My Brothers Best Friend

Chapter 5: Insert Foot in Mouth

BRENTS POV

As I stepped onto the rugby field I scanned the handful of people who had shown up to see us play. This wasn’t an important game by any means. It was mainly just a handful of our teammates trying to dust off our cleats after a summer of not conditioning. Rugby wasn’t a big deal at our school like the other sports. Hardly anyone knew we had a team. I did a few stretches and ran over to my truck to toss my phone and shirt into the passenger seat. As I jogged back toward the guys I glanced over and my eyes locked onto the girl I’d been waiting to see. She wasn’t wearing anything special, a pair of leggings and a tank top. Her hair was plopped on top of her head in a messy bun but she was the most stunning person present.

During the game I realized that while I spent the entire summer keeping in shape I definitely wasn’t ready to start to the rugby season. Thank goodness it wasn’t a real game, we would’ve gotten creamed. It didn’t help that I couldn’t keep my mind in the game. My thoughts kept traveling to the beauty sitting on the edge of the bleachers. I couldn’t wait for this game to be over so I could go talk to her. Erica was also there, she had decided she’d give me the death glare every time I glanced in her direction. As the game finally finished up I watched Hayes run over to Noah. I’d decided to give them a minute.

I jogged over when I saw a moment to interject myself. “Hey Noah, what do you think? How’d we do?” I asked her curious to see what she thought, even though she’d been to our games before. As always, Noah was polite and complimented our efforts. Hayes laid a punch into my shoulder, “Hey why didn’t you tell me you walked Noah home last night?” He asked. I instantly froze up. He knows that Noah and I are friends so it shouldn’t be a big deal that I’d hang out with her but with how my feelings have been changing I didn’t want him to start getting ideas. After a minute I stupidly spit out, “come on man, she’s your little sister. I’ve gotta look after her”. As soon as those words left my mouth I wish I could reach into the air and take them back. I knew how Noah felt about being in the shadow of Hayes. I knew that she felt like everyone was overprotective because she is Hayes sister. I knew this and whatever independence she felt like she had was diminished as I proved her point pushing her back into Hayes shadow. I could see the hurt on her face. I tried to think of what I could say to her to explain how sorry I was. The last thing I wanted was for her to be hurting. God I was such an i***t. I snapped back to reality as I hear Hayes laying into her about jogging to campus this morning. If her face didn’t show how hurt she was before you could definitely see it now.

“.. .. I’m 18 and I can take care of myself” her words rang out. As much as I wanted to defend her I knew that I was just as concerned about her jogging around the city without anyone with her. You just never know these days. As Hayes walked away from her I decided to step closer. I wanted to hug her and tell her how sorry I was for what I said but as always my mouth was quicker than my mind, “you really shouldn’t be jogging without someone with you” I told her hoping she’d head my concern. She wouldn’t even look at me. “Don’t worry about me, Brent. You don’t have to be ‘Hayes little sisters keeper’” she said before turning and walking away. I tried to call out to her but she wasn’t having it and I couldn’t blame her.

I watched Hayes truck pull away before I felt an aggressive tap on my shoulder. I spun around to see Erica standing with her arms crossed. “Hey Erica, how are you?” I said acting as normal as possible. “How come you ditched me last night? I thought we were going to spend time together” she asked in a pouty voice trying to make me feel guilty. It did the exact opposite though. It annoyed the crap out of me. “Yeah, wasn’t feeling it. Sorry” I said lifting my shirt over my head. She scoffed and stormed off. Oh well, maybe she’d get the hint now.

I drove back to the house to shower and change. As I stepped out of the bathroom and got changed I opened my door to see Hayes walking down the hall. “Hey man, how’d it go? Is she still mad?” I asked him running the towel over my damp hair. Hayes stopped and leaned against the railing, “yeah, she didn’t talk to me the entire way there. I just told her she needs to be smarter” he started on. “She is smart though and she’s right. She’s 18. She didn’t come here so she could be parented by her brother” I didn’t mean to sound like an asshole but I’m sure that’s what it sounded like. Hayes furrowed his brow at me “whose side are you on, Brent? She may be 18 but she’s never been on her own before and as her big brother it’s my responsibility to look after her. Especially after everything she’s been through with that dumbass ex boyfriend of hers and her sca..” he stopped himself before going on. “The point is, it’s my job to look after her and as my best friend who is basically a brother you should be on my side” he says. I look around biting the inside of my cheek. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry man” I say heaving a sigh. “I get what you’re saying though. But hey, Gab said something about a pool day so I think I’m gonna head over there soon. You wanna join?” Hayes asked tossing his keys up and catching them. I thought for a minute, maybe this could be my opportunity to apologize to Noah. I nod my head, “yeah, yeah I’ll come”