I was just stepping out of my car to go knock on the Andersons’ door when it flew open and Caroline bounded down the steps to meet me. I sat back in my seat and smiled. I had actually come to enjoy my Wednesday morning rides with Caroline. She was still an outrageous flirt with me but I thought I had done a pretty good job of laughing it off and making her aware that the age difference between us was an insurmountable hurdle. She continued to flirt and joke with me nonetheless. The truth was, I think we both enjoyed each other’s company. Even though Caroline wasn’t my actual sister, I had come to think of her that way.
Today, however, Caroline had another goal on her mind. “Sadie’s upset,” she said as we started driving. “Aaron isn’t able to make it back for homecoming so she’s got no one to go with. We need to do something.”
“We?” I said. “As in me and you? Why do I need to be a part of this?”
“Because Aaron is your brother and you’re a sweet, romantic, hot boy,” Caroline said.
“Hmmm… I dunno,” I said. “Maybe we can set Sadie and Aaron up on a video date for homecoming. We could rent a movie for Sadie and Aaron could watch it at the same time in his dorm room so it would be like they are on a movie date.”
“I like the idea of enabling them to see each over video,” Caroline said thoughtfully. “But we need to do something more special than a movie date. They can do that anytime. Look, you just need to call Aaron and tell him that we’re here to help with whatever he needs. This should really come from him. Suggest the video date idea, I like that part.”
“Okay,” I said doubtfully. I didn’t know what Aaron was going to be able to come up with. A movie date wasn’t romantic enough? Jeeze, girls were demanding.
I dropped Caroline off at the middle school and then headed to the high school. I tucked what she had said in the back of my mind and focused on my top priority of the day: asking Payton to homecoming. I was actually really looking forward to it. If I had read Payton correctly, I was going to have to contend with plenty of spunk and fire. After my uplifting victory on the soccer field, I was up for the challenge.
Payton didn’t disappoint. I was shutting my locker after third period when I caught sight of her walking down the hallway. I grabbed my books and darted after her. I passed her and then abruptly turned to face her, stepping directly in front of her so that she almost walked into me.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Payton said angrily. “Oh, it’s you. Mr. Hot Stuff. Whaddya want?”
“Don’t Mr. Hot Stuff me,” I said. “I saw what you did. You just ogled my butt as you walked by.”
“Excuse me?” Payton exclaimed. “Oh I can’t believe this. Get over…”
“Careful now, don’t say anything you’ll regret,” I said. I leaned towards her, noticeably invading her personal space. “It might make for a very awkward homecoming night.”
“Oh you think… wait, homecoming? What are you talking about?” Payton asked. “What a sec, you don’t think I would actually go with you, do you?”
“Well, naturally you will,” I said as though it had never crossed my mind that we wouldn’t go together. “We pretty much have to. You’re the best-looking girl in the school and I’m the best-looking guy. I’m pretty sure there’s a school ordinance that says we have to go together.”
“I don’t think so, mister,” Payton said. “I’m not dating you. You’re my best friend’s boyfriend’s little brother.”
“Who said anything about dating?” I asked. “The arrangement I have in mind is a purely physical one. Come on, a girl like you can’t show up at Homecoming without arm candy. I can be that arm candy for you. In case you haven’t heard, the school newspaper called me the best-looking guy in school. Go with me to Homecoming and after that we can part ways if you want to. Use me and dump me. I’m cool with that.”
“What’s in it for you?” Payton asked suspiciously.
“The wonderful company of a beautiful girl,” I said. Then I put my lips next to her ear and whispered, “Plus, I’m betting that after spending the night dancing with me you’re going to be begging for a little post-dance action.”
A tiny shiver went through Payton’s body. It was barely perceptible but I saw it. I knew I had won. She would go with me. I leaned back, gave her a quick peck on her lips and savored the expression of shock and rage that crossed her face, and then spun on my heel and walked away.
“The tickets are on you!” Payton shouted after me. I waved back at her. Of course, I could afford to be chivalrous. I was confident that I’d be getting my money’s worth.
Things were turning around for me rapidly at Lakeville. I was the soccer team champion, I had a gorgeous date for homecoming, and Sadie had turned making out with me into a game. It was definitely a good start. When I turned the corner in the hallway and saw David, though, I recalled that there was something else I had promised to do.
David was talking to a couple girls from the girls’ varsity soccer team. I didn’t recognize their names but they were cute. Maybe David and I were related after all. I walked up to them.
David glanced over at me when he saw the girls staring at me. “Hey bud,” he said. “Good to see you. What’s up?”
“Not much,” I said. I looked at the girls.
“Oh, sorry,” David said. “This is Jenny and Vicki. Girls, this is…”
“Nate Caldwell,” Jenny said before David could finish. “Well, well, well, I didn’t know you two
Hottie List boys hung out together.”
“You want to kiss me right now, don’t you?” I said. Now that I had lined up a Homecoming date I didn’t see any reason to beat around the bush. If there was a kiss competition going on, I wasn’t going to waste my time with girls fumbling around trying to get to know me so they could get a kiss. I wanted to collect right away.
The girls looked stunned and David’s eyes seemed as if they were about to pop out of his head. Before he could say anything, however, Jenny said, “Is that an invitation?”
I knew it! There was a kiss list competition going on and these girls needed to add me to their lists. I liked the thought of them needing me. “That depends on how good a kisser you are,” I said noncommittally.
“Nate, buddy, that’s not right…” David started to saw but Jenny was not going to be deterred. She stepped up to me, touched my cheek with her hand, and then kissed me.
It was a good kiss.
A very good kiss. It lasted for about 30 seconds before she backed away.
I smiled at her but just then Vicki stepped up to me and kissed me as well. Her kiss was much more forceful. Halfway through, however, she started giggling. She broke the kiss off. The two girls walked away giggling and laughing as they exchanged comments with each other.
David looked appalled. “What… what was that all about?” he asked. “How did you… uh…”
I decided not to tell him about the
Hottie List competition. If he hadn’t found out already, he probably would as soon as other girls tried to make out with him. Besides, it was more fun to play cool and let his imagination go wild. “What can I say, man?” I said nonchalantly. “Chicks just can’t get enough of me. Hey, I wanted to ask you a favor.”
David shook his head as if he were trying to clear it. “Uh, yeah, sure, whatever you need,” he said.
It had taken me awhile to figure out something that David could help me with so I could fulfill my promise to Faith. The truth was, I didn’t really need any help from him. There was one thing, though, that I knew he loved. I figured there was nothing he would enjoy more than sharing it with me. That would make him very happy, which would make Faith happy as well.
“You know how when I got drunk you told me about wrestling and learning how to defend myself and everything?” I said. “Well, I was thinking, I don’t play a winter sport and wrestling might be a good way to stay in shape for soccer in the spring. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to teach me some moves so I’m not starting from scratch? I’m not saying I want to join the team or anything, but I figure it can’t hurt to give it a shot.”
David looked like a boy who had just gotten a puppy for Christmas. “You want me to teach you how to wrestle?” he said, unable to hide his excitement.
“Yeah, I think that’d be cool,” I said, trying not to wince. I didn’t really want to wrestle. It seemed like such an uncomfortable sport. Who wanted to roll around on a mat with another guy wearing those disgustingly tight and sweaty
singlets? Still, David was passionate about the sport, and working with me on it would give him an opportunity to show off and teach me something.
Good, I had just made both him and Faith happy. I had done my part for my Reagan siblings. Now I just needed to help Aaron out and I would be more than caught up on good deeds. Phew, being a good guy could be such hard work. I had no idea why some guys tried to be one.
“Come on, you told me you wanted to learn this stuff.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think you were going to slam me into the ground until my brains were scrambled,” I complained.
“
Don’t be a pansy,” David retorted. “Now stand still so I can show you the double leg takedown.”
I sighed and let David slam into my hips and sweep my legs out from under me, sending me tumbling to the ground.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it now. Is it my turn to take you down now?” I asked.
“Hardly.
Lesson one is two hours of me slamming you onto the mat. That’s the only way you’ll learn.”
“Shut up and stand there,” I said. “It’s my turn.”
David rolled his eyes and let me give it a go, offering suggestions of how to improve my technique as we went along. It was a lot like how I had been with Cooper, except that I was nowhere as good at wrestling as Cooper was at soccer. Still, I hated to admit, but learning how to wrestle was fun. David had a dry sense of humor that snuck up on me but was quite disarming when I got it. When I fell on him after a takedown I’d hear him mutter something about me needing to lose a few pounds in a voice just loud enough to be overheard. Every once and awhile he’d fake like he was going to poke me in the stomach and then he’d smack me lightly on the head instead when I dropped my hands. He made persistent cracks about how he must have got the looks in the family because I clearly hadn’t. In short, David was taking to the role of big brother with amazing speed.
“Bend your knees for Pete’s sake,” David muttered. “You could build massive thigh muscles if you just unlocked your knees. All that fat you’ve got on top is natural weight lifting. You’re shaped a bit like a muffin top, you know that? I don’t
umpf…” The last part of whatever David had intended to say was cut off when I initiated another takedown and drove my shoulder a little harder into his abdomen than was necessary.
Wrestling proved to be a good workout. We started free wrestling and I quickly began to sweat. We were wrestling in the school gym after soccer practice and I was already exhausted from my earlier workout. David could clearly have finished me off in a matter of seconds but he dragged the matches out. He seemed to have limitless supplies of endurance and strength. Muscles I didn’t even know I had quickly fatigued and became sore. When he slammed me down and flattened me on the mat for the zillionth time, I finally gasped, “Okay, okay, I give up. I’m finished for today.”
David laughed and leapt up to his feet. He offered me his hand and yanked me up.
“Alright, you’re a pretty decent wrestler,” I allowed. “How long have you been wrestling?”
“Well, I joined a club when I was about 10, but Dad had been teaching me the sport ever since I was big enough to walk,” David said. “Did you know he was a college D1 champ?”
Matt Reagan was a D1 champ? I had no idea. I wondered why it hadn’t come up when I had
Googled his name.
It seemed that David could read my mind. “My dad changed his last name after college,” he said. “It used to be Amundsen. His dad was something of a drunk and a crook, though. Then his dad killed somebody in a drunk driving accident and went to jail for vehicular manslaughter.
My dad decided that he didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. He changed his name to my grandma’s last name, Reagan.”
“Oh,” I said, not sure what else I could say. I guess I had always just pictured Matt as a jerk who used to be some sort of carefree playboy. I hadn’t considered that he might have his own dad issues.
“You really should talk to him,” David said. “My dad, I mean. He’s not a bad guy. He can have a hard shell but deep down he cares about his kids.”
I nodded. David recognized that I did not want to talk any more about it at that point and he thankfully changed the subject.
It was almost 8 PM by the time I got home and my stomach was growling angrily. I hoped my mom had left my dinner for me in the fridge. I wanted to be able to pop it in the microwave and have it ready to eat in five minutes or less.
When I walked into the house I saw a light on in the kitchen. Perfect. “Mom, I’m hungry…” I started to say as I walked into the kitchen.
Mom, however, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Jerry was sitting at the kitchen counter eating scrambled eggs and ham.
“Your mom is working late showing a house,” he said in an even voice. “I would have made extra eggs if I’d known you were coming home.”
“It’s no problem,” I said uneasily. I had not seen Jerry around very much recently. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was avoiding him or because he was avoiding me. Both, probably. Here he was and I couldn’t avoid him now. “I’ll just heat up some leftovers.
I looked through the fridge for food. Silence descended on the kitchen. The only sound was the clinking of Jerry’s fork against his plate. I wondered if he was looking at me. I imagined him glaring at my back and I felt goose bumps and the hairs on my arms standing up.
“So why are you so late?” Jerry said. “Soccer practice run long or something?”
“No,” I said. “I was actually working out with David Reagan.”
The name was out before I really thought about it. No, that wasn’t true. I never called David by his full name. Some part of me had tossed in the last name, wanting to annoy Jerry. After I said it, though, I immediately regretted it. The entire situation couldn’t be easy for Jerry. I didn’t dare turn around to see if he had become angry. I instinctively tensed my shoulders as if expecting him to hurl something at me.
“That’s good,” Jerry said after a moment. “You should get to know your brother.”
That surprised me. I turned around to look a Jerry.
“Sometimes you luck out with parents, sometimes you don’t,” he said seriously to me. “You should always be friends with your siblings, though. There’s no reason not to be. They don’t tell you to clean up after yourself or do your chores or go to school. You can just enjoy them and be kids together.”
I nodded. So Jerry wouldn’t mind if I hung out with David and Faith. At least that was something.
“When’s the last time you talked to Aaron?” Jerry asked.
I shrugged. “It’s been awhile,” I said. Not since I had learned who my real father was. I didn’t want to talk to Aaron about that. Even though we had both known I had a different father, this made it real, as if we were somehow not real brothers anymore.
Jerry shook his head. “You guys shouldn’t let that happen,” he said. “People drift apart in life. That’s normal. You need to make sure you don’t drift away from your own brother, though.” He sighed. “I miss him,” he said.
“I miss him too,” I said quietly.
Jerry nodded and suddenly that all bond between us – Aaron – was reestablished. “A father should never have to be away from his own son for too long,” he said. “You know, you should give some thought to talking to Matt Reagan.”
I almost fainted from shock. Jerry wanted me to talk to Matt Reagan? The last time Jerry had seen Matt he had screamed at him.
“I know it sounds odd coming from me,” Jerry said, “but the more I think about it, the more I think that a father should know his son and vice versa.” He stood up and picked up the phone. “I’m going to give Aaron a call now,” he said. “Do you want to talk to him when I’m done?”
I nodded immediately. “Absolutely,” I said.
As Jerry walked into the other room with the phone, I smiled. I didn’t really know why but I suddenly felt happy. Perhaps it was that Jerry and I had come to some sort of understanding and some of the angry tension had dissipated. It was like a weight had just been lifted off of my shoulders.
After 15 minutes Jerry walked back into the kitchen. “Here you go,” he said, handing me the phone.
“Hey bro, Coach Hayworth says I’m the best player he’s ever coached in his entire life,” I said as soon as I had the phone.
“If by best he means best at throwing back the hamburgers and being a lard ass, I’d agree with him,” Aaron retorted.
It was just like it always was. We bantered back and forth, insulting each other and laughing about it. He told me about school and classes and parties. Then, finally, I told him what Caroline had told me about homecoming and Sadie.
It turned out that Aaron had been thinking about homecoming as well. I listened as he told me exactly how he wanted to surprise Sadie. When I had heard his plan, I groaned. He had definitely fallen for that troublesome girl. No dude ever even thought of a surprise like the one Aaron had unless he loved a girl with every little bit of his whole heart