JAMIE
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Trevor asks for the third time as we leave the locker room.
"Positive," I nod. My family couldn't make it in town for the holidays and I think Trevor feels bad. He's been inviting me to everything his family does since the moment they got here.
Since we played an early game today, his parents are going to a nice dinner after while him and his siblings go to a sports bar to watch the rest of the NHL games on tonight. Then they're all coming to our place tonight, to have some "sibling fun" as Trevor said. What that means I have no clue, but I do know it means Kendall will be there.
We're walking down the hallway to do a couple post game interviews when his family approaches us, with a security guard at the lead.
"Good game," His dad pats him on the back, "You too," he shoots me a quick smile and nod.
"Thank you," I nod at him.
Trevor's family starts to all surround him as they talk about the game. Except for Kendall, who stops me before I keep walking away. Her hand is on my arm before I can get too far.
"Hey, are you okay? That fight was pretty intense," she asks, and her bright green eyes are soft and full of concern. Her hand lingers on my arm for second before it's back at her side.
"Yeah," I shrug my shoulders turning to face her, which hurts because every part of my body is sore from the game. It was an extra tense game tonight, but every game is, especially against the Kings.
"Your lip's busted," her eyes are on my lips and now mine are on hers, they're glossy and I can't look away.
"Not the first time," I force my eyes back to her's. I need to get away before I do something I shouldn't, because all a I wanna do is reach out and touch her. But she's like a piece of art in a museum, I have to stay three feet back.
"Are you coming to dinner with us?" She asks, almost sounding hopeful.
"I can't, I have plans with some friends." It's not a lie, I last minute made plans with some friends just to get out of dinner because I think Trevor would of dragged me with.
"But you'll be back later right?"
"Yeah," I nod, "What exactly does 'sibling fun' even mean?" I chuckle.
"Movies, snacks, the boys will probably wrestle while Ava and I egg them on," she smiles.
I shake my head, "I have to run, but I'll see you later," I start to walk away.
"Want me to get Trev?"
"Tell him he's got five minutes," I nod.
She nods at me with a smile before turning back to her family.
KENDALL
"Okay now that the parents are gone," I smirk at Trevor who's sitting across from me at the table. We've ordered almost every appetizer on this bar's menu so the table is filled with plates. "I wanna hear all the R rated stories!"
"Of course you do," Trevor laughs picking up a fry then turning to Griffin, "I wanna hear about Ole Miss!"
"She asked first," Griffin counters picking up one of the onion rings.
Trevor shakes his head but goes onto tell us about the people he's met in town and the local college parties he and Jamie get into now. He's a social butterfly, he could make friends with a wall so I'm not surprised by anything he says.
When he's done it's Griffin's turn to tell stories about being away at college, even Ava gives a few stories. And I just sit and listen until all three of my siblings look at me.
"How's good ole Bedford?" Trevor asks taking a sip of his water.
I shrug, looking down at the side salad I ordered in front of me, "It's the same as it always is." Then I paste on a big smile, "Last week Miss Cameron came into Mom's shop, Jackie's pregnant again, so she put in a big order of stuff for the baby shower."
"That's baby three for Jackie right?" Ava asks. I nod.
"Three kids? Isn't she only like twenty-three?" Griffin asks.
I nod again, "Her and John have been together since high school though."
God, that should be Connor and I. Okay maybe not the three kids but high school sweethearts, engaged at least by now. But evidently that's not what the universe has planned for me, instead I'm gonna live at home with my parents forever.
"Wait how's Mal?" Griffin asks.
Mal, or Mallory, is my best friend, has been since the third grade. She and Griffin dated for a very short three weeks our freshman year, they weren't a bad couple but were just better as friends.
"She's loving the city," I stuff my mouth with food.
I don't want to talk about this.
Mallory got into the Fashion Institute of Technology our senior year of high school and when she left it sucked so so so much because she was my last friend in our small town. But she comes to visit a lot and I go into the city to see her a lot but it still sucks not having her just a few streets away.
"Uhm," I hum, "She's loving her classes and roommates and everything."
Mallory has wanted to be a fashion designer since we were kids, she's always known what she wanted to do, unlike me. She's been trying to get into FIT since we were in eighth grade so it was no shock when she got in.
I thought maybe I wanted to be a designer too for a bit but Mallory tried to teach me to sew and I sucked at it, so I thought maybe merchandising but after looking into that I said no because I'm not a numbers person at all.
"Oh my god! What about Dustin?" Ava asks. Dustin is one of her ex's who also never left Bedford.
The next hour is them just asking me about random people from our small hometown and I hate every second of it. I love Bedford but it's not the same without my siblings there.
-
We're back at Trevor's house and everyone's changed into comfy clothes as we argue over what movie to put on while we play Uno.
Ava and I have given up on our choices, The Game Plan or Black Widow. We're now just letting Griffin and Trevor argue between Die Hard and Grown Ups.
My phone starts to vibrate on the couch beside me, I pick it up and look at the screen. Damn it.
"I'll be right back," I tell Ava as I quickly stand up, sliding my shoes on and walking out to the garage.
"What do you want, Connor?" I answer the call.
"Kenny!" Connor's voice tells me everything I need to know, he's drunk. It's nine-thirty here in California, meaning it's about one-thirty am back in New York.
"I miss you," he mumbles, there's some yelling in the background, he's probably at some house party with his friends, "Can I see you soon?"
"You need to go to bed, Con," I sigh leaning against the wall of the house.
"Come on baby!"
I know I shouldn't of picked up his call but I couldn't help myself.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he slurring and mumbling, "Just please."
"Connor, I'm calling Davey and telling him to get you home," I cross my other arm across chest with a sigh.
"Can't you come get me?"
"Con, I'm in California," I know he knows because we ran into each other at the grocery store a week ago and talked about this exact trip.
"Oh shit! Yeah! Tell Trevor I say hi!"
"I will." No I won't, none of my siblings are going to know who I was on the phone with.
Griffin never liked Connor. Ava said she did but I don't believe she ever did. Trevor and Connor seemed to always get along but Trevor gets along with everyone. So I don't know what to believe.
When they all found out about him cheating on me they all decided he was the worst person on the planet. But I also know they're hating of him was all from a place of love and wanting to protect me.
Being the youngest sucks. They always treat me like some fragile little girl who can't take care of herself. They even treat Griffin like he's older then me. Which he is but only by ten minutes!
And I get it, they all want the best for me but after five years with Connor it was hard to throw it all away after one night. But I always told myself I wouldn't date a cheater because I watched Trevor go through that rollercoaster with his first girlfriend. And yet here I am riding a similar rollercoaster.
Shouldn't it be easy to let go when someone hurts you? It should but it's so hard. I hate feelings.
"Baby," my heart cracks at his soft voice, "Please take me back, I miss you, I didn't mean to do what I did. I fucked up. Please."
"Connor, we're not talking about this when you're drunk," I know I should not be giving him any sense of hope but he's drunk, he won't even remember he called in the morning.
The garage door starts to open, startling me at first.
"Connor, I have to go," I sigh as a grey car pulls in next to Trevor's black BMW.
"Don't hang up," he whines.
I watch Jamie get out of the car once he's parked. He's in jeans and a t-shirt but looks so good. And the ache I feel in my chest seeing Jamie gives me some hope that one day I'll be fully over Connor.
"Bye, Con," I sigh, pulling the phone away from my ear and hanging up.
"Who was that?" Jamie asks.
"My ex," I sigh pushing my fingers through my hair, "I don't even know why I answered."
And I don't know why I'm telling Jamie this either.
"What'd he want?" Jamie asks leaning against the side of his car.
"Doesn't matter," I shake my head.
"Uhm don't tell them, please," I point over my shoulder, "They don't know that he calls me still."
"Why do you answer?" He asks, sounding actually interested.
"Because I'm stupid, but it doesn't matter," I quickly pull myself back together, forcing any thoughts of Connor to the back of my head.
I gesture over my shoulder, "Uhm we're about to start a game of Uno inside if you wanna play."
"Yeah, I need to run to my room quick but deal me in," he flashes me that perfect smile that makes a smile pull at the edges of my mouth. I nod at him turning back towards the door that leads inside.