Chapter 20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Mascen
“How’d your date go?” I bite out over breakfast, glaring at the milky depths of my cereal.
“Fuck, man.” Cole scrubs a hand over the top of his head, his smile only able to be described as giddy . The word alone tastes sour on my tongue. “She’s amazing. I love talking to her. She’s so cool.”
My left hand claws into a fist beside the bowl. “That’s … awesome.”
Cole doesn’t notice my lack of enthusiasm. “Crazy story, though. I asked her where she grew up and she said she lived in Winchester for a while. Can you believe that?”
I bristle, surprised she’d tell him about that. “Huh, interesting.”
“Small world, huh? Did y’all ever go to school together?”
“Nope.” It’s not a lie either. I was homeschooled at that point, so was Aurora.
“I’m going to ask her out again.” He fumbles through the drawer, producing a fork for the breakfast scramble he made. “We should go out on a double date. I’d like for you to get to know her. I mean, I’m not planning that far into the future, but there’s something special about this girl.”
My jaw clenches. “That so?” I bite out. My blood pressure has probably spiked with how angry I already feel. It’s fucking stupid for me to feel this way anyway. If Cole wants to date her, so be it, there’s nothing I can do about it.
And.
It.
Shouldn’t.
Matter.
It doesn’t. It doesn’t matter to me. I have to keep telling myself that.
“You okay?” Cole asks suddenly. “You’re turning red.”
I let out a breath. Apparently I forgot the very basic function of how to breathe. “Yeah, I’m fine. I need to go shower.”
I push away my bowl of cereal, going up to my room.
The shower doesn’t make me feel better, and since it’s Saturday I don’t even have the excuse of classes to keep me distracted. As I’m putting on my sweats, my phone rings. I expect it to be my mom but I’m surprised to find it’s my older sister Willow facetiming me.
“Hey,” I answer, smiling genuinely when her face fills the screen.
“Hey, Loser,” she responds, sticking her tongue out at me. “What are you up to?”
“Just showered.” I point to my wet head like it isn’t obvious. “What do you want?”
“I can’t check up on my little brother?” She pushes her blonde hair over her shoulder, the same shade as our mom’s. It’s ironic how much she looks like our mom, while I look like dad, and Lylah is more of a cross between the two. But I get along best with mom and Willow has always been Daddy’s little girl. “I miss you,” she continues. “We didn’t hang out enough over the summer.”
Clearing my throat, I look away. “We’re both busy with our own lives.”
“I guess we are,” she sighs sadly with a wistful expression. “How’s school?”
“Same old, same old.”
“I know it’s a while before games start, but Dean and I want to come up to one.”
I pause, cocking my head. “Why?”
I’m not trying to be a jerk, but my family doesn’t usually come to my games unless it’s an away one in Virginia. I get it, Aldridge is a long ass way from home—nine hours without stops.
“To support you,” she says in a duh tone. “We thought we could make a little vacation out of it and you could show us around when you have free time.”
I rub the back of my head, not sure what to do since she’s taken me by surprise. “Uh, yeah, that would be cool.”
“Are you coming home for Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah, I will be.” Thanksgiving break feels like forever away, but I know it’ll be here before I know it. I don’t know why she asks, of course I’m coming. I’m pretty sure my entire family—my dad’s bandmates included—would hunt me down if I didn’t. Liam, my cousin, skipped out on a few holidays a couple years back and now it’s mandatory that we’re all there. I think the only way we’d be excused from attendance would be if one of us were to die, and even then I think our ghost would be required to make an appearance. I’m not sure my family wants me to haunt their ass. I’d for sure be one of those ghosts that makes life difficult—opening cabinets, throwing spoons, that kind of shit.
“Mascen.” Willow snaps her fingers to get my attention like she’s standing right there.
“Sorry,” I mutter, my apology less than sincere for zoning out on my sister.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Ah, no.” I shake my head sheepishly.
She laughs. “I was just saying how proud I am of you. God knows I gave the college thing a try and it wasn’t for me. You’ll be the first of us to finish college. I mean, even Mom and Dad didn’t go to college.”
I give a shrug. I hadn’t ever given that any thought. Going to college doesn’t feel like anything special to me, just what I always planned and wanted to do. I try not to give it too much thought considering how many years I have ahead of me of med school.
“Uh, thanks,” I reply awkwardly. I don’t take compliments well, I never have. Most of the time they’ve ended with someone wanting something from me. I know that’s not the case with my sister, but some things just aren’t easy to shake.
“So, the wedding is scheduled for this coming summer,” she continues, undeterred by my silence, “we have everything reserved for June tenth.”
“Okay?” It comes out as a question.
“I just wanted you to know so you can’t miss it.”
I narrow my eyes. “I would never miss your wedding—you know that, so what is it you want?”
Apparently even my family does like to butter me up first before asking for something.
“Well, I know you hate attention, but Dean and I really want you to be one of his groomsmen.”
“I don’t have to be best man?” I raise a brow.
She shakes her head. “Nope, Lincoln will be his best man.” Lincoln is her fiancé’s younger brother. “All you have to do is walk one of my bridesmaids down the aisle and stand there and look pretty.”
“As long as I don’t have to plan a bachelor party and do any kind of fancy stuff.”
I am not the planning type, more of the show up and have fun kind of guy.
“Well, I mean there will be a rehearsal dinner—” she begins.
“Fuck.” I scrub my hands over my face. “I liked it better when you guys talked about eloping.”
When Dean’s family, and ours, caught wind that the two were considering running off to Costa Rica to elope with baby sloths or some shit, they put a stop to it real quick. Now, it’s where they’ll go on their honeymoon instead.
Blowing out a breath, I look at the screen, staring into my sister’s eyes. “You’re lucky I like you. I’ll do it.”
They hinted before about me being in the wedding, probably to put out feelers to see if I’d flat out refuse, but now that the planning is going on full force she needs a definitive answer from me. I might hate this kind of shit, but my sister, hopefully, only gets married once so I wouldn’t miss out on being there for her.
Willow smiles back at me. “Thank you, Mascen. I love you.”
“Love you too, sis.”
There’s a skittering in the background and then her hyperactive Jack Russel terrier jumps on her lap out of nowhere, nearly knocking her down. The dog appeared at her fiancé’s mechanic shop and she insisted on keeping him.
“Moo,” she groans, grabbing the dog and holding him away. “That’s not nice. You could’ve hurt me.”
The rascal licks her cheek and she breaks out in giggles. That dog can’t learn anything because she forgives him too easily.
“I gotta go,” I tell her, even though I really don’t have anything I have to do.
“Sorry, love you.”
“Mhmm, love you too,” I say again, ending the call.
Grabbing my computer, I leave my room, searching for Cole, but he’s either left or in his bedroom.
Grabbing a water I head onto the back deck, sitting down at the table there and opening my computer to get started on homework.
School work has always been easy to me, even with growing up on the road most of the time. There’s a misconception that kids who are homeschooled aren’t as smart, or are somehow behind other kids their age, but that’s a wrong assumption.
Opening up the last document I was working on, I read it over, and start adding to it, researching as I go and citing information. I’ve always hated the monotony of it. I understand the why , but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.
As I work, my thoughts drift in places they shouldn’t.
Namely, Aurora.
Fucking, Rory, always on my mind when she shouldn’t be. Seeing Cole happy should make me happy if I’m a good friend, but clearly I’m not. I don’t like the idea of him liking her, and I don’t even want to think about what it means if they really start dating.
An hour later, my paper is done, but I’m in a pissed off mood.
In need of a distraction, I grab my phone, scroll to the C’s and pick a name.