Heart and Soul - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Coach had damn near killed them with grueling practices all throughout the week. The day before homecoming game, however, he let them off with a lighter training session that ended with a short talk about the importance of a good night's sleep and good nutrition.
The house was quiet as Carter closed the front door behind him. Red flag number one.
There was a huddle of school bags on the living room floor. Red flag number two.
A single small black suitcase stood by the couch. Red flag number three.
Carter heard hooting and cheering from the back yard and followed the noise, dropping his bags by the jumble in the living room.
Mike, Luca, Frankie and Bella were outside by the basketball hoop. Bella's friends, Roy and Lauren, were sprawled by the swing, his head on her lap. A tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired guy stood with his arm around Bella's shoulders. They all turned to look at Carter and he smiled tentatively.
At first impression, the supposed stranger looked like a scarily accurate younger version of Tony Santoro.
"'Sup, C-dog," Frankie called, bouncing the basketball from hand to hand. "Wanna join in? We're playing on uneven numbers here."
"And, still, Bella and Jack are kicking your butts," Lauren chimed in.
A little bell finally rang inside Carter's head. Jack Santoro. The second brother. Carter had seen him at the wedding and a couple more times over the summer. Like his older brother, Jack had Bella and Frankie's dark hair and Tony's bulky physique. For that reason, paired with the fact that Carter barely saw any of the two oldest Santoros, it was hard for him to tell them apart in his head. Carter knew one of them was a college sophomore in Florida, while the other was a senior in the west coast. He also knew Richie had played football in his day, while Jack had been in the basketball varsity. But that was it.
"It's not really fair," Luca whined. "Mike couldn't score if his life depended on it."
"Oh—Guess it's not so fun when you're on his team, is it?" Frankie jabbed.
Mike sighed, stretching to his full height and rolling string shoulders. It was still appalling to Carter how a guy with his physique could be so averse to sports. He knew Mike ran regularly and worked-out in his room, but he always seemed to be suspiciously bad every time a ball was concerned. Carter had wondered, once or twice, if it was possible Mike just pretended he couldn't play around his siblings. It would make sense. The Santoros were obsessively competitive within their family ties and Carter knew for a fact Mike's perfect GPA extended to his PE class.
"I would be offended," Mike said, picking up a small towel from the pile by the swing, "but I have homework to get to anyway, so you'll have to continue without me."
"Jack just got home, dude," Luca blurted. "How can you worry about homework, when you could be spending time with your brother?"
"I shared a room with him for many years. My Jack quota is fuller than yours," Mike said.
"And your brother will be here the whole weekend," Roy spoke up, eyes on the book he held open above his face. "Meanwhile, homework doesn't stop piling up. Always being on top of your work load is the best way to avoid last-minute stress."
Without stopping running her fingers through his head, Lauren rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. Almost instantly, the basketball came flying off Frankie's hands, landing right on Roy's face. He yelped, dropping his book, and there was a general burst of laughter.
"And that's how you deal with any type of stress," Frankie declared proudly, when Roy sat up to shoot him an incredulous look.
Mike walked to the door, where Carter was still standing. "Try not to kill each other until dad gets here," he said.
"We'll try," Lauren replied, grabbing the basketball that had bounced off her boyfriend's face. "It'll depend on how your brothers behave, though," she added throwing the ball back at Frankie, granny style.
Frankie grinned. "Since Mike quit, do you wanna play?" He aimed for the basket. The ball bounced off and failed to get in. Luca caught it.
"No, thanks. I'm good," Lauren chirped, leaning back.
"Why don't you ever ask me to play?" Roy asked with a frown.
Luca snorted, dribbling twice before shooting for the basket. "'Cause you really suck," he said as the ball swooshed in easily. "Like, really bad," he added after catching it again in a clean move.
"At least he has a girlfriend," Bella retorted. Luca passed her the ball and she threw it, barely looking. It rolled around the orange ring for a while, before falling in.
Luca's face fell as well. "Unbelievable," he hissed under his breath.
Bella shot him an innocent smile as Jack caught the ball. "Don't sweat it, kid. You're good. I'm just better."
The Killers' Mr Brightside rang out across the yard and Frankie took out his phone.
"Yeah?" He spoke into the device. "On my way, dude." He shoved his cell back in his jeans' pocket. "Alright, peeps. This was fun, but I gotta run."
"Where you going?" Luca asked, flailing his arms in disbelief.
"Reggie called," Frankie explained. "Today's the day we're going to kick Micah and his sister's butt at CS."
With that, the fifth Santoro sibling jogged past Carter into the house.
"Two against two, before dad gets home?" Luca asked, looking at Carter as he dribbled the ball from hand to hand.
"I'm actually tired," Carter answered with an apologetic smile.
"One-on-one-on-one?" Luca tried, looking at his siblings.
Bella and Jack exchanged a look, before flashing him identical smirks.
"Your funeral, little dude," Bella said. She stretched out a hand toward Lauren, who threw her a water bottle and a towel.
While Bella gulped down half the bottle before passing it to Jack, Carter moved to sit next to her friends. Jack squeezed the plastic bottle into a squashed disc and shot it into the yellow bin by the garage door. It went in clean.
Luca tried taking advantage of Bella and Jack's distraction and dribbled past them. They caught up quickly, though. Carter watched them dance around the ball for some good fifteen minutes.
Although Luca was younger, he was clearly talented. Carter could see him growing to be a star in the varsity team, in the future. For the time being, he still lost against his oldest siblings. Jack had the clear advantage, being the tallest and oldest. Carter could tell moving with a basketball was second nature to him. Not unlike Carter with a football. Still, Bella put up surprising competition. She definitely knew how to play around her height.
"Don't sulk. You did good," Bella teased, squeezing Luca's flushed cheeks after she scored another one, right past him. That shot tied her up with Jack.
Luca swatted her hand off him, sitting down next to the swing. Lauren jutted out her bottom lip in a baby pout when he looked at her and Luca scowled.
"Welp," Roy said, taking advantage of the break to close his book and get up on his feet. "We should go. I promised my mom I would help her move some stuff in the kitchen. Some of it is pretty heavy."
"Then why did she ask for your help?" Lauren asked, tilting her head to the side.
Roy's shoulders slouched in defeat. "She had no one else," he mumbled. "But you're free to help."
Lauren let out a loud cackle, pushing up onto her feet. "Your mom wouldn't want my help if her kitchen was crumbling apart. The woman hates me more than she hates modern churches."
"You just need to win her over," Roy reasoned as they walked to the door.
"Right, sweetie. I'm sure that's it," Lauren cooed with an eye roll. She turned to Bella with a wink and a wave of her fingers. "Bye, sexy."
Bella returned the wink.
"One day, you'll leave me for Bella," Roy mused, a little too serious.
Lauren raised her eyebrows. "I'm not confirming nor denying anything, but at least Bella's family likes me," she said before they both went into the house.
"Baby, I told you. My mom doesn't not like you," Roy's voice could still be heard arguing. "She just takes some time to..."
"Seriously, how did Roy got on with a girl like Lauren?" Luca blurted.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked. His voice sounded a lot like Tony's.
"Lauren's hot. And Roy's... Roy." Luca shrugged.
Bella smiled. "He's sweet. Socially and emotionally awkward, but sweet."
The gate behind them began sliding open with a mechanic churn and Tony's dark-gray van rolled into the back yard driveway. Before it even stopped moving, one of the back doors opened. Charlie came darting out to wrap his arms around his brother's legs.
"Hey there, little man," Jack greeted, hiking his little brother up onto his arms. "Is dad in there?"
Charlie nodded happily. "We brought pizzas. Lots!"
"What's the occasion?" Bella asked, as Tony emerged from the driver's seat.
"I'm tired and really don't feel like cooking," Tony answered, walking around the car to the backseat door Charlie had left open. "Help me carry them inside."
Without a word, his kids moved to grab pizza boxes from the car seats. Jack held onto Charlie. Carter got up too. With two boxes in his hands, Tony crinkled up his nose after a closer look at them.
"You're sweaty."
"And you're slacking off, old man," Bella shot back. "Does Abby know you decided to bail on dinner?"
"She's getting in late today again, so she'll be happy she has dinner," Tony said. "And these are from the Ristorante, so none of that greasy American crap."
Bella, Luca and Carter, all carrying pizzas, followed Tony into the kitchen. Jack trailed behind them with Charlie. Inside, he pulled the kid up onto his shoulders, putting his head barely an inch from the kitchen ceiling. Charlie seemed to adore it.
"Where're Mike and Frankie?"
"In their rooms, doing homework and playing CS," Luca said, opening one of the boxes.
Tony slapped his hand away, closing the box again. "Which one's doing what?"
Luca and Bella exchanged a look, and Jack snorted. "Take a guess, old man." He lowered his head and Charlie dove head first to be caught around the waist, in mid-air, feet pointing up. The kid giggled and Jack smiled, seemingly content with his job.
Carter's heart would have flat-lined, either in Jack's place or Charlie's.
"Right." Tony nodded, realizing the question he'd just asked. He moved around to fish mismatched plates and utensils from the cupboards. "You three better go shower, because I don't want sweaty kids at my table. I can literally smell Luca from here. And call Frankie and Mike down. Unless they also need to shower."
Jack set Charlie down, grabbing Luca's shoulders and pulling him alongside him, just as he was about to try to get another peak at the pizzas. Bella trailed behind them.
While his step-siblings were upstairs, Carter helped Tony set the table. Mike was the first to come down. Jack and Bella were next and they sat on the couch, laughing over something on Jack's phone. Luca and Frankie were last. Except for Carter's mom, who came in after they started sitting around the table.
"Am I late?" She asked, kicking her heels off.
"You're just in time," Tony said, leaning down to peck her lips.
"Hey, Abby."
Carter's mom seemed surprised for a single second, before she turned in a welcoming smile. "Hi, Jack. Thought you were only coming home for the homecoming game."
"Change of plans. One of my classes tomorrow got cancelled, so I thought I should just skip the other," Jack said.
"As long as you pass those classes," Tony mused as he distributed pizza slices through every plate.
Jack smiled. "Relax, old man. Who do you take me for? Frankie?"
"Of course not. I'm much more attractive," Frankie retorted.
Carter watched Jack throw a sliced olive at his brother's face. Tony called them out, but Carter didn't quite pay attention to the words.
He hadn't even known Jack was coming home for the weekend. But apparently everyone else had.
"You go to University of Florida, right?" Abby asked.
"That's right."
"Did you pick a major yet?"
"Not yet. I'm thinking Psychology. Or Biology. Depends on the grades I get this year's semester," Jack answered.
"Do you play on the basketball team?"
"No. I'm afraid I wasn't quite the dedicated sports star in high school that Carter here is." Jack smiled, looking at his stepbrother. "Are you guys confident for tomorrow's game?" He asked, before biting down on his bread-stick.
Carter set the slice of pizza he was munching on down, slowly.
"Coach sure didn't spare us at practice this week," he answered noncommittally. He generally didn't like making presumptuous remarks on future games. It wasn't exactly superstition, merely a precaution.
"I didn't endure a five-hour drive to watch us lose," Jack joked lightly.
Bella snorted at his side. "We all know you came to get dad to do your laundry."
"And the homemade food. Don't think we haven't noticed the junk food paunch," Frankie commented.
Jack reached over the table to ruffle his head. Luca and Bella laughed audibly.
"Guess the truth hurts," Frankie mumbled, fixing his hair.
"What's new around here anyway?" Jack asked.
"I'm in basketball JV."
"Yes, Luca. You texted me sixteen times about that." Jack rolled his eyes. "I was fine congratulating you the first five, but now it's just getting needy."
"Mike's thinking of applying to Stanford," Bella chimed in.
"I'm applying to lots of places," Mike said calmly.
"Yeah, but Stanford was always your end goal. Right? You even drew a four-year plan in freshmen year. I remember because I made fun of that a lot." Jack flashed a grin when Mike rolled his eyes. Turns out Mike was immune to his younger siblings' pestering, but no one could resist the effect of an older brother's provocations.
"You think you got the curriculum for that?" Jack asked, in a tone of slightly more serious interest.
"If he doesn't, who does?" Luca blurted.
"He devoted himself to a life of celibacy for that damned curriculum. It better be Stanford-worthy," Frankie muttered.
Tony put his face in his hands. Mike didn't seem too fazed, though.
"Everyone knows you're a virgin too, Frank."
"Bella!"
"Who said I'm a virgin?"
"Mike!"
"I'm sure Mike's not a virgin."
"Jack! You're the oldest. Behave! At least you," Tony pleaded.
"Yeah, Jack. When they go low, we go high," Frankie mused. Bella kicked him under the table. Frankie yelped. Tony called out his name. "I was assaulted — how's it my fault?"
"Does this mean you didn't get a girlfriend yet?" Jack asked Mike, a glint in his eye that was half-teasing and half-serious.
Mike didn't answer. He didn't have to.
"Who cares?" Bella blurted. "We don't give a fu–fudge—" she corrected herself just in time, under Tony's warning gaze "—about Mike's love life. We live with him. What's up with you?"
"Yes! Anyone new?" Luca asked.
"Anyone better than the last one?" Frankie added. He eyed his father, hesitantly, only to see Tony was unbothered by his comment.
Carter's stepdad shrugged. "Travis was a tool," he agreed.
The water Carter was drinking went down the wrong pipe then, sending him into a fit ofnungracious coughing. Jack slapped his back.
"You okay there?" Jack asked, as Carter finally stopped coughing.
Carter hummed agreeably. "Awesome."
"So," Frankie jumped in, after Carter assured him he wasn't going to die. "Got a Travis replacement?"
"Travis wasn't anything serious. You just insisted you wanted to meet him."
"And we regret that deeply. He really was a tool, as dad so eloquently put it," Frankie was quick to reply.
"If only you were so eloquent yourself in class," Mike mused.
Frankie waved him off. "Hush, Mike. We are trying to fish information about Jack's new boyfriend."
"There is no new boyfriend," Jack stated firmly. He eyed Carter, amused. "You sure you're fine? You still look a little red."
Carter touched his cheeks, feeling the heat on the surface of his skin. "Yup."
"Could it be something other than the water that's making you look like a flushed oaf?" Bella asked with a sort of fake sweet concern to her voice.
"Bella..." Tony warned.
"What? We all thought it."
"What? I—No," Carter struggled to speak.
"It's fine. Don't mind Bella, she's PMS-ing," Jack said with a smile.
Luca's eyes widened. "Oh, you mean Carter didn't know Jack was gay?"
"Geez, bro, even I got there earlier," Frankie reproached.
"I thought he knew! Everybody knows," Luca defended himself. "It's common sense, if you really think about it, Carter."
"Uhm, what?"
Jack snorted. "It's Luca and Frankie logic, so brace yourself," he warned.
"There are six Santoro brothers. Around four percent of the US population is known to be LGBT – more actually, if you look just at the state of Florida. So, statistically, one of us was bound to be," Frankie explained.
"And it's Jack," Luca concluded.
"I mean, the math in that doesn't exactly add up, but their logic isn't totally wrong," Mike said.
Luca and Frankie high-fived, pleased with the Mike stamp of approval on their pseudo-mathematical hypothesis.
Carter smiled tentatively. He hadn't liked it when Bella pointed it out, but the truth was the news hit him a little by surprise. It probably shouldn't have been a big deal at all. It was more of a no-deal. Or it should be, right? Who cared Jack was gay? It didn't concern Carter. It shouldn't bother him. And it didn't. Like it clearly didn't bother anyone else. Because it was natural. And it had absolutely nothing to do with Carter. It was totally indifferent to him.
No one else seemed to notice the whirlwind inside his brain. They were all far too interested in Jack's presence. Even Bella laid off him. And, when Carter slipped upstairs to go to bed, no one even seemed to notice.