Chapter 17 - David
I couldn’t believe my ears. I was at home, sitting down, getting ready for finals. I liked to study early, not last-minute, which was why I tended to go over my notes every weekend, to make sure when it came to the exam, I was more than prepared to take them.
I went over all my material, and even some of the material for classes which we hadn’t had yet. I loved studying, and my brothers teased me about being a nerd, but it was clear without the grades and me studying like crazy, Dane wouldn’t have a full scholarship and he certainly wouldn’t be looking at being a professional football player. It didn’t just take his performance on the field, but his grades, too—one thing his football buddies admired about him. If only they knew that he was as thick as them. I wondered if they would look up to him even more for it, I think they probably would? Shallow people seemed to admire people that are on the same level as them, rather than if they are a level above, which is what they deem Dane to be at the moment—smart and good on the field.
Sometimes, when I’m with them, I’m so damn tempted to tell them the truth. They make stupid comments like, “Damn, Dane, wish my brain was as big as yours.”
“I study a lot,” I’d tell them. They would pat me on the back and say, “Sure!”
Dane strolled into the kitchen, and casually said, “I’ve asked Lisa to be my girlfriend.”
“You have gone and done what?”
“I asked Lisa to be my girlfriend,” Dane repeated calmly as if I didn’t hear him the first time around. It was gone past one, and I was pretty sure the last bus stopped running a long time ago. I studied him carefully, wondering if he’d taken drugs, but then with his ruffled hair and his shirt half hanging out of his pants, I knew it meant only one thing. He’d done the deed with her.
Daxon walked into the kitchen, and Dane said to him what he’d said to me. Daxon was half-awake before hearing the good news from Dane, and now he was fully awake. He slammed his fist on the table; he wasn’t mad, he was fucking angry.
“You know the rules, Dane. We can…” I struggled to talk like them, but right now I felt as if I had no choice. Just so they would understand what was going on.
“Fuck, but no relationships. Lisa’s no idiot. I mean, she may not realize today, but sooner or later, she’ll figure it out. You want to give up nearly four years of college for some ass?”
I wasn’t happy about Daxon describing Lisa as some ass… She was more than that, even if Daxon didn’t want to admit it. There was no denying there was something special about her, but I didn’t feel she was so special to ruin what we’d worked for so many years.
Dane choked. “Yeah, so keep your grubby hands off my girl.” He ignored the part about Lisa being some ass and focused on Daxon back in sixth grade when he tried to hook up with his girlfriend at the time. We were only in sixth grade at the time, but either way, this was why we made up the rule, to stop history from repeating itself.
Did Dane even hear himself?
“Keep our hands off your girl? But we are all supposed to be the same person. How the hell is it going to work without one of us going up to her at some point when we are on campus? I mean, you are not there all the time. If you had to take your exams, we all know you wouldn’t pass with flying colors!” I had to give him a reality check, he was talking with his dick and not thinking straight at all. The guy had no brain, he was my brother and he drove me crazy, but there was no denying he was no better than Forrest Gump. Totally misunderstood and lucky.
Daxon chimed in, “Yeah, this isn’t making any sense. All three of us go around campus. She’s going to find it weird if I ignore her one day and David does the same, and then you are all loving with her the next. Did you even think this through?”
He ignored us both, and before he could even reply, Mom came in the room in her pjs with her eyes half-open. She headed to the fridge while she spoke. “Guys, can you keep your squabbling for the daytime. Some of us have work in the morning.”
I nodded. “Sorry, Mom.”
Her tired eyes traced across the kitchen before she opened the fridge. She looked at both Dane and Daxon for confirmation, and once they gave it, she took out a bottle of water and then shuffled into her bedroom.
"What's up with Mom?" Dane asked, changing the subject.
“I dunno. She’s been coming home late and not talking much, and she’s been eating even less. You would know if you could keep your dick in your pants.”
She told us to keep it down, but we were going to argue even more as the confirmation of Dane fucking Lisa hit home. Why else would he be talking about keeping our hands off.
“You had sex with her?” I growled.
“Yeah, and?” Dane replied, challenging me across the kitchen workspace.
“Cool it. We’ll talk in the morning,” Daxon said.
“Yeah, I have a game in the afternoon, so I really need some z’s,” Dane said.
I moved away from Dane, feeling happy that we didn’t share a room. He slept in the living room, while Daxon and I shared a room. We took turns in who shared the room. It was big enough for two people, but three just became a crowd. I took a deep breath as I hesitated once I reached my door. We now had a girlfriend, which was never in the plan. Dane was the only one with a future, one that had been defined, whereas Daxon and I still had to figure it all out.
As I headed out of the kitchen to the bedroom, I realized I was too wound up to study. I opened the door and Daxon scuffled behind me. Part of me wondered if I was annoyed about Dane having a girlfriend or the idea of him fucking Lisa—the one that I secretly thought about day and night. Her smile and blue eyes lit up a room whenever she was near, and pretending to be Dane was hard, but now it just got that much harder.
* * *
I woke up the next day feeling like a bear with a sorehead. Both Daxon and Dane were still sleeping since they had no reason to get up early. Daxon was singing a melody last night before I nodded off; he was probably writing a new song, which helped put me to sleep.
The guy could sing, that was for sure. As for Dane and me, well, we sounded more like cats being strangled to death. Not that I would know what that sounded like, but I was pretty sure if I did hear a cat being strangled it would sound like Dane and I singing. Sometimes Daxon played at this jazz bar for extra cash. When Dane wasn’t in a game or supposedly out celebrating, Daxon would play a gig. Everyone loved him down there, or so he’d told us. We couldn’t see him perform, which was the shitty thing about pretending to be Dane, since we could never be at the same place at the same time.
I wanted to get up early to take Mom to work, but she was gone by the time I got up. I didn’t get why she would leave before seven to go to work, especially on a Saturday. Her boss must be working her hard. The other day she wanted me to drop her off downtown, but not to her office—a secret I have kept from my brothers—and when I asked her why, she told me that she doesn’t ask what I get up to so I shouldn’t do the same thing. I was shocked by her tone, and it bothered me that day, but I didn’t pursue the subject. She was a grown woman, and I had no right to question her whereabouts. I thought we were a family of no secrets. But, slowly, we were falling apart, and I could blame Lisa for part of it, but I blamed Dane even more for it.
It was the first time that Mom has been cagey. This was the reason I waited up for Dane, so I could talk with him before he came in and landed his bombshell on the table. Seeing as we were all in at the same time, maybe Daxon and I would talk to Mom this morning.
I headed to the library, thinking about avoiding Lisa like the plague. The idea that Dane had touched her, put his hands all over her body, just didn’t seem right.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Lisa said as she kissed me, just before I was going to the library. I didn’t even see her pop up, and I thought after the late night she had with Dane, there was no way she’d be walking around campus at this hour.
She backed away. “Hey, what’s wrong? Have you’ve changed your mind after last night?” she said disappointedly as if she’d already rocked the boat.
I grabbed her and pulled her near to me. The softness of her skin aroused me as I traced my finger under her chin.
Shit! It had started already. Dane told me to keep my hands off her and all I wanted to do was put them all over her body.
“Why would I ever change my mind about being with you?”
She giggled as she swept her blond hair into a ponytail and her yellow dress rose, and I could see her thighs. I did all I could to resist putting my hands up her legs and taking her on campus, here and now.
“Sorry, I thought that I would surprise you because I was getting something to eat, and then I spotted you going to the library. I love your dedication, not only to football, but to studying, too. Besides, I thought you had a game this morning.”
I shook my head. “No, this afternoon. I have a couple of hours to study and then I have to be out of here.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck. “So, no time to get something to eat?” She pressed her lips on mine. I could taste her minty toothpaste, and I wanted to do more then gently kiss her as my cock started to rise to the occasion.
I put my arms around her. “No, I can’t. I didn’t get much sleep.”
She blushed as memories of what they got up to last night became fresh in my mind.
“I can see that you want more…” she purred as my length started to grow in between her thighs.
I backed away from her, thinking that as much as I wanted to take her right now, I had to study. I had to get into the library and think about something else other than sex and her sweet body.
“Okay, I’ll see you later at the game. Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.” She kissed me on the lips and then moved away in the direction she was heading in before she saw me.
I waved. “Yeah, I’ll see you after the game.”
She giggled as she waved, and I headed into the library. Dane’s football buffoons started cheering as I walked in, no doubt they were taking extra classes. Unlike Dane, I didn’t need tuition or have to worry about keeping my grades up. That was another problem with being Dane. Never in a million years would I hang out with guys like that. They were the typical cavemen on campus, sex first and told the whole world after, just like my brother. But what he’d started with Lisa was different. He told me last night to make sure I kept my grubby hands off Lisa, but I had no intention of doing so… not in a million years.