Best Friends Brother │ Quinn Hughes

chapter 2

***Flashback***

"Jack I told you I was better," I said as I had Jack pinned up against the boards, "Now say it! Wesley is better than the JACK HUGHES"

"Never!" He said with a chuckle breaking away from my pin.

It was January 2nd, my 12th birthday. Jack and I were playing our annual hockey game on his backyard rink. It had to have been -10 degrees outside. Our gloves gripped the stick hard and our skates glided fast on the ice. I had known how to skate since I was a child, I grew up only four doors down from the Hughes family so I met Jack when I was young, we became inseparable from the day we met.

"You will admit it someday J," I said skating back up to Jack, who was now puck handling towards the net.

"Someday!" He replied.

****end of flashback****

"Wes!" I was shaken awake by Luke who was standing over me with a sad look on his face.

"Hey, Luke," I replied sliding my body up against the backboard of Jack's bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't feel, I am numb."

"I am always here for you...you know that right?"

I nodded my head. As he started walking towards the door he said...

"You were better than him."

"What?"

"He never said it to your face but, he knew you were better than him at hockey growing up," Luke said as he walked out the door. I smiled. I got out of bed and headed toward Jack's bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day. The hot shower felt great and my mood started to improve by the end of it. I grabbed his sweatpants, ones he saved for me a couple of years ago since I would fit into them now. I also grabbed a shirt and headed downstairs.

"Good morning Wes!" Ellen said, wrapping me up in a tight hug. "I know this is hard honey." I stepped back out of the hug and smiled a small smile at her, acknowledging what she had said. Luke was now on the couch eating fruit loops watching cartoons... Tom and Jerry of course. I sat near Luke, not wanting to bother him. A small tear fell as I thought about Jack and I watching cartoons before he left for the rink on Saturday mornings.
"Come here," Luke said patting his lap, you move closer and put your head on his lap and quietly cried.
"Morning Lukey, Morning W..." Quinn said mumbling as he walked into the living room, I look up to see Luke wide-eyed with concern. I was pissed.
"You don't get to call me that Quinn!" I yelled. W was Jack's nickname for me, no one but him ever used it. It felt so wrong when someone else would. Quinn opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it and walked away. I put my head back down to allow Luke to squeeze me tighter against his body and play with my hair.

"I miss him so much Luke, why didn't he just take me with him. It's not like I would have done anything with his friends and I don't bite." I whispered only so Luke could hear, laughing a bit at the end.
After about an hour of crying and laying my head on Luke, I decided it was time to get my shit together and try to make my mood a little better.
It was cold enough out for the rink to be still frozen so I asked Luke if he wanted to play a pickup game and he agreed.
I laced up my skates, the memories of my laces came flooding in.

****flashback****

"Hey bender, nice laces!" A boy about the same age as Jack and I yelled from across the rink.

"Jack doesn't start." You plead with your best friend who was now clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white and his face tomato red. The laces were for him. Blue, is Jack's favorite color. It was my good luck charm!

"Fuck you dickhead! She is better than you Bryce!" He screamed as he raced over to the boy, laying him right out and then punching him in the nose. I had to laugh as he skated back to me.

"No one messes with my girl"

I was always going to Jack's girl until his next girl came along. His next girl would be the one he married or his daughter. I had always been his number one and he was mine.

****end of flashback****

"I'm sorry Quinten was being a dick, he has never really known how to act around you," Luke said.

"Why?"

"You've always been there for me and Jack, and Quinn has rarely. I don't think he is jealous but I'm thinking he is regretting how much of Jack and I's life he hasn't been aparta part of. His success is amazing and he loves how his life has become but I also think he wishes time didn't fly this fast." Luke was now looking at his feet. Did Luke ever feel like that? Did Jack?

After an hour of playing the puck, Luke and I went inside to warm up, get hot cocoa, and watch a movie, Luke and I snuggled up against each other for warmth and comfort, same as we had done this morning.

"He,y can I watch?" Quinn said as he sat down right at the end of my feet. I nodded along with Luke, still thinking about what had happened earlier and the events that happened last night. I hadn't been at Quinn in that way ever. Handsome. He was much more muscular now and his face wasn't so cheeky anymore. I was caught in my thoughts for what felt like hours until I got a slight nudge in the arm by Luke who made me realize that I had been staring right at Quinn this entire time. I saw a slight smirk on Quinn's face before I turned my head to the inside of Luke, my back now facing towards the tv. Embarrassed and tired, my eyes became heavy as I drifted off to sleep.