Chapter Eight
Declan
“So we’re picking up a guy that’s not your boyfriend, even though he’s been your date, like, three times or something?” Kade asked from the passenger seat.
“Jesus, Kade, how many times are you going to ask me that?”
“Probably only twenty more times before we get there.”
I shot him a glare and saw him grinning at me, so I reached over the console and punched his shoulder. “Asshole.”
“Ow,” he laughed, then punched my shoulder back. “Jerk.”
“Dude!” I yelled and rubbed my arm. “I’m driving here. You’re gonna cause an accident.”
“I didn’t hit you that hard. Dramatic much?”
“You know, maybe I’ll just conveniently forget to pick up your little girlfriend.”
“You do that and I’ll piss all over your bed.”
“Kade, seriously? How old are you?”
“Eighteen, obviously.”
I rolled my eyes at him. Having my younger brother around again was really great most of the time. But the rest of the time, I wanted to strangle him. I never, ever wanted to have kids. Teenagers were the worst. “I can’t believe I bought you these tickets and actually agreed to come with you,” I muttered under my breath.
“I heard that.”
I ignored him and pulled into Trent’s apartment’s parking lot, then shot him a text. Less than a minute later, he walked out of his building, and I couldn’t help but smile. He was wearing an orange and black Orioles low V-neck t-shirt with an Orioles zip-up hoodie over it, tight skinny jeans that looked painted on, and black boots with a little heel. He was carrying a hat in his hands, though his blond hair was styled. I could see hoops in his ears and nose, and I was pretty sure he was wearing a little makeup. He looked hot as fuck, especially when he stopped by his car and bent over to reach inside. A small groan accidentally came out as I watched his perky ass sticking up in the air.
“You’re seriously into that?” Kade asked, breaking my Trent-trance.
“Huh?”
“You like a guy that’s wearing all that girlie shit and makeup? He’s a dude, why is he wearing makeup?”
I turned to my brother and spoke through clenched teeth. “I think some of Dad’s homophobia rubbed off on you. First of all, who cares if a guy wears makeup? What’s it matter to you if they like it? Second of all, he looks amazing and he’s my friend. If you make him uncomfortable, or I hear one more derogatory thing out of your mouth, I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”
Kade lifted his hands up and stared at me with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
I glared at him, but sighed and said, “Maybe not, but it was still rude. Watch your mouth. You don’t want to sound like Dad.”
He took a deep breath and said, “You’re right, I don’t.” Then he opened the car door and hopped out just as Trent made his way over. “Hey, Trent, what’s up? You can sit up front with Dec.”
“Hey.” Trent glanced over at me, then looked at my brother. “Uh, are you sure?”
“Yeah, we’re gonna go get Lindsay anyway, so I’ll sit in the back with her.”
“Okay, thanks.” Trent hopped in the passenger seat and for some reason, he seemed nervous. I’d never seen him nervous before, but he was fidgeting all over the place as he shut the door. “Hey, Declan.” He didn’t look at me.
My brow furrowed. “Hey. You okay?” My brother got in the back, but I didn’t start driving yet.
Trent took a deep breath before facing me and sending me a half-smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a weird day.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
Trent glanced back at Kade, then smiled at me again. “Nah, I’m okay. Let’s go have fun at the ball game.”
It didn’t sit right with me, but I let it slide anyway. Maybe I could get him to talk to me later. “Alright.” I shifted the car into gear. “I like how you went all out.” I waved in the general direction of Trent’s body.
He chuckled. “If I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it right.”
I smiled at that. “When’s the last time you went to an Orioles game?”
“Uh… I’ve never been.”
“Are you serious?” Kade asked before I could.
“Uh… yeah?” It sounded like a question.
“Why haven’t you been to one?” I asked without taking my eyes off the road.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him playing with the strings of his hoodie. “I guess… I just… have never been into baseball. I never played any sports growing up or anything.”
“Nothing at all?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not really. When I was six, I tried soccer and hated it. I cried until my parents promised not to send me back.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “And they never tried to get you into anything else?”
“Once my dad realized I liked photography, he let me focus on that instead. He was a photographer, so I just went with him to his studio after school and stuff.”
“I didn’t know your dad was a photographer, too,” I said. “Why aren’t you working at his studio instead of Levi’s?”
I heard Trent gasp and I glanced at him for a moment. He looked a little pale. I turned back to the road and luckily came to a stop at a red light. I looked back at Trent, who was aggressively chewing on the inside of his cheek, so I reached out and gently rubbed his forearm. “You okay?”
He startled and looked at me as if he were just remembering I was there. He blew out a breath, then nodded and said, “Sorry, I just haven’t talked about him in a long time.” He took a deep breath. “He died when I was ten.”
“Oh shit. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“No.” He shook his head and cut me off. “It’s fine. I just… like I said, it’s been a weird day. Anyway, yeah, this is my first Orioles game.”
I squeezed his forearm, then put my hand back on the wheel so I could continue driving. I glanced in the rearview mirror at my brother, who was frowning in Trent’s direction. I didn’t really know what to say, but my brother jumped in and said, “I guess that means we get to show you the ropes. I know the best hotdog stand outside the stadium. Be ready to experience an explosion of flavor.” I snorted at his dramatics and he ignored me, as usual. “We’ll have to buy a bunch to take in with us. You know they let in outside food and drinks, right? I could eat like five of those things.”
“Then Trent can probably eat ten himself,” I said.
Trent huffed out a laugh. “Probably.”
“We can totally have a hotdog contest,” Kade said.
“Don’t challenge him to that. You’ll lose,” I told my brother.
Kade and Trent both chuckled, but Kade suddenly leaned forward and pointed to the right, right in front of Trent’s face. “Lindsay’s street is right there.”
“Got it,” I said before putting on my blinker and heading that way. I glanced at my brother in the rearview again and smiled. Sometimes he was an ass, but he was usually pretty good at making other people feel better when they were down.
When I parked in front of Lindsay’s apartment, Kade hopped out of the car and called out, “I’ll be right back.”
I turned in my seat and took in Trent. He still seemed a little off, so I asked, “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
Trent looked at me with a sad smile, then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to bring down the mood or anything.”
“You’re not.” I squeezed his forearm again.
Trent stared at my hand that I hadn’t moved away yet, then looked out the front windshield, avoiding eye contact. “One of my foster brothers showed up at my apartment this morning. I haven’t seen him in three years.”
“Foster brother?”
“Yeah. After my parents died, I didn’t have anywhere to go, so I ended up being shuffled around in foster care till I aged out.”
I’d had no idea that he grew up in the system like that. I had so many questions, but I didn’t want to push him because he already seemed worked up. Did both his parents pass away at the same time? What happened to them? How many foster homes had he been in? My mind was racing a million miles a minute, but I only asked, “What’s your foster brother’s name?”
“Evan. He just turned twenty-three. He sorta disappeared right after his twentieth birthday, so I haven’t seen him since.”
“Oh wow. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just… curious? And confused. I thought… I didn’t know if he was even alive, you know?” Trent sighed and fidgeted in his seat, then mumbled, “He, um, uh. We, uh, protected each other when we were kids, even though he was younger than me. I was always on the small side and he wasn’t.”
I didn’t really know what to say about that. Hearing that Trent had needed someone to protect him wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. I rubbed his arm. “Is he doing okay?”
Trent nodded. “He looked good. Supposedly he’s coming over for dinner on Monday to catch up.” He finally looked over at me with wide eyes. “Do you think…” He bit his lip and I couldn’t help but stare unblinkingly as I thought about what his lip would feel and taste like if I were the one biting it. So not the time, Dec! He took a shuddered breath and released his lip before asking, “Is there any way you could come to dinner, too?”
I blinked at him in surprise and shock. He really wanted me to have dinner with him and his brother? Didn’t he have other friends that he’d rather ask? Maybe he really is over being weirdly embarrassed by me or whatever that was a few weeks ago? Maybe he really is my friend… at least for now.
When I hadn’t said anything for a whole minute, Trent huffed, leaned back in his seat and shrugged off my hand. “Never mind. It’s fine. It was stupid to ask. I probably don’t need backup.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out his window. I could see how upset he was, even though he wasn’t looking at me.
“Trent?” I said his name softly.
“Huh?” He still wouldn’t look at me.
“I was just surprised you asked me instead of one of your other friends. I’d love to be your backup.”
He finally turned his head and searched my face. “I don’t really have other friends. I mean, Alex and Levi, I guess, but only ‘cause we work together. They’re, like, work friends.” He chewed his cheek for a minute before asking, “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind coming?”
“Of course not.” I gently pushed his shoulder and smiled. “Plus, it’ll give me a good excuse to get out of Caleb and Reese’s Monday night dinner thing they always try to push on me.”
“Oh god, I forgot about that. Well, at least we won’t run into them since we’ll be at my house. They usually go to Timmy’s, right?”
“Usually.”
“I can’t say the food will be better than that place, but I’m sure I can cook something decent.” Trent finally smiled the first real smile of the day that actually reached his eyes.
I smiled back. “We’ll see. I’ll be the quality tester for the night.”
He chuckled.
Kade and Lindsay made it to the car and climbed in the back. Trent and I greeted Lindsay, then I put the car back in gear, sent Trent a small smile and headed out.