I'm Just a Kid That Tried Too Hard

I drive down to the Cape on Christmas Eve Day to celebrate with my brother Colby and his family. They live in a decent sized house on the beach with two children. I don’t see him too often but I talk with him on the phone a lot.

Colby was the reason I turned out okay. He was the one who found my apartment and helped me with my college applications. His wife Kathleen is a sweetheart, but she’s an Anaheim Ducks fan. Every time I see her, we always shoot comments at each other’s teams. It’s all in good fun of course.

I knock on the door and it opens a moment later. I look up and don’t see anyone. A voice sounds from below, “Down here Dewin!” I look down and see their youngest daughter Nala smiling up at me. She’s three and looks just like my brother with blonde hair and dark brown eyes. I crouch down and open my arms out to her which she rushes into.

“Here there Nala! How are you?” She pulls back and leads me by my finger into the living room without, leaving my bags outside. The rest of the family is sitting around the TV watching Beauty and the Best: the Christmas edition. They look up and Colby rises to hug me. He hasn’t changed a bit. “Congratulations on Italy!” are the first words out of his mouth.

Kathleen made a feast for everyone before I showed up. It is absolutely delicious. After dinner, Cameron wants to read me one of his dinosaur books. It’s called the Dinosaur Stomp and afterwards we try to learn it. The kids even make up a song to go with it. Afterwards I tuck them both in and go to join Colby and Kathleen.

Colby pears at me, “So who’s the guy?” He’s always been able to read me like a book. I never even said anything about a guy to him. I never thought it was that obvious. I mumble something that neither of them can pick up. “Excuse me Dev?” I sigh and sit on the floor next to his feet. “63. Think hockey.”

Now, my brother is a hardcore Boston sports fan. If it’s a team based in Massachusetts then he’s all for it. You can just imagine how their household is when there’s a rare Kings/Bruins game on. He mentally scans the roster until his eyes widen in realization. I nod at him. We’ve always been good with that sibling connection. One time I broke my wrist moving into my apartment and he called me before I could even register what happened.

“Really Devin? Nose face? Little ball of hate? The Honey Badger?!” I sputter in laughter. He’s such a nerd. Kathleen looks from Colby to me and back. She’s completely lost in this conversation. His eyes travel to his wife and he smiles, “Brad Marchand. Boston Bruins.” Recognition shows on her face and she nods. There’s a long pause from my brother and I as it looks like Kathleen is trying to find words.

“He’s….something else.” She finally informs me, but she’s not done. “I mean, wasn’t he the one who was always shirtless after they won the cup? Not the cute one, the...the other one.” I try to hold in my laughter while I nod.
“He’s really not that bad and he’s cute I swear. I mean, you guys would approve if I got you free tickets right?” They both agree without any sort of hesitation. I nod and inform them that I’m going to turn in. They agree and head to their room as well.

I plop down in their guest bedroom after changing into an extremely large Lucic Fight Club shirt. Brad detests this shirt. He says that he’s tough too. I always tell him he is but I leave out the bit about Lucic’s sex appeal going through the roof when he fights. I pull my phone out of my bag for the first time all day. It informs me of a new voice mail.

“Hey Devin. I know you’re probably busy with your family but I just wanted to call you and wish you a Merry Christmas. I know I won’t have a chance to call you tomorrow morning, if at all, so I figured I’d do it now to let you know I’m thinking about yo- OW, FUCK! WHAT DO YOU WANT!? OK, OK… Sorry babe, my brother’s an ass. I... never mind, Merry Christmas, Goodnight.”

I laugh and wonder what his brother’s like. I wonder if I’ll ever get to meet him or any of his family. He talks about his mom sometimes and how she makes the best food. I bet she made something for them to eat for tomorrow that’ll be delicious.

That feeling like before slowly creeps up on me. I shouldn’t be thinking about that. Thoughts like that drive a girl mad. He’ll introduce me if he wants, when he wants. There should be no need to over think things like that. I take a deep breath. If I continue to think like this I’ll end up going in circles. It’s better to not worry about things like this at all.

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It’s Christmas Day. Brad continues to stuff his face. With a mouth full of food he gushes, “Mom, this is delicious. I can’t even explain it to you how good it tastes.” His mother laughs at him, “Glad you like it dear.” Brad cleans the rest of his full plate in minutes.

“So Brad, tell me about your new girlfriend.” His sister asks once everyone is situated in the living room. Everyone else in the room whipped around to face him. Brad shoots his sister a quick look. How did she even find out? His mother beams at him, “A girlfriend? Why didn’t you say something sooner?!” Brad’s face turns the slightest shade of pink.

“We’ve only been together a few months.” He mumbles lamely. If he’s being honest, he just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. It wasn’t because he has only been in a relationship for such a short time. He actually can see this going somewhere and sees no reason to scare her off.

His mom looks at him pointedly. “Hun, you know that doesn’t matter. I’m your mom for crying out loud!” His brother looks at him, “Do you have a picture? Is she hot?” He swats at the back of his brother’s head but digs out his phone to show him a picture anyways.

His brother nods approvingly before handing the phone along. In turn, each family member of the Marchand household takes a peak at Brad’s girl. Each one giving their two cents. His mom practically swoons seeing the two together in the picture. Brad smiles, glad everyone approves. His mom hands him back the phone with another big smile, “Oh, you’ll have to bring her to meet us sometime.”

Brad nods, and his mind starts to drift. Devin never mentioned her family before. Sure, he’d never really asked, but only because it seems like a locked door. She always turned the conversation to his family and kept her stories involving her family vague. Would she even want to meet his parents? If she never mentioned hers, then maybe this relationship was less serious than he thought. He quickly shakes the thoughts from his mind, forgetting them entirely.
He excuses himself, telling his family he wants to make a call before it gets much later.