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Watching Noah talking to Jeremy so easily made me jealous . Not that I thought that they were close, it's just, Noah was able to get along with everyone all the time . He was a talker . And he was outgoing . I want to be more outgoing .
I cleared my throat to chime in . "Do you think you could sign some autographs so I can take to the party?"
Jeremy was surprised . "Why would you want to do that?"
"Because a lot of kids at school asked him for one . " Noah answered . "Mostly everyone now knows that he's your brother . There was some kind of blog post that brought it up again and included pictures of you two talking . "
Jeremy frowned . "Do you know which blog?"
Noah shook his head .
Jeremy looked at me . "Are you sure you want to give them out? That's not going to make the other kids jealous of you, right?"
I shrugged and looked at Noah .
Noah thought for a moment . "I mean, some are already jealous . Jake is a baseball star as a freshman . But no one dares to pick on him . Me and my brothers are there to back him up . "
"Okay then, if you're sure . I'll send you a stack of signed baseball cards . It'll take me awhile though . " Jeremy told us .
"You've got almost two weeks . " Noah replied .
He nodded . "Okay . I'll work on it as I'm on the road . I come back next week for a couple of home games so maybe you and the Atkins family can make a trip to watch a game and pick up the autographs?"
My lips twisted . "I'm not sure . Softball starts next week . " I glanced to Noah .
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Noah nodded . "Tuesday is our first game . Thursday we'll actually be missing because of Zeke's graduation . Friday is Alisha's party . And since it's finals week, I doubt Mom would let us go . "
"Oh . . . " Jeremy hesitated . "We'll figure something out next week when I get back then . Are you, uh, prepared for your finals?"
I nodded .
"It won't be difficult for us . " Noah claimed with ease .
"That's good . " Jeremy looked relieved . "At least you're don't have my bad study habits . "
"You were bad at school?" I asked .
He made a face of indecisiveness . "Kind of . I was bad in school, but I wasn't dumb . I just did dumb things . Does that make sense?"
I tilted my head . "Not really . But is that why you didn't go to college?" I grabbed the pen again and prepared to write down his answer .
Jeremy noticed what I was doing . "It played a part in why I chose to go straight into the draft after high school . Another part was Dad . " He looked me in the eye . "Our dad . He also didn't go to college to play . He got chosen in the draft, started low in the minor leagues, and then . . . "
I waited patiently, wanting to know more .
Jeremy coughed and cleared his throat . "He never made it to the majors . I wanted to do that for him . To honor his memory . I wanted to succeed what he couldn't accomplish . "
"What did your uncle think of that?" Noah asked with no emotion .
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"Uncle Jack was very supportive of my dreams . I owe a lot to him for what I'm abled to do today . He trained me, coached me, and did all in his power to make me a better player . " He stumbled a bit at the sight of my unmoved expression . "Sorry, I-"
"It's fine . " I told him .
The conversation stalled in awkwardness .
"Really, Jeremy . " I spoke up . "I'm glad you have them . "
Jeremy looked a little torn . "Thanks, me too . And I'm glad you have the Atkins . They seem like nice people . "
"Of course we're nice . " Noah grinned .
The conversation turned a little lighter as I started to ask him about his time in the minors and even a little about his high school baseball team . We spoke for an hour, Mrs . Atkins brought out the dessert Jeremy had given, and the conversation finally ended when Mr . Atkins told us it was about time we went to bed .
Noah went upstairs to get ready for bed as I walked Jeremy to the door .
"Jake?" He asked after I opened the door for him .
I looked up at him .
"I know you aren't too keen on Uncle Jack, but I wanted to ask if you . . . are okay with meeting his kids . . . our cousins?" The Jeremy in front of me wasn't the pro baseball player that everyone saw at the A's game . Instead, I had the awkward and uncomfortable Jeremy, who struggled to even look me in the eye .
I shrugged, noncommittal . "Maybe . We'll see . "
Jeremy looked relieved . "Cool . Cool . Cool . "
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My lips twitched . "Drive safe . "
"Yea, thanks . " He grinned and walked out the door, giving me a head pat on the way out . He froze and turned back to face me . "Sorry!"
"It's fine . " I said for the millionth time that night .
This time his relief had a hint of happiness . "I'll text you later . You . . . feel free to text or call me too . "
"Okay . "
He left for real this time, waving and getting into his car . I watched his car leave the block before closing the door .
I went upstairs and found Noah already in bed . He looked at me as I came in the room . "Was it awkward?"
I nodded . "Yea . He also asked if I would mind meeting Jack's kids . . . our cousins . "
He sat up . "And what did you say?"
I shrugged again . "I said maybe . "
"Interesting . "
"What . . ?"
"Nothing . "
"What?" I looked at him .
"Nothing . " He repeated .
I frowned and got my pajamas out . I glanced at him .
Noah laid back down . "You can change in here . It's not like I'll stare . "
After making sure he wasn't pay attention to me, I hurried up and got changed . Since he was already in bed, I turned off the light for the room .
"We'll wake up at 3 . " Noah whispered .
I nodded obediently, but realized he couldn't see me in the dark . "Okay . " Noah passed out easily, but I struggled . In my bed, I could only think about my cousins . The ones that Jeremy claimed as siblings . The way they all laughed together at the game yesterday . I was definitely an outsider, but Jeremy asking me if I wanted to meet them lowered my guard . Did he ask because he wanted me to meet them? Or because Jack wanted me to get to know them? Or do those cousins actually want to know about me? A lot of possibilities .
I must have fallen sleep at some point, because the next thing I knew, Noah was shaking me awake . He put his finger to his lips in the light glow of a small flashlight . We snuck out of our room and into the big room .
At Kyle's bedside, Noah took out a sheet of . . . fake nails . . ? I watched in fascination as he put a dab of glue on one and then pressed it to Kyle's nail, holding it for a minute . At first I was nervous that Kyle would wake up, but his snores rang out the whole entire time . Noah did all ten fingers as I held the flashlight down and did my best not to breathe so hard .
As we were leaving, Noah got close to check Kyle's hair . Pink . And not just light pink .
Noah's eyes widened and he put a hand over his own mouth, stopping himself from making any noise . We got out of there, closing the door behind us, and got back to our own room .
"Oh my god, did you see his hair!?!" Noah grabbed me . "His hair is pink! Pink pink!" He giggled, trying to keep it down . "He must have let it sit in his hair for a bit! This is way better than I expected . He's going to freak out in the morning!"
I nodded . His hair wasn't a neon pink, but it would definitely stand out tomorrow . Him and Dave must have went to bed as soon as they finished their showers .
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