She chuckles, her grin erasing the sullen expression she’s worn since she got here. I guess she doesn’t appreciate her brother keeping her waiting. “That’s what I like about you, Simon,” she declares. “You don’t let anyone or anything get under your skin. You just handle whatever life throws your way.” She shifts her position, leaning closer to me, her hands clasped together. “Please please please help my brother learn to be more like that. He’s way too uptight for his own good, and he’s all worried and driving himself crazy about what’s going to happen next year.”
I shrug again, drinking my water, but somehow this seems to frustrate Ellie. She straightens and throws her hands in the air. “That’s it?” She mimics my shrug. “That’s all you’re going to give me? No, ‘Sure, Ellie, I’ll try,’ at least?”
“Cal is the way Cal is. I’m not sure why you think I can do anything about that.”
She lets out a loud sigh of exasperation and flops back into the corner of the couch. “Of course you can’t.” But it comes out sarcastic.
Oh, well. I really can’t. Plus, Cal’s neuroticism is what makes him a good quarterback. He runs scenarios and potential plays through his head constantly, trying to pit the best aspects of our team against our opponent in a way that brings out their weaknesses. My job is to make sure no one knocks him on his ass.
If that translates into him being a bit of a controlling worrywart in his life off the field, well … I’ll agree with Ellie that the guy needs to loosen up a bit and learn to let go of things that he can’t control, but again, there’s really not anything I can do to make him see that.
“Ellie, leave Simon alone,” Cal says, coming into the room and dragging his suitcase behind him.
She looks at him gape-mouthed and stabs a finger in the air in his direction. “You’re the one who sent him out here. How’m I supposed to leave him alone if he’s the only one paying any attention to me? If you want me to leave your roommate in peace, why don’t you be ready on time? Especially after the way you lectured me about making sure I’m here on time so we’re not late to Mom and Dad’s annual Christmas open house. Hmmm?”
I hide my smirk in my water glass, but they’re both so wrapped up in their sibling bickering, that I could probably grin openly and neither of them would notice.
“Shut up,” Cal grumbles. “I’m ready now. Stop talking about Coach Hanson, and let’s go.”
She rolls her eyes dramatically, but stands. “Music to my ears. I’ve been ready to go for a while. But since you’ve taken so long, I’m going to use the bathroom before we leave.” And she flounces out of the room.
Cal sighs and runs a hand down his face before turning to me. “Sorry, man. You know how sisters are.”
I nod. “Sure.” Except my sisters aren’t anything like Ellie. They’re still in elementary school, for one thing, so our relationship isn’t plagued by the same sort of arguing that Cal and Ellie get up to every time they’re in the same room. Despite that, it’s clear that they care about each other. Cal texts her pretty frequently to make sure she’s doing alright her first semester at college, and he’s scoped out her dates a couple of times to make sure she’s not hooking up with known douchebags. He’s protective of her, and that I understand completely.
He looks around the room, then pulls out his phone, looks at the screen, and shoves it back in his pocket. “Hurry up!” he yells down the hall to Ellie.
“Screw you!” she yells back, the sound muffled by the closed bathroom door.
“You know,” I venture, Ellie’s question about Coach plus her suggestion that I help Cal lighten up fresh on my mind, “next year’s probably going to be fine, even with a new coach.”
Cal’s face immediately darkens, the same way it does every time Coach Hanson’s retirement and the new coach next season comes up. But I plow on, ignoring the change in his demeanor. “We met the guy. Remember? He’s been working in a Division I school for the last few years. He has more knowledge of what it takes to run a program at this level. What they did to Coach was shitty for sure, but I think for us it’ll be a good thing in the long run.”
“Where’s the loyalty, man?” Cal says, his hands going wide in a gesture equally as dramatic as his sister. I can’t say that to him, though. He’d kill me. Or at least he’d try. Considering I outweigh him by a good fifty pounds and bench press his weight on a light day, he probably wouldn’t stand much of a chance. I have to fight back a grin at the mental image of him coming at me and me holding my hand on his head to keep him back while he punches wildly like in those old cartoons. He probably wouldn’t appreciate my humor, though. Especially not now.
I shrug. “It has nothing to do with loyalty. Coach is retired. Officially as of today. We had the party. There’s nothing to be done about it. The athletics department wanted someone new. All I’m saying is, we should make the best of it and get what we can out of our final year of eligibility. Staying mad about Coach getting forced into retirement isn’t going to help anyone.”
“Well I’m thrilled for you that you can move on so fast,” Cal says. “But I’m not there yet. So excuse me
