“Nope. We’re teammates who are …” I shudder. “Dating. I guess. Fucking?”
“Is that why you haven’t invited him to stay with us in New York?”
“No.” Yes.
“Well, you should.”
“And you should shut up.”
“Is it the gay, bisexual, whatever label you are thing? Because Mom and Dad aren’t due to get back until next week. You could, like, show him around New York.”
I lean against the wall. “Why are you pushing this?”
“Because you like him! I can tell. Don’t you want to spend all your time with him? I miss that brand-new relationship feeling, where it’s all bedtime cuddles and sex—”
I cover my ears. “Lalalalala. No. My little sister doesn’t have sex.”
She laughs. “Uh-huh. Sure she doesn’t. Just like you don’t have a thing for guys.”
“I don’t have a thing for guys. I have a thing for Topher.”
“Aww, I’m so right. Invite him.”
“I already feel bad enough for inviting myself to stay at his farm on the way back. I’ve messed with his summer plans enough as it is.”
“Chickenshit.”
“… Virgin!”
“Am not,” she sings.
“You always will be in my eyes.”
“Are we ready to go?” she asks, putting the final things in her bag.
“I’ve been waiting for you to finish packing for half an hour. So yeah, I’m ready to go.”
We had to clean out the dorms like we would end of year seeing as we don’t get our new housing allocations until the first day back. It would be so much easier if we could keep the same rooms considering not much will change in this lot of dorms—what’s essentially the jock building. Football team, hockey team … I guess the school wants to put all the big smelly boys in the one space.
I give Baby the keys to my car to go take the last of her stuff down—mine’s already there—and take one last inspection of the room, making sure I didn’t forget anything or leave stuff behind.
On the way out, I take the stairs to stop by Jacobs’s room to see if he’s ready, but when I get there, the door’s wide open and all his stuff is gone.
I pull out my phone, and there’s a text saying he’ll meet us at the car. He’s dumping his stuff at a friend’s place.
I don’t think much of it until I get outside and see him climbing out of a car that looks like Grant’s. The driver looks like Grant, but I thought he was in Canada?
Jacobs reaches me and smiles. “Hey, I’m all set.”
“Who was that?” I nod to the retreating car.
“Grant’s brother. His twin, actually. They look nothing alike, huh?”
“I dunno. From where I’m standing, they looked nearly identical. I didn’t even know Grant had a twin.”
“You don’t pay attention much, do you? That guy’s been at all our home games for the last three years.”
I shrug. “I wasn’t close to Grant. Kinda hard to be when his best friend hated my guts.”
“Grant’s best friend is an asshole.”
“He used to be. Is Grant’s brother queer too?” Yeah, hard to miss the growl in that.
Jacobs tries to hide his amusement. “Nope, but even if he was, would it matter?”
“I … guess not.” This jealousy thing is new. Have to say, don’t like it.
“The Grants let me dump all my stuff at their place while I go home. It’s so much easier than carting it back and forth.”
“Come to New York with me,” I blurt.
He’s taken aback. “You want that?”
“He does!” Baby calls from where she’s trying to shove her luggage into the car. “He’s been whining about asking you!”
I rub the back of my neck. “She’s lying. Uh, about the whining. But, uh, yeah, I want you to come to New York.”
Jacobs smiles. “I can for a few days, but I promised my parents I’d be back in time to help them with the beginning of harvest season until I have to go back to school.”
“I … I mean, I’ve already invited myself to your place, but I mean, I could help with that too?”
Jacobs’s face lights up. Probably because this stammering isn’t me. “My parents will love you for it. They need all the help they can get, even with my three brothers being there.”
“Do you need to check with them first?”
“Nah. I’ll just let them know I’ll be a few days late.” He takes out his phone and taps away.
I take a deep breath. This is big.
Mom and Dad won’t be there, but in the three years I’ve been at this school, I’ve never invited anyone into my real life like this.
I have friends—good friends—on the team, but none I want to bring home to reality.
Minus my stupid business classes, college has been separate from my life in New York and the expectations that go with that.
“Are you sure you want me to come to New York? You look like you’re gonna be sick.”