Krista

They do. Horses can make really good physical, emotional, and social therapy animals. The little minis that go around in hospitals and such. I've read about the PTSD therapies with animals for research. A great bond with a horse can last 30 years.. and they do remember you after an absence. I like adding animals to my story. The Best Year didn't have them, I highly doubted Jackson could take care of a goldfish, let alone a dog. Bless him. Luke would have totally had a dog though 100%. It was a miss for him not to have one in his life, especially with how I depicted him in the writing and his overall living situation. But then again... if Luke had a dog to vent to and not have to put up with snark and back talk... would he have even bonded with Jackson?

Now I'm scared. I might have over motivated you to do it. Maybe write it in third, we both know someone who already made the attempt.

My family had Tennessee Walkers, rather common for our general area. Aside from Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses. And, a few ponies for the riding lessons of smaller children who didn't need to be falling off full grown horses. But, we've not been "horse people.." for years though. I don't know if I'd even be brave enough to get back on one now.

I do look forward to the rewrite/Alternative Universe. May Colt be successful in glistening to perfection and wooing Joel thoroughly, emphasis on thoroughly. And you are correct I do not like Chicago style pizza because of the sauce and grease and ick. Did you just uno-reverse mother meddling with me? 😮 How DARE!

He's built up a little bit of a foundation with Fletcher County. Not enough that he sees much past the Connleys and the island they seem to have created for him. and yes, no amount of telling him he's loved, safe, and treating him with kindness is going to convince him if he can't get over his own guilt, shame, and fear. He's had the support of Trace and Celia since that first night. He's been promised support and safety, and he's allowed himself to show more to them. Still clutching rather hard on the shame, fear, and being firm in survivor mode though.

Excuse you sir, disliking pizza isn't a red flag. I don't like a lot of the chain stuff and cheap box frozen stuff at all. Homemade from scratch pizzas though.. my goodness. I do like two pizza chains. I've also found that small independent establishments just make better pizzas. I am very picky with pizza before I can sit down and like it. I said what I said. --- I'm the same way with chocolate too, by the way. Let the boy be sentimental about his gloves. Not everything has to be about Colt's balls, gosh. I personally didn't see that as her meddling. They have talked about growth and progress and not being afraid anymore. Joel has kind of been a bit back and forth on making any attempt at doing it. So, a small ask of inviting two friends to his birthday party, in the hopes of Joel growing past some of this might be what he needs. Especially if he's not giving much of an indication of doing that on his own. I mean, technically he's given all of the weight of his and Cody's entire party on the shoulders of Celia, Trace, and Lacey. He gave her the freedom of inviting friends and helping with the planning. It might have been a nice gesture for him with Lacey, but that's not him taking any responsibility. Celia asking him to carry some of the load, might be something that's a little late in coming. and, are we back on Jolt because I guaranteed a glistening, saggy-wet jeans Colt? It is a promise I plan on delivering. And people say I'm difficult, but I'm out here dropping gifts like Santa effing Claus.

Seems to be a lot of that going around these days. Trending as a mood, talk of secret prompt events, characters in this story, you all.

Yeah, so far Joel has really froze them all out on that idea. I don't think it would be wise for the coach to then push that idea, but allow Joel the time and opportunities to come back on his own. We'll see if Joel has that in him or not. We only got to see hints of his former Coach in a previous chapter. He seemed to set aside Joel's stat value rather quickly and shift right into protective mode. So, sadly he does point towards someone that Joel could feel a significant loss with when more of this hits him. I'm not certain everything has. The biggest issue with living behind a wall you've built is that you sometimes don't allow yourself to think and feel things that you need to. There's a looming example in my brain that he's not considered. He mentioned it in passing, but it was to explain a happier memory. But I don't think he felt the impact. And yeah, Joel would completely shut them all down more if he thought they only wanted him for his stats. Probably why he bristles at Davin and Gavin. Gavin's jokes are all about what those stats could look like. And Coach Finn at Fletcher did off-hand do the same thing by approaching Joel like a completely known entity and handing him special treatment - in that he didn't have to tryout he was flat offered a position without a thought of earning one.

It would be significant if they were to invite either of the Coaches, his past one, and if he allows it - his future one to his party. Especially after asking his permission to invite Celia's mother to come. Neither of them seem like parents that would spring a significant blindside on him. They know they're dealing with someone that doesn't react well to those types of things.

I don't think Celia is mischievous, not her. 😮 She's the most angelic of that whole crew. But, Joel doesn't know any better when it comes to Lacey and Lacey's ambitions. It is a lesson the boy needs to learn, I'm thinking. She may remind him of Cody, but she is a different beast.

They are. I had a mare, they can be demons during their cycles... Geldings are the way to go. You get a calmer headed animal without raging hormones. lol. And they are beautiful.

When you put it that way you make the whole ordeal sound tedious and annoying. Lets hope the guys have more in them than all that.

Yeah, this may be something that luckily flies under the radar of everyone involved and they got away with it... or it blows up in their faces. A few chapters back, I think it was the abandoned center party, Joel did almost reach for Davin first, but they got interrupted. Davin wasn't taking any chances this go, I'm thinking.. and plotted to ensure he played his cards right... even giving up on the baseball talk for now. The guy was motivated. Joel does need more friends than just the twins and possibly Colt.

He was quite brazen and honest, wasn't he? Pretty much told his brother where he was going to be. Probably not a big thing... if he wasn't hopping from one bed-sharing situation, to a... more strange one. A twin he's 100% comfortable with being one option... and just a guy they suddenly know being the other. Yikes, maybe Faith can be quite the distraction and Gavin a bit single minded not to realize. I think he's left Gavin's bed before this too though. Maybe Gavin really is difficult to sleep with and it is something they both know about one another. Otherwise, yeah... very brazen. The birthday party. I'm nervous about that chapter. Thinking seems to be what gets Joel into trouble and in his own way. Not thinking seems to be how Davin tends to operate about some things. Not saying Joel wouldn't have forgotten about necessary steps after, or planned up to it. Okay, lets also be real.. if it was Joel, it likely probably wouldn't have been in the planning to begin with. I am the author of his story, I think I can throw him under that bus...

His back and forth thinking and this is an example of that. But the last two thoughts had to hit him pretty hard. Knowing where he stands might be the best place to start walking forward again. And the more I read and write this story, the more I realize just how much I swear in the writing. lol. I do not swear in real life and I never say the... "upper tier ones.." (I don't even want to say them in the reply to this comment). They fly right to the page in my writing though, even outside of dialog. Which is fine, he is a teenage/young adult narrator and they like to swear and often do. But seeing that little word tucked into a lot of heavy rapid fire thoughts made it stand out to me for some reason. Not a distraction, but I noticed it. And I know I rambled off topic too. And yes, he has all the freedom in the world to play. A coach and team waiting for him seemingly ready to give him that opportunity. Hell, he has another team and coach 'three counties away' (I know that could become a drinking game in the writing too, by the way), that would take him back too. So. In his own way...

As a mother that's dreading this realization more and more by the second this evening, thank you for washing your 'handy rag' on your own.

I'm just now starting to realize that I might have put off getting them off a bit too long. But, the creativity of all of these comments have been eye opening and I applaud each and every one of them. I'm just going to blush whilst I do it.

Eager, one could say.

Proof enough "If you give them an inch they'll take the whole mile." Thank you for proving that out with me. The next time my golden retriever husband says, "Let them go ahead and..." to whatever I told them no to, I'm going to sit him down and force him to read this. He's going to read this knowing full and well that he pulled the exact same thing on his parents too. My mother was different. She'd excuse a minute late. If you walked in hours late you better be ready for the lecture and following punishment. She gave us a curfew of 11pm on weekends and during the summer. Which, looking back annoyed me, that's usually when parties were at their peak. As a parent, I know she was being more than generous and my children don't get curfews, they're too young for them. Only one of them is free to drive, but she's also the most grounded as far as what she wants in life. Who she wants as her friends... and her interests. Of course she noticed boys a long time ago, but she kept them at a distance until more recently. She friend zoned a guy for years. He's been I don't want to say in love with her... for years, but definitely wanting more than friendship. I've seen it. His mother has seen it. My husband has muttered and grumbled about it... I think she's finally starting to see him. So, she may start needing a curfew in the coming months. The rest of them, bless them, are too young for a curfew. I am more than ready to be consistent though. The whole one minute is the same as one hour won't fly, that's certain. Thank you for this, you don't know how helpful to me you've been this night. I'm sure if my children could thank you, they would too.

To be completely honest, I've not put a lot of stock into their sexual dynamics. When I write sexual dynamics, I do want to progress them typically. I usually do when their relationship grows and they become more comfortable actually being in one together. I know people can and often do have sex before they're even sure about the person they're in a relationship with. Some people aren't far past knowing first names... and even then, a lied about first name doesn't stop them. Sexual dynamics in coming of age stories are typically progressive in nature. Progressive is a comfortable spot for people to write in. Step A leading to step B, that leads to Step C.

*whistles innocently* Now I'll see myself out thinking I successfully dodged that question.

Oh gosh. It took them 23 chapters to touch a penis that wasn't their own. Slow down, slow down... lets not freak them out.