Puck The Halls | Jack Hughes

TWO

JACK
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COMING HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME in a few years was . . . Strange to say the least. Sure, I'd seen my mom, dad, and brothers frequently throughout the years, when they'd come visit me during the season to watch games, or during summers at the Michigan lake house, and I'd even seen Trevor multiple times. When our teams went up against each other, and again, during summer.

But, there was one person I hadn't seen in almost four years. A girl who I for some reason, still expected to be fifteen, even though time had passed and she was definitely weeks away from turning nineteen now. It was weird, to think that she was only a year off being in her twenties.

It wasn't right, she was a baby, she was his baby.

I had been home for two days, seeing her only through the window of her bedroom which looked directly into mine. I'd loved that, growing up, especially when we got phones, and I was able to text her weird shit to freak her out before she went to bed. I chuckled at the thought, what a throwback.

I remember a time when I had a huge crush on my neighbour, but she was my best friends little sister, so she was strictly off limits. I was nine when we met, and shit it was like love at first sight. I'd kissed her once, when I was in my first few years of high school, but eventually, Trevor got pissed that I kept calling her cute, or staring at her while she did her homework at the kitchen counter, and he stared being a dick to her. And fuck, I didn't want my best mate to find out I was harbouring a crush on his sister, so I joined in.

Eventually, the teasing started to push her away, and she forgot I existed. Which, was maybe better. At least then, I didn't have to face my feelings.

I remember the last time I saw her, the day I left, she was fifteen and still growing and her hair was cut short, just below her ears. She had braces that definitely didn't suit her and thick framed glasses because of all the migraines she'd started to get. She was still scrawny, not quite growing into her features yet, and Trevor loved to call her ugly duckling.

I still thought she was cute, but I wasn't so sure how she'd mature, she seemed to have the worst luck with acne, and a perpetual frown.

I wondered what she looked like now, did she still have her short hair? I remember the day she had to cut it, after Trevor put gum all through it. She'd cried, and didn't talk to Trevor and I for a week, even though I didn't really have much to do with that one. I liked her hair the way it was.

I followed Quinn and mom over to the Zegras house, my heart pounding but doing a pretty good job of hiding it by shoving my head in my phone. Mom knocked on the door, which was opened a few moments later by Trev. I gave him a quick hello, having seen him multiple times the past few days, before following him through the house to the kitchen, nostalgia hitting me like a tonne of bricks.

I hadn't been in this house in years. I'd almost missed it. We came to the kitchen, which was full of people. Mrs and Mr Z, Luke, his girlfriend, Quinn and my parents, and me.

A girl walked in, and I knew exactly who she was, but I kept my head down, purposely trying not to look at her.

Quinn slapped the back of my head, frowning at me. I gave him a dirty look, but he only tilted his head in the direction of the room, forcing me to say hello. I sighed, locking my phone and shoving it away in my back pocket of my jeans.