I stopped mid-shot, and Wolf, Wells, and Thatcher stood tall on the court. We’d been joined by a fifth.
Charlie.
My uncle came waltzing onto the community park’s basketball court like we’d seen him every day. Like he hadn’t been away at classes, and we all hadn’t been missing him. He raised his arms. “What do you say? Or am I too fucking old to hang out with you guys now?”
Grinning, I ran, the other guys too. I tackled Charlie’s ass, and he caught me.
“Dude,” I said, catching his hand first. I held tight as I hugged him, the other guys crowding around. I pulled back. “When did you get in, bro?”
“Just now. Just now,” he returned, smiling wide. He looked good. Hair slicked back and rocking a little style with his bomber jacket. Charlie looked like a college boy through and through. He put out a hand to Wolf. “Wolfy!”
Wolf grinned, taking him in, and Thatcher and Wells did the same. We’d expected Charlie home for the three-day weekend, but not until Saturday.
It seemed he wanted to see us early.
I’d welcome that, always. I missed my uncle, my brother. Home life had been different since he’d been gone for the past few weeks. I was used to always having access to him, down the hall and in my life.
He punched at our chests, asking in on our basketball game again. My buddies and I all welcomed him with open arms.
We played into the night.
We played like we were kids again and not divided by years or miles. Wolf and I were juniors this year, Wells and Thatcher sophomores. We’d all been really coming into our games on the football field, and I hoped were making Charlie proud. He’d left quite a legacy on the field himself after he left. He’d been quarterback before I took over.
Charlie told us all about his first semester so far as we played. He was a freshman at Pembroke University. I could imagine most of us would be going there too. Pembroke was kind of like a sister school to Windsor Prep, and many of the guys and girls who matriculated through the academy’s halls ended up there.
We all played so long Charlie and I ended up sitting down for a drink, letting the guys play for a bit. We sat on the benches, chugging water while the other guys just dicked around.
“You look good, man,” I said. Charlie did look good, amazing actually.
Charlie smiled a little, sitting back. “Thanks. I am good. Stressed to fucking hell already with classes…”
I chuckled.
“But good, Robin. Real good.”
I’d missed that too, being the Robin to his Batman. I shook his leg. “How’s the female situation?” I asked, the first shit he should have led in with. What the fuck did I care about school and academic shit? “You should have started with that shit, by the way.”
The jostle had Charlie shaking his head. He was pretty modest when it came to women, didn’t talk about them a lot. He laced his hands. “I’m sure you can imagine.”
“I can.” I grinned. “But stop leaving me hanging like an asshole.”
“Your ass needs to be focused on school.” He brought me under his arm. “Not girls.”
Who did he think I was? I mean, he knew me, right? We had the same blood.
I wrestled with him a bit but didn’t leave from under his arm when he stopped. He patted my chest. “How have things been here? In school?”
“Okay.” I was top of my classes. Not a wiz like Wolf or even Thatcher, who was brilliant too. I shrugged. “I get by.”
“Mmm.” He grinned at me, but his smile faded a little. In fact, it wiped away completely. “How is she?”
She.
I was surprised he hadn’t led in with that.
I’d never asked Charlie about him and his relationship with our headmaster Principal Mayberry after the party he’d caught my friends and me at last year.
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of the fallout.