“I’m perfectly fine,” he said with a smile, catching Jake’s eyes and answering the question his uncle really meant to ask. Jake stared at him a second longer, then cut away his gaze and nodded. Jake’s shoulders relaxed and Brian was glad he could do that for him.
“There’s something that’s been on my mind, though.”
Jake looked up, thankful that Brian took him into his confidence. His uncle didn’t say anything but just waited on him to continue.
“There’s this one kid on the team. I’ve been kind of a douche to him. Really duchy, actually.”
“Well at least you can admit that.”
Brian looked down at the empty plate and shoved it some more to the center of the table. “I don’t know why but he just really gets me going. Makes me so angry. But that’s not the point.” He stared up at his uncle and looked away again. Why was it so difficult for him to just say what was on his mind?
“What is it, Brian?”