Page 9 of Totally Played
He tosses me one of his shirts, and I say his, because while we share most of our clothes, he owns a few things I will never ever wear, like the green net top he just tossed at me. I didn’t even reach for it, I just let it fall sadly to the floor where it will stay because I am not putting that on. Shit. Am I actually considering this? No. It’s crazy. I’m not pretending to be my brother on a date. Even though it’s been forever since I’ve been out with anyone except him and the guys from the team. I refuse to get on those apps he has. I just want to meet someone the regular way. Not after reading through a bio and flicking through highly filtered photos with way too many duck lips.
“We were kids then, we’re twenty-six. We have to grow up at some point.”
“Not today we don’t. Come on, I’ll get into bed and won’t get up until you say I can. Not even to pee.”
He looks like shit, and he’s wobbled twice while rummaging through the clothes on the end of his bed. If I say no, he’s going to probably try to go himself, and then best-case scenario, this chick bails when she sees how sick he is, or worst case, he passes out or ends up hospitalized and he’s out for weeks instead of what’s hopefully only a couple of games. Fuck. I think I’m actually going to have to say yes.
I sigh. “You can get up to pee.”
“So you’ll do it?”
I roll my eyes and nod, because what else can I do? I’ve never really been able to say no to my brother. It’s like when the egg was divided or whatever, it left a link between us that made it impossible for me to want to disappoint him. Like I said. He’s my ride or die.
“I’m not putting gel in my hair.”
“Yes, you are, but you can pick the shirt.”
“And the pants,” I say as he reaches for his skinniest pair of jeans, another thing I won’t wear.
“Fine, but be nice, be me, flirty but fun and please take this seriously because if this guy rates me good, I might get the bump into the fives.”
Wait, he didn’t just say guy, did he?
“You never said it was a guy.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“No, you said it was a date with Ashley,” I say, a tightness in my chest all of a sudden.
“Ashley is a guy’s name.”
“And a girl. You might swing both ways brother, but I’m as straight as an arrow, remember?”
He scrunches up his nose, shaking his head like he’s thinking of a way to disagree, but he can’t. I’ve only ever dated girls. I wouldn’t even know how to date a guy. What do guys talk about on dates with other guys?
“You’re in your head, aren’t you?” he asks, walking closer, but I take a step back and cover my mouth. “Dude, really?”
“Doc said to keep my distance, the last thing we need is for both of us to be out, or worse, we spread it through the teams.”
“Yeah, the coach was pissed I played. I got us a point, though, and we won, so he can’t stay mad for long.”
“Yes, he can, and you won by two so they didn’t need your point. You should have stayed home.”
“Well, I’m home now, so get your ass into some denim and pick a shirt, then you have to do your hair, because no way will anyone believe you’re me with that mop, did you even blow-dry it after showering?”
“Why would I do that? The air dries it just fine.”
“We are going to have to alter your definition of fine. I’ll get the gel. Get moving, you’ve got twenty minutes.”
I pop a soup in the microwave and pull on my best jeans, the ones without holes, and a dark blue Henley. We both inherited our father’s gray-blue eyes, and they look even better when we wear blue. Not that I want to look attractive to the guy he’s supposed to be meeting. This is messed up.
“Nice, I’d fuck you,” Tony says, tossing me the gel. “You know, if I wasn’t your brother.”
“This isn’t like a Grindr hookup app, is it?” I ask, my heart suddenly jackhammering at the thought this guy might be expecting more than dinner from me.
“Ha, no, but hey, brother, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
Chapter four
