This wasn't quite what I had expected as my mother pulled into the driveway of our new house. We had been living in Evanwood, Indiana for a few years. It was the year that my brother Riku started high school. My mother spotted a huge opportunity for her cell phone company and relocated to the area from St. Louis.
A few days ago, she told us we would be moving again. It wasn't to a new city, thankfully, I had worked my tail off to make the friends I had and Riku was happier than I'd ever seen him. My younger sisters Keira and Rinoa both had a few friends and were about to embark on their first years in middle school, it wasn't the right time, in my opinion to uproot the family from a place we had started to finally accept.
I clambered out of the car and observed the three story house from the street. I looked to my grandmother, who didn't seem near as thrilled as my sisters or my mother to be here. I smiled lightly as I heard the rumbling of Riku's crappy truck roll up behind us. He stepped out and took off his sunglasses.
Let me start by saying that I have nothing but respect for my brother. He's dealt with quite a bit in his life. He was the one that was really affected by the divorce of mom and dad. He's the one who had taken up watching over his younger sisters when Mom went on her drinking binges. He was near 6 foot tall and had a great build. I can say that in a non-sexual way because he's my brother. I can also say that I've always admired how he can be so quiet, yet so loud about things. He lets his body language talk a lot. If you were to ever meet him, and get to know him. He talks a lot, his face doesn't show much emotion though and if he's tense, you move out of the way because his warpath knows no boundaries.
“Big son-of-a-bitch.” He managed to say as he looked over to his friend Jeff, ignoring my Mother who was shouting for the use of such language in her presence.
I had always had the feeling that Mom hadn't come here to get a break with her phone company. I always thought it was that she was afraid in St. Louis. She had gotten caught up in some trouble with a few people. She had turned to drugs and alcohol after we moved. The stress just got to her, a divorce, a move. Keira and Rinoa? They're not my full sisters. She brought us here, she had been attending church, now she was wrapped up in God.
“Holy shit dude.” I could hear Jeff whispering to Riku and I turned and smiled lightly at them. Jeff was one of Riku's teammates on the hockey team. He was a larger build than Riku, but he was no slouch on the ice. He was quite speedy, though he rarely needed to turn on the burners. He played defense and it took maybe four seconds after meeting him to see why. He was mean as the devil himself.
Jeff cared only about himself. I know that because he not only came off as a complete ass, but I had seen him around Riku and Riku brought out the best in him, and it wasn't that big of a difference. “You're so fucking lucky.” He muttered again. Yeah, he could be jealous too.
“Hey! Showron!” I heard behind me and turned down the street to see a similar sized kid walking our way. Riku and Jeff both were about the same size as him and I definitely recognized Tyler Henderson. He was cute, I had a crush on him, but this thing isn't about me. Riku smiled at him and touched knuckles with him as Jeff just kind of stood there.
“Great, you live by this dickhead.” I heard Jeff say as I walked up to the three. Ty said nothing in reply. There were two things one needed to know about Ty, first, he hated confrontation. He would avoid it like the plague if he could, unless he was on the ice. Second, I have never met a more shy person when it came to girls. This kid would literally faint, if a cute girl so much as waved at him. Sadly, I'm not exaggerating.
“Jeff, shut up.” Riku replied. He knew his best friend could be callous. “Nice job today...” Of course, Riku never had been much better. To say that my brother wasn't an egotisical prick half the time would be a lie. Tyler didn't know that, and frankly, it was quite possible that Riku had actually forgotten his name.
“Ty.” I interjected with a slight roll of my eyes and the poor guy blushed a bit.
“Right, Henderson.” He said. “Defenseman if I'm not mistaken, showed Jeff up today.” He smirked and glanced at Jeff as he looked ready to explode. Ty smiled as he was acknowledged by Riku.
“Thanks, I just wanted to tell you welcome to the neighborhood.” He started to turn around to walk away.
“Good luck this season.” Riku replied as he reached into the bed of his truck to withdraw a large box full of what I assumed was his clothes. Jeff looked at him.
“I don't like him.” He said as soon as Ty was out of earshot.
“Course you don't. That'd involve liking someone potentially better than you.” Riku said with a smirk. He was trying to get a rise out of his friend and the thing that amazed me, was just how easily Jeff got riled up.
“Please Riku, I'm the best defenseman on the team.” He said with a glare at the back of Ty's head. One thing was for sure, Jeff was very defensive over this. He had noticed Ty was good.
“Riku and Kari, get in here and help unpack!” As if on cue my mother summoned us. I was surprised it had taken her this long. Riku waited for her to get back inside the house as he flipped the bird behind her back.
“Stupid woman.” He muttered. It wasn't that Riku didn't love mom, he did, well, he didn't seem to respect her near as much as he used to.
By this point, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm going on such a long spiel about my brother and the guys on his team, well that question is very easily answered. The first day this year, I was told I had a list of projects, one of which involved shadowing a club. Naturally, I chose one that I could be around forever, hockey. Not because I myself play, it just runs in my family. My grandpa was a broadcaster in the 1960s for the Montreal Canadiens after his own career had ended. My dad is the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks after his ended. My brother is one of the best players at his level. Specifically, I want to be able to tell his story if something happens someday and he isn't capable of doing so himself. I'm not going to sit here and lie and say that it's a remarkable one. It'll have humor, it'll have seriousness. I say this before I write it all down because I simply know how my brother is.
