As soon as Noah left to go inside one of the batting cages, Jeremy turned to me. \"Do you ever fear that Noah and the Atkins might be exploiting you to get to me?\"
Faced with the sudden accusation, I paused. Then let out a short laugh.
Jeremy was taken aback by my sudden reaction.
\"No...I don't have that fear.\" I told him. \"The Atkins took me in before we knew who you were.\"
\"But, what about now?\" He pressed. \"They know now. I know we aren't close, but if I want that to change, I have to know what they're like.\"
Noah's turn was coming to an end.
\"I'm not worried that they're using me.\" I glanced up at him. \"You're the only one being used here.\" I grabbed a token from the cup. \"Who needs so many tokens for the two of us? We couldn't possibly spend all of these in one afternoon. And there's no refunds.\"
\"I'll just let you keep them for another time.\"
I let out a smile as Noah came out of the cage. \"Yea, I think he already planned that.\"
Jeremy looked surprised.
I went in the cage with a helmet on and my new bat in hand. I decided to work on my right side since that was the way I had hit the homerun. It would be nice to give it some more practice. I was meticulous in my movements, concentrating on lifting the ball with a purpose.
I came out when my pitches were done. I found a smiling Noah and an uncomfortable looking Jeremy. Yea...I wasn't scared of being exploited at all. Noah and the Atkins always put me first. Even at the cost of themselves.
Noah moved up to the 70's and waved after getting a token out.
\"Did he give you a hard time?\" I asked Jeremy, wanting to know what Noah said to make him look so uncomfortable.
\"He's very protective of you.\" Jeremy said, looking a little sad.
\"Yea...\" I nodded and watched as Noah hit a few pitches. \"He's my best friend. My first friend really.\" I looked up at Jeremy. \"He'll make sure that you're on the losing end every time we interact. Is that going to be a problem.\"
Jeremy cracked a smile. \"I can't imagine that it'll cost me much.\" He continued. \"He kind of reminds me of my, I mean, our cousin. Uncle Jack has a son and two daughters. Did you know that?\"
I frowned and looked away from him. \"Yea. I heard you say it.\" How could I forget? He didn't even want to admit to having a brother like me. He said his cousins were his only siblings.
\"Jake-\" He reached out for me, but I shied away.
\"Don't touch Jake!\" Noah was back. \"Didn't you listen to me at all?? He doesn't like to be touched. Especially by strangers.\" Noah looked me over. \"What'd he do? What'd he say?\"
Noah's overreaction made me realize how much he babies me. My lips twitched. \"We were talking about Jack and his kids.\"
\"Uncle Jack.\" Jeremy corrected.
\"Whose uncle?\" Noah rolled his eyes. \"What has he ever done for Jake? Does an uncle just leave a toddler with a psycho without even blinking?\"
\"You don't understand how things were back then.\" Jeremy stood a little taller, taking on the defensive side for 'Uncle' Jack.
\"Oh? Please explain. I'll wait.\" Noah sat on one of the empty benches in a relaxed pose. He patted the seat next to him. \"Jake. Come sit. Jeremy will have our undivided attention.\"
I obediently sat down, not really sure where Noah was going with this.
Jeremy looked uncomfortable standing before us. \"I've already explained...we didn't know you were really Dad's son.\" I nodded. Noah waited. \"Well, she was never super abusive to you before. Uncle Jack planned for her to have Dad's complete estate offering she agreed to give up custody of me. You have to understand, we thought she was going to treat you right.\"
\"You didn't even come back to check.\" Noah said coldly. \"Don't even have a shred of consciousness? No matter what, he was your half brother according to you.\"
\"I wanted nothing to do with that woman. You have no idea what I went through in my childhood.\" Jeremy was losing his temper, glaring at Noah.
Noah was calm though. \"You're right. I don't.\" He tilted his head at me. \"Jake does though. He put in more time than you ever did with that woman. And he did it alone. He had no dad or uncle to rely on. You need to stop your 'woe is me' nonsense, because he had it worse. Your sob story will never measure up.\"
There was an awkward pause between the three of us, with only the sound of bats hitting baseballs as background noise.
\"It's not a competition.\" I finally spoke up, relieving Jeremy of some of his stress. \"I'm sorry that you had to live with her too. It must have been tough. But also, you had an uncle to rely on. Cousins. They probably made you feel safe, right?\"
Jeremy nodded.
\"That's the Atkins family for me.\" I stood up. \"I don't want to say anything mean to your uncle and cousins. I just want you to understand that I don't see them the way you do. To me, they're strangers. And to be honest, I do still have some animosity towards Jack. He was rude to Mrs. Atkins when we got out of the courthouse. He only has your best interests at heart. Not mine.\"
Jeremy seemed to lose his energy all at once. He looked up at the sky above us. Then let out a small groan. \"I'm messing up, aren't I?\" He shook his head. \"I just don't know what I'm doing.\"
Noah snorted. \"I'll say.\"
Seeing Jeremy stressing made me think...this must be what I look like in Dr. Moore's office all the time. Trying to tackle problems and issues without any sense of direction. I took pity on him. \"Have you ever seen a psychologist before?\"
Jeremy shook his head almost adamantly. \"No. There's no need.\" He took a deep breath and slowly let it go. \"Let's start again. This time I won't bring up Uncle Jack. We'll save it for another time. Right now, we should focus on me and you. You and me.\"
Noah nodded in approval. \"Alright. And to make it fair, we won't bring up how you denied Jake's existence on national television.\"
Jeremy scratched his nose, looking guilty. \"I was scared. Confused. Frustrated.\" He looked at me. \"It won't happen again. If it makes you feel better, I can make a public statement.\"
I thought about the kids in school and shook my head. \"No thanks. My life is complicated enough. Maybe after school gets out. I don't want anymore attention.\"
\"Just be more relaxed about it.\" Noah suggested. \"If it comes up, admit it. If it doesn't, don't force it. Jake, don't worry about those kids. I've got your back. If they say anything unpleasant, I'll give them a one-two.\" He threw some fake punches.
I laughed. Noah...the number one bodyguard.