Just What I Needed

June 2

He arrived. Mystery Nate.

At well over six feet tall with broad shoulders, he towered over my dad and me.

And that hair. Thick blonde locks fell in waves to his shoulders. It looked better than when I tried to create the beachy wave look. I swear, if I see it in a man bun, I will rage.

He was dressed in black pants and a neon pink golf shirt, tucked in neatly. Preppy. 

"You're up!" my dad was surprisingly chipper as I entered the kitchen, still not fully awake. "Jordan meet Nathan Thorpe. He'll be staying with us for the baseball season."

It was 7 am. And I was not in the mood to play along with dad's fake happy family charade. 

Why was Thor in my kitchen at 7 am? Couldn't he arrive at noon like a normal human being? Not to mention, he was fully awake, like he'd been up and at it for hours.

"You have a tee off time with Tiger Woods or something?" I looked him up and down.

He turned to look at me and the corner of his lip twitched into a smirk.

There I was standing in my pajamas, which consisted of one of Nicholas's large varsity t-shirts and a baggy pair of basketball shorts. My messy black hair was half in my ponytail, half out.

All I wanted was a coffee and a bowl of cereal and instead I was being forced into an introduction that I hadn't been planning on being a part of in the first place.

Awesome.

Without saying a word, I made an about turn and headed back to my bedroom and shut the door.

Maybe I could hide here all summer and come out when it's September. Scotty, the Ditzy Duo and I would all be gone to different colleges. Thor would be gone. And maybe my body would be fully healed by then. Sleep is good for healing. I'll just sleep all summer.

Instead, my dad was back, being as annoying as possible. Pretending he was normal.

He knocked on my bedroom door.

"I'm going to bring Nate around to get him acquainted with the town. Maybe you could bring him out with your friends later?"

"Hmmrrpphhh," I grumbled into my pillow.

There was no way I was taking that giant anywhere. Did my dad just expect me to be all friendly and welcoming to some stranger posing as a son/brother figure? Sorry pops, that's not going to happen.

"She's not a morning person. We'll just give her some space. I'm sure she'll be ready to meet you properly later today. Why don't we go get some grub? There's a great breakfast place around the corner. Are you hungry?" I heard my dad asking.

"Always," Thor replied in the deepest voice I've heard out of a teenage boy in my life. How old did they say he was? First year university – eighteen. That's not the voice of an eighteen year old.

A minute later I heard them leaving the house.

I could feel the anger rising from within me. Not once since I had come home from the hospital had my dad ever offered to take me out for "some grub." Heck, he didn't even offer to make a homemade meal. And here he was acting like a real dad to a kid who wasn't even his son. How dare he?!

Sleep wasn't going to be enough of an avoidance tactic. I got up and showered, put on my leggings and racerback and headed out the door. I didn't know where I was going but I wasn't coming back to be buddies with the imposter brother.

I wandered aimlessly through the town. Despite the fact that I had seen all of these places before, it was like I was seeing it from a new perspective. I wondered what an outsider like Nate would think of our small town.