“When will you be back?”
“Saturday,” he said. He stuck his hand far back underneath the bed and started feeling around.
“Just an overnight trip? To Chicago?”
“No—a week from this Saturday,” he corrected me. “Why would I fly all the way to fucking Chicago for a day, and who would hold a fucking consortium meeting on a weekend?”
I shrugged.
“So…you’re gone a week?”
“Didn’t I just fucking tell you that?” he snapped. He dragged a pair of dress shoes out from under the bed and smacked my foot with the heel of one of them. I jumped back as he stood up with it and shook it at me. “Don’t be so fucking stupid.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled and quickly got myself out of there. I sat down on my bed once the door was locked again and rubbed at my toe. It was all right. I looked at the clock, seeing that it was still about an hour before I usually went to bed, and I looked at my nightstand out of habit. I took a big breath—maybe I could replace my sketchbook while he was gone and find a better place to hide it.
A week with Dad out of town actually sounded pretty good.
“Thomas, get back in here!” I heard him yell from his room. I got back up and made my way over there.
“Is this the red garment bag?” He stood there, glaring at me.
Well, considering the luggage in his hand was blue, I kind of doubted I was supposed to answer the question. I just shook my head a little.
“I wanted the red bag, Thomas—the red one. This one is too small! Now find me the one I want!”
“I’ll find it,” I said quietly and ran back down to the basement.
I knew my dad was only trying to do what was best and only wanted to make sure I was always on top of my game no matter what I was doing. I wasn’t just making excuses for him in my head. There was a lot more to it than what was outwardly visible. He couldn’t do everything he did and not be the very best at it without focus, and I’d dropped my focus. He said red the first time—anyway, that’s what I told myself.
The question was—did we even own any red luggage?
Friday morning.
I fucking love Fridays.
Fridays with Rumple walking into school at my side were ten fucking times better than any other Friday that had ever occurred before.
I tossed my arm around her shoulders after she got out of my car and smirked at her sideways as I led her into the building. A bunch of people came up to me and wished me luck in the game tonight, and it felt as if the giant number one on my chest was shining like a freaking lighthouse beam. You would think it was, the way it drew people over to me. It made my skin tingle with warmth, and something about having Rumple there sharing it with me just made it that much more fucking awesome.
People crowded around my locker as we stopped there, and I pulled Nicole close to me as they chattered about the last time we played Preston High, squashing them two-to-zero. Nicole just kind of pushed her body against mine and didn’t really say anything. Well, to be honest, no one really said anything to her either.
Finally, people walked off, and we were able to move on to her post-apocalyptic locker and then to her first class. I stopped outside the door and leaned back against the hallway wall. I placed my hands on her hips and brought her close to me. She glanced up and caught her lip in her teeth.
“You still gonna make me dinner tomorrow, baby?” I asked her.
“Yeah…I thought I would,” she responded. “I was thinking about making something Italian since it’s Dad’s favorite. Do you like Italian?”
“Love it,” I told her. I let my hands slide up her sides, then over her shoulders, and then all the way down her arms. Once I reached her hands, I wrapped my fingers around them and held them both next to her sides. Behind her, I saw Jeremy’s sly look as he walked by and wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I leaned forward and placed my lips against her forehead. I’d done that a couple of times at school, but it was honestl
y starting to feel like it wasn’t enough—like it wasn’t something a real boyfriend would find satisfying enough. I still hadn’t really kissed her in public…
…and I wanted to.
I tilted my head to the side and slowly inhaled the scent of her hair.
“What are you doing?” she asked quietly.