Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game (13 page)

I stood up from the couch. “Yeah, I guess I better
get going. I’ll get those pictures for you as soon as I can.”

Her eyes widened as she shook her head wildly back
and forth. “I don’t want to keep them. I want you to delete them!”
she shrieked.

Holding my hands up in defeat, I replied. “Okay,
okay, I’ll delete them.”

Avery exhaled noisily. “Good. I’m glad to hear we’re
on the same page.” She then followed me down the winding staircase
into the marble floored foyer. She smiled at me. “Thanks Noah. You
know, for being a good friend to me and Jake.”

“Sure. And thanks for letting me come over.”

“Yeah, anytime,” Avery said, listlessly before
closing the door behind me.

I walked to my Jeep, content in the knowledge I could
cross one girl off the list.

***

After I left Avery’s house, I ended up back
at Rolling Hills Cemetery. It was like an unseen force was drawing
me there. I didn’t want to believe Jake had that kinda power from
the grave, but I went anyway.

I made the slow drive around the circle to the
mausoleum. When I got out the Jeep, I noticed someone was sitting
on the grass in front of the building.

It was Maddie.

At the sound of someone behind her, she sighed.
“Daddy, I said I’d call you when I was ready to come home.”

“Um, it’s Noah,” I muttered.

She whirled around, her face flushing a little. “Oh,
I thought you were my dad.”

“That’s okay.”

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”

“Yeah, me either,” I admitted.

She nodded and motioned for me to have a seat on the
grass next to her. I eased down and stared at the vault holding
Jake’s remains.

“Hey, I didn’t tell you how great you sounded the
other day at the funeral. That song was really beautiful,” I
said.

She smiled. “Thanks. You sounded great, too.”

“Yeah, I guess
Free Bird
was an odd choice of
a funeral song, but—”

“It was Jake’s favorite,” she murmured. “It was
exactly what he would have wanted.”

I flicked a random blade of grass with my finger.
“Maddie, I’m trying to understand all this stuff that’s been going
on. You know, the ‘two Jakes’.”

She nodded. “He had a hard time with it, too.”

“He did?” I asked.

“Of course he did. Don’t you know how hard it was to
be two people? The guy everyone expected him to be and the guy he
really was deep down?”

It felt kinda strange to be having this conversation
with Maddie about my best friend, but there was a part of me that
was desperate for answers.

Finally, I shook my head. “But he shouldn’t have felt
that way,” I protested.

“Why do you think so?”

When I didn’t respond, Maddie sighed. “He was looking
forward to graduation you know.”

“Yeah, he thought college was going to be a
blast.”

“No, that’s not it at all. He was going to “come out”
so speak.”

My breath caught in my chest. “Wait, are you trying
to say Jake was….gay?”

Maddie laughed. “No, Jake wasn’t gay. I mean, he was
going to truly turn over a new leaf. He had been looking forward to
leaving town so he could do that. He’d even talked to his football
coach about working with the volunteer organizations on
campus.”

Okay, it was one thing contemplating Jake might be
gay, but it was a totally mind blowing to think he was looking
forward to turning his back on partying to be a do gooder.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t imagine Jake doing much
volunteer work,” I said.

Maddie smiled sadly. “Well, he was.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled. I thought talking to Maddie
would give me answers, but I was starting to feel more and more
confused.

She must have sensed my confusion because she said,
“You know, it was like Jake was honorable to a fault. He did
everything he could to please others—even if it was misguided.”

Seriously? Jake did things to please others? Since
the moment we’d met, he’d been one of the most selfish assholes on
the planet. It was me, me, me, all the time. I shook my head
incredulously. “But Maddie…”

She looked over at me. “I know what you’re going to
say.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You do?”

“To you and to everybody else, he was a jerk 90% of
the time.”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that. But it was certainly
closer to the truth. “Pretty much.”

“But to me and my family, he was a perfect gentleman
90% of the time.”

Okay, and once again, that was totally out of
character for Jake. “I just don’t get it,” I replied. I glanced
back up at the vault. I still don’t get never understand why he
felt like he had to be two people to me.”

“Well, think about it for a minute.”

I sat deathly still, trying to collect my thoughts.
“What I meant to say is, I was his best friend, and I don’t
understand why if he could be that way with you and your parents,
then why in the he-,” I caught myself as Maddie arched an eyebrow
at me. “the
heck
, he couldn’t be real with me.”

“Maybe he was real with you, and you just didn’t
realize it.”

“Huh?”

“In all the years that you guys were friends, you’re
telling me you never saw a different side to him?”

I closed my eyes in thought. My mind whirled in a
mosaic of colorful memories. I thought about the camping trip when
Jake saved my life. I thought about the Father/Son camping trip in
Scouts that Jake refused to go on just because I didn’t have a dad
to go with me. And then I thought about the six weeks when my
grandfather was sick and how he stayed by my side like a brother.
How could I not see before how self-less he truly was? I mean, sure
he had his epic douchebag moments, but even before he was
‘changing’ into a so-called better person, he did kindhearted
things. Deep down, I guess he was a truly giving person, but I’d
just been too blind to always see it.

A knot formed in my throat. I swallowed several times
before murmuring, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Maddie smiled. “He talked about you a lot.”

I snapped my head to stare at her. Oh, holy hell. “He
did?”

She smiled. “Yeah, all the time.”

I didn’t respond for a few minutes as I contemplated
all the wild nonsense he could have said. “What did he...say—you
know about me?”

“That you were a good guy and a good friend—too good
of a friend than he sometimes deserved. Oh, and he told me the duct
tape story!”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course he did.”

Maddie laughed. “Don’t worry, I told him what a jerk
he was to do that to you.”

I laughed. Miss Choir Priss was full of surprises.
“You did?”

“Uh, huh, and you know what he said?”

I shook my head.

“He said, ‘Well, I didn’t know how else to get him to
be my friend’.”

A strange burn radiated through my chest. It
continued up my throat to where I choked. “Yeah, he had some
issues, but he was a good friend,” I finally said.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Maddie cleared
her throat. “Um, I guess I better call my dad. He dropped me off on
his way home,” she said.

“I can give you a ride,” I suggested.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

I held my hand out and helped her up off the
grass.

“Thanks,” she replied, with a smile.

“No problem.”

When I opened the Jeep door for her, I wanted to slap
myself. I didn’t have a freakin’ clue what had gotten into me. I
had
never
done that for a girl in my life. I shrugged the
thought away.

Maddie told me how to get her to house. She lived in
a nice subdivision only a few streets over from where I lived.

After I eased the Jeep behind her dad’s car, I turned
to look at her.

She smiled. “Thanks for the ride.”

“No, problem. I was glad to do it.”

She hesitated for a moment and then asked, “Would you
like to come in for a while?”

I don’t know what I was more surprised about. The
fact she asked me in, or the fact I agreed. Seriously, I was ready
to cue the music from
The Twilight Zone
. As Maddie walked
ahead of me, I eyed her suspiciously, contemplating what kinda
weird hold she had over guys. A part of me was tempted to run back
to the Jeep and bail. I mean, Jake’s miraculous conversion happened
sometime after getting involved with Pastor Dan’s rehabilitation
program. Maybe he had some weird brainwashing wing, and she helped
him by luring in unsuspecting teens.

Yeah, I was losing it!

When she breezed through the front door, Maddie
called, “Hey guys, I’m home!”

Pastor Dan poked his head out of the kitchen. “Wasn’t
I supposed to pick you up? Don’t tell me you hitched or something?”
he asked with a smile.

Maddie laughed. “No Daddy, Noah gave me a ride
home.”

“Hey, Mr. Parker,” I said.

“Hi there, Noah. Thanks for being so kind.”

“I was glad to, sir.”
Sir?
Okay, something had
seriously gotten in to me. I rarely if ever referred to anybody as
sir
. I swallowed nervously as the brainwashing cult idea
flashed in my mind.

“We’ve ordered a pizza for game night, Maddie. Noah,
would you like to stay?” Mrs. Parker asked.

I glanced over at Maddie. She nodded and smiled.
“Okay, that sounds great. Just let me text my mom to let her know
where I am,” I replied.

Pastor Dan smiled. “Good, we’ll be more than happy to
have you.” He looked over at Maddie. “Will you go get Josh and tell
him the pizza is on its way?”

“Sure,” she said.

For some reason, I followed Maddie up the stairs.
Maybe it was because I was afraid to be alone with Pastor Dan. Like
I was afraid he’d really whip out the religious hoodoo on me if we
were alone.

When we got to the top of the landing, Maddie
stopped. She turned back to me and bit her lip. “Um, Noah. There’s
something I should tell you about my brother before you meet
him.”

Before she could say anything else, a kid who look
about eight or nine, came bounding out of a room at the end of the
hall. “Hey Maddie!” he cried.

I froze in the hallway. The kid had chalky white
skin, and he was bald. He couldn’t have been more than seven, so I
knew he didn’t have male pattern baldness at an early age. He was
sick.

Well, I guess he wasn’t too sick because he came
hurtling down the hall to us. He peered up at me. “Hi, I’m Josh!”
he exclaimed, thrusting out a pale hand.

“Hey there, I’m Noah,” I replied. I took his hand
gingerly into mine, afraid one hardened shake might rip it
completely off.

“Nice to meet ya,” he said. He didn’t release my
hand. Instead, he started dragging me down the hall towards his
room. “I wanna show you somethin’,” he said.

“Josh,” Maddie’s voice warned.

He whirled me into his room. I did a double take.
“Jes-” I began before I quickly looked down at Josh. “I mean,
geez,” I replied.

My dad’s face was plastered all over Josh’s room. His
rookie poster hung over the bed, and then his MVP poster was over
the closet door. It was intense. “Wow, you sure do like Joe
Preston.”

Josh rolled his eyes and grinned. “Duh, he’s like the
most awesome baseball player ever!”

“Yeah, I guess.”

He stared at me. “Don’t you like him?”

“Uh….” I didn’t know what to say.
“No, Josh, I
don’t like him. He’s a major asshat who knocked up my mother and
ran off. I’ve had little contact with the prick.”
Nope, that
wouldn’t work. Josh would probably pass out.

Maddie joined us in the doorway. I glanced from her
to Josh who was waiting for my response. “You see, Joe Preston is
my…” I choked on the words a little, “my dad.”

Josh’s hollow eyes widened to the size of dinner
plates. “Nun-uh,” he protested.

“No, it’s true.” I swept my hand over my chest.
“Scout’s Honor.”