Snowboarder Imagines

Mitrani Brothers

Luke comes strolling through the front door so casually. It's as if he had never been gone. He has his guitar in one hand and pretty girl under his arm. His usual curly hair is even longer and more unruly than it was before. Luke's button up Hawaiian shirt looks beaten and unwashed, as does his cargo shorts. The girl he's with looks like the type of girl who would wear a flower crown in her unkept blonde hair. It's a different girl than Luke was seeing two months ago.

"Hey, brother." Jack says as he greets his Luke with a hug. Luke drops his guitar to embrace his brother.

"Good to see you, man." Luke says in a laid-back tone.

"And this is?" Jack says as friendly as possible in reference to Luke's companion.

"Oh right. This is Katie. I met her two weeks ago in Oregon. We were staying at the same campsite." Luke says as stares smiling at Katie. Any outside party would say that Luke looks like he's in love, but Jack knows better.

"Nice to meet you, Katie." Jack says politely. Katie just nods and keeps close to Luke.

"LUKEY!" His mother shrieks as she comes down the stairs. She throws her arms around Luke without any warning and pulls him tightly to her.

"Hi, mom." Luke says. His mother takes his face in her hands and just stares at him for a moment. She's looking at him a way mother would after he son had been away for months. You can see the tears welling up in her eyes, but she does what she can to choke them back.

"I'm making your favorite dinner, baby boy. I'll have it done soon. Aw who's this? Hi. I'm Mrs. Mitrani." Their mother says as she gives Katie a hug.

"I'm Katie. It's lovely to meet you." Katie says once Mrs. Mitrani lets go of her.

"You can put your things in Luke's old bedroom, sweetheart. Here I'll show you the way." Mrs. Mitrani says as she begins to guide Katie down the hall. They're gone in seconds, leaving Jack and Luke alone in the doorway.

"It's been a long time, Luke." Jack says to his brother.

"Only a few months." Luke replies. The boys make their way to the living room.

"You should've called. For two months we didn't hear from you at all. It was killing mom...and me to be quite honest." Jack tries explaining to his brother.

"Bro, I was just traveling. Most the time I didn't have any electricity, let alone cellphone service. It was just me and my guitar like 95% of the time. I saw some beautiful places though. Like in Nevada-" Luke rambles. He is unable to read the anger on Jack's face.

"You still could've contacted us. We had no idea where you were or if you were alright." Jack says as the anger in his voice starts becoming more obvious.

"Don't act like you're perfect, Jack. I just needed some time to do my own thing." Luke says.

"I'm not saying I'm perfect. I'm just saying you could've kept in contact. Not even Mikkel heard from you, so we worried. But you're here now. So are you home for good now? Mom would love that." Jack tells Luke.

"I think I'll stay for a few days and then head out again. There's so much to see out there." Luke says with a big spacy smile.

"What about snowboarding? You kind of went MIA on all your sponsors, Luke. You should be training. You've had your free time, but it's time to back to real life." Jack tells his brother. Luke is suddenly feeling less chummy.

"You think snowboarding is real life? Real life for me is sitting around a campfire with great people and great music. Training and doing tricks on a snowboard isn't real life for me, Jack." Luke explains.

"This isn't you, Luke. You love snowboarding. You always have. And you haven't worked your entire life to just quit at 24. You're too fucking talented for that." Jack says. Luke just shakes his head.

"I use to love snowboarding. And I was good at it, but I wasn't the best. I'm never going to be the best and I'm fine with that. I'm not chasing the same dreams I was when I was 12." Luke says to his brother.

"You're lying." Jack says flatly. This comment takes Luke by surprise. It was clearly not the reaction Luke was expecting from Jack.

"What do you mean I'm lying? Just because you still love snowboarding, that doesn't mean I'm going to. All I've done my entire life is snowboard. Why do you care if I'm over it?" Luke says in almost a yell. At this point Katie and Mrs. Mitrani enter the room, but neither says a thing.

"You fell, Squid. You broke your neck and it was terrifying. Nobody expected you to recover, but you did. You made a full recovery and you're fine now, but you're scared. Understandably so. Anyone who took a nasty crash like that would be terrified to get on a board again." Jack begins. Luke wasn't prepared to talk about his accident. He spent the past two months trying to pretend it never happened. It was a horrible time for everyone. The memory of it gives Luke chills.

"It's not about that..." Luke squeezes in before Jack continues speaking.

"You love snowboarding, Luke. You fell, but you still love snowboarding. It's a waste of talent if you just live your life shitting around with a bunch of hippies. You disappear for months and hookup with different girls every other week, because you're trying to feel something. You want to feel alive. You're trying to replace snowboarding. You can't replace it, Luke. You're not done snowboarding. It's a part of you. Now stop lying to yourself and just admit you're scared." Jack says matter-of-factly.

"Jack stop! He just got home!" Mrs. Mitrani yells at her son, but Jack is unfazed.

"No, mom. He needs to hear this. He's had two months of not dealing with this. Luke needs to deal with it now." Jack says while looking directly at Luke. Luke looks distressed. His eyes shift around the room as he thinks of his next move.

"You never told me that you're snowboarder, Luke." Katie says just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Luke pulls his attention towards her.

"He's a phenomenal snowboarder. He's been on the national team since he was 12." Jack adds.

"How could you just not tell me about something like that? Maybe I don't know you as well as I thought. I don't...I don't know what to say. I think I should go." Katie says as she begins to exit the living room.

"Katie no-" Luke begins to plead.

"You're brother is right, Luke! I just met him and I know he's right! We met two weeks ago and you told me you loved me. And two weeks before that you said I love you to a different girl. That's not normal! You never even told me this major fact about yourself! I think it's pretty fucking clear that you're not dealing with something!" Katie tells Luke. She leaves the room and nobody chases after her. She said her peace and everyone respects that.

"Okay." Luke says with his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm scared. I'm not sure if I can snowboard anymore and that scares the shit out of me. It's all I've ever known, but I just don't know anymore."

"We can fix this, Lukey." His mother says as she pulls Luke into her arms. He cries on her shoulder for a moment.

"Thank you." Luke whispers to Jack. For the first time since his accident, Luke had admitted he was scared. Jack nods and hugs both his mother and Luke.

"Anything for you, Squid." Jack tells Luke.