Chapter 3

 

Hutch

I left that night. I thought about staying afterward and asking her out for coffee, but the truth was I didn’t know how to talk to girls anymore, especially not a girl like her.

I knew I was handsome…at least all the visible parts of me. I was lucky in that way. I’d had a ton of offers since arriving to school. I would credit my former Marine status for part of that. It was like catnip for girls, but I didn’t advertise it. I’d always been successful when it came to females…or at least I was. But I wasn’t the same person anymore. I didn’t have the confidence to approach her.

I met my brother at Blues and BBQ, a local joint that served the best wings on the planet. Judging from the number of plates he’d consumed, my brother agreed.

“You gonna finish that, Tin Man?” Colton asked, eyeing my plate.

“Hell yeah,” I said, pulling my plate closer. The kid could eat. “Why do you call me that? It’s kind of degrading.”

Colton wiped his mouth with a napkin and managed to rub the sauce across his whole face. I flung a few wet naps in his direction. Man, I’d changed this kid’s diapers once. Now, even though he was eighteen, I still found myself cleaning up after him.

“Guess.”

“I require regular oil changes.”

“Not even close, smartass.”

“I’m not playing this game with you.”

“Good, cause I don’t plan on telling you. You can figure it out for yourself, dumbass.”

We talked about Mom, school, and his tour. I didn’t say it as often as I should, but life had taught me you couldn’t take things for granted. “I’m proud of you, Colt.”

He smiled his signature Colton Keyes grin that had all the girls dropping their panties. I wondered if Lilly had a crush on my brother. For the first time in my life, I felt jealous of him.

“Want to tell me about the girl now?”

“What girl?”

My strained voice and Colton’s wide grin cut through all the bullshit like a machete.

“Richie Rich told you?”

“Yep. Hayden’s cool, but you get a couple beers in him, and he thinks he’s in confessional. Anyway, I almost didn’t believe him. My big bro drooling over a girl?”

I shouldn’t have left them at the bar last night. “I don’t drool.”

“You haven’t shown interest in anyone since you got back. This is a good sign.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I was busy with therapy and surgery.”

“But you’re done with that now.”

“She was a cute girl, who I’ll never see again. Besides, she has a crush on you, dickhead.” Figured, the one girl that stirred something in me, which I thought was long dead, was into my little brother.

“How do you know?”

“Her final dance number. She choreographed it to Finding My Way Home.”

“She likes my song—our song. It doesn’t mean she’s hot for me.” He plucked his T-shirt. “Of course, I couldn’t blame her if she was.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Ahhh…so you do like her?”

“It doesn’t matter. Besides, I lack all social graces these days.”

“Let me help you.”

“How can you help?”

“I have some inside information, thanks to Hayden’s little sister.”

“His little sister?”

“Yeah, we were talking at the bar last night. She’s friends with Lilly. I’ve got a plan.”

“I don’t like where this is going.” The thought of Colton plotting something put me on edge, but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t interested.

He shrugged as if this was no big deal. “Suit yourself, bro.”

A few agonizing minutes pass while he gnaws on wings. “What’s your plan?”

“Oh, so now you interested,” he said, as he licked his fingers.

“Don’t test me, Colton.” It’s what I would say to him when he was little and about to cross the line with me.

He smiled. “Okay, okay. I checked and Lilly Franklin has a front row seat to my concert tonight.”

My fingers gripped the edge of the table. “So you’re gonna give me the seat next to her?”

The waitress interrupted us with a fresh plate of spicy wings. Colton dug right in. My patience was wearing thin, waiting for him to chew. He swallowed down his food and exasperated me further by picking up another wing. “Speak!”

“I tried. But we’re all sold out. But I have a better idea.”

He leaned into the table, his voice lowering as if we were planning some military coup. After he laid out his idea, I laughed, realizing it was more of a preschool prank.  

“That’s never going to work.”

“Why not?”

“Um…because I’m not twelve.”

“No, but you are acting like a bitch baby all the same. Just trust me.”

Just trust me, he’d said.

Famous last words.