Chapter 773 - V3 ch8 (1/2)

It was a great boy's weekend. The twins fought less. Zeke talked more than normal. Noah stayed out of trouble. And I hung out with them happily. Jeremy's team won both games we watched and invited us to dinner after Sunday's game.

With all of us together, it didn't feel like there was too much of an age gap between me and Jeremy. He was only three to four years older than Rhys and Zeke. Another year for the twins. Then seven years for Noah and I.

He got along great with everyone, especially when he talked about his early struggles in the minors. It's hard to believe that he went through a year long slump, but he did. And got out of it. Then reached the majors as young as he did.

”I'll debut before you.” Noah said confidently as dinner was winding down. He clenched his fists. ”That'll be my goal.”

Kyle laughed at him. ”Shouldn't your first goal be getting better at batting before the next season starts? Then graduating high school and even getting picked in the draft?”

”Not going to look at colleges?” Jeremy asked Noah after hearing Kyle.

Noah shook his head, then stopped and shrugged. ”Mom will probably make me look like Zeke did, but I won't be going. It's just a waste of time. Of my time at least.”

”Yea, don't knock the rest of us that picked college.” Rhys laughed. ”For the record, I don't think I'm wasting my time. And I know for a fact that Zeke isn't wasting his time.”

Jeremy nodded. ”I know some friends that just graduated and will graduate this upcoming year. College is perfect for furthering your education while working on your game. Yea, you're not getting paid, but minor league pay really sucks. I had to share a room with three other guys at one point.”

Noah made a face. ”Weren't you drafted near the top? Why didn't you just use your signing bonus-” He stopped suddenly and looked at Jeremy, apologetic. ”Sorry. I just remembered.”

Jeremy shrugged. ”It's fine. It's not something I can hide from. I had given the majority of the money to my uncle and just lived from small paycheck to small paycheck. Absolutely brutal, but I didn't stay long at those lower levels. The worst was a winter league I did in Florida. Living conditions were almost bare minimum.” He laughed. ”It was a sight to see when I made my debut and the clubhouse supplied the food. I ate so much before the game that in the middle of an inning, I had to take a bathroom break. So embarrassing.”

We laughed, imagining the sight of him rushing for the restroom.

”Those guys in San Diego never let me forget it either.” He covered his face with a hand and shook his head. ”I'll be hearing it for the rest of my life.”

”There are worst debuts.” Rhys said sympathetically.

We talked some more, then it was time to go. Jeremy waved and parted ways with us, heading to his own car. While the rest of us piled into our car and headed back to Rhys's house. We dropped him and Zeke off there instead of their college because apparently Rhys was going to take his car to school so they can have access to it.

Back home, Mom sent us straight to bed because it was still a school night. When I woke up the next morning, I found Noah doing some ab exercises on the floor of our room.

I frowned. ”How long have you been up?”

”Twenty minutes ago.” He huffed.

I rolled out of bed and joined him on the floor.

He grinned at my actions, but didn't say anything.

I copied his movements.