Letterman Jacket

31.5 / thirteen days before

After we cleaned the dishes downstairs, Mom headed straight to work, dropping by my father's office on the way to bid him goodbye. Theo retreated back to his room, and Nico and I made our way back to mine. We brushed our teeth side by side.

Once we stepped out of the bathroom, Nico picked up his hoodie and handed it to me. "Put this on."

I blinked. "You don't like the shirt?"

Nico ran a hand through the dark strands of his hair, and one corner of his mouth curled. His other hand pulled my wrist to tug me closer. "You know I love seeing you in it, Thea. But if we're going to talk, I really need to concentrate."

My cheeks heated again as I slipped it over my head. Nico's fingers clutched the hem of the shirt so that it wouldn't ride up, and his knuckles brushed my skin.

Once I had it on, I brushed my hands against the cotton and cleared my throat. "So..."

Nico's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't have to be nervous."

"I'm not," I denied quickly. "I'm just—I don't know if I should be afraid of what I'm going to hear or not."

His tongue slid across his lower lip. "Ask me anything and I promise I'll answer honestly."

I paused.

And I took a deep breath. "Four years?"

"Four years," he confirmed quietly. "Eighth grade. Whenever classes ended, we used to go to the open courtyard at the back of the school to play and watch basketball. Among ten players, you were always the only girl, and I remember that your hair always had a blue pin the shape of a ribbon."

I lowered my head and shut my eyes, feeling embarrassment course through me. Nico chuckled. "Theo wanted me to play..."

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod, "when you were tired and didn't want to play anymore, he dragged you up even when you were whining. I was always intrigued with the two of you, and it was funny."

My head still hung low. "I was a kid. Stop judging me."

Nico's hand slid from my waist and down to my arm. His touch made me feel warm. "It was funny for a while until I wanted him to stop forcing you. You were always being pushed by the other kids, and you got hurt a lot. But I just...couldn't volunteer to sub. I was nervous."

I finally looked up and met his gaze. "You had nothing to be nervous about. I was a slob of a kid, anyway. I was a loser at basketball, and I was always sweating through my clothes, and I—"

"I thought you were really pretty."

My breath caught in my throat. "You had poor eyesight."

Nico threw his head back and laughed once. "I had the most intense crush on you for years, Thea. Don't give me that bullshit."

I stepped out from his hold and huffed. "You have horrible taste then."

"Shut up before I get mad," Nico said, rolling his eyes as he reached for me again. "You wanna pick a fight, princess?"

I shook my head. Nico's thumb brushed gently across the back of my hand. "No."

"I thought you were really pretty," he repeated softly, "and I'm sure the other kids with me thought so too. One day, when Theo tried shooting the ball, it got stuck in the hoop, and then I thought you were incredibly brave and stupid when you decided to climb the tree next to it to get the ball down. The other boys tried to stop you, myself included, but you were also incredibly stubborn. The only thing I could do was to clench my hands into tight fists and dig my fingernails into my palm as I watched and prayed that you wouldn't fall."