36
Ryan
Ipull up outside my parents’ house at two on the dot. Right on time for the chores my father has inflicted on me. Today, training was light: just two hours, preparing for Sunday’s game.
I get out of the car and Mum opens the door.
“Hi, darling,” she says, hugging me and giving me a kiss on the cheek.
“I’m here for my grounding,” I announce, stepping inside. “Is that ars…er, is Nick here yet?”
“He’s out in the garden.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“Your dad isn’t feeling great today. He’s upstairs, resting.”
I nod, clenching my jaw.
“I told Nick that…he won’t even remember he asked you to come. But Nick insisted on staying.”
I walk through the kitchen and out into the garden through the back door, followed by Mum.
“If you want to go home, I imagine you’ve got things to…”
“I don’t have anything to do.”
“Do you want me to get you anything? Have you eaten?”
“No thanks, Mum. I’m fine.”
“Maybe a coffee…?”
“Okay, a coffee would be great.”
Mum smiles and goes back inside, while I prepare myself for a whole afternoon with the dickhead.
“What the hell are you doing up there?” I ask his feet, from under the ladder leaning against the wall.
“What do you think?” Nick’s head pokes out from the gutter.
“Couldn’t you have waited for me?”
“I didn’t know you were coming.”
“We’re both grounded.”
It feels like we’ve already had this conversation – loads of times, to be honest. I feel like we’ve gone back in time.
“It was your fault.”
“If you’d kept your mouth shut…”
“If you behaved like a normal person and not a mad stalker…”
I grab the ladder with both hands and shake it. Nick grips the handles, shocked.
“What the fuck, Ryan?!”
