Shadows (Patrick Kane)

(33) The Three Amigos

Sophia

As September blows by I decide to have a nice dinner with my boys. Henry was doing all he can for his team to prove that he is worth the praise he got when he was drafted and Patrick was on his way to start up the season trying to reclaim what once what his. I myself had my hands full since Patrick is on the "I don't want to be caught in a bar" phase and my brother doesn't even drink, I figured we could have a nice dinner at Chicago Cut minus the drinking.

"So are you going to be nicer to Patrick when you cover his games than you are to me when you cover mine" my brother teases as I start to blush.

"Probably" I joke as he rolls his eyes.

"You know, I was so excited to know I was coming to Chicago and that you would be here with me. Now I feel like it's your job to be mean to me" he claims.

"I'm not being mean I am literally reading off stats and explaining why I believe they're that way. If you want the stats to sound better you should try spending less time in the pocket and more time beyond the line of scrimmage. Your five touchdowns in three games so far might be nice but the amount of sacks you've amounted cannot go unnoticed. You're not Rodgers with a strong line and no pressure behind it, you're more athletic and have to get out of the pocket as soon as you can. These defenses are reading you like Goodnight Moon out there and you have quick feet. Move them instead of being a fish in a barrel" I argue.

"Whatever you say coach" he rolls his eyes.

"Hey, it's my job to look at these things. You might have been raised by the great John Elway but so was I" I remind him.

"So was I" he mimicked before I throw a crumbled up napkin at his stupid head.

"You guys are something else" Patrick laughs shaking his head side to side.

"I'm not taking it easy on him because we're related. I've spent my whole life growing up in his shadows and I'm older than him. This is payback" I defend.

"Sure. Because listening to all my friends wanting to come over just to flirt with you was the highlight of my life" Henry counters.

"You had nothing to worry about. None of your friends had game" I promise him.

"Oh yeah? What about Blake" he asks.

"That was my friend who hung out with you when we dated and when we broke up stayed your friend so that doesn't count" I defend.

"Curtis" he tries.

"That was never a thing" I shake my head.

"Lawrence" he continues.

"Can we change the subject, please" Patrick asks clearly over listening to the list of guys I might or might not have messed with back in Denver.

"I agree with pretty boy here" I insist.

"Okay. If we don't want to talk about that why don't we talk about what's going on with you two" Henry asks and I nearly spit my drink out.

"What does that mean" Patrick questions when he notices that I was having a bit of a moment.

"Oh? I'm supposed to act like I can't read the room between you two like everyone else? Because I can do that. But you my good a man walked in here with your arm wrapped around my sister like if you let her go she would die. And you smile every single time he talks so I figured you two finally got together" Henry accuses.

"We're just friend Hank" I defend.

"Uh huh. Okay" he smirks.

"She's serious. I've never had a friend I could trust like her. Someone I know that will listen instead of just assuming I'm okay" Patrick claims. I try to fight the smile off but damn, he makes it so hard.

"You've never had a friend like that because that's not friendship. There's no name for whatever you two are doing" Henry accuses.

"And what would you know? Your longest relationship lasted about as long as dads second marriage" I remind him.

"Alright, fair enough" he nods. "We're a pretty messed up group" he laughs.

"Amen to that" I smile.

We spend four hours in Chicago cut laughing louder than we should. With my brother and Patrick taking over the city it was nice to have our own table away from people. We can be as loud as we want and say whatever we want. Just a couple of twenty-somethings who ended up in this city for whatever reason. Each of us on our own path trying to find our glory, our destiny if you will. Each of us hoping that we don't have to do it alone.

"You got something on your face" Patrick says as he reaches over. He wipes it away before I playfully push his hand back.

"Maybe it was a snack for later" I joke.

"Very lady like" Henry chimes in.

"Always a lady" I smile.

"I think we should do this like twice a month. Come here and get away from everything. Just us, the three amigos" my brother insisted.

"I think that would be great" I agree.

It gets late and Henry and Patrick fight over the check. Finally they agree to split it and I get off scotch free. We walk out to the cars and I say goodbye to Patrick. Henry parked right next to me so we walk to the cars. I go to open my door but my brother pushes it shut.

"What are you doing" I question.

"Before you go I wanted to say... I wanna say thank you" he says almost serious like. My brother was many things but he never took things too serious. That what makes him the player he is, he is flexible and he doesn't take offense to corrections. He truly listens and maybe he doesn't always correct his mistakes but he can joke about the bad. Not a lot of guys do that. Hardly ever did he have this serious tone.

"Thank you for what" I question.

"For not ignoring calls from me like you have for so long. I remember leaving Denver being so scared to come here. I knew dad was setting me up to be the best I could be but he works for another team, there's only so much he can do. And I can't do this on my own. The bears take care of me but they don't know me yet. You're the only one around that does and it means a lot you organized this. Having Patrick around makes me feel like I fit in and you... I give a hard time but I couldn't imagine life without you. So thanks" he claims.

"Awh bring it in" I demand as I pull him into a hug. He might be a pain in the ass sometimes but he's always going to be my baby brother. "Love you Hank" I say.

"Love you too Soph" he promises.