Rewriting History

He looks exactly like me when I was fifteen: tall, lean, muscular, good-looking . . . I bet he’s a real winner with the ladies.

Pulling my cap down to cover part of my face, I watch as the group starts their warm-up run around the track, which is conveniently going to end past the bleachers. As they get close, Aaron looks at me and slows down, recognition flickering in his eyes. I can’t describe how I’m feeling. It’s a mixture of excitement and dread, because I so badly want to know more about him, but I’m scared about fucking this up. I have one chance to get this right and in some strange way, this is my chance to fix things with Dad.

“Aaron, what are you doing?” one of his teammates yells out.

He shakes his head and looks at them. Picking up his pace, he looks at me once more before joining his friends. My heart pounds faster as he moves further away from me.

I stay and watch the whole session. I can’t force myself to leave. He is a talented player, and he’ll be scouted for college if he keeps up with the training. He doesn’t look at me again, and when the game finishes he packs up and walks off the field without acknowledging me.

Even though know I’m not ready to start any kind of relationship with him, it hurts, because I never considered that he might not want anything to do with me.

I look down at my phone, still open to his Facebook profile. My hands shake as I click ‘friend request.’ It’s a small step, but I feel like it’s something. I don’t know when I’ll be ready to take a bigger step toward getting to know my brother—or if he even wants to—but at least I’ve done something.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jill

Lying in bed with Eli, I hear my phone ringing in my bag. Eli is running his hand softly up and down my naked back, so I purposely miss the call. One minute later, the phone rings again.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just leave a damn message,” I groan.

Eli laughs as I jump out of bed and retrieve the phone, answering without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello,” I growl and run back into bed to straddle Eli’s lap.

“Guess what??” Alice screams in my ear.

Eli grows hard underneath me as I gently grind myself against him, and that claims more of my concentration than the voice on the phone.

“What?” I’m only half listening as Eli’s hands make their way to my breasts and squeeze. I put my hand over the speaker of the phone so she doesn’t hear me moan.

“I got a scholarship to UC freaking LA!”

That forces me out of my sexual cloud. I scream, Alice screams, and Eli covers his ears, shaking his head as he laughs.

“Oh my gosh, Eli, did you hear that?” I scream, speaking at a million miles an hour.

“Yes,” he chuckles, his fingers rolling over my erect nipples. “I think the whole damn building heard.” He smirks at me, his dark eyes narrowing. “Tell Alice I said congrats, and that you need to go now so I can make you scream again.”

“Al, I gotta go,” I say, laughing as he tickles me.

Without waiting for her response, he rips the phone from my ear and throws it on the floor. For a brief moment I wonder if he pushed the end button before he threw it, but then I’m distracted by everything Eli.

We laze around in bed for the rest of the day, making the most of our time together. Eli has insisted on a couple of days apart so I could spend time with other students celebrating the end of school. I don’t see the point, given I don’t have many friends, but I don’t fight it.

“Have you thought any more about contacting Aaron?” I ask softly as he cradles me in his arms. I kiss his shoulder.

He shakes his head. “I want to, but it feels too soon, you know? I want to get my head right and get over the issues I had with Dad before I take that step.” He pauses. “I did add him as a friend of Facebook and he accepted. But I think that’s all for the moment. Maybe once we’re settled and you’re in college I’ll call him.”

I nod and lift myself up to his lips. However he wants to do this, I’ll be there for him.

***

When I’m halfway through baking a cake, Mom and Dad walk into the kitchen and sit on the kitchen stools. Mom is holding a few envelopes in her hand with a smile on her face.

“Jilly baby . . .” My eyes widen as Mom holds up three envelopes. “These came this morning.”

Excited, I throw the spatula in the bowl and race around the table, snatching up the envelopes. I pray to a higher being that I’ve been accepted into the college I want.