Home is a Four Letter Word

chapter thirty-one

Graduation Day, Mid-May

When all six of the football boys at graduation had agreed to go to the diner for dinner, Jake hadn't thought twice. It was second nature to him at this point to go out with the boys, and there was nothing new to the concept that his team would share a meal together. The only difference was Alyssa was their waitress, and she only knew two of their names.

"Mountain Dew, Hunter?" She pointed at him with a pen.

"You know me so well, sweetheart." He gave a devilish smile that Jake had seen used on so many girls at this point, he almost took pity for her or being on the receiving end of it.

Hunter was attractive in many ways. That heart-stopping smile was one of them. His boyish personality and massive ego was not. Now that high school was over, Jake couldn't help but wonder what Aaron ever saw in him when they decided to turn their duo into a trio. Aaron had always been so internally sensitive—it was one of the reasons Jake got along with him so well. He wasn't loud or obnoxious, or trying to boast his masculinity to every other guy in the room everywhere they went. Hunter was always the complete opposite. Sometimes it made Jake wonder if maybe Aaron decided to befriend him so that he wouldn't be on the opposite end of his sneers and inappropriate jokes instead. He could laugh with him so that Hunter wouldn't be laughing at him. Even if their trio had started because of that fear, Jake wasn't so sure Aaron was scared of him anymore. Hunter really had come a long way from middle school bully, but he still wasn't the kindest kid around. He only had a soft spot in his heart for Aaron and—on a good day—Jake.

"Aaron?" She moved over to him.

"Uh, I'll do a Coke today." He cleared his throat.

"Gotcha." She wrote it down on her small notepad to keep track of all the boys.

Jake broke out of his trance as she turned to him.

"I've seen you in here before with your brother I think, but I can't say I ever caught your name..." She squinted at him.

My brother?

Jake squinted back at her in confusion. Then it dawned on him.

Of course, she thought Connor was my brother. I paid for his meal.

"Jake." He nodded. "I'll just have water, please."

She worked her way over to the other end of the table where the other four boys were sitting and proceeded to greet them like strangers.

"Brother, huh?" Hunter turned his smile into a curious grin.

"Y'aint got a brother, who's she talkin' 'bout?" Aaron added.

Jake looked anywhere but into Aaron's eyes as he scanned over the menu, knowing damn well he was about to order the same thing he got every single time.

"Don't know." He mumbled.

"Didn't know you had any friends besides us..." Hunter leaned forward a little, his elbows resting out on the table.

Jake looked up to him, because he could tell it was accusatory by the way it left his mouth, and for a moment, he found himself looking into Hunter's eyes like he had something to defend. He couldn't find any words to say because, truly, he didn't have any other close friends besides Aaron and Hunter. Connor was different. He felt something more with Connor from the first day he met him, even if he couldn't have admitted it then. Labeling him a friend in his mind would be a huge injustice to those feelings.

"You're a dick." Aaron leaned back in his chair a little to smack Hunter across the back of the head.

Jake forced himself to smile along with Aaron, because if not, the conversation might have turned contemptful too fast for Jake to have calculated his misstep. But he was a peacekeeper first, and that meant keeping the peace with his best friends—even when they were assholes.