Page 22 of Forged Forever

A minute later, Colette and Joseph walk into Jake’s room. There’s no resemblance between them and Jake except that they have various shades of blue eyes. Joseph is over 6 feet tall and lanky with dark brown curly hair, while his sister is shorter than I am with almost black, curly long hair and an hourglass figure.

“Hello Jake,” they say almost at the same time. Kinda creepy.

“Hi. I want to introduce you to Summer, my best friend and girlfriend.”

I sit up and hold out my hand across Jake for them to shake. “Nice to meet you guys.”

They both look as if they just tasted something sour and don’t offer their hands to shake in return. Dropping my hand, I lean back again to let Jake take over. I look up to see his lips in a thin slash across his face as his body tenses.

They must realize he’s angry as Joseph looks at me and says hello before elbowing his sister. She scowls but nods her head at me with a quiet, if reluctant, hello. Okay then.

Jake seems to relax a bit at that, and they talk about random things, asking each other questions back and forth and sharing stories. They seem to like Jake, and I notice them spending a lot of time playing up New York and their family. Jake tries to include me, but the siblings are quick to steer the conversation away. It’s subtle and not rude, but I notice it.

When Jake gets tired, Will stands and tells them it’s time to leave. Colette gives Jake a kiss on his cheek, and they go without a ruffle.

That was…interesting.

“What do you think, Sum?” Jake asks with a yawn.

“What do you think, handsome?”

“They seem nice, and they’re eager to get to know me, but they were rude to you,” he frowns.

“They were,” I nod. “What is the endgame here, Jake? Where are they staying? Did they give you a phone number yet? How long are they staying?”

“I don’t actually know. That’s strange, right?”

“Yup. Be careful, handsome.”

He nods with a hum. “I’ll make a point of getting those questions answered tomorrow. It’s time their rude behavior stops towards Dad and Will too. That’s not okay, and I got swept up in the excitement of this, but I shouldn’t have let it go on at all.” He looks over at Will. “I’m sorry, Will.”

Will waves him off, not bothered.

“I’m glad you’re going to say something to them. It’s not okay to treat your family and friends poorly.”

“Ah, crap, I feel terrible now. Dad,” he calls.

Ray steps into the room a few moments later. “Yes, son?”

Jake apologizes to him as well, and it makes my heart swell that he’s doing the right thing. Jake is kindhearted and just got caught up in the moment. I know he’ll make it right.

Ray leaves to get groceries while I stay and visit for a few hours. Seb shows up, and we watch a movie and order pizza for dinner.

Chapter 13

The next few days go by quietly. Jake confronted his step siblings about being rude, so they speak to Will and Ray now, although it’s minimal. I haven’t seen them again, but they're at the condo building every weekday after Jake’s physiotherapy appointments. They gave Jake their cell phone numbers, too. Joseph and Colette are staying in Charleston at a motel and have a rental car, and they told Jake they'll fly back to New York this weekend. When I asked about missing school, Jake explained that homeschooling lets them set their own schedules.

The date for the Celtics tickets I got Seb for Christmas has finally arrived. It’s a Wednesday, so we'll miss a half-day of school the next morning, but Dad and Troy are both fine with it.

The game is all he can talk about at school. He has a Celtics jersey on and is bouncing around all day. We have to leave as soon as the last bell rings, so I have a packed bag with me.

Filling my backpack after last period, I find Seb waiting outside my classroom. “Let’s go, Sunshine. Time’s wasting.” He pulls me along at a jog out to the parking lot, almost skipping with excitement. I unlock the doors and chuck the keys to him.

Throwing his bags into the backseat, he hops behind the wheel and starts the engine. “NBA, here we come,” he exclaims, his fist thrusting in the air.

Chuckling, I text everyone we’re on our way and grab a couple of granola bars for us, settling in for the long drive. I packed sandwiches and fruit for dinner since we don’t have time to stop anywhere.

We make good time to Charlotte, and Seb keeps me entertained with Celtics facts in between belting his heart out to the music playing. It’s rush hour when we get to the city, but the stadium is in a suburb, so we avoid much of the traffic. Seb finds an empty parking spot, and we jog towards the entrance. Our seats are midway up in the stands, dead center.