23. Such An Adult

"Blaze has been in his room for a while," Knox said over an hour later. "Do you think he's fine?"

"You'll find out when he comes out. Maybe he's not on the phone and just in the shower."

He noticed when he came in from cleaning off the patio that neither his brother nor Mark had showered.

They both had his old clothes on, their hair all over the place, and were filling their faces with breakfast that his girlfriend had made.

He had to admit that it was nice with the two of them eating together and then talking about things to do around the house.

Stupid on his part, but it's not like his parents ever had conversations like that that he could remember.

His entire life he'd dreamed of what it'd be like to witness a normal relationship. Maybe even partake in one.

It seemed one fell into his lap and he was going to try his hardest not to damage it any.

"Could be," he said.

But when his phone started to ring, he picked it up and saw it was his mother calling.

He showed it to Sage and she shrugged.

"Hello," he said.

"How dare you go and get Blaze and not tell me what is going on?"

Knox let out a sigh. "First off, I don't report to you. Second of all, he's an adult and if he wanted you to know, he would have told you."

"He should have called me and not you," his mother said.

"Were you going to drive from Virginia and get him?" he asked. "I can tell you right now it wouldn't have worked out well. I was there and back in less than four hours and that was me not even going near Boston. He's here and he's safe."

"He shouldn't have been in Boston at all," his mother all but screeched into the phone. "I told him that. His father had no business paying for that flight and letting him go."

"That's not my problem nor yours," he said calmly.

There were times he wanted to light into her, but what good would it do? Maybe that was why his father never did it either. Just calmly listened and then walked away.

"It's just like Zach to give frivolous things like that rather than help Blaze with school."

He wasn't going to get into the middle of something that had nothing to do with him. "Not my problem," he repeated. "I'm glad he felt comfortable enough to call me. He's here and he's fine. I'll find a way to get him back to the airport to get to school, but it might not be until Monday. I don't know."

"He probably missed an exam going to that game."

"Did you ask him that?" he asked.

"I did and he said he didn't."

"There you go," he said.

"I'm sure he's lying to me," his mother said. "Just like his father did."

"That's between the two of you," he said. "I'm not going to be your verbal punching bag."

"You know," his mother snarled, "your father used to say the same damn thing. Sounds like you're turning into him."

"That's the best compliment you could have given me," he said and hung up on her, then took two deep breaths before he faced Sage.

"Do I want to know?" Sage asked.

"Nope," he said. "I'm surprised you didn't hear the screaming across the room." No reason to air out his drama.

"I heard her voice but not the words."

"She's pissed," Blaze said, coming into the room. His hair was wet and combed, but he was back in the sweats.

"I told her that is between you two."

"She thinks I missed an exam and doesn't believe me that I didn't," Blaze said. "I took my final one Wednesday night. The last day of exams was Thursday, but I didn't have one. I told her the last day of finals was Friday because I didn't want to leave until Saturday. That's my penance for fibbing on that."

"Because you were going to Boston?" he asked.

"Yes. It's not a big deal. I could have stayed in my dorms as long as I wanted. It's not her business."

"I don't want to get in the middle of it," he said. "But if you want to talk, you know you can."

"She's got this guy she's seeing. I met him before I left, but he's living there now. He's a dick. I don't want to stay there any longer than I have to. I was going home until Christmas and then my father is having me fly to Texas with him."

Which would piss his mother off even more.

But he hated that Blaze felt like he couldn't go home or wasn't comfortable there.

It was like a repeat of what he went through.

The guys in his mother's life were always more important than her kids.

"I don't want to get you in trouble," he said. "But you can stay here any time you want. Or as long as you want."

"If I'd known that I would have packed more clothes, but I didn't realize this would happen."

"Don't you follow the weather of places you are traveling to?" Sage asked.

"I did, but a few days before the game the storm wasn't going to hit until Saturday. I hadn't realized that it was pushed up."

"Those things happen," he said. "As I told Mom, you're here and you're safe."

"Did she bitch about my father paying for the flight to you?" Blaze asked, laughing.

"Does it matter?"

"No," Blaze said. "But she's annoyed. She thinks he should have given me the couple hundred for books. Why? I work for that. It was my Christmas gift. Going to that game. He paid for the ticket and the flight and he's paying for me to travel to stay with him. It's not her business."

"You should tell her that," he said.

"I did. She only gets more pissed off. You can't say anything to her. If you argue, she gets worse. You were lucky that you got out of there at eighteen and never went back. If my father were closer I'd do that. I might even spend the summer with him and find a job there. He said I could work construction with him and stay in the hotel."

Didn't sound like a fun summer to Knox, but he wasn't going to give his opinion.

He weighed his words and found himself saying, "The summer is far enough off that things could change. If you don't want to stay with Mom and can't go to Texas for some reason, you could come to work for me and stay here. Not sure if you're interested."

"I don't know anything about electricity or things like that."

"You don't need to to do grunt work," he said, laughing. "I've always got a need for people to run wire and pick up, run errands. I'm crazy busy in the summer. But it's your choice."

"I'll think about it," Blaze said. "I really will. Is there anything we can do to help you here now?"

"Yeah," Mark said. "My parents reminded me not to be a bum and help out."

"It's all good," he said. "Not much to do. I've got a plow for the driveway. The rest is nothing major. It's not like you've got winter clothes and I've only got one other winter jacket."

He was grinning when he said that. Both boys flushed.

"We were thinking of a snowball fight later," Blaze said.

"Visibility isn't so great," he said. "I'd rather not someone lose an eye and I try to get them to the hospital."

"You're such an adult," Blaze said.

He looked at Sage who was laughing. "I was thinking the same thing," she said, shrugging. "Come on and loosen up and have some fun."

"Sounds like you might want to get pelted with some snowballs too," he said, smirking.

"I suggested Mark build a snowman and get some selfies. He's never seen this much snow before."

"We might be able to accommodate that," he said. "For now, we might as well hunker in. I'm sure you'll both be bored, but the TV is working. The internet is too, for now, but not sure if that might go down or not."

"We'll be fine," Mark said. "There are some cards and board games in the room I'm in."

"Help yourself to anything while you're here," he said.

"I'm going to make a big pot of sauce and meatballs for dinner," Sage said. "I know Knox got sandwich meat. I don't think there are any more frozen pizzas in there."

"Eat what you want," he said. "I don't care. Whatever you find, it's yours."

"Thanks," Blaze said. "You're much cooler than I remembered."

"Even if I'm being an adult saying you needed to call Mom and that you weren't dressed properly?"

"I called my parents last night," Mark said. "My mother lectured me for ten minutes for not having a coat. You're not nearly as bad as her."

"That's something at least," he said drily. "I'm not old enough to be your father."

"Nope," Blaze said. "Just a great older brother."

He was stunned to hear those honest heartfelt words, matched with a massive smile.

Maybe he could still have a relationship with a family member that was worthwhile.