Page 75 of Riding the Pine

Bright Eyes: Okay, I’ve stopped laughing. Gimme five. OMW.

Double shit. This is all I need, for the boys to think I summoned their sister to hide behind.

Scott: You don’t need to come over. I just need to know what to tell them. I don’t want to lie, but I won’t want to tell them something you’re not comfortable with them knowing.

There’s a knock from the inside of my door.

“Yeah?” My voice breaks.

“You doing okay out there, man?” Apollo’s voice isn’t just laced with amusement, it’s steeped in it.

I clear my throat before I try again. “Yeah. Just…” What the fuck do I even say?

“Checking in with the old ball and chain to make sure you don’t land yourself in the shit?” Ares is clearly enjoying this. A lot. “It’s okay. Take your time. Regroup.”

There’s a snort, and to be honest I’m not sure which one of the three of them it came from.

It’s a few more minutes before Athena sprints up the stairs two at a time. When she gets to the top, she holds up a finger before she doubles over, clutching her shins. Her chest heaves, probably burning with the activity of running here from halfway across campus.

She’s fit, don’t get me wrong. She’s definitely a faster runner than I am, but that run would have killed even the fastest skater on the team.

When she stands, her hair is disheveled, and she has beads of sweat across her forehead, but she still looks highly amused.

She holds her side, her chest still rising and falling heavily. “I’m tickled they went for you instead of me.”

I roll my eyes. They all like having their balls attached which is why they cornered me instead of her.

She doesn’t miss another beat; she’s already turning the handle to my bedroom. She walks in ahead of me, plops herself on the bed facing me, her hands folded in her lap. And with asmirk on her face she says, “So, tell us, Scott. Just whatareyour intentions with me?”

This eye roll comes with a groan as her brothers share an amused look between them before turning their attention back to me.

“We’re really doing this?”

They all nod in unison, like some synchronized interrogation.

“Fine.” I shove my terror aside at facing not one, not two, butall fucking fourde la Peña siblings in one go and steel my spine. If I’m going to be dismembered by this family for loving their sister with my whole being, then I’ll do it looking them square in the face, shoulders back, and laying it all out there to Athena, not her brothers.

“My intention is to marry you someday, Bright Eyes.” I hold her stare.

Her smirk falters, and her eyes shift from amusement to something else, something deeper, something emotional.

“Not right now. I need to make something of myself first. Prove to you I can take care of both of us without you having to be so strong all the time.”

Her jaw drops. I can’t tell if she wants to speak, or if she’s in shock from what I’ve said. Dunno why she’s surprised, I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m in this for the long haul.

She twists her hands in her lap.

I kneel in front of her, taking her hands into mine. “I’m just a guy, kneeling in front of a woman, asking her to let him love her. Forever.” Is it cheesy to rework a quote from Notting Hill? Yeah. But I’m hoping it buys me at least a smile.

“I’m not here for the short term, Athena. There’s nothing you can say, or do, that’s going to make me not love you. I’ve loved you since we first met. I’ve been afraid. Of your brothers, of my friendship with them, of ruining my friendship with you, of never being enough. But these last couple months of being withyou, you’ve made me feel like maybe someday I could be enough for you.”

Tears well in her eyes, but she’ll never cry in front of her brothers if she can help it. She blinks them back. “Why do you think you’re not good enough for me now?” She shakes her head. “You have no idea how amazing you are as a person, Scottie.”

She cups my face with her soft and kinda clammy palm. “I wouldn’t give my heart to someone who wasn’t worthy of it.” Her eyes convey something I’ve never seen before, a vulnerability deep inside her that she’s probably terrified of showing to me. Or to anyone.

I’m not sure she wants her brothers here for this moment. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say, or if I was supposed to keep this whole situation funny and lighthearted. Except, nothing about my relationship with Athena is funny to me. She’s always been special to me, important, but over these past few months, she’s become so much more.

Regardless, here we are.

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