Bracing the Blue Line (11 page)

“Do you want me to walk you?” As soon as it’s out of my mouth, I see Patrick walking over to us. I have a feeling that somehow, he’s going to be a pain in my ass.

“That’s why I’m here,” he answers for her. Lucy turns around at the sound of his voice, a smile was already forming. The girl loves her brothers. That much is clear. “Sorry I’m late, Luce.” He gives her a one-armed hug.

“It’s okay. Grant was keeping me company.” She turns back to me. “See you tomorrow around noon?”

“A little before noon,” I correct.

Lucy nods and then they say goodbye and are walking away. It seems like all she does is walk away from me. That’s crazy because she’s usually only leaving to go somewhere else, but the thought passes my mind anyway.

EVERY SUNDAY, NEIL and Bo head somewhere together, but I don’t know where. They don't say, and I don't ask.

There's an unspoken air around them that clearly states not to question them. Winston is off at the gym again. It seems like all he's been doing since Maddie stayed the night is working out. That leaves only me at home. The knock at the door finally comes just as I wonder if she’s going to be a no-show. That can only be one person. I open the door to find Lucy, camera around her neck, and notice Patrick giving me a hard look before he starts backing out of the driveway.

“Cutting it close, aren’t you?” I step aside so she can walk it. It’s 11:57.

“Patrick doesn’t understand the concept of time,” she mumbles as she looks around, taking in the place.

“Planning to take pictures while you’re here?” I ask, closing the door.

Lucy looks down at the camera clutched in her hands. “Just in case. Is anyone else here?”

“No. C’mon, the game is about to start.”

We go into the living room on the left and sit down on the couch, me at one end, Lucy far away at the other. The volume is low enough not to be distracting, but loud enough that we can hear it. As the game begins, I start telling her about face-offs, zones, puck possession, and penalties as they happen. At the end of the first, I ask Lucy how she thinks this is going.

“Ugh! Forget this! I give up. Sports are just not my thing.” Lucy is clearly frustrated that she’s not comprehending what I’m explaining.

“What do you mean, ‘sports’? You don’t understand football and baseball either?”

She cuts me a glare. “Baseball is easy. One, two, three strikes, you’re out. Nine innings, hit the ball with a bat, and make it home. Football is a little harder and this,” she waves her hand at the TV, “is just ridiculous. I don’t understand how my brothers possess so much athletic talent, but I can’t even
understand
the stupid games.”

“But you take pictures for the paper. How haven’t you picked up on what’s happening?”

“Can I borrow your laptop?”

It’s so out in left field that all I can manage to do is comply. I get up, go to my room, get my laptop, and come back. After I place it on the coffee table in front of us, Lucy moves to the middle of the couch to sit next to me, powers it on, and starts explaining.

“I don’t see the game like you do. Players see the rules, regulations, and what their job is while they are playing.” Lucy takes the memory card from her camera and inserts it into my computer. She pulls up all the pictures and starts searching. “I see emotions and moments. That’s why I love taking pictures. They capture seconds in time that can make all the difference without needing to look at the big picture.”

She pulls up one from the game last night. “This was right before he scored his third goal of the night. He already knew he was victorious before he even did it. You can see it in his face, the determination in his stance as he skates towards the net. This guy is desperate to stop him, still hoping there’s time before he shoots the puck forward.”

She moves to another picture of a face-off. “This guy right here is brutal during whatever they are doing.”

“Face-off,” I interrupt.

“Anyway, he almost always comes away with the puck and he’s super fast. I’ve tried to get a decent shot of right after the puck drops, that split second before it lands on the ice, but the pictures don’t come out as well as I want. I have a few ideas on what to tweak during the next game, though.”

I lean back onto the couch. “Sounds to me like you already know the game. Just not in the same terms as I do.” Then I sit back up, resting my elbows just above my knees on my thighs, and nod towards the computer. “Show me some more.”

Lucy begins to scroll through the images, commenting on the emotions she believes the players are having based on their current action. Slowly, I start seeing more and more pictures of me. She glances at me with a blush before explaining the same things to me, but about me. She’s pretty spot on too. When she starts to skip some, I realize that she takes a serious amount of photos of me. Lucy starts to speak before I can question her.

“I take multiple shots at a time to have a batch of photos for one particular moment so I can pick the best shot. With yours, I can’t decide on the best. There are things I like about all of them. That’s why there are so many of you. You’re very photogenic, Grant.” Her blush darkens when she sneaks a peek at me before looking back to the screen. “You are my favorite person to photograph. I hope that doesn’t sound creepy or anything.”

A little bit. This is for her schooling, though. It’s not like she’s following me around and keeping secret photos of me. Her comment about me being her favorite stands out the most. I’m not quite sure why though. Before I can answer, Lucy gasps and grabs my knee.

“They’re fighting! Are they allowed to do that? Why are they fighting anyway?” Her eyes are glued to the TV now.

I eye her hand and then look up to her as she glances at me. “It’s an intense game with lots of hits and emotions run wild. Not to mention how physical some players are.” I missed what happened to cause this fight, thanks to Lucy. She seems captured by the punches being thrown by the players. Suddenly, as my knee gets warm underneath her hand, I blurt out, “Would you like to go to a game?”

Lucy quickly turns to look at me, the players heading to their respective boxes. “What?” she questions, bringing her hand back to her lap.

“Do you want to go see a game in person?” I repeat.

“With you?” Her voice is a mixture of surprise and skepticism, which makes me laugh.

“Yeah, who else?”

Lucy’s lips form a perfect O. “Right, duh. That would make the most sense, huh? You caught me by surprise, sorry.” She takes a deep breath. “That sounds like fun, though. I would love to go.” Her phone dings and she apologizes as she reads a text. “It’s Patrick checking in,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

“Checking in?” I ask, wanting to ask about their relationship with such a perfect opportunity.

“Yeah. He worries, and apparently, you aren’t well-known on campus other than the fact you play hockey, so he doesn’t know much about you. That’s why he’s checking in, sorry.” She blushes a little. “You probably didn’t want to know that.”

“Actually,” I begin. This is my chance to satisfy my curiosity. “I would like to hear about your brothers.”

“Why?” Lucy seems genuinely confused.

“I’m an only child,” I explain. “What was it like growing up with three siblings?”

“Oh, well, it was great.” That adoring smile is back on her face. “They are seriously the definition of protective older brothers, but they are the best. We are really close, too. Um, let’s see.” Lucy seems to think about how she wants to describe them to me. She subtly nods her head, scoots back from the edge of the couch, and turns towards me a little while tucking her legs underneath her.

“Patrick is like my best friend. I’m closer to him than Jon or Corey. He always puts my best interests in mind and he’s practically on stand-by if I ever need him. I could call him right now and he’d be in here in ten minutes, no matter what he's doing. I’m not as close to Jon or Corey, but they would both drop anything if I called them and needed them.

“Jonathan much rather I call Patrick because he just doesn’t know how to be helpful, sometimes. He always answers his phone by the third ring when I call, though. I think he would rather play bodyguard or something. Corey is the worst, overprotective-wise. He wants what he thinks is best, which isn’t always what is best.

“Oddly enough, when it comes to something concerning me, Patrick has the final word between the three of them. It doesn’t matter that he’s the youngest. They all know that he knows me best, so they’ll listen to him. Does any of that make sense?”

I shrug. “You make it sound like they are protective because there is something serious you need protecting from and not normal brother stuff. Have they always been that way? Is your dad that way with you too? You don’t mind how they are?” I spout off all the questions I’ve been dying to ask.

Lucy frowns and her eyes sadden immediately. This look doesn’t fit her. I hate that I’ve somehow upset her again. “It’s all I’ve ever known, and I don’t mind it at all. Actually, I wouldn’t change anything about my brothers, even if they can be a pain sometimes. Let’s watch the rest of the game.”

She turns back towards the TV as the third period starts. The longer she stays silent, the more Patrick’s words repeat in my head. If she’s quiet, it’s not a good thing. I nudge my elbow against hers.

“You okay, Lucy?”

She smiles at me and those bright blue eyes look more happy than sad now. “Yeah, I’m fine. When are you thinking about going to a game?”

“We can look up some upcoming ones and pick right now, if you want.” Lucy nods, so I bring my laptop to my lap and pull up the website to order tickets. “It’ll have to be during the week, most likely.” I bring up the schedule and silently narrow it down based on my own schedule. “Okay,” I start as Lucy leans towards me to look at the screen, “what about this Wednesday or next Thursday?”

“This Wednesday works for me.” Her nose wrinkles and her eyes squint as she looks at me. “Is this a date?”

“Based on the look on your face, I hope not. God, Lucy, way to make me feel pathetic. I didn’t know a date with me sounded so terrible.” I frown. I hadn’t thought of it as a date, but it doesn’t feel good to know that she wouldn’t want it to be. Talk about hitting my ego.

Lucy gasps. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she apologizes quickly.

“Oh, you so did.” I laugh at her response. “Don’t worry, Lucy. I want to take you as my new friend. Unless,” I drag the word out to tease her, “do you secretly want this to be a date? I mean, you do take an awful lot of pictures of me.”

That seems to loosen the tension for her as she giggles softly. “I don’t even know how to recover from that.”

The front door opens, causing us both to turn and see Neil and Bo walk in. They stop when they see Lucy.

“Guys, this is Lucy Kennedy. Lucy, that’s Neil and Bo, though I'm sure you knew that already.”

She waves her hand in hello. They walk into the living room, and Neil sits down next to Lucy. A little too close, probably. He gives her a big grin.

“You are the photographer girl, little sister to the Kennedy brothers, right?” he asks.

Lucy nods and smiles. “Do you know them?”

“No, I don’t,” he answers. “If I had known that you looked like-”

“Neil, I’ll kick your ass. Don’t start that shit with her,” I interrupt suddenly. They both look at me surprised.

“Yeah, her brothers are fucking crazy. You should have seen them confront Grant the other day,” Bo says, shaking his head at the memory.

“Hello,” Lucy waves her hand in a circle, “I’m right here. And my brothers aren’t crazy.” Her lips fall into a frown. “What did they say to you?” she asks me. “You said they didn’t force or intimidate you.”

“They didn’t. They were half pissed, half concerned, and they tried to be intimidating, but they weren’t. Maybe you should tell them that I am not stupid, though.”

Lucy looks confused, but Bo laughs. “Yeah, they talked to him slowly at first like he had taken too many hits.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles. “They can be crazy, I guess.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

A horn honks from outside, and she groans. “That’s probably Patrick.” She takes her memory card from my computer and puts it back in her camera. “Thanks for today,” she says, looking back up at me. “I’ll see you Wednesday, then?”

“Yeah, I’ll text you.”

Satisfied, she stands and is out the door in seconds. Both Bo and Neil are watching me, waiting for me to explain further. I don’t make any move to do so. Lucy is none of their damn business. They seem to be the opposite of her, and that makes me want to keep her safely away from them for some reason. I start looking for good seats, but Neil can’t handle the suspense.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” I answer without taking my eyes away from the screen.

“What was she doing here? What’s Wednesday?”

“He’s teaching her about hockey,” Bo answers. The mention of that makes me realize that we didn’t even watch the end of the game. “I’m assuming that’s why she was here anyway.”

“Yeah, that was why,” I confirm.

“And Wednesday?” Neil pushes.

“When did you get so damn curious?” He stares at me and waits for me to answer. “I’m taking her to a game. As her friend,” I clarify as I purchase our tickets.