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“Yes?” She’s blinking more than normal, the way my mom does when she’s telling a lie.
“Closet is neutral, right?” I grin and her eyes narrow on my gaze. I think she’s suspicious.
“Uh yeah.” Skepticism colors her face, which is about to blush a hard pink I hope.
“Good,” I say, dropping the towel and turning slowly, letting her get a full view of everything I’ve got. You walk around naked in enough locker rooms, you lose all modesty. And I’ve never gotten any complaints from women, so I must be doing something right in the gym. Plus, her short shorts made me half-hard, so I feel pretty good about her view of that too.
I grab my gray sweatpants from my basket, the same pair I let her wear earlier today, and step into them. I glance over my shoulder and catch her gaze, which she darts away in a flash, burying her very bright pink face in her book again.
“You forgot your headphone,” I say as I walk over to my side of the room. She pushes her earpiece back over her ear without blinking or looking away from the words I have serious doubts that she is reading.
I flop into the bed with some extra force to annoy her and get her attention. She squeezes her eyes shut but doesn’t look my way. Amused by how hard she is trying to ignore me, I laugh to myself. I drag my school bag up from the floor beside the bed and pull out my laptop to check my emails. There’s one from Coach suggesting I show up extra early for next week’s games to put in some more facetime with the Spoilers guys I met this morning. I check the time, feeling good that it’s only nine, so I grab my phone from the charger on my night table and give my mom a call. In the midst of everything, I never got a chance to tell her the news.
Glancing sideways at Laney, I let it ring, hoping my mom isn’t asleep already. I’m overly sensitive to how she answers the phone, reading into the strength of her voice and letting my mind instantly go to the worst places. Allison McCreary is the family glue. She’s always been the do-it-all, remember-it-all, know-the-answers, and fix-the-problems parent. Which was good, because Patrick McCreary, Sr. was more of the fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants parent. It was a good balance between the two,though my dad did make my mom crazy sometimes when he would blow up family plans for one of his spontaneous family adventures. Those adventures were always so great, though, that they always resulted in years’ worth of stories, laughter, and all of us together.
When I hear the ring stop on the line and a shuffling sound, I sit up at the ready. My pulse is going to race like this until my mom gets that all-clear two years from now. Or maybe the next all-clear five years from now. Or maybe never.
“Cutter Ellison McCreary, if you are drunk dialing me during my program, we’re going to have words.”
I sink back against the headboard with relief and breathe out a laugh.
“If you would use the on-demand feature I showed you, then this wouldn’t be a problem,” I remind her.
“You know I like to watch it live so I can chat with the girls online. Besides, the commercials give me time to grab snacks.”
We both laugh. My mom is obsessed with this hour-long murder show that they play once a week. The girls she’s referring to use to pile into our home when I was a kid and all watch together. Chat rooms let them keep their hobby going while their families grew and they got busy with kids and the chaos of junior hockey.
“You know you can pause at least, right?” I say.
“Yes, I do. But I don’t want to get too far behind so get on with it. This call wouldn’t have anything to do with the girlfriend you’re hiding from me, would it?”
I flinch at her question and glance toward Laney, who is still locked into her book and wearing the headphones.
“There is no girlfriend, Ma,” I say.
“Then what is this I hear about you shaking up with somehot chick,as your brothers put it?”
Ah, I see. Matt’s post made its way to the twins, and Flynn and Todd love to throw me under the bus. Being the youngest is rough sometimes.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and quickly muster up the best way to explain this.
“It’s not like that at all, Ma. Housing is really full, and I wanted to get out of the house sooner rather than later. It’s literally a roommate situation until something better opens up. And you should be happy that there’s a woman around to smack some sense into me from time to time.” My gaze flashes to Laney again to make sure she’s still in her own world and not listening, which she doesn’t seem to be.
“Well that does sound like a benefit. Perhaps when I meet her I can show her the most effective place to smack you,” my mom jokes. My parents weren’t the spanking types. If anything, they let us get away with way too much. My mom used her Irish-American guilt to her advantage, playing the Catholic card on us when we got really out of hand, but other than that, we basically got away with anything we wanted to as long as we didn’t burn the damn house down.
“I’m sure you two could exchange notes,” I say. “But hey, I called to tell you some great news. I was so busy today that I didn’t get a chance until now.”
“Okay, I’m not even mad about pausing now. Spill it, kid.”
“Some guys from the Spoilers stopped by to talk with Coach today. I got to meet them, and they’re looking at me pretty hard.” I can’t temper my massive grin as my mom literally screams into the phone. I’m not the natural that Flynn and Todd are, but what they have in talent I make up for with effort. My mom has always been my champion, too.
“Cutter, honey! Oh, that would be something. Your dad would be so proud.”
I nod even though she can’t see me.
“I think so. But listen, it’s all still up in the air. I have to really kill it this year. Like,really kill it.” I think about my sluggish start and wince. Maybe it is a blessing I’m stuck here with Laney. Early nights and focus are key right now.
“Cutter, I’ve been through this plenty. I know how it works. But that’s great news. Really exciting news. Alright, I’m gonna let you go. I’m falling behind and the girls are starting to post spoilers. I can’t have that.”
