Page 42 of The Backup Plan
“Did he know?”
“He says he didn’t, but she must have told him she was an instructor. They met on campus. And if she said she teaches, he’d ask what, and so on.” She took a deep breath. “I guess none of that really matters. Here we are, right?”
“Here we are.” He paused. “It’s pretty obvious you aren’t too into the idea. What’s Justin say?”
“We talked about it after the party, and it didn’t go well. I know I was kind of shitty about it. I can admit that. But of course it’s weird because she’s my advisor and I kind of thought we were friends, but when I tried to talk with him a few days later, Justin said he basically he doesn’t care what I think.”
Avery closed her eyes, remembering their dinner the week before. She didn’t like the relationship, but resolved to make it less awkward for everyone. She could avoid Mindy until the middle of the semester when she had to register for spring courses, and when she suggested that to Justin, he responded saying Avery was being childish. When she suggested requesting a new advisor, he said she was running from reality and needed to stay out of his business.
That Justin, of all people, would accuse her of running from reality was laughable. He was the one still running from their brother’s ghost when Avery refused to let her fears linger.
Even a thousand miles apart, they never felt so disconnected. She hadn’t spoken to him for days.
“Did he have girlfriends in high school?” Cam asked.
“He had a girlfriend here his whole freshman year. In high school, he was kind of on-and-off with a girl for two years, but they argued and broke up a lot.”
“He’s never had a serious girlfriend around you.”
Avery kept her eyes closed. “He’s been out with her something like three times. It’s not serious.”
She sighed heavily and folded her hands over her chest. “Justin always made a big point of not getting involved in my love life, and I should have the same respect for his. I don’t know why that’s so hard to do.”
“He’s a pretty protective big brother, or at least he always sounded like it. He’s never gotten in some guy’s face and asked for his intentions?”
She laughed. “Please. Justin stood back and let me make my own choices without comment or complaint since I kicked my first boyfriend in the balls for getting too handsy.”
Cam faked a high squeak. “Yikes. You’re scary.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
She heard his breath hitch.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice a strained whisper. “I did.”
Behind closed lids, Avery’s eyes welled. She moved her lips to ask what happened, but the words didn’t come, and she wondered if Justin, in all his chatter about her, ever mentioned their brother.
What lurked behind Cam’s whisper had never been passed around a locker room. She could hear that in just his breath.
“I’m sorry, Cam.”
“It’s all right. I wasn’t even a year old. I don’t remember.”
His words throbbed like a heartbeat.
“It’s why my parents are really overprotective,” he continued. “Go on and say it. I picked the wrong sport.”
She smiled. “And the wrong position. Long snapper might have been better.”
“I had to fight to play from the beginning. My folks didn’t want me to go anywhere or do anything, but I wanted to throw. Dad thought I could be a pitcher and that would be safer, but I never got into baseball.”
“I don’t know how my parents are still married. They fell apart after my brother died, and they fight and blame each other all the time. They did the opposite of your folks, I guess, and ignored us for a while.”
“You had another brother?” Cam sat up and poked her shoulder until she opened her eyes.
“Justin never talked about him?”
“I had no idea.”