Page 23 of Six Years
Luan cocks his head, his lips slightly parted. “I don’t know. What did he say?”
“You’re under a vest.”
He stares at me for a hot moment, I stare back. Neither of us speaks or moves, it’s like the line went dead. At least until Luan hunches over, clutches his hands to his stomach, and his laughter fills my ears like music.
It wasn’t even a good joke.
“That was awful,” he confirms, still laughing.
“I know. But my best friend’s daughter loves it.”
Luan straightens his back, now taking a few steps toward his phone again, grasping his phone in his hands and bringing it right up to his face one more time. Thankfully not as close as before. “How old is she?”
“She just turned five two weeks ago.” My phone vibrates at the same time as a message notification pops up on my screen. Miles sent a picture to our group chat. I can look at that later since it can’t be that important. There’s a high chance it’s only about Eden or Brooke anyway. Or their pets. He sends those all the time, mostly because Colin keeps asking to see Eden in his new clothes.
“Now that’s adorable. I wish I had a little sister around the same age. I could bring her to soccer with me and make her the best player ever. And also, I could take her shopping and just spoil her because that’s what older brother’s do, right?”
I shake my head. “Nah, they’re just mean.”
“You should know.You’rethe older brother.” The light turns off, temporarily going so dark that I can barely even see Luan anymore. At least until he turns the lights back on, but he is now in a whole other room. “I don’t have any siblings, but I always wished I did. It’s kind of lonely as an only child, but at least I got everything I ever wanted. My parents nevernotgave me anything I asked for, so maybe I am a little spoiled myself. No, I definitely am. You know that one time back in—Why are you laughing again?”
I’m not even laughing, but I suppose that slim smile on my lips now counts as just that. “Nothing.”
“No, no, Grey Davis. Tell me why you’re laughing otherwise I will continue to talk. I’m a great talker, I could talk all night long and not get bored. You, however, would get bored listening to what I have to say. Trust me, I can make up whole ass four-hour stories when one sentence would’ve been enough to make my point.”
Ignoring his little wannabe threat, I ask, “Why do you keep calling me my full name?”
I watch as Luan seats himself on his bed, leaning against his headboard like I do. Once seated, he shrugs. “Because I like your name, Grey Davis.” He’s impossible. “Do you know your hockey schedule already? Whom you’re competing against and where?”
Oh, talking hockey now, that I can do.
“I do, mostly.” I don’t know every date by heart, but I’ll know them when I have to. Hard to miss when you play one game and the very same day the entire team rants about how we’ll crush whoever we’re up against next.
“Are you ever coming down here somewhere? I’d love to watch a game of yours in person.”
Okay, think brain, think. We know this. “We should be in San Jose on November 19th,but I think an almost six-hour drive just to not witness me on the ice would be a waste of time. We play against the Kings in L.A. on November 22nd. Anaheim on November 23rd. That’s all.”
“I’d drive a whole week just to watch you sit on a bench and it’d be worth it.”
Uh… Okay. Wow, well… I definitely prefer the hockey talk because what Luan just said has my system screaming error after error all over again.
“Do you need tickets for either of those games because I get VIP tickets for each one, I can give them to you.” Miles and Emory wanted to watch the game in L.A. and Anaheim since they’re already around anyway, but Colin or Aaron can get them in with their tickets, so that’s not a problem.
“Can I come watch two games? And can I bring a friend?”
I nod. “Sure. I get up to two tickets per game. But I also have two best friends on the team who have two tickets each, so even if I had promised to give someone else tickets, I’d just make my friends give me theirs. Neither of us really uses them since our friends are NY based.”
Luan watches me with wide eyes, lips slightly parted, and a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “That was the longest I have ever heard you speak in one go.”
“You’re welcome.” It’s kind of scary how my will to speak completely changes every time it’s about something I’m passionate about. I mean, I talk to my friends a lot, joke around with them and I don’t pay much attention to what I say because I know neither of them would judge me for it. Though, to be fair, if I do happen to say something really stupid, they’d make fun of it for the rest of our lives.
But that’s not the point.
I don’t know why it takes me forever to warm up to people only to talk to them properly unless it’s about ice hockey. I can listen to everyone babble about their days, their problems all day and night long, but you’d never catch me doing the same. The only person I truly open up to is my sister, and I’m trying to let Miles in. He knows me the best of all of my best friends, and I know I don’t technically owe it to him to be more open, but I want to be. I want to be able to talk about my struggles to him because he does to me. I’m usually the first person he comes to when something goes wrong, and I want him to know that he’s that person for me as well.
Even though I am yet to succeed, he’s always the first person I want to go to but just can’t yet. So I’m working on that.
“I’m not going to bring Doro, she’s not really a hockey fan. Honestly, I think she’d fall asleep, and I do not want her to get in a fight with some hardcore hockey fan because she looked bored or was asleep,” he says, still smiling. I aspire to be as happy as he is.
