sonder

cathect

Chapter Twenty Six:

Cathect

(v.) To invest emotion or feeling in a particular idea, object, or another person.

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"Kali invited us over today." I tell Jeremiah as he weaves his way towards the net, practicing the new footwork that I'd taught him. He doesn't let me distract him from scoring though and with as much force as he can muster, lunges the ball soaring past my frame in the net.

It isn't until I've come back from retrieving the ball from the webbed netting that he finally replies. "Really?" He asks with a smidge of excitement in his voice.

I nod, tossing the ball from behind my head to him where the old, worn ball lands at his feet. "Yeah, she's got the day off and thought that it'd be nice to enjoy the last weeks of summer." I announce. "Plus, she's finally gotten over her cold." At that, I chuckle to myself.

"Cool, what are we doing?" He asks, heading back out to restart the play again. The rays of the morning sun were just starting to peak out from the clouded sky, the day still early enough that it's not too warm just yet; otherwise, practicing would've been made up of more water breaks than it had been today.

"Who knows with Kali." I state, getting myself back into position as I take in Jeremiah's movements. He'd been picking up things really quickly since we'd begun and was definitely becoming a greater player than I ever was at his age. We did a couple of more drills before the sun decided to completely arrive to the field, shining bright with heat. "Why don't we start heading home?" I call out to Jeremiah, jogging over to our stuff where he'd been getting a drink.

He nods, his head still tilted back as he takes in as much of the cool water that he can. The soccer field happened to be not too far from our house; although, everything in town was relative considering the small size of it. Our cleated feet prick against the pavement, my shoulder carrying the weight of my old gym bag across my body as Jeremiah dribbles the ball up our neighbourhood.

"You're doing good out there." I mention nonchalantly as we ascend our porch steps. I briefly ruffle his hair to show my affection as well, I could tell that Jeremiah was still adjusting to me so little moments like these were important to help repair our relationship.

"Thanks." He says, opening the door widely. Both of our parents sit side-by-side when we walk completely into the house, serious expressions on their faces. I hadn't seen them over the past few days since Jeremiah and I went to the grocery store and he let me in on the fact that I cause a lot of fights between them. I'd been meaning to talk to them and I had this instinct that they had gotten to me first.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad." Jeremiah greets, looking up at me to see how I'm reacting.

My mom is the first to speak. "Jere, can we talk to your brother for a moment?" She asks, Jeremiah's big ocean eyes looking at me for clarification.

I nod to him. "Why don't you go shower and then we can head over to Kali's, okay?" I suggest, watching as he heads up to his room without any hesitation after that.

"Jeremiah seems really happy about you guys playing soccer." My mom begins, my dad gesturing for me to take a seat in front of them on the white chair of our living room. All of the furniture seemed more at home here now that I thought about it. The white furniture blended in better with the scenic views here compared to my hometown, they weren't the focal point of the room anymore and I liked that.

I nod whilst relaxing into the gushy chair, the foam morphing its way around me in a comforting way. "I'm having a lot of fun too." I pause before deciding that now was the time to start dealing with my problems, head-on. "I, I've been wanting to talk to you both actually about, about this past year.