First Chances (28 page)

            “No, I don’t think so, Jare.”

            He started heading in the direction of whatever he had heard and I followed behind, quietly as well. I took a few steps and then I heard it, the adamant, but weak voice of someone saying no.

            If there was something I could never stand, it was a guy taking advantage of a girl. I moved past Jack faster, no longer willing to be slow or quiet. I heard the guy’s voice, trying to charm the girl. I heard him say, “You could make out with me.”

            I came upon them. Alex Riley was there in front of me. He saw me and stepped in front of the girl. I wasn’t sure who she was. I couldn’t help it. I laughed at such a weak, pathetic line. I had no problem letting him know.

            “That your line. You could make out with me?” I should have said pathetic after it. Instead I opted with, “You douche bag.”

            He narrowed his eyes at me. “She wants to make out with me,” was his retort. I knew who he was. He was a basketball player and I was thankful I wasn’t a basketball player. I was sure I couldn’t start the season having beat up a teammate.

            “No, she doesn’t. Let her by,” Jack said. These two might not hear it in his voice, but I did. Jack wasn’t for fighting, but he was ready. There was a steadiness about his voice, a calmness that people should have been more afraid of.

            I reached for her, this girl we were becoming champions for. It was time to remove her from the scene. I reached for her, and Alex swatted away my hand. I crunched both sets of my knuckles together.

            “Not a good idea.” At this point, he started to get it. Jack said something over my shoulder about not wanting to fight. He meant it, but I thought the guy kind of deserved it. I felt Jack’s hand touch my shoulder. If Alex swung, he would fight. But he didn’t want me to swing first. I pulled the girl away from Alex and Jack moved her behind us.

            “Don’t go back to the party. If I get drunk, I’m going to find you,” I said instead.

            “You can’t tell me what to do,” he said like a child.

            “Nope, but I can tell you it’s going to happen. I’m not much for lying.”

            “Just leave, Alex,” came Jack. “I don’t feel like fighting tonight.”

            He finally got the hint and walked away.

            We turned at the same time to the girl and asked in unison, “Are you okay?”

            She nodded and I felt bad for her. I wasn’t sure who she was yet, but I could tell she was young, probably inexperienced and Alex had seemed like an okay guy. Too bad I was forever going to remember him as a douche bag.

            “You come here with someone?” Jack asked.

            “Yeah,” she replied in a whisper.

            “Let’s go find your friend,” I said.

            She walked between us, and before we reached the fire a very quiet, “Thank you” came out of her mouth.

            I should have said, “You’re welcome.”

            I looked at her and thought she was a beautiful girl from her profile. Young, a freshman maybe, but beautiful. She was scanning the crowd for her friend and pointed at the friend when she found her. The girl was wrapped around a guy. We walked her over and she looked at both of us and said thank you again.

            Her eyes. They were a smoky color, and I knew it wasn’t an effect of the fire.

            “Let’s go, Jare,” Jack said and I followed him, walking away from her.

            “
I really need to go see her. I need to apologize.”

            “Maybe this will be your get out of jail free card. But you like her?”

            “I think she’s hot and she’s not an underclassman anymore.”

            He laughs.

“I need to go apologize.”

            “Maybe when you aren’t so hungover and look more like a human again.”

            I laugh a single laugh. He’s probably right.

            “How’s your dad, really, Jack?” I ask, because while my flop with Nicole is not good, she’s not at the forefront of the pressing situations in my life. Zach Monroe is.

            “Jare, my dad’s going to be fine.”

            “Seriously? It’s not just a load of crap you’re feeding to people?”

            “He’s going to be fine as long as he does what the doctors say. Less stress. Some physical therapy. I’m going to pick up the business end stuff so he can focus on getting physically strong again. But my mom will make sure he does what he’s supposed to. Jared, my dad’s going to be fine.”

            “I know,” I say quickly, unwilling to say that I am worried. Zach is young and already had a heart attack. He’s a good man who has worked all his life and now he’s going to have health problems. His family has to deal and worry with this. It shouldn’t happen to someone like him.

            My dad on the other hand is probably stumbling around, destroying his liver in a bar somewhere and blissfully will continue to do this until he dies at the age of ninety-eight. Shit, he’ll probably outlive me.

            I haven’t thought about my dad in a long time. I had learned at a young age to push thoughts of him out. And thoughts of my mother flood my memories; a broken and beaten woman with my eyes. I don’t know how she stayed as long as she did with a man who beat her every time he got drunk, which was every night. I’m not mad she left; I’m furious she left me behind.

            I don’t know where she is to this day, but I wonder if she would ever come back looking for me or if the thought of running into my old man is too much for her. She has no idea that he’s not in South Shore. He disappeared too.

            He only tried to hit me that first night. I hit him back and ran to Jack’s house clear on the other side of town. He snuck me in his bedroom window, but in the morning, Mrs. Monroe called us both down for breakfast.

            When I went back home, my father grumbled at me the same hurtful words he had yelled and screamed at my mother. I hated him. I hated the life the two of them gave me. A life that the Monroe family tried to get me away from. I had stayed with them for days on end and now Zach was dealing with recovery, heading down a road of who knows what.

            “Hello, earth to Jared.” Jack waves his hand in front of my face.

            “Sorry,” I say.

            “Thinking about your dad?”

            “You mean the sperm donor?” I say with a laugh, but Jack gives me a patient look. “Yeah.”

            “People can’t always help who they become.”

            “No, but they can make a choice to change. He didn’t. I’m glad he’s gone.”