Head Over Boots

11. Kinfolks

When Nate opened the door the next morning I still felt like I was reeling from his comment last night, when I'd ignored it and we spent the rest of the short walk in silence, but after I closed the front door I hadn't been able to get it off my mind. How did he mean it? Does he like spending time with me as a friend? That must be it, nothing else has happened between us. Not that I would mind if it did.

"Hey, come in, breakfast is out, but Jen is still asleep," Nate breaks me from my thoughts, stepping back to allow me in.  I followed to the kitchen island where there were two plates of french toast, the ingredients for another still set up by the stove.

"How was Charlie this morning? Nervous?" Nate asks as we start eating.

"He didn't say so but he told me about five times exactly what he wanted cooked, what I could and couldn't say, and Luke was getting the same lecture as I walked out the door." I laugh, thinking of how jittery and jumpy my younger brother had been this morning.

"I remember my first dinner with Coach, it was my junior year, and everyone knows if he's having dinner with your family, it's because he thinks you have the chance to make it big. Likes to get to know those players a little more, so hopefully if they have any issues he can address them and stop them fucking up and ruining their careers."

"Charlie definitely has the determination, even if I still think of him as a scrawny ten year old! I've tasked Luke with getting Mom and all her paints cleared out of the dining room and into the basement so hopefully we can eat in there, I've not even seen the dining room yet!"

"Mom is finishing at lunch today, so you'll be able to go help him then and sort whatever else you need," he smiles at me, taking our empty plates to the dishwasher.

"Thanks, I think Charlie might just have my head if I mess up," I let out a sigh, finishing a few hours early will definitely make today a lot easier, not that I don't love Jenny, but its not always easy to cook with a five year old around.

"Well we can't have that," he grins at me, "what time do you want me there?"

"Whenever, I think Charlie said that his coach would be there about 6:30, so sometime before that?"

"Okay, I've gotta go, but I'll see you later and bring a bottle of his favourite whiskey, sweeten the old guy up a little," he quickly kisses my cheek as he walks past, so naturally, as if he'd been doing it his whole life.

"Uh.. yeah. See you later," I try not to stutter, my cheeks flushing red as my eyes follow his back out of the kitchen.

------

"Luke! Get the door!" I yell as I blend the mango to make the smoothie for dessert.

"You get it! I'm still trying to move this table back!" He shouted back. Apparently Mom had torn apart the dining room, stood the table upside down and put all the chairs on top of it. It had taken him all day just to get her to move the painting stuff out, though she could not be convinced to join us for dinner.

"I've got it," Charlie called, sighing as he headed to the door. He'd calmed down considerably since this morning.

"Wow it smells good in here," I heard Nate's voice behind me as he and Charlie entered the kitchen.

"Thanks.." I started before I got cut off by my older brother. "Is that Nate? Cause I could really do with some help with this table!"

"Mom has torn the dining room apart to paint, the table is upside down," I explain to Nate's confused glance, turning back to carry on with dessert.

"He's got the leg back on it though," Charlie says optimistically, I wasn't even aware the leg had ever been off it.

"Hello? Anyone coming to help?" Luke appeared in the kitchen.

"We're coming, god the world doesn't revolve around you," Charlie rolled his eyes, heading towards the dining room, Luke following.

I felt Nate's breath on my neck, making me freeze as I turned to put dessert in the fridge. "I don't think I've told you yet but you look amazing," he whispers quietly in my ear, successfully making my whole body flush with heat.

"Thank you," I murmured back quietly, keeping my head down, knowing my face was beet red.

"Hey, don't look down, you look even more gorgeous when you blush," Nate put his finger under my chin, drawing my eyes to his own, making my breath catch in my throat.

"Nate!" My brothers break the tension in the air, shouting from the dining room.

"I better go help them, before they come looking for me," Nate backs off, dropping his hand from my face.

"Yeah," I whisper breathlessly, leaning against the counter and taking a deep breath as he leaves the room. That was definitely not just friendly.

"Avery, help!" I hear the three of them call as I finish cleaning down the sides in the kitchen, grabbing the plates I head down to the dining room to see what they need.

I walk in to find all three of them standing, hands on their hips, staring at the paint splattered table surface.

"We won't get this off will we?" Luke looks over at me.

"Nope. Charlie, go into the linen closet in my room, there is a white table cloth from where Tessa dressed me up as a greek goddess for a frat party. I've kept it hidden from mom for times like this," I indicate to the colourful table that used to be a dark walnut. The doorbell rang before any of us could move, it was 6:30 already.

"Okay, change of plan, Luke, Charlie, you get the table cloth and set the table, Nate, we are going to go and stall," I hand the plates to my brothers, heading towards the front door, Nate on my tail.

I pull open the door to find a greying man of around 50 standing there, nearly as tall as Nate.

"Hi, you must be Charlie's coach, I'm Avery, his sister, come in," I opened the door wider, allowing him to step in.

"I'm Coach Shawcross, please call me Chris though," he offered his hand for me to shake.

"Come through to the kitchen, I'm just finishing dinner while the boys are setting up," I lead him through to where I know Nate is waiting.

"Nathan? What are you doing here?" He looked over to Nate, who had his head in the refrigerator.

"Hey Coach! Heard you were coming over and I know you must have missed this pretty face," he gins that cheeky smile that looks so much like Jenny's when she's up to mischief. "Nah, I'm actually just here for Avery's cooking," he winks over at me as I head to the oven, pulling out the Lasagne and roasted vegetables.

"Could you take these down to the dining room? The boys should be finished by now," I ask him, handing him the dishes and oven gloves.

"You put these boys to work don't you?" Chris asks me as I close the oven and get the serving spoons from the draw.

"Honestly they mostly offer, especially Nate, he has breakfast made every morning when I get to his," I smile, thinking of how easily we have settled into a routine together with Jenny in the mornings. "I look after Jenny while they work," I clarify.

"Oh, I didn't know if you two were together?" he asks questioningly.

"No, we're both at SCAD but didn't meet until I got here, he's been helping me and Luke, my older brother settle in," I deny.

"Well, I bet you two things; I bet he doesn't make your brother breakfast, and I bet he doesn't look at your brother the way he looks at you."

"OKay, they're ready," Nate interrupts us, walking back into the kitchen. "Shall we?" he offers his elbow to me, as I take hold and the three of us head to the dining room.