His Game

Chapter Twenty

Chapters 19-20 were updated

His Game: Chapter Twenty

The next day, after an amazing nights sleep, I saunter downstairs and to the kitchen where I can hear Belle making the same joke I heard approximately 30 times yesterday. But knowing she's happy in telling it rids any annoyance I may have from hearing the same punchline time after time.

"Good morning," I greet both Belle and my mom as I walk into the kitchen, walking towards the fruit bowl for an apple.

"So, who's the girl?"

I spit out part of my apple from my mom's choice of greeting this morning and stare at her. "What girl?" I ask, doing a terrible job at feigning innocence with my voice crack.

My mom simply smiles and shrugs, sipping on her coffee. "You just seem rather chipper lately, and you couldn't quit smiling last night once you got home. I think you laid on that couch staring at something in your wallet for a solid hour."

"It was not an hour," I mutter, "And I happen to have a very interesting license picture that I like to look at sometimes."

Just because I admitted to myself that I like Joey doesn't mean I have to go around announcing it to the entire world. Mom doesn't need to know about the Polaroid, I don't think she'd ever leave me alone about it.

"I raised a terrible liar. I don't know whether to be proud or a little disappointed," mom comments.

I roll my eyes and walk towards the fridge to get milk, stopping to kiss her cheek on the way. "The only girls I need in my life are you and Belle."

Belle grins widely at me, showing a mouthful of cereal and I snort.

"That's real flattering, Belle. Now come on, we need to go or else we'll be late," I say, walking over to the kitchen table to grab her backpack and help her pack her lunch.

Thursday's are always hard. You wish so badly for it to be Friday, but you're still a day off.

"You're not off the hook about this girl, Rhett," my mom says as we start to walk to the front door.

"Don't know what you're talking about!" I holler behind me before quickly leaving before she can pester me any more.

"Rhett?" Belle asks once we get into the van since I drive her to school some days.

"What's up, Belle?"

"How come you don't want to tell mom about Joey?" She asks.

I scrunch up my face at the loaded question and stare at the road as we drive to school.

"Because...I don't know exactly how I feel about Joey."

That's not necessarily a lie. After I realized I have feelings for Joey, I did a lot of thinking about what exactly that means and I never came to a conclusion.

"I do!" She exclaims proudly.

I chuckle and glance over at her, "You do? And how's that?"

"You like her, and she likes you," she concludes.

I smile, "That so?"

"Yep, hey Rhett! What do you call a bear with no teeth?"

I sigh softly at the constant joke, but mask it with a smile. "I always forget this one! A teddy bear?"

She laughs and shakes her head, "No silly! A gummy bear!"

I smile at her, "Of course! Good one Belle."