Extraits

"What the hell was that?"

"Coach?"

"Don't you dare 'Coach?' me, you malfunctioning retard."

"No, but really," Nicky said, looking wide-eyed at Neil. "What happened?"

"Neil hit Riko," Matt said. "It was beautiful."

"What?" Nicky squawked. "Not fair! I missed it! Go do it again. Or not," he added quickly when Wymack leveled a death glare at him. "You can't blame a guy for dreaming, right, Coach?"

"I am going to love hurting you," Riko said, "like I loved hurting Kevin."

"You are one seriously fucked-up individual," Neil said.

"Je vais prendre mes victoires où je peux. Se concentrer sur les batailles d'abord, ensuite gagne la guerre, non ?"

“Why don't you like girls?"

Nicky looked startled by the interruption, but he rallied quickly and made a face. "They're so soft."

Neil thought about Renee's bruised knuckles, Dan's fierce spirit, and Allison holding her ground on the court a week after Seth's death. He thought about his mother standing unflinching in the face of his father's violent anger and her ruthlessly leaving bodies in their wake. He felt compelled to say, "Some of the strongest people I've known are women."

"What? Oh, no," Nicky hurried to say. "I mean literally soft. Too many curves, see? I feel like my hands would slide right off. It's totally not my thing. I like…" He drew a box with his fingers as he searched for words. "Erik. Erik's perfect. He's a total outdoors junkie, rock climbing and hiking and mountain biking, all that awful bug-infested fresh-air stuff. But oh my god, you should see what it does to his body. He's like this, all hard edges." He drew another box. "He's stronger than I am, and I like that. I feel like I could lean on him all day and he wouldn't break a sweat.”

Cela ne semblait évidemment pas aussi ridicule pour eux que pour Neil, mais à part carrément demander pourquoi une douce chrétienne se battait contre le sociopathe officieux de l'équipe, Neil ne savait pas quoi demander.

"I have good taste in clothes, right ? If you want to try them on you can, but you don't have to. I know they'll fit."

"Why would I try them on ?"

"Oh, because these are yours." Nicky said like Neil should already know that, then kept going before Neil could react. "Did you know Coach has been waiting for us to fix your wardrobe since, like, June ? He threatened to sign us up for a marathon if we didn't do something about it. A freaking marathon, Neil, Guys like me aren't supposed to run that far. Do me a favor and don't argue about it."

"There's nothing wrong with the clothes I have."

"Can we go back to the part where I said not to argue ? I remember it pretty clearly considering it happened just five seconds ago."

"Parfois le monde semble si grand, mais ensuite je me rappelle combien il est petit.

- Grand ou petit, souviens-toi juste que tu n'es pas seul dedans."

"How are you doing?"

Neil drained both cups before answering. "I'm fine."

Nicky fist-pumped in triumph. "Thank you for being so predictable, Neil. You just scored me ten bucks with two words."

Matt looked up. "Are you serious? Who the hell bet against you?"

Nicky jerked a thumb at Kevin. "There's a sucker born every minute."

-Et si on y allait tous ?Spoiler(cliquez pour révéler) Aaron acceptera pour Nicky et Nicky verra si ses parents ont changé d'avis. Tu ne t'éloigne jamais autant de Kevin alors emmène-le. Je vous accompagne, comme ça tu me harcèleras moi plutôt que Luther. Imagine à quel point les parents de Nicky seront mal à l'aise s'ils doivent faire face à nous cinq.

-Ou nous pourrions rester ici.

-Pas aussi intéressant.

-Ce n'est pas très loyal de faire appel à mon déficit absolu de l'attention.

-Mais est-ce que c'est efficace ?

-Tu aimerais bien.

-S'il-te-plaît ?

-Je hais cette expression.

-Ta psy sait que tu en veux à la moitié de la langue anglaise ?

Thanksgiving was spent at Abby's house. Wymack showed up, of course, and they spent the morning drinking coffee and watching the parade on TV. As soon as it was over it was time to get to work. Abby divvied chores up between all of her guests and put Wymack to work in the kitchen with her.

Dinner was ready mid-afternoon. When Nicky asked Neil what his favorite dish was, Neil could have lied and referenced any of the stereotypical foods he knew were associated with

Thanksgiving. Instead he practiced a little bit of honesty and admitted he'd never celebrated Thanksgiving before. Holidays weren't a priority in his family. Nicky, of course, reacted like it was the most tragic thing he'd ever heard.

Neil didn't understand the appeal. When Nicky saw his unimpressed face, he said, "It's not really about the food. It's about family. Not necessarily the one we were born with, but the one we chose. This one," Nicky emphasized, gesturing between them. "The people we trust to be part of our lives. The people we care about."

"I'm trying to eat here," Wymack said.

"Coach doesn't have a sentimental bone in his body," Nicky told Neil. "I don't know what Abby sees in him. He must be really good in—"

"Another word and you're on dish duty," Abby said, and Nicky wisely shut up.