Page 32 of Make the Play
“That is weird,” Jason concedes, unsure he can recall the twins ever keeping anything from each other.
“I’ll figure it out, don’t worry. I can handle it.”
“I wasn’t?—”
“How are things with you?” Andrew interrupts, before Jason can get a full sentence out.
“I’m good.”
“Cut the bullshit. What’s wrong?”
“How the fuck do you do that? Do you have, like, mind powers?”
“I don’t need mind powers to know my baby brother. Something is on your mind. I can tell. Come on, spill.”
“There’s this guy,” Jason says, surprised at how easily that comes out. He’s not sure he even realized what was bothering him. Leave it to Andrew to parse it out in less than five minutes.
“I’m going to need more than that, Jason. Friend? Coworker?”
“Both,” Jason tells him. “He’s the new English teacher. He’s—great. He’s kind of quiet until he gets to know you then he talks a lot. Especially about things he likes, like Lord of the Rings. He’s sweet too, and he makes me laugh.”
The line goes so quiet that Jason thinks the call dropped. He turns his phone to look but the call is still connected.
“Andrew?”
“This guy,” Andrew prompts, “are you spending a lot of time together?”
“Well sure, we’re coworkers. He takes the bus in the mornings, so I wait for him in the parking lot, you know, just to make sure he gets there alright and see how he is. Oh, and we’ve started having lunch together a few days a week in my office. I’d do it every day, but sometimes I can’t make it because of coaching stuff. You know how busy the beginning of a new season can be. When that happens, I make sure and swing by his class at the end of the day to see how his day went. You know, normal coworker stuff.”
“Right.”
“Why did you say ‘right’ like that?” Jason frowns.
“I didn’t say it like anything.”
“You did. You had a tone.”
“I didn’t have a tone.”
Andrew definitely had a tone, but Jason doesn’t bother arguing. No one wins an argument with Andrew King. Not even Charlie. If any of the King boys could’ve been a lawyer like their parents, it's Andrew, but he’s always been a numbers man.
“Anyway, there’s just one little problem,” Jason sighs, only realizing now that he’s talking about it, how much it’s been bothering him.
“Which is?”
“Well you know how unreliable the buses can be here. Sometimes, a lot of times, they’re late, which obviously bothers Emerson.” When Andrew doesn’t immediately seem outraged Jason continues. “He likes when things are on time and predictable. He’s, well?—”
“I get it,” Andrew says, and Jason’s entire body relaxes. Of all his brothers, Andrew would be the one to understand.
“Then you see the big problem.”
“Not exactly.”
“The bus is late. I offered to give Emerson a ride to work every day so he won’t have to deal with that, and he hasn’t taken me up on it. Maybe I need to just offer again.”
“Or maybe he likes the bus.”
“He doesn’t like the bus,” Jason argues. “It’s crowded and loud.”
