A Fresh Start

Chapter 13-New Years Eve 2012

Ryan

Me- now 3 hours to go.

TK - too much driving. Think you'll still wanna come over tonight.

TK- it's cool if you can't. I get it.

I just smile and shake my head. He still doesn't know his value. Even if I never kiss him, I need to make sure he knows his worth.

Me- duh. I'm looking forward to it. Don't take away my light at the end of the tunnel, good sir.

TK- I wouldn't dream of it.

Ryan- Jamie says hi btw

And I take a selfie of my cousin and me. We look cute. Identical twin moms can only go so far when one marries a guy with black hair, and the other marries a blonde, but we are clearly related.

TK- tell Josh I say hi too. And tell him nice face.

I look back at the photo and see Josh mean mugging for the camera.

I turn to my brother. "TK says hi. And he says nice mean mug."

He scoffs and goes back to his music. He's bored and annoyed by this drive. We all are, honestly.

We took two cars this year and because my parents drive a minivan. It became kid central. Josh wasn't excited to share a row with Katie and Brendan, but I am happy to hang out with Jamie. Although day two in the car is wearing a little thin.

Me- I'm excited to hangout tonight. I wanna hear all about you learning to snowboard

TK- it was a lot of me falling over, and I hated it.

Ryan- you just need a good teacher.

TK- maybe. I'll text you later. I just got to the rink.

Ryan- kk

I turn to Jamie, who was eyeing our conversation.

"You good?" I ask, clearly closing my phone.

"I'm good. You two talk a lot, huh?" She says quietly.

"Probably as much as you two," I say. They do talk a lot, but usually in the group chat.

She shrugs.

"He's a good guy. Terrible life, but still good," she says as she stares out the window.

I just nod and make an affirmative sound.

We don't talk much the rest of the drive. When I get home, I dive into bed for a power nap. Josh has a party tonight, so he said he would drop me at TK's. Jamie'll be with Trevor. Sarah's with her family still. They get back tomorrow. So it'll just be TK and me....and his family.

I basically have to tuck and roll out of the car when Josh drops me off. I'd be surprised if he came to a complete stop personally. I won't hear from him for the rest of the night. He'll either be passed out drunk by 10 or hooking up at midnight. Either way, our brotherly connection's over this holiday season.

Josh and I use to be close. Until he went to high school and had two years to become Josh, the soccer star. Josh, the class president. Josh, the guy that dates cheerleaders and exclusively cheerleaders. Not Josh, who would let me sometimes win at Mario kart. Not Josh that would play with his sister's Barbie dolls cause she wanted to be around him.

I'm gonna miss him when he goes to Notre Dame next fall, but right now, he's kind of a dick, and I'm on a mission.

TK's the one that answers the doorbell, and he's all smiles. No glasses, but he probably has his contacts in from hockey practice earlier. He and Dan go twice a week to nail the sport's basics so he can play this year. Once Dan saw that he was a natural on the skates, it was basically carved in stone he would play hockey.