Conversations Galore

Today, at my match, Luke arrived early to give me a “pep talk” and to wish me good luck.  I use the term pep talk loosely, because it consisted of him telling me I was hottest one on out there, and even if I lost, at least I could still be thankful I won in the looks category.  Yeah, not very inspiring.  But it did make me laugh.  I had been pretty focused during my match, but was almost done and decided to give a wink over to Luke.  When I looked over at the sitting area, I noticed Luke wasn’t the only guy watching me.  My brother was there.  I frowned, confused, and thought to myself, “What is Tom doing here?”  Even though we had our ups and downs, I could count on one hand my whole high school and college career thus far, how many times that he had come and watched me play.  And up until this point, he had always told me when he was coming.

After I was finished playing, and done talking to my coach, I headed over to where Luke and Tom were.   

“Hey Tom,” I greeted him.

I saw Luke whip his head around and eye my brother.  “Luke, this is Tom, my brother.  Tom, Luke.”  Luke then smiled and shook Tom’s hand.

“Tom, what are you doing here?”

“Can’t a guy come watch his sis during her match?”  I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.

“Luke, I need to finish watching the rest of the team, and cheer them on, and then I’m guessing I’ll do dinner with Tom, but I’ll talk to you later?”  He nodded yes, said his goodbyes, and kissed me on the cheek.  As he walked away, I saw a couple other girls on the team looking him up and down and then look at me with raised eyebrows.

I turned to Tom.  He had one eyebrow raised at me and said, “What’s up with you and the jolly green giant?”  (Luke did have a green shirt on, which I guess didn’t help the cause of not calling him that.)

“Nothing.  We’re just talking.”  I paused.  “So what are you doing here?”  It came out with a little more cattiness than I intended.

“Aleah, calm down.  Let’s finish watching, and then go grab dinner.”

“Did someone die?”

He laughed.  “No.”

I shrugged my shoulders and went to watch my teammates finish up.

Afterwards, we went to grab dinner at Wendy’s.  There is something about Wendy’s baked potatoes that I love.  Like, absolutely adore.  Their Chili is great for a fast food place, too.  Anyway, after we got our food and were sitting down eating, my brother began talking.

“So, I wanted to come out and talk to you.”

“Yes?”

My brother began mumbling, looking down at his food.

“Tom, come on.  Spit it out already.  I can’t hear you.”

“I’m really sorry about what happened.  You know, with Zach and Derek.  I did know mom had invited Derek for dinner.  I think Zach’s good for you.  That’s all.  And Derek better not ever show his face again around our house.”

I sat quietly for a minute.  I say that I’m bad at apologizing; however, my brother is 10 times worse than me.  So for him to come and open up to me like that, I knew he really was sorry. 

“Oh Tommy.  I forgive you.  Trust me, you won’t ever have to worry about Derek coming around again.  And I know Zach is like a brother to you.  He and I just can’t be together right now.  Or maybe ever.  I don’t know, honestly.  However, totally not cool to antagonize Derek by bringing Zach around.”  I lightly punched Tom’s arm.

“I was just trying to show you that Derek wasn’t right for you.”

“There were other ways.”

He smiled and continued eating.  He told me about dad and mom acting weird.  He said they’d been oddly distant, and not in his business, like usual.  He said that dad had been taking some business trips recently, but came back tired and asocial, not excited to be home, like he usually was.  I told him maybe it was because he was just getting older.  He said maybe.  I asked him about his girlfriend.  He shrugged his shoulders.

“Her name is Miriam.”

“So… tell me about her!”

“I don’t know, what do you want to know?”  I noticed his mood shifted as I was asking about her.

“What grade is she in?  What does she look like?  Does she go to school with you?”

“She’s short.  Like 5’3” or something.  She has blonde hair.  She’s from Florida.”

I noted that he was avoiding answering my questions. “Ok… so how long have you been together?”

“A few months.  Like maybe 4.”

“I see.  How’d you meet?”

“Through a friend.”  As what seemed to be an afterthought he added, “At church.”

“Huh.  So when can I meet her?”

“I don’t know, Aleah.  Why the 20 questions?”

“Hey!  I’m just trying to protect my baby brother, just like you think you’re ‘protecting’ me by bringing Zach over.”  I used hand quotations around the word protecting. And then I smirked at him.

He sighed.  “Let me know the next time you’re coming home.  I’ll see if she can come over for dinner or something.”

“Have mom and dad met her?”

“No.”

I looked at him, surprised, but dropped the subject then.  Something was weird, but then again, my brother had always been pretty private, too.  Unlike myself, who tends to announce things shortly after they happen, if not as they’re happening.

We finished dinner and each went home. 

When I arrived home, only Elena was there.

“Hey, girl!  How was your match?”

“It was fine.”  I plopped on the couch next to her.  She wrinkled her nose at me.  “I know I stink.”  She laughed.  “I’ll shower shortly.  How are you?”

“I’m so good!”  I saw she was flipping through wedding magazines.

“Find any good dresses yesterday?”

She looked up at me and smiled, widely.  “I think I found the One.  I mean for me.  For you girls, I don’t know yet.  I saw some that I kind of like, but I definitely want you, Maddie, and Sarah’s opinions.”

“I can't wait to see it!  Oh, and I don’t know about them, but I appreciate that!”

“I just can’t wait to marry Jeff.  I’ve never felt this way before, you know?  Within weeks of meeting him, it was like I already knew he was the one, it just took him forever to realize it.”  She stared off into space, dreamily.

“I know, L.”  Growing up, I had always called Elena “L,”, and she had always called me “A.”  I knew her like the back of my hand.  “I can tell by the way you look at him.  I’m so happy for you.  And excited!  Have you guys set an exact date, yet?”

“July 26^th.  So tell me who that male model is who I saw you at lunch with on Friday.”

“Luke?  Oh, he’s just a friend right now.  I guess we’re kind of talking.”

“What about Zach?”

I sighed.  “He’s not here.  He didn’t ask me to wait.  He didn’t ask to get back together.  I don’t know what to say, other than that.  I miss him like crazy.”  I paused, not really wanting to continue, but knowing I couldn’t hide anything from Elena.  “And I do love him.  With my whole heart.  I want to be with him, but I’m not.  So if anything, there’s nothing wrong with occupying my time at least for now, is there?”

“Just be careful.  I don’t want you to get hurt.  Or if Zach comes back, I don’t want you to hurt anyone else.”

I made a face at her.  “Okay, mom.”  Then I playfully hit her with a pillow and jumped up to go shower.  She threw one at me, which hit me in the back of the head.  I laughed and ran to the bathroom.