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“You do, Noah, I’m not saying you don’t. He’s just had a lot to adjust to this year. Do you remember when we brought Myke and Cael out here? How Cael acted up?”
“He was nine. Porter is sixteen.”
I reached the top of the stairs then and didn’t wait for the rest of the conversation. I had to be up in three hours and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that dad was waking me up, training camp style, full of every bell and whistle he could come up with.
***
Sure enough, Dad woke me up with a fucking blow horn. Yes, a blow horn. One of those loud ones that fans used up in the rafters at hockey games.
And at five-thirty.
Five-thirty!
I groaned into my pillow, bunching it up toward my ears to block the annoying sound.
“We’re going for a run.”
I rolled over onto my back, but not fast enough to block my face from the jogging pants and hoodie Dad threw at me. He stepped out of my room then but I knew better than to roll over and go back to sleep for the last thirty minutes of my night.
Reluctantly, I got out of bed and pulled the pants up over my boxers and the hoodie over my tee. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I yawned, walking toward my dresser to pull out socks.
I had to lean against my dresser to pull them over my feet. I was so tired, my balance was missing somewhere but I managed. Maybe crooked, but I didn’t care.
“Porter!” Dad yelled from downstairs.
“I gotta piss,” I answered back, but probably not loud enough for him to hear. The only good thing about Avery being gone now was the bathroom was officially all mine. Growing up, it wasn’t too bad for me. There weren’t too many years that there were more than Ace and myself in the same school. Each school had a different start time, with the high school being the earliest and the elementary school the latest. But it was nice to not have to wait an hour for your sister to get ready.
That may be an exaggeration. Ace wasn’t really that bad. She put about as much effort into getting ready for school as I did. Damn, I missed her.
I relieved myself quickly and brushed the funk from my mouth, finally feeling more awake.
“Porter!” Dad yelled again.
Goddamn.“I’m coming!” This time I yelled back so he could hear me. I jogged down the stairs and met Dad in the foyer, where he was already dressed and ready to go, running shoes on and everything. He held out my trainers and I slipped them on, not bothering to untie either before doing so.
“Let’s go.” Dad pulled opened the door, waiting for me to walk out, before shutting it behind us. Knowing the route we’d take, I jogged down the front stairs of our porch and started down the road.
We ran in silence for the first half-mile or so before Dad finally spoke.
“You want to tell me what’s going on with you?”
“Nothing’s going on with me.”
Dad let that sit for a few beats. “I wasn’t joking last night, Ports. Three strikes and I’m pulling you. I don’t like Alex and Matt, and feel that they’re a big part in your recent shenanigans.”
I ground my teeth, tightened my lips, but stayed quiet. It wouldn’t do me any good to defend my friends right now.
“I wish—”
“That I was more like Cael and Jon Jon? That you stopped having kids after Ace?” I blurted out, stopping my run. I was so sick of being a disappointment to him. I didn’t seem to do anything right in Dad’s eyes.
“Woah, woah, woah.” Dad slowed to a stop, his eyes narrowing and his hands on his hips. His mouth was parted as he was breathing hard and his hoodie, like mine, had sweat marks along the front.
“Don’t ever say that, Porter.”
“It’s true though, right?” My voice was louder than it probably needed to be.
“God, no, Porter. Yes, I’m disappointed in some of the choices you’ve made; I thought we raised you differently. But never would I wish we hadn’t had you.”
