One of the Boys

My mouth fell open when I walked in. This place was nice! We walked up to the front desk.

“Reservations for 6,” he told the man standing at the podium.

“Name?” The man asked.

“Jonas,” he said. The man looked at a book filed with names.

“This way sir,” he said as he walked off toward the back. He led to a private room in the back away from the rest of the restaurant. The man unlocked the door to the private room and let us in. Joe walked in and sat down in the chair next to the chair at the end of the table, and I sat next to him. The man walked away and shut the door as he left.

“Why are we sitting in a private room?” I asked Joe.

“We don’t want to get attacked by fans while we’re eating breakfast, and believe me they would do it. They always find us, no matter where we go, no matter where we hide,” Joe explained.

“That must be fun,” I said sarcastically.

“It can get crazy at times, but we love our fans, they’re the best fans in the world,” he said. Suddenly the door opened and Denise walked in along with a man, Kevin, Nick, and Frankie. I noticed Denise was wearing a skirt and a nice blouse. The boys and man were in a suit and tie. I felt underdressed but comfortable in my clothes. Frankie and Nick both immediately saw there was only one available seat next to me.

“I call the seat by Alex!” They both yelled at the same time. They both dove for the seat next to me and they both sat down on the seat at the same time. They pushed each other trying to get the seat.

“Stop!” The man said loudly, but didn’t yell. Nick and Frankie both immediately froze.

“If you two are going to fight over a seat then neither of you are going to get it. Kevin sit next to the young lady,” The man said, pointing at the seat next to me. Nick and Frankie got up and let Kevin sit down. Then they both raced to the seat across from me. Nick got there first, so Frankie sat in the seat next to Nick. The man walked up to me.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Paul, the father of these boys,” he said, introduced himself. He held out his hand for me to shake and I reached out and shook it.

“I’m Alex. Nice to meet you,” I said politely. Paul smiled.

“You too,” he said as he get go of my hand. Paul turned around and walked to the end of the table and sat down. Denise sat down at the other end. The waiter walked in and handed all of us a menu. I looked at the menu and I noticed something wasn’t right.

“This isn’t a breakfast menu, is it?” I asked.

“Well, of course it isn’t honey, we’re not having breakfast, we’re having lunch,” Denise said.

“Oh, Joe told me we were having breakfast,” I said.

“Breakfast, lunch, they’re all they same, they all involve eating food,” Joe said without looking up from the menu. I laughed. I looked at my watch. It was 8:30. Who had lunch at 8:30 in the morning?

The waiter came back in the room.

“Are you ready to order your drinks?” he asked. Denise nodded.

“I’ll have an unsweetened tea,” Denise said. Paul ordered the same. Me, Kevin, Joe and Frankie ordered a coke, and Nick ordered a Diet Coke.

“So have you ever been here before?” Joe asked. I shook my head no.

“It’s too expensive,” I said.

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that, we’ll pay for your meal,” he said.

“You don’t have to do that, I brought money,” I said.

“Just let her, she won’t let you pay for her meal,” Nick said with a frown in my direction. What was up with this kid? First he was fighting with his 8 year old brother for the seat next to me and now he’s mad at me? Was this kid bipolar?

“We’re paying for you meal, honey,” Denise said firmly. I wasn’t going to argue with her, my mom taught me better than that. She always told me to never argue with adults and to respect them, but she also told me to never let anyone take advantage of me, she taught me how to be independent.

After we got our drinks we ordered our food. I tried to order something cheap since they were paying for my meal.

“Are you coming to our house after lunch?” Frankie asked, taking a bite out of his Chicken Nugget. I shrugged.

“If your parents say I can, then sure,” I said.

“Of course you can come over, it’s nice to have another girl in the house,” she said with a smile. I smiled too. I knew what that was like to be the only girl in the house when my mom was away. Frankie cheered. Nick smiled. There he goes again. Now he’s happy that I’m coming over. That kid must be bipolar. After we ate Joe drove me to his house. As soon as I walked inside Frankie ran up to me and dragged me downstairs.

“Do you know how to play Halo?” he asked. I shook my head no. I’d heard of it, but I’d never played it. I preferred to go outside and play soccer or something.

“What do you know how to play?” he asked.

“Guitar Hero, Soccer, Baseball, Football-” I started listing games I liked to play.

“You play football?” he asked. “Girls can’t play football!”

“Yes they can,” I said. “I’ll prove it to you. Go get your brothers and we’ll all play football.” Frankie smiled and ran up the stairs. I followed him at a slower pace.

“Hey guys lets play football!” I heard Frankie say. I walked in the living room and saw Frankie talking to his older brothers who were sitting on the couch, watching something.

“Maybe we should play a game Alex can participate in,” Joe said.

“Alex said she wanted to play football,” Frankie said.

“You think a girl can’t play football?” I asked Joe. He looked up and saw me standing there.

“No, it’s just-I don’t-fine, lets play football,” Joe stammered. He and his brothers got up off the couch and we walked to their backyard. I stopped in my tracks and my mouth fell open Their backyard was HUGE!

“Ok, team captains are me and Alex,” Joe said, standing in front of us holding a football. I walked up to him and stood next to him.

“You can pick first,” Joe said.

“I pick Frankie,” I said. Frankie ran up to me and stood next to me.

“I pick Kevin,” Joe said. Nick was the only one left so he joined my team. Joe handed me the ball.

“You can go first,” he offered. Big mistake.



“Nick, throw me the ball!” I yelled. Both Joe and Kevin were running toward Nick, who had the ball. Nick threw the ball just as Joe tackled him. I caught the ball and ran toward Kevin and Joe’s goal. Kevin changed directions and ran toward me, but he was too late. I threw the ball on the ground.

“Touchdown!” I cheered. Frankie ran up to me and gave me a high-five. I walked over to Nick who was still on the ground.

“You ok?” I asked. he nodded. “By the way, great pass.”

“Great catch,” he said. He got up and gave me a high-five. “You’re pretty good for a gir-person.”

“Nice save,” I said with a laugh.

“What’s the score?” I asked Joe.

“12 to 9,” Joe said with astonishment. “Wow, I’ve never met a girl that could play football better than me.” I smiled.

“Like I told you before, I’m not like most girls,” I said with a smile.



“I don’t want to go to bed mad at you, and I don’t want you to go to bed mad at me.” Ne-yo’s voice sang through the cars speakers.

I looked over at Nick who was driving. When it was time for me to leave Joe and Nick had argued over who was going to drive me home. Kevin had to break it up and settle the argument. He said that since Joe had drove me to the restaurant and their house Nick got to drive me home. I guess it was a good thing since I needed to talk to Nick.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked, breaking the silence. He looked at me strangely.

“No, why do you think I’m mad at you?” he asked.

“No reason, just asking,” If he wasn’t mad at me, there was no need to bring up my suspicions. If he said he wasn’t mad at me I would leave it at that. Nick looked at me strangely, but didn’t say anything else about it. When we got to my house he walked me up to my porch.

“Goodnight Alex.” he said.

“Night Nick,” I replied. He walked back to his car and I walked in my house and to my room. I took a quick shower then changed into a white t-shirt and black, comfortable shorts. As soon as my head hit the pillow I fell asleep.