at his arrival, with Henry hanging off his shoulders.
“You didn’t poison this, did you?” Adrien asks him as he takes it.
Sergio laughs. “Adrien, you are the last person on this earth I would want to poison.”
Adrien takes a slow sip, squinting at Sergio over the brim of the mug. “Doubtful.”
“Seriously. I would be lost without you,” Sergio says with emphasis on his seriousness. He pours another cup of coffee and places it down in Holden’s spot.
“You take that,” Holden says. “I’ll drink the sludge at the bottom of the pot.”
“You sure?” Sergio asks, already knowing what Holden’s disgusting answer will be.
“Yeah,” Holden says, grabbing the coffeepot and pouring himself the last remnants of the coffee. He takes an exaggerated sip from his mug and smacks his lips after he swallows. “Ahh. Delicious.”
“You’re disgusting,” Rose, Adrien, and now Sergio say together as everyone begins to grab food.
Alright. So far, so good, Sergio thinks, figuring he’s finally got this whole breakfast thing down. Everyone around the table is happy. No one is glaring at him yet. And as long as he stays on this track, he’s well on his way to kissing Jeremy at precisely 6:14 this evening.
There’s only one problem. Sergio isn’t exactly content with only kissing Jeremy at 6:14. And he’s tired of being denied that second kiss as the clock strikes midnight. And he’s even more tired of being promised a date for a next day that never seems to ever be happening.
Rose rises from her seat, breaking Sergio from his thoughts. “I’ll take the rest of this to go.” She kisses Holden on the cheek and then heads for the back door. “You boys have fun.”
“Will do!” Holden calls out after her. “We’ll see you for lunch.”
Sergio swallows his food, then takes a long sip of his coffee and decides to take advantage of Rose’s departure. “Holden,” he says. “Why does your wife hate me?”
Holden coughs and chokes on his coffee. “She doesn’t hate you.” He waves Sergio off and shakes his head no.
“She thinks you’re a bit of a self-centered prick,” Adrien says and takes a sip of his own coffee.
“What’s a prick?” Henry asks.
Adrien gulps, and Holden pats Henry on the head. “Nothing you need to worry about.” He turns his attention back to Sergio. “Honestly, she doesn’t hate you. You know you’re like family to us.”
Sergio shrugs. “Not all families get along.”
“She’s just stressed right now with Nationals coming up in two weeks and then the Olympics after that, assuming Allison makes the team.”
“She’s been stressed before,” Sergio reasons.
Holden shovels the last of his pancakes into his mouth. He talks as he chews. “She has a lot riding on this Olympic season.”
“More than she did the two years she competed and won?”
“It’s different, I guess.” Holden pauses and drinks what’s left of his coffee before he wipes his mouth with his napkin. “It’s not only her she’s worried about this time. She has to think about Allison and Jeremy.”
An image of Jeremy being enraged at Sergio’s pity floats through Sergio’s mind. Someone else being responsible for him is the last thing Jeremy would ever want. “Jeremy is more than capable of taking care of himself.”
“He is,” Holden agrees.
“Everyone in this family knows that,” Adrien adds, then shovels more food onto Henry’s plate, keeping him distracted while the grownups talk.
“But the rest of the skating world doesn’t know that,” Holden says, filling in the part no one wants to say.
Sergio sighs. “I wish there was a way they could see him skate. He still looks beautiful on the ice.
Holden tilts his head and looks at Sergio with his brow furrowed. “How would you know that?”
Sergio gulps, realizing what he accidentally did. “Oh … I … I guess I figured he was still skating.”
Holden rises from his seat and grabs his plate, taking it to the sink. “Well, he is. But don’t ask him about it.”
“Why?” Sergio asks.
“Because nobody knowing is the only way he can still enjoy it.”
“Okay, I can understand that,” Sergio says. After all, Jeremy has made it clear to him that he hates having an audience, and now he has a better understanding as to why. “But that still doesn’t explain why your wife hates me.”
“She doesn’t, Sergio. It’s less to do with you and more that she doesn’t want to see Jeremy get hurt.”
“Why does everyone assume I’m going to hurt him?”
Adrien lets out a whoop of laughter. “Why would anyone assume you wouldn’t?”
Sergio glares at his brother, and for the first time in all of these repeated days, he actually wants to fire him.
Holden claps Sergio on the shoulder, then grabs his empty plate, before taking Adrien’s. “Listen, guys, we better get going if we want to get some slope time in before the hills fill up with day tourists.”
“Alright,” Sergio says, then grins at Holden. “Not today, but some day this week if we want to avoid the tourists, we should take a heli trip.”
“Absolutely not,” Adrien says at the exact moment Holden grins maniacally and says, “Absolutely!”
With the knowledge that Adrien will, in fact, have fun on said trip, Sergio smiles and finishes his coffee.
His smile doesn’t last long, though. He may be able to take some comfort knowing that, according to Holden, Rose doesn’t hate him.
She’s merely protective of Jeremy. However, proving to her that he’s not out to hurt Jeremy in the sixteen waking hours he gets each version of this day will be no easy feat.
Hanging high above the mountain top, his legs and skis dangling from the chairlift, Sergio still can’t stop replaying this morning's conversation in his head. He turns to look at Adrien.
“I’m not convinced that Rose doesn’t hate me.”
Adrien shrugs. “She might.”
“Wow, way to reassure me.”
Adrien twists his head and shoulders to face Sergio, looking at him in exasperation. “What do you want me to do? Lie to you like everyone else does?”
“Well … no. But—”
“No, but what, Sergio?” He rolls his eyes and takes a breath. “Listen, you know I love you. But come on, man, you have a reputation for a reason.”
“I’ve changed!”
Adrien stares at him with his lips set in a hard line. “Have you?” He doesn’t let Sergio answer. “And while I don’t actually think that Rose hates you, I also don’t think she wants you flirting with her assistant coach or her skater for that matter.”
“I’m not flirting with anyone!” Sergio lies. Well, it’s technically not a lie, as he hasn’t flirted with either of them yet during this version of today.
“Day’s still young,” Adrien says dryly and turns in his seat to take his gaze back to the space above the treetops.
Sergio frowns and keeps his eyes on his brother. “Do you hate me?”
“Jesus Christ, Sergio. I told you that I love you not even two minutes ago.”
“I know, but … you could hate me, too.”
Adrien takes a deep breath, then slowly turns to face Sergio again.
“Sergio, I could never hate you. You’re my brother, my family, and the most important person in this world to me.
” He pauses as the chair lift deposits them at the top of the mountain, then, after taking another deep breath, says, “Which is why I think I have to quit working for you.”
Sergio, stunned that Adrien still managed to quit on him, even in this conversational context, says nothing as he watches his brother take off down the mountain, speeding away from him as fast as the snow will whisk him away.
“Did you guys have fun?” Holden asks them once they all meet again on the bunny hills.
As always, Sergio doesn’t get a chance to answer as Henry is already calling his name. “Uncle Sergio! Look!” He zooms down the hill and flips forward to a stop. “Did you see?”
“Yeah, Henry. I saw,” Sergio says, downtrodden as he approaches and picks him up.
“You alright?” Henry asks him.
Sergio plasters a fake smile on his face. “Of course I’m alright. I’m with you!”
“You don’t look alright.”
Sergio laughs. “Between you and me, Henry, sometimes I think you’re the only person who likes me around here.”
“Uh-uh.” Henry shakes his head. “Everybody likes Uncle Sergio.”
“You think so?”
“I know so!” Henry says with complete confidence. “They talked about you all day yesterday.”
Well, this is new and exciting information. Sergio perks up. “Did they now?”
“Yep! Even Jeremy was excited to see you.”
Sergio’s heart soars, and then abruptly sinks. Fuck. He blew it from the start.
With wide, slightly watery eyes, he looks directly at Henry. “He was?”
“Yeah!” Henry says excitedly before his face falls, and he looks at Sergio seriously. “You should tell him you’re sorry.”
“Ugh …” Sergio groans. “I know, buddy. I’m working on it,” he says, trying to hold Henry tighter as he squirms in his arms.
“Jeremy!” Henry yells, prompting Sergio to put him down. He takes off running.
“Hungry?” Holden asks, clapping Sergio on the shoulder as he watches Henry close in on Jeremy.
Sergio nods his head. “Starving. I could go for a turkey burger.”
Holden’s face lights up. “This place has a great turkey burger!”
“Yeah, I know, you’ve told me,” Sergio says, hanging his head and walking towards the lodge with Holden oblivious and keeping stride next to him. He leads them all inside, where the hostess is waiting for their arrival.
From here, Sergio hits autopilot. It gets easier and easier every time he repeats this portion of the day.
He knows precisely when to laugh, when to brush someone off, and most importantly, the exact moment when Jeremy will look at him with softness in his eyes right before he says, “It’s still a loss.
I mean, if someone stole my skates, sure, I could buy a new pair, but they wouldn’t be the same.
Even if they were seemingly identical. The tools of your craft always hold a piece of your soul when you use them as an extension of yourself. ”
And, same as the first time he said it, Sergio feels a deep crack burrow its way through his heart. A crack that gets deeper and deeper every time they sit across from each other at this table for lunch.
A crack that he has to sit with and smile through every time Rose breaks the shared moment between him and Jeremy when she says, “Very true. But, damn it if it isn’t funny when it happens to Sergio.”
“Hahaha.” Sergio laughs as he’s supposed to and rolls his eyes. Once his eyes settle back into place, he lets his gaze linger on Jeremy, who is back to talking to Adrien as their food arrives. Thankful for the distraction, Sergio digs in and eats, and goes right back into autopilot mode.
But today he has an extra layer of distraction.
Henry said Jeremy was looking forward to seeing him.
He can recognize now that he fucked that up.
From moment one. Looking back at his actions on the day that he and Adrien arrived, he can now understand why Jeremy seems to run hot and cold with him on this day.
That the times that he approaches him and most importantly, the ways that he approaches him make a difference.
That he is naturally on guard with Sergio from the moment Sergio opens his mouth to speak, never sure which Sergio he’s going to get.
“You need help with him, Jeremy?” Rose asks.
“No.” Jeremy shakes his head, smiling softly and directing Henry’s head to rest on his shoulder. “I got him.”
“Okay, well, we’ll see you later,” Rose says and waves goodbye. Prompting everyone else to do the same. They all take their turns, one by one bidding Jeremy adieu.
“See you in a bit,” Sergio says, then, losing himself in the moment, he kisses Jeremy on the cheek. He’s as frozen as the steps they are standing on as Jeremy flinches away. “Sorry.” Sergio winces. “Force of habit.”
“It’s not a habit I’m familiar with,” Jeremy says, a hint of accusation in his tone. “You must have me mistaken for one of your other guys.”
“Or girls,” Adrien adds, tugging Sergio away. “Come on, Casanova. You’ve humiliated yourself enough for one day.”
“Ten!” Holden shouts into the microphone on stage.
Sergio hangs his head and mumbles, “Thank fucking Christ this day is ending.”
“Nine!”
He swallows an entire glass of champagne in one gulp.
“Eight!”
“How could I be so fucking stupid?”
“Seven!”
“Will this hell ever be fucking over?”
“Six!”
“How hard is it to get one thing fucking right?”
“Five!”
He looks up and finds Jeremy across the room.
“Four!”
He lets out a little sob.
“Three!”
“I just want to be with you.”
“Two!”
“Please …”
“One! Happy …”