Page 59 of Ethan

“We’ll pick up something on our way home,” Charlie said, of course already planning ahead.

“Alright,” Ethan said.

“And hurry up. We don’t have that long of a window before Avery has practice and Livvy’s gotta be at the airport.” Charlie shot him one more look, designed to get Ethan moving.

It worked—but only because Ethan was actually exciting to finally talk toallhis siblings at the same fucking time.

It was always a little chaotic, but it was a mess that wastheirmess.

He had hoped to at least catch Hank for a second before Charlie dragged him off, but when Ethan looked around the changing room, Hank was already gone.

Huffing out a frustrated breath, he finally went trailing after Charlie, who was moving with determination through the various hallways towards the parking lot.

“What’s up with you?” Charlie asked as he pulled out into traffic. “Grab my phone, will you? Get the sandwiches from the place we like.”

“Nothing,” Ethan said, aware he didn’t sound all that convincing. “Just feeling it today.”

“Put the order in,” Charlie reminded him, even though Ethan had already grabbed his phone, typing in his brother’s passcode.

Hank had once asked him how he’d known that Charlie and Maxhadn’tdone anything and weren’t just keeping it a secret from everyone, and Ethan had told him how he had his brother’s passcode, and as he drove them everywhere, Charlie was always directing him to look something up or do something on his phone.

If he had, I’d know it, Ethan said.

Sure enough, as Ethan was finishing up the sandwich order, the phone in his hands vibrated with an incoming text from Max. Everyone else—besides Ethan, Avery, Livvy, and their parents—was silenced. But Max was the one notable exception. One of many, really.

But this message wasn’t even anything special. Just a stupid picture of Max’s socked feet propped up on the worn-out coffee table in the break room, a plate piled with two peanut butter and honey sandwiches—Max’s favorite pregame snack—balanced on his knees.

“Max is so stupid, and you’re even stupider,” Ethan muttered, flicking the message away.

“That’s unfair,” Charlie retorted.

“But true,” Ethan insisted darkly.

“Oh, yeah, because you’re not being your own brand of stupid about Tuck?” Charlie asked pointedly.

Ethan looked out the window, not willing to discuss this with him. With anyone, really.

He should’ve known better that Charlie would leave it alone, though, because Charlie was incapable of leaving anything alone. He picked at everything, like an itchy kind of scab, usually until it was bleeding again. And then he’d claim that wasgood, because the blood cleaned out the old shit, or something.

But he was wrong.

Ethan and Charlie were in the living room, crammed together on the couch, Charlie’s laptop open in front of them. Avery had clearly just woken up, his dark hair a messy tangle against a hotel room pillow. Livvy was on the way to the airport for one of the Sea Monsters’ games, her blue eyes flicking over to the screen every once in a while, her blond ponytail brushing her cheek as she turned her head to check her blind spot before she changed lanes in the horrendous Seattle traffic.

“You guys are gonna be fine,” Avery was saying. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up even more. “It’s just preseason.”

“I know,” Charlie said, sounding annoyed that Avery was still talking about the Bandits’ previous three losses. “We’re close to putting it together.”

“Niko’s looking good,” Livvy added, probably unaware of how loaded of a comment that was.

Next to Ethan, who was currently shoveling turkey and swiss into his mouth, Charlie tensed up.

“Yeah,” Avery said. More carefully. Maybe Charlie had talked to him about how he thought Niko might take Tuck’s spot. Or maybe Avery had figured that out on his own.

“What?” Livvy asked distractedly. “Why did everyone just freak out?”

“You should be paying more attention to the road,” Ethan said, after swallowing. The food suddenly tasted a little like ash in his mouth.

“You can bullshit Charlie all you want to”—Livvy’s comment was interrupted by Charlie making an offended noise—“but I know you better than that, Eth. What’s going on?”