Always (Bold As Love 4)

“Make your wishes, Drake. Wish for whatever you'd like and then make a wish for someone else.”

Drake squeezes his eyes closed as Mom begins to sing happy birthday and everyone joins in. His face is packed with concentration and once it's time, he blows out all the candles.

“I wonder what she said,” Drake comments, fascinated by the forgotten memory.

“She told you to make your wishes. One for you and then one for someone else. She would tell me the same thing.”

We continue to watch as everyone gets a slice of cake and Dad zooms the camera on my fourteen year old self.

“Dad, quit!” I said, holding my hand up in front of the lens. “It's bad enough that I'm spending my day with a bunch of four year olds. You don't have to capture it on camera.”

“Oh, lighten up, Jake,” Mom said with a pat on the shoulder. “Your brother only turns four once and you can go on a date with Amy any time.”

“Whatever,” I grumbled.

Dad laughed and we watch as he follows Drake around for the rest of the day. By the time Drake is opening his presents on the TV, this Drake has fallen asleep on Emily.

“I guess I better get him to bed,” I whisper.

“You are the sweetest big brother ever,” she says just as quietly with a kiss on the cheek.

Emily leans away from me so I can stand. I pick a deadweight Drake up and carry him to his room, tucking him in and leaving him. Emily turned the TV off and is already in our bed. I close our door and turn off the light. Once my eyes adjust, I walk over and crawl into bed beside her. Sweetness tangles herself with me and squeezes.

“That was so nice, love.”

“Those were happy times. Let's get some sleep, Sweetness.”

37

Emily

It's going to be forever until I get used to this city. All I have to say is I'm thankful for the invention of a built in GPS on my phone Without it, I wouldn't have made it to the school I'm going to attend. It's pack with other people wanting to register for classes and I can't wait to get this process over with. It takes two hours. Two hours! By the time I return, Jake and Drake are enjoying the benefits of wifi and cable. Drake is on the recliner and Jake is sitting on the left hand side of the couch. I turn away from him and fall back onto the couch, landing my head in his lap.

“What's up, Sweetness? All registered for school?”

“Yep. I left all the books and schedule and stuff in my car though. I need a nap.”

He smiles and leans down to kiss my forehead. Shutting my eyes, I attempt to sleep while listening to Phineas and Ferb in the background. The next month feels like a weird dream. I hear from Dad every other day, go to school, carry Drake to and from school, do homework, and take Drake to his hockey practice. It's actually lessons for now. He goes five times a week for lessons and even then, that's not enough for him. He wants to go every day for hours at a time. He wants to learn and be good at it.

Jake, on the other hand, has been swept up in living his dream. Sometimes he leaves before us, but usually he leaves after we do. Most of the time, he gets home a little after we do unless it's game day. By that time, we're in bed. With the preseason just ending, Jake is loving life and living on cloud nine. It's wonderful seeing him so happy. That seems to be the only emotion he knows lately. Happy. Never anything but happy.

Drake and I try to make his home games, but one of us always seems to have something going on. Jake told us both that our schooling comes first so if we have a lot of work to do, we're at home. It's usually my workload that keeps us from going. However, with the start of the regular season, Drake and I make the effort to be at the home games. I can stand to lose some sleep doing homework anyway. Tonight is game night, also my birthday, and Jake is back in North Carolina. He sent flowers to the house and sang to me over the phone this morning. Then he sent me on a wild hunt around the apartment to find my present, which was a wedding ring charm for my bracelet.

“Drake! C'mon! The game is starting,” I yell from the couch.

“I'm coming. I'm coming,” he says as he walks out of his room and plops onto opposite end of the couch.

Jake has been playing some, but tonight is a big night. He's starting. Drake and I watch and watch, never leaving the couch. We yell and high five when Jake's team scores. We're down to the final minute of the last period and the game is tied 2-2. I don't know about Drake, but for me this feels like a playoff game. I'm exploding with nerves and my gut is saying that something good is going to happen. Jake has the puck and is making his way across the ice. He passes it and then it's passed back to him. Three seconds remain in the game and I'm on the edge of the couch.

“C'mon,” I say under my breath just as Jake shoots with a second left.

“GOAL!” the announcer yells on the TV. I scream and jump up. “Jake Benson of the Chicago Blackhawks makes his first NHL goal and the game winning one at that.”

The announcers keep talking, but I don't hear them. Drake and I high five and I see my love grinning ear to ear as the camera zooms in on him with his teammates surrounding him. The game ends and my love scored the game winning goal.

“That was awesome!” Drake exclaims.

“It sure was,” I breathe. The excitement wears off and I get Drake into bed for the night. Jake won't be back until tomorrow as they are staying in Raleigh for the night. Once I change and crawl into bed, I lay on my side, watching my phone sitting on the nightstand. It's an hour later when it vibrates and lights up. A smiling Jake appears on the screen and I swipe the bar to answer.