My Brother's Best Friend

Chap. 18

"Hey!" I called out, as Parker and Emmett walked in the door.

Parker slung his backpack across the room and stormed back to his room, slamming his bedroom door behind him.

"He's a little pissed off," Emmett explained, with a tight smile.

"What happened?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Coach sent him to the trainer before practice for his arm," Emmett explained, while pouring himself a glass of Gatorade, using up the rest of the two-liter. "And he ended up having to get stitches."

I didn't think it had been that bad in the elevator. But then again, I was pretty distracted.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Emmett agreed. "Trainer said he can't play for at least 3 days with the stitches, meaning that he's going to miss tomorrow night's game."

"So I guess he's not taking it well?"

Emmett gestured back towards Parker's bedroom. "What do you think?"

"Sounds like he was fun to ride home with."

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Glad I wasn't in that elevator."

My eyes flickered towards the ceiling, trying to keep my composure.

I'm sure glad Emmett wasn't in the elevator either.

"How'd it happen anyways?" he asked.

"I don't know," I confessed. "The lights went dark, the elevator lurched to a stop. I stumbled a bit; Parker must've ripped his arm against some metal."

He tensed up at that. "Damn."

It'd looked nasty in the elevator, but I'd figured he'd just clean it up with some warm water and soap. Not stitches.

"So we probably need to talk about next week," Emmett pointed out.

"I'm perfectly fine if we don't."

He laughed at that. "We're meeting mom and dad at the Gaylord Palms ballroom."

I nodded in agreement.

"Parker and Lee are supposed to join us," Emmett added.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Parker's brother Lee is joining us?"

"Yeah," Emmett agreed. "What? Did you think he'd spend Thanksgiving alone?"

"No," I defended. "I guess I just didn't think about it."

"Yeah, well he's not finished with classes until Tuesday afternoon. So Parker's picking him up on Wednesday."

"Cutting it close there."

Emmett nodded in agreement.

Parker came back out into the kitchen area, dressed in jeans and a nicer t-shirt.

"I'm going out," he informed us, before slamming the apartment door behind him.

"Well okay then," Emmett agreed. "What do you want for dinner?"

~*~

"How do you think they're going to do without Parker?" Michelle asked me, as the Mustangs lined up on the field.

Jason, a benchwarmer, was playing in Parker's position.

They were playing the Hawks, who were worthy opponents. They'd only lost one game this season.

But the Mustangs were undefeated.

"I really hope, for Jason's sake, that they pull this one out," I said, with a laugh.