Going Long Read Online Free PDF Page A

real-estate agent. Or my own damned brother and his
pathetic, plastic life that I didn’t want in the worst way.
    But now it was time to clear my
head. The walk from my dorm to the workout room was my favorite, especially on
Saturdays. The campus was empty, so I slid by unnoticed. The truly dedicated
academic sorts, filtering in and out of the main library on the weekends,
couldn’t give a shit who I was, and it was glorious.
    September in Tucson was hot.
Hell, October was hot, too. But September was downright brutal. Frankly, it
gave us an edge when the West Coast teams came to town. When you practiced
every day in the searing 100-plus degrees, playing a few hours during an
evening game was no sweat, literally. The visitors were usually less fortunate,
heat exhaustion quick to settle in.
    The sun was lighting up the
nearby desert hills, and the sky was on the brink of turning the most awesome
orange. There was a faint and familiar smell of rain and dust in the air from
the faraway thunderclouds. Everything about the desert was home to me, but I
mostly loved taking it in because it reminded me of Nolan. I can’t explain why,
maybe it was all of the times I’d kissed her at sunset. But it did. And this
walk …this time of the day? Well, it was just my favorite.
    My phone rang as I opened the
door to the workout room. I pulled it from my pocket, recognizing my dad’s
ringtone right away. Dad thought it was hysterical that I gave him ZZ Top’s Sharp
Dressed Man . It was Nolan’s idea because of the crazy-ass suits my pops
always wears.
    I dropped my bags by a bench
just inside, and swiped my phone to answer. “Hey dad, what’s up?” I said,
sliding my feet from my shoes and getting my gear ready.
    “Hey, Kid. You ready for
tonight?” he asked, as excited as ever. No one would argue my pops was my
number-one fan. He was my champion and rock, too.
    “Hells yeah,” I laughed a
little, sitting down to try to pull at the laces on my cleats with my spare
hand.
    “Good, good,” dad chuckled.
“Noles is coming, yeah?”
    “Of course! She doesn’t miss a
game,” I smiled as I spoke.
    “Good,” Dad paused for a bit,
which made me a little nervous.
    “Why? What’s up,” I was
suspicious now and stopped what I was doing.
    “Nothing, nothing at all. It’s
just, well… Mom’s coming tonight, too. She’s got a lunch set up tomorrow for
you to meet Dylan.”
    “Oh, okay, that’s fine. Noles is
okay with whatever, you know her,” I relaxed a little.
    “Yeah, I know she is. I just
don’t want Millie to get to her, that’s all,” Dad said, acknowledging the
shitty attitude my mom always put out whenever Nolan was around. I didn’t want
to admit it, but she had never warmed to Nolan. I finally talked to my dad
about it one night after an especially Millie Johnson-Snyder type of
evening that sent Nolan home in tears I was sure. He just told me it was part
of my mom’s flawed personality and that I needed to write it off and tell Nolan
to do the same. As much as I didn’t want to think badly about my mom, I had to
agree with him.
    “Alright, I’ll make sure I make
Noles deliriously happy before she has to spend a second with Mom,” I laughed a
little, though I wasn’t kidding, and I was already coming up with ways I could
boost my girl’s confidence before my mother tore it down.
    “Okay, Kid. You’re a good nut,
you know?” Dad said.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I laughed. “You on
your way?”
    “Sure am. I’m going to pick up
Dylan for the game. If I get there early, we’ll stop by, sound good?” he said,
I heard a honking sound in the distance over the phone.
    “Yeah, that works. Hey, though,
Pops? Why don’t you go focus on driving now, huh?  I’m gonna let you go,
okay?” I insisted. I had an irrational fear of car crashes; I knew this. But
being careful wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
    “You got it; see you in a bit,”
Dad said, hanging up almost mid word. He was so awkward with his