The Senator's Son (2016 Watty Award Winner)

Chapter 5

Zach

I met the guys after hockey for some beers. We sat around drinking and replaying the events of the game. I'd scored twice and one goal was a real beauty, but we still lost 5-3. We had a decent offence and great defence, but our goaltending was killing us. How did you get your best friend to admit he was the worst goaltender in the history of our rec league?

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through texts. Two from Becca. I groaned. I still hadn't broken up with her and I'd been avoiding her since the cabin incident. She was still pissed at me for not driving back to pick her up. Why would I have done that? It didn't make any sense, especially when everyone else offered her a ride home.

I scrolled past her texts and was surprised to see one from Emma. It was a few hours old.

Emma: Hey, how are you? Decided not to go home. Thought I'd tell you. Have a good night.

Me: That's good news. You did the right thing. Still gonna stay with asswipe or are you looking for a new place?

A few minutes passed before she replied. In the meantime we ordered pizzas and the discussion had moved to football. My phone buzzed.

Emma: Not sure yet. Might stay here until the end of semester. Finding housing mid-year is going to be next to impossible.

Did I offer my place again? She didn't seem keen the first time. It wasn't like Genie used her room.

Me: Let me know if I can help. Did you make those éclairs yet? I'm dying to have one.

Emma: I'm going to do a test batch this weekend. If they work out I'll text you.

I put down my phone and Brett was staring at me.

"Are you going to talk to us or text?" he asked.

Brett was one of the few guys on the planet who hated his phone. The guy never texted and his idea of an app were some spicy wings or a heaping plate of nachos. His phone was almost never on or he didn't have it with him. And if you had your cell out in his presence, watch out.

"I'm done now."

"And who is more important than us?"

"I was texting Emma to make sure she was okay."

"Who's Emma?"

"From the cabin four days ago? Remember? Jake's friend?"

Recollection washed over him. "How could I forget?" He turned to the rest of the guys and recounted the events of that day. "She was a fucking loon!" he told them. "She starts reading off these texts that make her look like a cracker jack! Poor Jake. I felt sorry for that bastard."

"Wait a second," I said, holding up my hands. "You felt sorry for Jake? The guy humiliated her."

Brett laughed. "Man, are you serious?" He turned back to the guys. "This is a chick who spent the day either in her room or sitting around reading a book. She didn't say a word to anyone. She's a loon all right."

My back was up. "Actually, she cooked and cleaned for you and your lazy date."

Brett's cheery asshole demeanour disappeared. "Excuse me?"

"If you or your flavour of the week bothered to get to know her, you may have noticed that she was normal and interesting."

A smugness came over Brett. "Oh, I see now. You want to tap her. No accounting for taste."

"The girl was freaking out and I was the only one who offered her a ride home. She's a nice girl, so cut it out."

"Whatever."

The conversation returned to football. Our pizzas arrived, I wolfed down a few slices and made my escape. I texted Becca that I'd be stopping by. It was nearing ten on a Wednesday night, but dealing with her wouldn't take long. She was in her dorm room, leafing through a fashion magazine when her roommate let me in. Becca vaulted off her bed and kissed me.

"I'll be back in twenty," her roommate said. For the life of me I couldn't remember her name.

She left and Becca snaked her arms around my waist. "We've got some time," she said, her voice deepening.

"I can't stay long. I thought we should talk."

She took a step back, her blue eyes inspecting me. "Talk about what?"

"Us."

"Why?"

No need to beat around the bush. I wanted to get this over with. "Do you think this is working?"

Her face frosted over. "You're not dumping me, are you?" Her voice had lost all its seduction replaced by snark.

"Becca, I like you and you're a great girl, but I'm not feeling a connection. Someday you'll meet a guy who's right for you, but that's not me."

"You are such a son-of-a-bitch," she said, her nostrils flaring. "Is it someone else?"

Strangely, she didn't seem sad, just angry like I'd forgotten her birthday and she'd forget about it, and me, in a few days.

"There's no one else."

"It's that chick in your Poly Sci class, isn't it?"

"There isn't anyone else. I want to be single for awhile and focus on school. We can still hang out and be friends."

Her eyes narrowed, ready to shoot laser beams. This side of Becca was ugly. "Bianca warned me about you. She said you'd date me for awhile and dump me. You think you're some god because you're dad's a senator. My dad could buy your dad any day of the week."

I let out a sigh. Her attempts to rattle me weren't going to work. "Well, I should go. I know you're pissed, but if you want to talk about it later, we can."

"Go fuck yourself."

"I guess not then."

I left and she slammed the door behind me. That was taken care of and not nearly as difficult as I'd expected.

Hi Everyone,

Effective immediately, I'm publishing the rest of The Senator's Son and it's sequel, This Much Is True, on the Radish app. Radish is a reading app available for Android or iOS.

This means that the rest of The Senator's Son is available there. You can get the Radish app by downloading it for Android or i0S. You can find the story by searching "The Senator's Son" or "AnnaAlbo." Start reading with Chapter 5 because the first four chapters are what's been posted here.

If you finish The Senator's Son over on Radish, you will see that the story of Emma and Zach continues, with new chapters posted daily. This includes the original sequel for The Senator's Son called This Much Is True.

You can unlock a new chapter to read for free every hour, or, if you want to binge, you can purchase a coin package which will unlock a lot of chapters at once. To get you started, here is a link to download some coins (basically coupons): https://bit.ly/AnnaAlboRadish

Thank you for reading!

Anna