Ineligible Receiver by Jerica MacMillan

Author:Jerica MacMillan [MacMillan, Jerica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marycliff Press
Published: 2024-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Dylan

Maybe. Depends on who’s asking

Me, obviously. I need help with something

Where? Do I need a shovel?

Lol what? No. I just need advice

Right. Sure. Just finishing dinner. Come over whenever

Dylan answers the door right away when I get there, opening it and gesturing me inside. I poke my head in and look around before hesitantly stepping inside.

“What’s your problem, dude?” he asks, laughing at me.

Grinning, I shake my head. “Nothing. Just making sure I’m not walking in on anything I shouldn’t be.”

He rolls his eyes. “Like I’d tell you to come over if that were likely. That only happens when you show up unannounced to take a piss.” He’s referring to the time I caught him and his girlfriend engaged in some kind of kinky role play back at the beginning of their relationship. They were keeping it hush hush for some reason, and that’s how it all came out.

I hold up my hands in surrender. “Never can tell with you these days. I’m just being cautious.”

“The maid’s outfit is retired,” Charity calls from the next room. “Quit being weird, or I’ll make you go somewhere else.”

“She’ll do it too,” Dylan whispers. “Don’t be a dick to my girlfriend.”

I hold up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

That makes him laugh. “Like you were ever a Boy Scout.”

Dropping my hand, I shrug. “I did my time as a Cub Scout in elementary school.” That was when my brother Ryan and I were still close, when everything I did wasn’t compared to him. We started together in the same Pack when I was in Kindergarten and he was in third grade. It was fun, having this thing that we were both part of, but since we were different ages, we were in different Dens, so it was like we were together but still our own people.

I think that was maybe the last time that was true. By the time I got to fifth grade, he was deep into Boy Scouts, moving through the ranks with his eye on Eagle Scout, and I could already tell everyone expected me to follow the same path. Except it was too much. Too much time, too much effort, too much pressure. Even at ten years old, I felt it.

I just wanted to have fun. Cub Scouts was fun—campouts and learning to whittle and going to the big events where we got to canoe and race pinewood derby cars and hang out with other kids. But after Ryan left, it became less fun. We weren’t together, and suddenly it was about living up to his example instead of being my own person.

It sucked.

So I went out for football and left the scouting to Ryan. That was his thing. I needed my own. And the only way to get that was for it to be something he didn’t do at all.

“Really?” Dylan asks, distracting me from my trip down memory lane. “Huh. I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type.”

“You wouldn’t peg me at all,” I mutter, and he laughs, taking the deflection in stride.

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