How to (Unsuccessfully) Get Over a Guy | Tyrus

Part 13

TJ's POV

The smack echoes back as I dribble the ball on the pavement. I shield the ball from Zach when he tries to steal it from me, then I make it up to the net to do a layup. The ball drops through the hoop, and I catch it underneath. Zach attempts to chuckle in a friendly way, but I just ignore it. I don't know what he's trying to accomplish by being nice to me, but I have no motivation to make it easy for him.

"You really are good at basketball," he says.

I continue toward the middle of the court without looking over to him.

"Yeah," I mutter.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Zach's smile turn into a frown, but I carry on, dribbling the ball past him to take another shot for the net. Zach doesn't even try to stop me this time, and it flies straight in. After catching the ball, I spin around to see Zach's reaction, but I'm thrown off when I see him shaking his head and stepping off the court. I walk after him as he goes to sit down on the bench nearby.

"Yo, what's wrong?" I ask.

Neither of us want to be here. I know that. Maybe he's just tired of pretending he cares about me and needs a break.

Zach's answer comes as a surprise. "I'm trying to get to know my little brother, but he won't even talk to me."

I'm stunned silent, and I sink down onto the bench beside him. He stares at the ground,his arms resting on his knees. With the way disappointment radiates off him right now, it seems like there should be rain pouring down to create a proper atmosphere.

He actually wants to talk to me? This isn't just some stupid thing he's doing to please my parents or be a martyr? Guilt clutches at my stomach, but I shouldn't feel bad. How was I supposed to know that my brother, who hasn't said more than a hello to me since he left for university years ago, would want to learn anything about me for once?

"Since when do you care at all about me?" I question.

He sighs and tilts his head up to look over at me, saying, "Last month, Madison's brother got in a car accident. While we were waiting for him at the hospital, she kept saying how she wished she'd spent more time with him and really gotten to know him. He passed away, and now she carries these regrets around. I don't want us to end up the same way."

"Then why didn't you try to talk to me a month ago?"

"TJ, we haven't had a real conversation in years. When I knocked on your door a few days ago, I was worried. I kept wondering: what if he doesn't want to know me? What if he doesn't want to keep up any more relationships? What if I can never be as close with him as I could've if I'd tried to stay connected when I left for school? I guess I was right to think all those things. You clearly don't want me around. You don't know me. I get it, but, TJ, I don't want to be just some face you recognize in photos. I want to be your brother."

I don't know what to say. I never in a million years would've expected those words to come out of Zach's mouth. It's weird. Amber's always been the sibling I relied on. Zach wasn't even a thought. I just knew he wouldn't be there. Now he wants to be here, and I don't know how to deal with that. Maybe I should stop trying to hold him back and just let him in.

"I became the team captain in grade seven," I say after a long while of nothing.

Zach looks over in surprised, but then he smiles and accepts the open door.

"Do any of your friends play basketball too?" he asks.

"Reed and Lester don't."

"I remember them," Zach says. "Wasn't Reed the kid who smashed my Game Cube with the curtain rod when he saw a spider on it?"