Fixing The Scatter [boyxboy]

Fixing The Scatter {7}

"How's the shoulder?" dad asked, wiping sweat off of his forehead.

"It's fine," I lied, pulling my arm back and chucking the baseball to my dad.

He caught it and frowned as it smacked into his glove. "Don't throw it so hard, Jude. This is just to stretch your shoulder, not injure it more."

My dad would take me outside every once in a while to play catch. He hoped that it would help stretch and strengthen my bad shoulder.

But I had been so angry lately. It felt good to throw the baseball as hard as I could. Although my shoulder was starting to really hurt.

Dad began to slide his glove off. "I think we're done-"

"No," I said, tugging my shirt off and throwing it onto the grass. "I want to keep playing."

He looked unsure, eyeing my bad shoulder. "Fine, we can play a little longer. Did you see Staz in school today? Did he say anything to you?"

I caught the ball, hating the stiff throb of my shoulder as I got ready to throw it back to my dad. "I didn't see him."

"His parents kept apologizing to us. They said sometimes Staz acts out like that when they bring him to dinners. He doesn't like crowds of people," dad said, tossing it back to me.

"Then why bother bringing him along?" I said.

Dad shrugged. "Maybe they're worried about leaving him home alone. I think they kind of rely on his brothers to keep him in line."

"Where was the other brother? Aren't there four of them?" I said.

"Oh, yea, no one really knows what happened there. Dante, I think the boy's name was. He was their second oldest son. He got himself into some trouble. I don't think they're on good terms with him," dad said. He let out a sigh. "Can't even imagine that. It's got to be hard, being on bad terms with your own kid."

I threw the baseball particularly hard, wincing when my shoulder exploded into pain. Shit.

"Judeikas Edmund!"

Dad and I both turned to face mom. She was standing at the front door, glaring at both of us.

"I saw that," she said, pointing at me threateningly. "You just hurt your shoulder again, didn't you?"

"No. I just threw the baseball too hard," I said, irritation slipping into my voice. "My shoulder is fine."

"Sydney, I can't believe you let him play for this long. You said you were just going to have him stretch his shoulder a bit," she said, the glare on dad now.

Dad looked to me before frowning at mom. "He wanted to play a little longer. It's a nice day out."

"If he ends up needing surgery on that shoulder because of your stupidity, I'm going to kill you," she said, rubbing her temples. "Judeikas, get inside and ice your shoulder."

I snatched my shirt off of the lawn and slung it over my uninjured shoulder. "I'm going to Nate's."

"No, you're going inside and you're icing your shoulder!" mom said sternly.