Chapter 29 Zeke
twenty-nine
Zeke
Ifeel like I’ve barely seen you since the banquet,” Ember says, shooting her puck toward my goal but missing by a couple of inches.
“I saw you a few days ago.” Which isn’t a lie, I came home from class, and Ember and Declan were making out on the couch.
“For all of five seconds,” she continues. “You said hi, then went upstairs, changed, and left.”
“I was visiting my mom.”
“Declan said you didn’t come home that night.”
“Em, I thought you knew me better than this. There are a lot of nights I don’t come home. I’m usually getting laid.”
I’m gone more often than before, though. I always tried to get girls to come back to my place because falling asleep was easier in my own bed. But since Avalon, that hasn’t really been an issue. The other day, we fell asleep on her couch while binge-watching Bones.
I spend most of my nights at her place now; it’s becoming a problem.
We don’t even have sex most nights, or at least that’s not our goal for my visits.
We finished the whole first season of Bones in a week, which might not seem like a lot for some people, but with our busy schedules, between my practices and games and her labs, we don’t get much time to just relax.
“You disappeared from the banquet.” She scores a goal.
“I’d say it was you who disappeared from that banquet.”
“Declan and I slow danced in a janitor's closet.” I raise an eyebrow as I stifle a laugh. “Shut up, it was romantic.”
“I bet it was. Who doesn’t love dancing in a room that smells like chemicals.”
“It’s not like we could slow dance anywhere else.”
“I still don’t get your point.”
“When we came back, you were gone.”
“You guys were gone for an hour; I wasn’t gonna wait around. I thought you guys were heading back here to get your freak on.”
She slams a pillow against my chest.
“Where’d you go?” She pauses the game and turns toward me. “You didn’t come back here. I left the banquet with Declan, Tate, and Fletcher not long after Fletcher said you left, and when we got here, the house was empty.”
“Didn’t we already clarify that I like getting laid?”
“So, that’s what you were doing? Hooking up with a random girl.”
I lick my lips, trying to gain my composure, like maybe the pitch of my voice will give me away if I don’t tread carefully.
“Sounds like jealousy, Bowman. Are you finally realizing you missed out on all of this?” I point to my body, and she lets out a laugh.
“That’s totally it. You caught me.”
Before I respond, the front door opens.
“Flirting with my girlfriend again, Zeke?” Declan drops the grocery bags in the kitchen, then comes and kisses Ember. “How many times does she have to let you down before you finally understand?”
“Maybe two or three more,” I respond. “I don’t pick up on things that easily.”
“Is this what you’ve been doing for the last hour?” Declan asks.
“It is. And I’ve kicked Zeke’s butt in every game.” Ember grins.
“That’s my girl.”
“You guys aren’t going to play that game all night, are you?” Brinley walks through the open door. “We have a guest tonight, and I don’t want him to think we only care about hockey.”
She motions her head behind her to Alex, her boy who’s a friend and nothing more, or so she says anytime someone brings him up.
“We do only care about hockey,” Declan argues.
“And sex,” I add. “What else is there?”
“You guys are ridiculous.”
I hold back a laugh and go to pull out my phone. But I know the stupid grin on my face, paired with my texting someone, will look a little too suspicious. I can’t help it, though; I think Avalon would get a kick out of someone else who thinks I’m ridiculous.
“Hey man, how’s it going?” I lift my hand in a subtle wave.
“It’s going. I guess I’m on sous chef duty tonight, but I’ve never cooked a thing in my life, so I apologize in advance,” Alex shrugs, dropping the last of the bags onto the counter.
“Oh, don’t even worry about it, man. Being a sous chef means Brinley yelling at you for an hour and doing all the dishes yourself,” Declan says. “You won’t actually get to cook anything.”
“That’s not true!” Brinley argues. “Ask Zeke; I’ve been teaching him to cook. He’s really improved.”
“You’re learning to cook?” Ember asks, a knowing grin on her face.
“Yeah, so his mom doesn’t have to eat hospital meals.”
“Oh,” Ember’s smile falters, “that’s really nice, Zeke.”
“It’s no big deal.” I push myself off the couch. “Whatcha making tonight, Brin?”
“Nothing crazy, just a lasagna. It’s Alex’s favorite meal.”
“Just a lasagna?” Alex scoffs. “That would be like saying just a roast dinner. If it takes a ton of effort and steps, then it deserves proper credit.”
“Whatever.” Brinley takes ground meat out of one of the bags. “How’d your mom like that chicken dish?”
“Hmm?” I shove my hands in my pockets.
“The Colombian one, the sudado de pollo. The meal you said she saw on the Food Network and was dying to try it.”
“Oh, right. Mom loved it.” Which is true. I brought the leftovers to her, and she was shocked to hear that I had made it.
Brinley just doesn’t know I made the same meal two days later for Avalon.
“Good. I know she loves lasagna too, so I’m making an extra pan just for her.”
“Thanks, Brin. She’ll appreciate it.”
“Alright, losers, we’ll be in my room,” Declan says, and I turn to see him and Ember hand in hand.
“Gross. I don’t want to think about you guys making out in your room.”
“Don’t think I said anything about making out… but yeah, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.”
He disappears up the stairs, leaving me with Brinley and Alex in the kitchen. So, basically, leaving me to be a third wheel… again.
“You wanna help us make dinner?” Brinley asks. “You could chop the veggies for the sauce.” She turns toward Alex. “I’ve taught him really well. He’s basically a pro at chopping now.”
“That’s because you always have me chop, so you don’t have to cry while you cut onions.”
“Maybe…”
“And nah, I got some homework to do, so I’m—”
“I’m sorry, Zeke Harris is going to do homework?”
“I don’t know what those idiots, who I call my friends, say about me when I’m not around, but Zeke Harris has practically straight As,” I argue.
“Practically?” She puts her hands on her hips.
“I have one b minus, but that’s only because my professor doesn’t like me very much,” I reply. “I may or may not have slept with his daughter a week into classes, but I didn’t know. Trust me, I’ve learned to avoid sleeping with a teacher’s kid.”
“Riley Hunter, senior year.” She snorts. “Mr. Hunter held it over your head for the whole second semester.”
“Yeah,” I respond, turning my attention to Alex. “He almost prevented me from graduating.”
“You never told us how you got out of that.”
“Let’s just say I told Mr. Hunter if he prevented me from graduating, that would just give me another year of school with Riley. My grade changed real quick.”
“Isn’t that like… blackmail?” Alex asks.
“I wasn’t failing because my work sucked. He was gonna give me a zero on the final project, worth half our grade because he found out I slept with his daughter. Technically, I could’ve reported him to the school board, but I’m a great guy.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Zeke.”
How’d Brinley talk you into being her date to the banquet?” I lean back against my chair as we finish up dinner.
Jaxon never showed up. Not that I’m surprised. He’s been pretty distant wherever Alex is involved.
“What do you mean?” Alex takes his last bite of lasagna.
“You went to the hockey banquet with Brinley,” I continue. “I’m just wondering how she convinced you to go.”
“Oh, she didn’t,” he replies. “I offered.”
Declan, Fletcher, Jeremy, and I pause to look at each other. She must not have told him about how fucking horrible those banquets are. I’d ditch every year if I didn’t have the guys to hang out with.
“Did my sister tell you how fucking boring those things are?” Declan laughs. “I mean, you figured it out pretty quickly, but did she tell you—”
“No, that’s actually why I told her I’d go. We were hanging out after class, and she told me about the banquet. She said it was her least favorite part of being in a sorority because it was just a three-hour event where her sorority sisters ogle at her brother.”
“Ogle at her brother?” I howl.
“And the other players,” he adds. “But she knows you all so well, so it’s weird.”
“So, you offered to go with her, so it didn’t suck?” Fletcher asks.
“Yeah. And it wasn’t that bad. Gave Brinley time to teach me more about hockey,” Alex replies. “I might even go to one of your games someday.”
“You know, Alex,” I begin, “you seem like a cool dude.”
“Thanks,” he hesitates. “Is there a but to that statement or—”
“Nope.” I point at him. “You’re welcome over here any time. Actually, now’s probably the perfect time to teach you NHL 17.”
“NHL 17?” he questions. “You guys play a virtual hockey game… when you can play an actual hockey game.”
“Well, we’d offer to teach you how to play an actual hockey game,” Jeremy says, “but this will probably be a little easier.”
“You’ll be beating Zeke in no time,” Ember interrupts. “He sucks.”
“Do you guys all just get a kick out of picking on me?”
“Yes, we do, actually.” Tate grins.
“It’s one of my favorite pastime activities,” Fletcher adds.
“What do you say, Alex? You down for some virtual hockey?”
“Um—” Alex’s eyes wander from me to Brinley to the guys at the table. “Sure?”
I smile. “Right answer.