Easy is something I’d never had.
“What’s got you smirking like that?” Hailey asks, bumping my shoulder. “Or should I say who?” A glint shimmering in her eye.
It was strange how close I was beginning to grow to everyone here. My opinion of this place different now than when I’d first arrived back.
Hailey grins and I match it looking at the ground.
She’s someone I didn’t know I needed in my life until she forced her way in. I’d been reluctant but her persistence won out and I was grateful for her grit.
It was a shitty thing to have to admit but maybe I had needed a little bit of a push in allowing more people into my life. A hard thing to do when I only ever had myself to rely on. It was a slow process, but I was getting there.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I mention, taking a seat.
I knew Hailey would want to know every detail as soon as I told her that Xander had kissed me last night. I didn’t have time right now. The class was about to start.
Her eyes narrow. “Fine, but I’ll be expecting an answer on why your smiley today at lunch.”
She looks up, hearing the final warning bell ring. Kissing my cheek before dashing off to her own classroom.
I sink back in my seat as the teacher begins their lecture. They drone on and I begin to zone out, my thoughts on last night.
“It’s official. We can’t hang out anymore.” My nose scrunching as I open the pizza box.
“Jealous?” Xander beams. Grabbing a slice and taking a large bite of his pineapple flavored half.
We’d finished our homework and so I ordered us a pizza for dinner. Abram was still out of town on business and not once have we had a family dinner since his departure.
I cringe. “Not in the slightest.”
Turning off the light, I climb back up on my bed and we pick out something to watch. Finn inviting himself in as soon as the door was cracked.
He’d been more abhorrent about sticking around the house lately. I would never ask but I had a feeling it had everything to do with Xander spending more time in my room. And less and less time at the kitchen table like we used to.
Finn sniffs at the air. “Pizza? Any left?”
I shove the leftovers closer to him when he stops at the foot of the bed. His reaction similar to mine spotting the single slice of Xander’s half left in the box.
His face falls, and I cover my hand with my mouth to stifle my laugh.
Picking off the pineapple slices Finn shoves almost the entire slice in his mouth in a single bite. Grease, sauce, and cheese going everywhere. God, how he got so many girls still dumbfounded me.
Finishing, he belched out his satisfaction, and I all but shoved him out the door. Only for him to reappear less than thirty minutes later. Flipping the lights back on.
“I’m bored, you got anything to read?” he asks, wandering over to my bookshelf.
Picking my mouth up from where it hangs still lying on the floor, he gives me a curious gaze over his shoulder.
The next twenty minutes were spent in discussion. Him mulling over another book, only to put it back seconds later shaking his head.
My teeth grind farther and farther down to their stubs when he does it again. And again, and again… andagain.
Not once had I ever seen Finn pick up a textbook for school. So, to see him looking for a casual read because he was bored was astonishing. Did he not see he was being as thin as a roll of single sheet toilet paper? Knowing exactly what he was up to.
Eventually he settles onMoby Dick. Having no doubt that the only reason he chose that one is that it has the word dick in the title.
I roll my eyes. Boys could be so dense sometimes.
He makes his exit only coming back one more time before I snap. Threatening to shave off an eyebrow in his sleep unless he stops bugging us.