Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

“Cam, we’re here,” I woke to Becka shaking me, and the flight attendant giving me a smile as she stood in the aisle by my seat.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked, kindly, while eyeing me up. I felt a little sick to my stomach, realizing that this chick might try to hit on me.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I managed a half smile before grabbing our carry-on bags and letting Becka out of the seat.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked, touching my arm lightly. I resisted the urge to projectile vomit, and while I sputtered trying to find something to say thank God Becka stepped in.

“No, we’re fine, right honey?” she asked, emphasizing the word honey and giving the girl a pointed look. She left immediately, leaving Becka and I trying to keep from bursting out into laughter right there on the plane.

“What’s so funny?” Jordan asked as we couldn’t contain our laughter any more.

“The flight attendant was hitting on Cam,” Becka giggled, and he let out a chuckle. We grabbed our bags and were about to head out to get a cab to the hotel when we heard someone calling Jordan’s name.

“Jord! Hey, Jordy!” he turned, and his face lit up. I turned, and saw a tall red-head coming our way. When I recognized him I was a little excited but groaned inwardly at the same time.

“Hey Jay, I wasn’t expecting you here,” Jordan said, pulling his little brother in for a hug.

“Well my flight got in about an hour ago, and when I saw that the flight from Pittsburgh was coming in afterward I figured I’d just sit and wait for you,” he grinned from ear to ear, obviously excited to see his brother again.

“Hey Jared,” Sid greeted him, and Jared nodded, shaking his and Neal’s hands.

“Hi Sid, James, nice to see you,” he said, and then his eyes landed on me. They widened slightly, and I managed a half-ass smile for him.

“Hey Jared,” I nodded, and he stuttered, tripping over his words in his rush to speak.

“Cam, wow it’s so cool to finally meet you, Jordan didn’t even tell me you guys were coming down here together! Did you watch any of our games? How do you think the season’s going?” I couldn’t help but chuckle at his eagerness to make conversation. While we texted quite a bit Jordan had told me that if I met Jared he’d get ‘star struck’. I’d laughed him off, but now I realized Jordy was right.

“Good to meet you too Jared,” I said, and gave him a one-armed hug.

“I’m good; and I caught the last game against Hershey, but I turned it off when I saw you weren’t playing, I’ve caught a few minutes here and there of some other games though. You’re doing good,” I told him, and saw him absolutely beam.

“Thanks, did you see anything I could work on?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but grin.

“Easy there Jay, give the guy a break; he’s only been here for two minutes,” Jordan rolled his eyes, and everybody laughed as his little brother blushed and looked embarrassed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be a pain, I’m really sorry,”

“It’s fine Jared, honest. We’ll have to hang out and go over some game tape or something later,” I said, and his whole face lit up.

“Really? That would be so cool,”

“Sure, seeing as your brother isn’t much good where that’s concerned,” I smirked, and Jordan gave me a playful shove.

“Shut up,”

“Well he’s got a point,” Jared agreed, getting play-tackled by his older brother before being glared at.

“Well if Cam’s so great why don’t you be his brother instead?” he mocked.

“Well bro, looks like it’s just you and me,” he said, and while I tried to hold in my laughter when he put his arm around my shoulder I couldn’t do it. The guy was nearly head and shoulders taller than me, and where I was dark he was very pale; right down to his reddy-blonde hair, hazel eyes and freckles.

“Yeah it does. Only problem is I think I just became the little brother,” I chuckled, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Huh? You’re younger than me?”

“I just turned twenty a couple of months ago,” I assured him, and he looked shocked.

“Well… uh… honorary older brother?” he suggested, and I laughed before nodding.

“Sounds good to me,”

“Yeah, because nice older brothers help their little brothers out,” he said, sticking his tongue out at Jordan before being grabbed and put into a headlock.

“I was kidding! I was kidding!” he laughed, unable to wiggle his way out of his brothers grasp and away from the nougie.

“Ouch Cam, stealing my family members? What kind of friend are you?” he asked after he finally let Jared go. Sid, James and Becka were just killing themselves laughing, and people were staring at us as they left the airport.

“It’s not his fault he’s cooler than you,” Jared teased, and soon Jordan was chasing after him to put him into another headlock.

“So kiddo, how are you getting to the hotel?” he asked a few minutes later when we were all sitting in Tim Horton’s for something to eat.

“I was gonna just get a cab, but mom insisted that her and dad would come pick me up. I swear they keep forgetting I’m not fifteen anymore,” he rolled his eyes. Being the youngest of four boys couldn’t be easy.

“It’s just because you’re their baby Jay; that’s what happens when you’re the youngest,” Jordan told him matter-of-factly, making his brother scoff before taking another huge bite out of his doughnut.

“Whatever. It’s not like you’d know,”

“So mom and dad are coming here then?” he asked, and I caught the sideways glance he shot me.

“Yeah, that or Marc’s probably gonna come get me. Nobody’s texting me back right now so I don’t have a clue what the hell’s going on,” he replied, his mouth half-full before he managed to get the rest of his doughnut into his mouth in one go.

Jordan looked over at me and mouthed a ‘sorry’, to which I just shrugged. I’d have to just suck it up and deal with it, it’s not like I could just disappear and avoid it.