Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
HUNTER
AIDAN: Ordering pizza. You guys good with pepperoni?
HUNTER: Yep.
CONOR: Why are you texting? I’m literally sitting two feet away and Morgan is in the kitchen.
I grin at my phone before nudging the fridge door shut with my shoulder. I tuck a bag of chips under one arm and head back into the living room, taking the armchair since Phillips and Hart are hogging the couch.
Aidan is on his laptop. Conor is scrolling through movie options on the television.
It’s the last weekend before finals start. Which means it’s one of the final weekends of college—ever. Eve went to a concert with Harlow and Aidan said Rylan is hanging out with her roommates.
We haven’t hung out, just the three of us, in a while. It’s sentimental, knowing we’ll never live together again. Hart won’t know where he’s headed until the draft next month, but I’ve officially committed to moving to Philadelphia. And Aidan…
Aidan sets his laptop on the coffee table next to Conor’s feet. “Check this out.”
Evergreen Beer Company is all I can read from this angle. I stand and move behind the couch so I can see more of the screen.
Conor leans closer. “What are you doing? Ordering beer? There’s a six-pack in the fridge, Phillips.”
“I’m not ordering anything,” Aidan answers. “This is the website for my new brewery.”
“Your new what ?” Hart sounds stunned.
I’m only marginally less surprised.
Since our conversation on the way home from Gaffney’s, Aidan hasn’t mentioned what he plans to do post-graduation. I had no idea he was still considering opening a brewery, let alone acting on it.
“My new brewery. I also got a job at a marketing firm in Seattle. I start in June. So if this whole thing falls apart, I have a backup plan.”
“Wow,” Conor says.
I echo the sentiment, adding a “Congrats.”
Aidan shows us the whole website. It’s a simple layout, but it looks very official. Then, he pulls up the listing for the old warehouse he bought in Seattle, telling us about the plans for the renovations. Once they’re completed, he plans to launch the website and announce the business. We’re the first people he’s telling, I realize.
The pizza arrives midway, so we chomp on slices as Aidan talks us through building permits and water lines.
I’m impressed. Impressed that he’s doing it, and impressed he’s done it without saying a word. Aidan usually discusses everything aloud.
Then again, he kept things with Rylan a secret for a while, so maybe it just depends on how important it is to him.
“Have you heard from Sean?” Conor asks once we’re caught up on Aidan’s plans.
I shake my head. I told him and Aidan about my brother—the good, the bad, and the overdose—the morning after the team dinner.
And I’ve gotten updates from my mom—Sean was discharged from the hospital and is recovering at a rehab center—but my brother hasn’t called.
Not only has he not called me, he hasn’t answered my calls. I know he has his phone because my mom talks to him at least once a day.
But he won’t talk to me.
And I don’t know why, aside from the way our last conversation ended. I told him not to call me high. I didn’t ask him to stop answering my calls sober.
I’ve realized, since I started calling, that I stopped at some point. That every recent time I talked to my brother was when he called me. High, but still.
I’m very tempted to drive home and confront him about it. But graduation is in two weeks. I don’t have time for a thirty-four-hour road trip, and I’ll be home for most of the summer before heading to Penn.
I’m planning to visit Eve at some point. She found an apartment in Greenwich Village, close to a coffee shop where she got a barista job, and is moving at the beginning of June. But otherwise, I’ll be in Wyoming, and Sean won’t be able to avoid me.
“Give it some time,” Conor advises.
“That’s what I’ve been doing. He could at least answer my calls.”
Aidan stands and heads into the kitchen. A couple of minutes later, he returns with a stack of glasses and the expensive whiskey we broke open after winning the state championship. He pours an inch into each one.
“Seems like we should be drinking beer, to celebrate your brewery,” Hart comments.
“We’re not just celebrating my brewery,” Phillips replies. “And this is the good shit. Show some respect.” He nudges one glass toward me and one toward Conor.
“Cheers to…” Aidan raises his glass and looks to me. He knows I always cheers to something.
“Cheers to…us,” I say. My throat is suspiciously thick, so I clear it quickly. “I’ll miss you guys.”
“Cheers to us,” Conor echoes. “I’ll miss you guys too.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Aidan sets down his shot before we can actually knock glasses, and then walks out of the living room.
I hear his heavy steps on the stairs a few seconds later.
Conor glances at me. “That was weird.”
“Very weird,” I agree.
“Uh, bottoms up?”
“Bottoms up.”
We clink glasses and then swallow.
“Should we check on him?” I ask.
Before Conor can reply, I hear footsteps on the stairs again.
Aidan reappears, holding two white envelopes. He scowls when he spots the two empty glasses. “What the fuck?”
“We didn’t know where you went!” Conor says.
Aidan downs his shot, then refills all the glasses. “You guys know about the shit with Jameson,” he starts. “How my brother is an asshole and a pain in the ass. If we weren’t blood-related, I’d never talk to the guy again.”
Conor nods. “And you and Morgan know the deal with Landon. He’s still trying to convince Harlow to break up with me. If it wouldn’t hurt her, I’d go back to pretending he doesn’t exist.”
I realize what they’re doing, all of a sudden, and this time the lump in my throat won’t clear.
“You guys have been there for me, through it all,” Hart continues. “And it means…” He clears his throat. “Well, thanks.”
“You’re welcome, Hart,” Aidan says. “Someone had to carry the team while you were slacking.”
Conor rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, fine. I’ll be serious. I came here at a real low point. Probably would have gotten myself kicked off the team freshman year if not for you two. And I know I was late sometimes?—”
“All the time,” I interject.
“And caused some problems?—”
“With who?” Conor asks innocently.
Aidan slouches back on the sofa. “This is why I’m never serious, you dicks.”
I reach for my glass and lift it in the air. “Cheers to choosing brothers.”
Because that’s what we did. We’re a lot more than teammates. And we chose to be there for each other, especially when the people who were supposed to be there weren’t.
“Cheers to choosing brothers,” we all repeat, and then down the shots.
“Happy early graduation.” Aidan holds envelopes out to me and Conor.
I take it, surprised. I figured they were related to his brewery.
“You didn’t have to get us anything,” I say, experiencing a pang of guilt.
I didn’t get him anything.
I still have time, I guess, but knowing Aidan, this is extravagant, and I don’t have that kind of money lying around.
“It’s for me too,” he replies.
I glance at Conor, and we open the envelopes together.
It takes me a couple of minutes to scan enough text to understand the gist of it.
Aidan arranged an African safari for us next summer. Two weeks, with airfare and accommodations included. I can’t even imagine how much this cost. Several grand, at least.
“I picked July to make sure you were free,” he tells Hart.
From the look on Conor’s face, that means more than the gift itself. It’s a testament to Aidan’s confidence that Conor will get drafted.
Aidan glances at me. “You too, nerd.”
“This trip looks amazing,” I say. “But it’s way too much, Phillips.”
Conor nods in agreement.
Aidan pours more whiskey. “No, it’s not. I don’t know when I’ll see you guys after May. I wanted to make sure we had a reunion planned. And I didn’t spend my entire trust fund on the bar. I have the money, and I want to wear camo and see some lions with my best friends. Promise you’ll show up?”
There’s a tentativeness to that last question.
Suddenly I’m eighteen again, standing on a porch at a party I’m not sure I want to be at and agreeing to get lunch with a stranger.
A stranger who would become one of the most important people in my life. When I told Coach that Aidan would die for Rylan, I meant it. I knew it, because he would die for me too. Loyalty is a rare thing to come by. It can’t be bought or stolen or explained , really. It’s there or it’s not.
Family can be forged. And those bonds—chosen bonds—can be a lot stronger than blood.
“I’ll be there,” I promise.
“I will too,” Conor adds.
And for the first time, graduation feels a lot less like an ending and more like a new beginning.