Chapter 4 No.4

Jett

My phone was ringing when I stepped out of the shower. My muscles still felt sore but at least I was alive I reminded myself. The plan had always been to be in the NFL by now, but too many concussions and my parents decided to pull me from the team my senior year. They said it was too dangerous and I guess, as an adult, I can be thankful. I wasn��t so much then though.

Following in my dad��s footsteps was my dream since I knew what a football was. Considering there are about a thousand pictures of me in my crib sleeping with a football, it had been a twenty-three yearlong dream. It was something for him to proud of me for. He told me I had a chance to do anything I wanted when I got hurt. That I didn��t have to do something I thought he wanted me to. When he died, I let it consume me and wanted nothing more than to play again. I didn��t care about the risks. When I talked to the coach at the college about joining the team the next year, he told me the NFL wouldn��t touch me anyway and suggested I look into becoming an agent. It was the next best thing. I could work with the players and help them manage their careers. The career I wished I had but couldn��t.

I stare at myself in the mirror telling myself that I will have a great last day before my new job starts and I will not think about what could have been because it isn��t and there wasn��t any point. My phone stops rings but starts again. I sigh. Mom. It��s always my mom.

I walk into my bedroom, swiping my phone from the table beside my bed where it��s plugged in, ��Hi, Mom,�� I don��t even have to look at the caller ID because she is the most persistent person I know. I know she loves us, but she wasn��t like this when dad was alive. I wish that she would find a hobby or even start dating. No one could replace my father she told me the one time I suggested it. She didn��t call for a week which would have been nice if I hadn��t known it was because she was mad at me. I never brought it up again. She will do it when she is ready. Until then I will deal with the way she shows her love.

��Jett, where have you been? I have been calling you for twenty minutes.�� My heart stops for a minute. Why would she be trying to call me that much? Here I was thinking about how annoying it is that she calls all the time, and something is wrong.

��Is everything okay?�� I manage to push the words past the lump in my throat, sitting on my bed.

��Yes, of course. Everything is just fine,�� she huffs into the phone, ��honestly, Jett.�� I breath again finally and push myself against the headboard.

��Then why are you trying to get ahold of me so bad?�� She may hate it, but she knows how much I worry about her and my sisters since my dad died. I don��t know why she would scare me like that. I guess I should probably be less annoyed with her because the truth is that I am nearly as bad and secretly wish that she would move closer to me so that I could physically see her and my youngest sister more.

��Because I wanted to tell you that your sisters along with Maddy, Cleo, and Calvin will be landing at the airport at 2:15 this afternoon.��

��Okay?�� I question, ��am I forgetting that I am supposed to pick them up or something? Because, Mom you do know I don��t have a car, right?��

��No, Jett. Honestly,�� she sighed again like I was bothering her with my questions. ��Are you drunk already? We can get you help honey.�� I run my hand over my face. My mother the drama queen, ladies and gentlemen!

��Mom, I am fine. Sober.�� I roll my eyes.

��Well good. I told the girls to call you when they land so you know and then Destiny will call you as soon as she gets to campus and make sure you know her dorm number and her roommates name and anything else you can think of that you might need to know if something happens to her.�� I sighed. I hated thinking about anything happening to any of them.

��Wait,�� I say after reviewing everything that she just said, ��what about Kierra?��

��What about her? She will call you I said.��

��I know but why don��t I get to know her dorm number and roommate and all that?��

��Because she is living off campus this year with Maddy and Cleo. Jett Harren Decker, do you listen to your mother�� Ever?�� She started muttering in Spanish and I could picture her in my mind. Hand on her hip shaking her finger at me. It was like I was sixteen again and she caught me in the pool house with Jackie Harren. I know same last name as my middle name, that was the pick-up line I used to get her into the pool house. Mom caught us with my hand up her shirt and I heard all about how I could catch something that way. Which I knew was a lie but again, she is the queen of dramatic so she was always telling me whatever I did, I could catch something.

��I��m sorry, I remember you telling me that okay. You know the internship this summer was a lot, and I was so busy and focused making sure I got the job that����

��It��s not your head, is it?�� She cuts me off.

��No, mom����

��Are you sure?�� Cutoff again, ��maybe you should see the doctor.��

��Mom, I swear. I am fine I just forgot something. People do it all the time.��

I hear Colt, in the background asking to speak to me.

��Sure,�� she says to him, ��Jett. I just love and worry about you all. That��s my right as a mother.

��You��re right. I love you too.��

��Here��s Colt.��

��Jett, how are you?�� Colt asks.