“No. I get it, no worries. You felt bad for Allie.”
“Right.” David shrugged. “That 5K for her sister was this morning. I saw some flyers in the trash. I would’ve run in it, but my dad had chores for me.”
“You like the underdog.” Julian’s mother always called David sensitive.
“So what’s going on with Sasha?”
“She’s seeing somebody, somebody older. Like, a man. He’s really tall, like, over six foot five.”
“How do you know?”
“I noticed some guy at her house. He wasn’t any of the guys she usually sees. He didn’t drive a car, so he must live in the development. I mean, it’s driving me crazy. She drives me crazy.”
“You know she sees other guys. She’s got a lot of dates.”
“But a new one, now? Who’s he? I know the other guys. Now there’s another one, just when I thought we were getting closer.”
“Closer, you and Sasha? Why?”
“Because of the gun,” Julian answered, lowering his voice. “I got the bullets for her. Now there’s a new guy? What the fuck?”
“You don’t know who he is?”
“No, and she gave him a big hug and brought him inside.” Julian felt his jealousy flame. “I was, literally, in the family room with my mom, watching a movie. All I did was look out the window, and there was Sasha with him.”
David tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “You should ask her out.”
“You think?” Julian asked, uneasy. “I’ve been waiting until I get a car.”
“Don’t wait. Like you say, she sees a lot of guys. Sooner or later she’s gonna pick one, like, a boyfriend. You’re gonna get shut out.”
“I couldn’t take that.” Julian felt his stomach turn over. It was his worst fear that Sasha would go on without him, leaving him behind. And he’d spend the rest of his life watching her.
“Take a shot. Go for it.”
“I should.” Julian had always thought his ace in the hole with Sasha was who he was. He’d told her his father was grooming him to take over Browne Land Management, even if it was a classic case of nepotism, as he overheard one of the office workers say.
“It can be you. Why not you?”
“But what do I ask her to do? And what, do I ask my mom to drive us? That’s so lame.”
“Whatever, you don’t have any choice.” David paused. “Dude, you should ask her out on your dad’s boat.”
“Whoa. Why didn’t I think of that?” Julian brightened.
“That’s the way to go. The other guys have a car, but they don’t have a boat. That would be cool.”
“Right.” Julian nodded, getting excited.
“Remember when you took me? That was awesome.”
“Yes!” Julian had taken David, and they’d had a blast, fishing and drinking beer. His father hadn’t brought a girl or offered David weed, which was smart. David might have told his parents, and they weren’t cool.
“You go to the boat and spend the whole day. You said he brings girls, so he won’t be in your face. It could even be overnight.”
“That’s true!” Julian fast-forwarded to an inn at the Eastern Shore with Sasha. He could knock on her door, she would let him in, and they could have sex, finally. He wished he wasn’t a virgin, but he would tell her he wasn’t. He shoved David in the arm. “You’re a genius!”
David grinned. “So is Sasha why you played like shit?”
“You don’t understand! I’m obsessed.”
David sipped water. “I’m not into her.”
“How could you not be? She’s unbelievably beautiful.”
“ ‘Pretty girls have pretty ugly feet.’ ”
“When did you see her feet? And who cares?”
“It’s the first line from The Broom of the System. He also said tennis is ‘chess on the run,’ which is so true, and you—”
“We were talking about Sasha.”
“She’s bitchy, dude.” David shrugged. “I don’t like it. She says mean things all the time.”
“Dude, if I were alone with her, like, really alone, like, after a few beers on my father’s boat, I guarantee you, we would not be talking.” Julian gave David another shove, his mood improved. “Hey, I almost forgot, my dad called me this morning about your dad.”
“Why?”
“My dad told me he and your dad worked out a deal.”
“What deal?” David frowned, setting down his water bottle, and Julian realized that David must not have known.
“Uh, my dad’s working with your dad.”
“What do you mean, ‘working with’ him?”
“I didn’t get the details.” Julian was sorry he brought it up. David looked upset. Man, he was sensitive. “I think your dad called my dad and asked him to do something for his store.”
David blinked. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe your dad was having a problem? Either way, no biggie. My dad was happy to spot him a few months.”
“Oh, no.” David grimaced, flushing.
“Dude, no worries, we’re cool.” Julian tried to get past the moment, definitely awkward. “You’re my best bro.”
“Still.” David looked away.
“Come on.” Julian clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go to my house and swim.”
“I gotta go home.” David picked up his racket, turning away.
CHAPTER 23
David Hybrinski
David walked down the driveway to the backyard, sorting out his thoughts. He’d assumed his father’s business was doing fine, but things started to make sense, like that his father had fired the lawn guys and started mowing himself. Or cleaning the gutters instead of calling the roof guy. And his mother was buying store-brand peanut butter instead of the crunchy Jif. Maybe Hybrinski Optical was in trouble. David felt guilty that he’d talked back to his father at the twins’ game the other day.
You got your money’s worth.
David lifted the magnetic lock on the gate and entered the backyard. In a better mood, he would’ve found the scene idyllic. Two acres of grassy lawn bordered by his mother’s flower garden, and a kidney-shaped pool with a corkscrew water slide the twins loved and a hot tub nobody used, now that the novelty had worn off. His father was on the riding mower on the far side of the yard, and his brother, Jason, was skimming the pool in his Ray-Bans and gym shorts.
“Jase, I did that already,” David said, walking over. It had become his Saturday chore to clean the pool, after his parents let go of the pool guys.
“I figured.” Jason shrugged. “Dad told me to do it again.”
“Why?” David looked at the water, squinting hard. “It’s perfect.”
“I know. He asked me to do it.”
“What’s his mood?” David and his brother routinely shared intel on their father. If he was in a good mood, they tried to keep him happy. If he was in a bad one, they stayed out of his way. David wondered how well he really knew his father, after what Julian told him.
“Honestly, he’s happy as shit. God knows why.” Jason shrugged.
David knew why, but didn’t tell Jason because his father was already looking over.
“Here, let me do that.” He held out his hand for the skimmer. “You’re, like, rowing. It’s not an oar, it’s a skimmer.”
“Dude, thanks. This is so boring.” Jason handed over the skimmer, and in the background, their father cut the ignition, then got off and walked toward David with a smile.
“How was tennis?” his father called out, and David and Jason exchanged glances, since how was tennis wasn’t his father’s typical greeting.
“Great.” David smiled, and his father took off his sunglasses and wiped his face with a meaty hand. Little pieces of dirt, what his mother called schmutz, were stuck to the sweat on his father’s face.
“David, you don’t have to clean the pool. Jason can do it.” His father gestured at the skimmer. “Give it back to your brother.”
“That�
�s okay, but I already did it. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, but I got clippings in it from the mower.”
“I’ll do it again.”
“No, Jason can. Jason, you do it.” His father grabbed the skimmer from David and handed it to Jason. “Jase, why did you give it to David to do? I asked you to do it.”
“I didn’t give it to him. He offered to do it.”
“I asked you to do it. So you do it.”
“Fine.” Jason started skimming the pool.
David’s mouth went dry. “Dad, I can do it. It’s my job.”
“It doesn’t always have to be your job. Jason can help out around here.”
“I don’t mind.” Jason kept skimming.
David couldn’t let it go, for some reason. “Dad, I don’t mind, either. It’s my job. I’ll clean it.”
His father pursed his lips. “I said, let Jason do it. He can help out around here.”
“He does,” David said defensively.
“You do it every morning. You do the recycling and trash. What does he do?”
“He works, he has to work.”
“He lives under my roof, so he can pull his own weight.”
Jason shot David a warning glance behind their father’s back.
“Anyway, David, I have plans.” His father wiped his hand on his chest. He had on a white Lacoste shirt, and his fingers left a faintly grim print. “I got three tickets to the Phils next week. Wanna go?”
“Really?” David didn’t get it. His father had never asked him to go to a Phillies game before. The Hybrinskis didn’t do things together. His mother did things with the girls, like a separate family. The boys didn’t do anything.
“What’s your problem? Your father bought tickets for the game. You wanna go or not?”
“Sure.” David turned to Jason. “Jase?”
His father interjected, “No, it’s just us. You and me, David.”
“Oh.” David couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone anywhere alone with his father. Jason looked away.
“Yes, but you can ask Julian.”
“Julian?” David asked, now entirely confused. “But you don’t like Julian.”
“I never said that.”
Jason burst into laughter. “Dad, you hate Julian. You say it all the time.”
“Who asked you?” David’s father snapped, whirling angrily around. “Because I didn’t hear it if they did.”
“Dad, chill.” Jason put up both hands, edging away with the skimmer hooked under his thumb.
“David, as I was saying, I thought it might be fun to take you and Julian.”
David didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know if Julian is free that night. He might have plans.”
“Give him a call. Ask him.”
“Okay, I will.”
His father gestured at the house. “Go ask him.”
“Right now?”
“There’s no time like the present. If you want to make something happen, you have to make it happen. Call him and see if he’s free.”
“But I don’t know if he’s home yet.”
“Only one way to find out.” His father gestured at the house again, and David felt angry.
“Dad, we never go to games.”
“So? We can’t now?”
“Why do I have to ask Julian? Why don’t we just go? With Jason.”
David nodded toward Jason, who was heading away, retreating to the shallow end of the pool.
“What’s the matter with you?” His father looked at him hard, eye to eye, and David realized that he was taller than his father. He could take him. Suddenly he was tired of making his father happy or making sure he didn’t piss him off, especially since the first time his father had ever asked him to go to a Phillies game was after he had borrowed money from his best friend’s father.
“I don’t want Julian to go,” David said firmly. “I want Jason to go.”
His father snorted, recoiling. “What is this bullshit?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” David said, speaking his mind without thinking twice, for the first time. “I’m trying to figure out why, all of a sudden, you want to be best buddies with Julian when you hate him.”
“What are you talking about?” His father scowled, and David felt resentment bubble up inside him, because he’d been keeping it down for so long. It sucked if Hybrinski Optical was in bad shape, but his father made it hard to feel sorry for him.
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“Why don’t you tell me, big guy?”
“Julian told me that you asked his dad to let you off the hook for the rent, for the store.”
“What did you say?” His father’s dark eyes flared.
“You never liked Julian before. But his dad gave you money and all of a sudden, you screw Jason for Julian?” David saw the pain flicker across his father’s face, and the guilt came back. “Dad, listen, I get it, if you’re having money trouble—”
“I’m not having money trouble!”
“You must if you’re asking Julian’s father for money.”
“I didn’t ask him for money!” his father shouted.
“Then for a loan—”
“I didn’t ask him for a loan!”
“Then whatever you asked for, to cut you a break on the rent, whatever, and that’s what I mean, I didn’t know it was that bad—”
“That’s none of your business, faggot!” David’s father pushed him so hard that he lost his balance, his arms pinwheeled, and he fell backward into the pool. Cold water buried him. Air bubbles slipped from between his lips. His sneakers hit the bottom of the pool, and he pushed off, kicked to the surface, and gulped air, his hair plastered to his forehead.
Jason’s mouth had formed a grim line, and his father stalked to the house.
The word filled David’s ears, flooding them.
Faggot.
CHAPTER 24
Kyle Gallagher
Kyle took a shot, letting the basketball fly. He knew it was a swish as soon as it left his fingertips. The ball arced through the air and dropped through the hoop, and he felt a surge of good feeling, for the first time in a long time. He’d decided to shoot hoops since it was nice out and his only other choice was food-shopping with his mother. There were six courts in the development, surrounded by a green cyclone fence and set off by evergreens to minimize the wind. Kyle couldn’t believe how nicely they were kept.
Kyle chased his ball down, dribbled, and shot a layup. He was feeling great since he’d met Sasha Barrow, the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. He hadn’t believed it when she’d opened the front door and was so excited to see the cat that she’d given them both a big hug. It had been so long since he’d hugged a girl that all his senses exploded, and she smelled like vanilla, and her bare arms felt soft, and she had the most beautiful smile, crazy white like in a toothpaste commercial.
He went after the ball, dribbled it, and took another shot. The ball circled the rim and went in. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed basketball, his shoulders and upper arms aching, but in a good way. He loved the slap of the basketball against the court, and the feeling of the pebbled grain on his fingertips. He was relieved to find that he hadn’t lost his mojo completely.
Kyle took another shot, swish, thinking of Sasha, who had offered him a Coke and popcorn from the microwave. They’d talked in the kitchen, and she asked him all kinds of questions, which he answered without telling her too much, and she would be in his class at high school. She didn’t mention a boyfriend, which was awesome.
Kyle took a jumper, and the ball went in. Sasha could have any guy she wanted, but she’d said they should get together sometime, and he’d said, yes, totally, and they’d exchanged numbers and screen names so they could IM each other. He would IM her as soon as he got home and ask her out. No reason to wait. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Maybe he would like it here, after all. If she lived in the same development and went to the same
school.
Kyle kept to his side of the court, taking shots while a group of dads played on the other side. They looked over at him, sizing him up. None of the dads was very good, but they had truly awesome sneakers. It was like a shoe store over there.
“Nice shot!” said one of the dads, and another one clapped. They stopped playing and came to mid-court. “Hey, pal, what’s your name?”
“Kyle Gallagher.” Swish.
“Ross McKnight.” The baldest dad came over, with the Penny Hardaway Nikes. He extended a hand, and Kyle shook it. “Good to meet you. I live on Hanoverian.”
“Hi.” Kyle held his ball as McKnight gestured to the man next to him, who was an older Indian-American with bristly gray hair and old Air Jordans.
“Ray Patel,” the man said. “Hiya, son.” Patel extended a hand, and Kyle shook it, hiding his reaction to the word son.
The skinniest dad grinned. He had the cool white-and-silver Scottie Pippen Nikes. “I’m Ron Berman, and you’re a phenom.”
“Nah,” Kyle said, but it reminded him of the newspaper headlines back home. He hadn’t minded being called a phenom. And he had wanted those Scottie Pippens.
“You could probably give us a few pointers. Say, what’s Rodriguez doing wrong?” Berman pointed. “He’s the fatso with the beard and the midlife crisis.”
“No, that’s okay.” Kyle laughed.
“Tell me, I wanna know!” Rodriguez called out, having missed the foul shot. He wore Dikembe Mutombos. “What’d I do wrong?”
“In a word, pizza,” one of the dads interjected, and the others laughed.
Kyle said, “Mr. Rodriguez, you released the ball too late, that’s all.”
Berman folded his arms. “Kyle, you wanna play for us? The game is today at four.”
“What team?” Kyle asked, confused.
“You live here, right, Kyle?”
“Yeah. On Paso Fino.”
“So that’s legit.” Berman grinned, turning to the others. “He lives in Brandywine Hunt. He can play on the team.”
Rodriguez cocked his head. “Kyle, how old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“You’re kidding!” Rodriguez’s mouth dropped open, a pink circle buried in his beard.
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