Defend

“She’s just a girl in my science class. We’ve been on two dates.” Gregory grins. “She’s probably going nuts not being able to talk to me. I know I am.”

Jamie laughs. “You’re your father’s son, that’s for sure.”

He smiles and looks at me. “I told her I’d bring her back a souvenir; will you help me pick something out? We might find something tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’ll help you find something.”

We’ve finished eating, so we head to the theater where the lumberjack will be hosting his show or lecture, whatever it said he was doing. Gregory walks in front of us and he stops short, causing me to run into him.

“Well, I found Kayla and Logan. Do we want to sit with them?”

Jamie smiles, leaves me, and links her arm with his. “You know, I think you’re sweeter than your father.” I roll my eyes, but that causes Gregory to beam and puff his chest out a bit. “We can sit with them; it would be rude not to.”

I grumble under my breath and follow after the two of them before they can leave me behind. Gregory walks past Kayla and then Logan to sit next to Logan, which puts Jamie next to Gregory and then I’m finally able to sit next to my girlfriend. I lean over and whisper in her ear, “Where do you think he learned how to be sweet?”

She takes my hand in both of hers and rests them in her lap. She turns her head to whisper back, “Don’t worry, Brent; I know he learned from you. All I meant is that the student might’ve become the master.” She giggles and kisses my cheek.

“Don’t be mean to me on my birthday.”

“I promise to be really good to you tonight.” Her smile is wicked, but promises such good things.

“You guys are terrible at whispering,” Gregory announces, making Jamie laugh and apologize.

Kayla tilts her head forward, but I shake my head. Now is not that time to talk to Jamie. The talk needs to be private and not right before a show.

The theater fills up pretty quickly and it doesn’t take long before the show starts. The lumberjack seems nice. He’s entertaining. He shows the crowd how to throw an ax and even hosts an ax-throwing contest with a few people from the audience. The funniest part to me is that Jamie squeezes the life out of my hand when someone is really bad. Like somehow the ax will boomerang its way back toward us.

“He was pretty cute. Maybe he’s single,” Jamie quietly says to me as we follow the crowd out of the room.

“Do you want to move to Alaska if he is?” I ask.

She hums. “Good point. I think I’ll keep the guy I have. No need to get rid of the best thing you’ve ever had to gamble on something else, right?”

I look down at her to find a cheeky grin. There’s no way to resist kissing her, so I do, but I do it quickly since we’re walking and it’s so crowded. Gregory puts an arm around Jamie’s shoulder all of a sudden, surprising her again and making me frown.

But then he says, “Do you need something, Kayla?”

Would it be in poor taste to smile because he’s become protective over Jamie? Even though it’s because of his sister? It probably would, so I keep my smile to myself. Kayla has turned around to walk backward while holding on to Logan’s hand who is walking ahead still, keeping her from running into anyone or anything.

“Can we talk, Jamie?” she asks.

“Maybe after dinner or before bed?” Jamie briefly glances up at me. “I think we have somewhere else to be right now and I’d rather wait.”

Kayla nods and faces forward. I’m counting that little encounter as successful. Gregory drops his arm, but says, “I’ve got your back, Jamie. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Gregory, but I think I’m okay and Brent is good backup.”

He shakes his head. “Not always where Kayla is concerned. That little girl crap makes him wear rose-colored glasses. Not me.”

I shake my head. “Don’t you have a hot Texan to meet up with or something?”

“Right. See y’all later.”

“Do we want to line dance or learn that merengue dance?” I ask her.

“Let’s learn something new.”

We soon find ourselves in a room where Jamie is the youngest person. She doesn’t look as if she’s bothered by this, but then again, she’s never been bothered by our age difference so I shouldn’t think she would be. The instructor waits a few minutes for any stragglers before the lesson starts.