Lucas ran to catch up with Nathan and trying to catch his own breath.
Nathan stopped in front of the house and took a deep breath while Lucas walked up slowly breathing heavily.
"What the hell…" Lucas said, opening the door.
"Run much Luke?"
"Not like that. Not at 6:00 in the morning."
"Better get used to it."
"Why's that?"
"Senior year, we have to be at the top of our game."
"Mmhmm yeah." Lucas said, grabbing a bottle of water.
Dan walked into the kitchen and surveyed his sons.
"Went running, eh?"
"Yep." Lucas said, taking a swig of his water.
"You look beat." Dan commented.
"Lack of sleep. I had an annoying wake up call from my brother... every day this past week"
"You'll thank me later." Nathan said, patting Lucas on the back and grabbing a box of cereal.
"Hey Lucas come here a sec." Dan said and led him to the living room.
"I refilled your prescription." He said, handing Lucas a bottle.
"Thank you." Lucas said.
"I want you to know how sorry I am for trying to withhold these from you." Dan said.
"It's okay."
"How could it possibly be okay for me to-"
"Anything's possible now right?" Lucas said.
"Right." Dan smiled.
Lucas went back into the kitchen and found Nathan eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs.
"Hungry?" Nathan asked.
"Hell yes." Lucas said and poured himself a bowl.
Nathan's cell phone, which was sitting on the table, started ringing and vibrating around the table.
"Hello?" He said, flipping it open.
"Nathan it's Brooke, I'm back from California. Do you happen to know…where Lucas could be?"
"Yeah he's right next to me." Nathan said. Lucas looked up in question.
"It's Brooke." He mouthed.
"What does she want?" Lucas mouthed back.
"Would you like to talk to him?" Nathan asked.
"Thanks." Brooke said.
"Here." Nathan held out his phone.
"Hey." Lucas said uncertainly.
"Hi…um, so what are you and Nathan doing?" Brooke asked.
"Eating breakfast. We're at the beach house."
"Cool."
"Yeah…I'm living with my dad for awhile."
"That's nice…"
"Is there a reason you called, Brooke?"
"I wanted to talk…and you didn't answer your house or cell phone."
"Oh…its probably upstairs."
"Can we talk soon?"
"I guess."
"I'll come up there. We can talk on the beach."
"Alright."
"See you in an hour?"
"Sounds good."
"Bye." Brooke said and hung up.
"That sounded…" Nathan trailed off.
"Awkward?" Lucas finished for him.
"Is she coming up here?"
"Yeah in an hour."
"Maybe she's ready now."
"Maybe." Lucas said and went upstairs with Nathan following.
Lucas took the bottle of pills from his pocket and opened the medicine cabinet to put them away, but Nathan took the bottle out of his hands and inspected it.
"For HCM." Lucas said.
"I figured…"
"You okay?"
"It…just seems more real now."
"What does?"
"You having a heart condition."
"Yeah."
"Are you sure you'll be okay for basketball?"
"Absolutely. Even better now with these." Lucas took the bottle and put it away.
"If you're sure."
"Trust me, I am. Dad seems confident about it too."
"You're calling him Dad." Nathan smiled.
"Yeah." Lucas smiled shyly as his cell phone began to ring on his bed.
"Hello?"
"Hey, my car broke down, so can you come here?"
"To my mom's house?"
"Yeah, she gave me a key."
"Yeah, I'm on my way."
"What's up?" Nathan asked.
"I'm going to my mom's house now."
"Oh. Good luck."
"Thanks." Lucas said, and bumped fists with Nathan.
"Hey Brooke, welcome back." Lucas said, standing in the doorway.
"Hi…" Brooke said shyly, stacking her last box on the floor.
"Wow." Lucas said, surveying the room.
"Yeah." Brooke laughed nervously.
"So, um you wanted to talk?"
"Yeah…why don't we sit?"
"Okay." He said, making his way to the bed and sitting down next to her.
"I'm really sorry for what I did before you left." Lucas said.
"Thanks. I just got so freaked out, and I didn't know what to say."
"Does this mean…"
"I don't know. I still don't know."
Lucas was silent for a minute.
"Okay, that's fine."
"Really? Like really fine or are you being sarcastic?"
"No…trust me I learned how important giving people space is."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, I rather not get into it now."
"Alright. So, friends?"
"Friends." Lucas said, giving her a high five.
"So I should go." Lucas said.
"Okay."
"You gonna be alright by yourself?"
"I'll be fine. Practically my life story."
"We'll talk later?"
"Absolutely."
Lucas got back to the house and was greeted by Deb.
"Hey sweetie." Deb smiled.
"Hey…" He said, not used to being called sweetie by anyone but his mom. It didn't bother him though, because he slowly was starting to realize that this all could work too.
"Did you see Brooke?"
"Yep, just got back."
"How was her trip?"
"Fine. It's all good." Lucas said.
"I'm glad." Deb said, smiling.
"Oh good you're back." Nathan said as he entered the room.
"Yep. Missed me, eh?"
"Well I am still grounded so you're my only source of entertainment."
"Its nice to be loved like this." Lucas joked.
"You bet. Can we go outside?" Nathan asked Deb
"Yeah, I guess."
"Okay."
Nathan and Lucas went outside and sat on the deck.
"So it was good…with Brooke?"
"It was alright. She still doesn't know how she feels."
"Oh. That sucks."
"I can wait."
"Good for you." Nathan said, looking at the water.
"It's so nice here." Lucas said.
"Yeah, I always like it here. That's why I had a bunch of parties here and even when Mom kicked Dad out and we moved here, it was fun."
"I can see why."
"Do you like living with us?"
"What?"
"Has it been good this summer?"
"For the most part."
"You mean…the whole drunken thing?"
"No, no, I just kind of felt out of place at first. It was kind of a strange idea to live with someone who I had such a different relationship with than I do with my mom."
"You mean Dad?"
"I am just getting used to the idea that I can be living happily other people besides my mom and Keith."
"Other people who love you unconditionally." Nathan nodded.
"Exactly." Lucas said in surprise.
"What? You seemed surprised."
"It's just that's exactly what I was feeling."
"Trust me, I know the feeling too. I'm still struggling with the idea that maybe.. my family isn't hanging by a thread anymore."
"Over the past few weeks, I've just kind of feeling like this could…it could all fit too. Maybe I don't have to choose sides over Mom and Dad. It could all work out."
"Exactly."
Dan was watching his sons talking on the deck, so wrapped up in their conversation that they didn't noticed the breeze going by or the shouts of the people down on the beach.
They had become so close in such a short amount of time.
Deb came up behind Dan and watched them too.
Dan smiled at his wife. It took one decision to be a better person to make his whole life better. How come he had waited so long?
"This is good." Deb said, smiling.
"This is very good." Dan agreed.