Best Friend's Brother

11.

I'd be lying if I said the tension in the air didn't make it hard to breathe. Jacob sat at one side of the table with his hands folded in front of his mouth and his father sat on the other side.

Jacob had an angry look set on his face as he looked into Joseph's eyes. Joseph seemed very nervous.

"I uh.. I been looking for you." Joseph says and rubs the back of his neck. "18 years seems like a long time to wait to try and find somebody."

"It's not like that son."

"Don't... call me that. I'm not your son." Jacob closes his eyes to try and calm down. I put my hand on his lap to soothe him. "Look I know you're mad, but just give me a chance."

"I don't need to give you a chance! You left us. I didn't even get the chance to know who you were. Every father's day was hard for me. My friends in school would talk about their dad's like they were super heroes. I never got the chance to experience that because you went to raise some other man's kids instead of loving your own! How the fuck am I supposed to willingly give you another chance?"

"I'll leave you two alone." I say but Jacob stops me from leaving. "No you can stay." He says not taking his eyes off of his father.

"Jacob, I think it would be best if we had this conversation alone." Joseph says. "She doesn't have to go anywhere. You're nobody's father in here!"

I here the front door open and check the time. It's a little after five so it should be Teresa coming home from work.

"Joseph? What are you doing here?" She says when she walks in the room. Joseph looks up at her with an unknown emotion in his eyes. He stands and goes to greet her.

"Teresa... you look great. It's been a long time." Teresa glares at him, shaking her head. "You've waited 18 years to try and come back in somebody's life?"

"Well who's side of the story does he know, yours or mine?" Joseph slightly raises his voice. "He doesn't need to know any side of the story to know that you left!"

"Can I at least talk to him alone and explain things?"

"I'm not the one you should be asking." Teresa says with a bite in her voice. Joseph turns to Jacob with pleading eyes.

"You have five minutes." Jacob says. "Come with me sweetie." Teresa says and I follow her to the backyard.

We take a seat on the lounge chairs right outside the back door.

"When did he get here?" She says referring to Joseph. "Right before you came."

"I'm gonna tell you the story about Jacob's father." She says and I nod. Waiting for her to start.

"I met Joseph when I was 15. He was a senior and I was a freshman at the time. He was basically every girls dream guy. Tall, handsome, did good in school, star quarterback for the football team. I always had a crush on him but he's was way out of my league. So one day my friends drag me to this party...."

Teresa walked into the house with her friends Lisa and Gemma. The house was packed and music blasted from the disc jockey's speaker.

Teresa wasn't much of a party person, but her friends somehow persuaded her to come with them this time. She automatically felt out of place when she walked in.

Everyone was either too drunk to stand or grinding and gyrating on each other.

Gemma immediately disappeared to the beer pong table. Lisa sat in a corner with her boyfriend who had took them to the party. Teresa sat in a chair next to Lisa and watched people enjoy themselves.