Mad Season

Luke Mitrani had always felt he paled in comparison to his older brother, Jack. Even though he had been told on countless occasions that he was one of the most naturally talented snowboarders in the United States right now, he always felt that no matter what it was, he always came in second place to Jack. Skateboarding, snowboarding, the girl he'd been in love with for years, Joanna.

Joanna had grown up with Luke and Jack since her parents were good friends with their parents. She had begun school with Luke, but after she had completed the third grade, her parents and teachers had decided it would be for the best if they skipped her ahead two grades, and that was when she joined Jack in school.

From that point on, Joanna seemed to be closer with Jack than with Luke, something that killed the younger brother. Jack knew how Luke felt about Joanna, and he would purposefully say things that implied that he and Joanna were closer than they actually were.

Luke wanted nothing more than to call her his girlfriend, something that seemed pretty impossible at this point. He felt he always looked second best to Jack around Joanna. Even when he started snowboarding, Joanna seemed to always like Jack's style of riding better than Luke's, something that ate him alive.

Today, Luke was going to see Joanna for the first time in months. He had been traveling all around to compete lately, and he hadn't seen most of his friends or family in a long time. But, now he was headed back home to Mammoth to compete, and he couldn’t be more excited.

"Squid!" he heard his brother call out, and he spun around to see Jack walking towards him, Joanna at his side. "Dude, look at that hair," he laughed, messing it up even more, if that was possible, as Luke's hair was as crazy as ever.

"I like it," Joanna smiled at him, and Luke could feel his stomach in knots just from her smile. "It's good seeing you again," she told him, taking a step towards him and giving him a hug. "I feel like it's been years since you left."

"Nah, just a couple of months," he said, trying to play it off like he hadn't thought that he had been gone away for a long time, as well.

"Well, we should get together tonight for dinner or something and you can tell me all about the trip," Joanna told him with a smile, and Luke tried to hide the shock on his face. Had she just asked him to dinner? Just the two of them?

"Yeah, the three of us should get together for dinner and you can tell us all about the trip," Jack interrupted Luke's thoughts, throwing his arm around Joanna. "We want to hear all about your trip," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah," Luke nodded, trying to hide the disappointment on his face. Of course Joanna had meant the three of them. Why would he even think that she would want to go to dinner with just him. "Sure thing," he added.

"I'll see you guys tonight, then," Joanna said. "I've got to head out. But, Jack, text me about tonight, okay?" she asked, and Jack nodded at her, as she walked off with a wave.

"Stop staring at her, will ya?" Jack asked with a laugh when he noticed Luke watching Joanna as she walked away. "It's kind of creepy."

"Shut up," Luke said, shoving his brother, causing him to crash into some random people that were walking by. He mumbled an apology to them before attempting to tackle Luke, causing a small fight to break out between the two of them. Fifteen minutes later, they finally settled down and separated from each other. "Man, it's good to be home," Luke smiled as Jack nodded in agreement.

~~~

Luke didn't know if there was anything on Earth that could make this dinner worse than it already was. All throughout dinner, he had had to watch Jack with his arm around Joanna, and he wondered if they were a couple. He would have figured that Jack would have told him if he and Joanna had gotten together while Luke was away, but he hadn't mentioned anything about it. But, watching the two of them together, he couldn't help but think the two were hooking up.

On top of that, after he had briefly told the two of them what had happened on his trip and how he had done in competition while he was away, he had to listen to Jack and Joanna tell him everything the two of them had done while he was gone, ranging from concerts to skateboarding to taking a camping trip with just the two of them.

Luke leaned back in his chair, balancing it on the back two legs as he listened to Jack talk some more about the camping trip. "Listen guys, I better get going. Competition tomorrow, y'know?"he reminded them, really just wanting to get away from the camping talk.

"Right, I'm competing, too," Jack told him.

"You are?" Luke asked, not having heard Jack say anything about competing yet.

"Yeah," Joanna answered for him. "He's been looking forward to competing against you."

"Yep," Jack nodded. "I'm going to kick your ass tomorrow," he smirked.

"Like hell you are," Luke responded, standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow, man. Bye, Joanna," he added.

"Bye," he heard the two of them say as he walked away.

~~~

Luke shook his head, unable to believe what had just happened. He had been on a great streak while he had been away, and he comes back to Mammoth only to fall on every single one of his runs, not even making it to the finals. Jack, however, had laid down a nearly perfect first run and had easily made it into the finals. Luke hadn't missed Joanna celebrating with him, and if it wasn't his brother and one of his best friends, he would have gone home by now.

He stood at the bottom of the pipe, waiting for Jack to take his second run of the finals. "Hey, how're you doing?" he heard Joanna say from beside him, and he turned to look at her.

"Jack's up at the top," he told her, still a little bitter from not making finals.

"Okay," Joanna said, a little confused, but not moving from where she was standing.

"Shouldn't you be headed up there?" Luke asked.

"Excuse me?" Joanna asked, wrinkling her nose. "Do you not want me here? I'm sorry that you didn't make it to the finals, but that's no reason to act like this," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, turning away from Luke, but keeping her eyes on the half pipe.

"That's not what I meant," Luke sighed. "Sorry," he mumbled, and Joanna turned back around to look at him, a small smile on her face. "I just thought you'd want to be up there with your boyfriend," he said.

"Boyfriend?" Joanna questioned.

"Yeah, Jack," he reminded her.

Joanna started laughing, and Luke stared at her, waiting for an explanation. "Jack's not my boyfriend," she said, shaking her head. "I thought you of all people would have known that!"

"But," Luke began, not knowing how to explain his reasoning for thinking that. "You two were all touchy feely at dinner. Jack always had his arm around you," he pointed out.

"Jack's always been like that," Joanna rolled her eyes. "For some reason he's always like that around you," she added with a small laugh. "But, we're not together. Nor have we ever been," she added.

"But…I…I thought…" Luke stumbled with his words.

"If we're being honest," Joanna began, and Luke looked at her, wanting to know what she was going to say. "I've always had my eye on a different Mitrani brother," she said with a small smile, her cheeks turning a bright red. Luke stood there in shock, not knowing what to do or say, and Joanna took it the wrong way. "Forget I said that," she said quickly, rushing off in the opposite direction, not even waiting to watch Jack, who was dropping in for his final run at that time.

Luke took one look at the half pipe to see his brother before he ran off after Joanna, hoping Jack would understand why he didn't stay to watch his run. It didn't take him long to catch up to her, and he quickly jumped ahead of her, stopping her dead in her tracks. "What did you say to me?" he questioned, his words coming out in a rush.

"Just forget it, Luke," she told him, looking down at the ground.

"No, you said you liked me," he said, refusing to let her drop the subject. "But, what about Jack? I always just assumed you two were into each other."

"Jack's my best friend. He's like my brother. Hell, he knew I liked you," she admitted.

"Wait, he knew?" Luke questioned, and Joanna nodded her head. He soon started laughing, and Joanna once again began looking at the ground. "He knew I liked you, too," he told her.

"You like me?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.

"I have for a while," he admitted, leaning in closer to her. Their lips were less than an inch apart when Luke felt someone slap his back, causing his head to ram into Joanna's.

"Ouch," Joanna said, pulling away and rubbing her forehead as she saw Jack standing next to Luke.

"Nice of you to finally make your move, Squid," Jack told Luke, who looked like he was about to kill his older brother. "But, couldn't you have waited til after you saw my wicked run that just got me first place?" he asked excitedly.

Luke glared at Jack. "Why didn't you tell me?" he questioned, as Jack just stood there with a blank stare, having no idea what Luke was talking about. "Joanna likes me."

Jack started laughing. "Yeah, she does," he nodded his head.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luke asked more loudly. "This whole time you've always made it seem like she likes you, not me. You're always acting like you two are together!"

"And, you knew he liked me?" Joanna questioned, pointing her finger at Jack. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"And make it easy on you guys?" Jack asked, putting his arms around the other two. "Hell no. It was hilarious watching you two suffer. I wondered how long it was going to take you two to grow some balls and say something to the other one. Soooo, who was the one to say something first?" he asked, looking between the two of them. The look on his face caused the hatred the other two were feeling towards him to melt away, as he looked happy for them.

"Joanna," Luke admitted.

"Damn it," Jack muttered, and Luke looked at him curiously. "I owe Mase a hundred bucks. I knew I shouldn't have put my money on my brother," he muttered.

"You bet on us?" Joanna asked, looking at him incredulously.

"Yeah, and that was like five years ago," Jack rolled his eyes. "It took ya long enough! And, Mase better not think he's getting any interest on this payment," he added as Luke shoved him. "Dude!" Jack yelled, but Luke ignored him, putting his arms around Joanna.

"Now where were we?" he asked Joanna.

"I think right about here," she smiled, standing up on her tip toes to kiss him.