family vacations we took together during Thanksgiving break. I’m a freshman and Ryan’s a senior and I’m pretty sure it was a last-ditch effort between my mom and dad to make things right between them, but it didn’t work. I remember them arguing a lot. Mom drinking a lot. Things were tense between them. You can see the strain in my dad’s eyes. My mom’s tight lips and glassy stare. Even Ryan looks like he’d rather be anywhere but there.
Me? I’m smiling wide and looking like a cheesy motherfucker having the time of his life in Hawaii. I look oblivious to the tension, though I wasn’t. It was just easier to pretend none of that was happening.
I remember hooking up with a cute girl who was a year older than me. Sixteen to my fifteen. She taught me to slow down with kissing, use less tongue and not be so eager. I owe that chick a lot.
I don’t even remember her name.
I set the frame down, hating the melancholy that washes over me, slowing my steps. Darkening my mood. My family broke apart soon after that photo was taken. I could blame my dad for cheating on my mom, but let’s be real. They were both at fault, always playing the blame game.
Now look at us. I’m alone in this giant house. I have no idea where Mom is right now. My father hasn’t lived here in a couple of years and I rarely see him. When I do, he yells at me. Ryan is like a ghost. He just up and disappeared. Went away to college and never came back.
Fucking sucks. I miss him.
Once I’m back in my room, I grab my phone and send Ryan a quick text.
You need to call me tomorrow. We have a lot to talk about.
That’s all I say. I hope it’s enough to scare him. At the very least, concern him. Fill him with curiosity. I’m tired of being treated badly by every important person in my life. I need people to step up.
At least my girl finally did.
My phone dings, and I check it eagerly, ready to see a response from Ryan. But it’s not my brother who’s texting.
It’s Ava.
The coast is clear. My family is gone. You can come over whenever you want.
I feel like her text is loaded with innuendo. Or maybe that’s my horny side reminding me that it would be real easy to get Ava naked in her room.
But will she let me?
Guess I’m gonna find out in approximately thirty minutes.
I make it up to her neighborhood by the lake in what feels like record time, my engine roaring as I floor it, while climbing the mountain highway. Even though summer’s long over, the tourists still come out on Saturdays and drive like assholes. Tour-ons is what my dad used to call them instead of morons, though it’s not like we’ve lived up here for decades and have the right to call them that. All the locals do. But the majority of businesses need those tourists to survive, so they shouldn’t complain.
Honestly? I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here. I didn’t grow up here, I have no real ties to this place. Everyone knows my business anyway. Small town vibes kill my big-time dreams on what feels like a daily basis.
By the time I’m pulling into the Callahan driveway, I’m nervous. Which is a foreign sensation because come on. What do I have to be nervous about? The Callahans aren’t even here so I have no one to impress. My girl is the only one who’s waiting for me in that house. The nerves will really kick in by the time we arrive at the stadium. I’ll have to get myself under control and hope I don’t make a complete ass out of myself.
Though I’ve been making an ass out of myself for the last few months and I’m sure every single person we’ll be hanging with tonight has witnessed it at one point or another. So fuck it.
I’ll just be me.
I jog up to the front door and push the doorbell, the chimes ringing loudly. I shove my hands into the front pockets of my jeans and look around. The neighborhood is quiet. No one’s outside. The only sound is a bird calling in the distance and if you really concentrate, I can hear the roar of a boat engine out on the water.
The door suddenly swings open and I turn back around only