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His head shot around, and Bow grabbed Sloane’s coat. She said Sloane’s name low, but all Sloane did was shake her head.
“No, he’s always messing with you,” Sloane said, her hand up. Bru mentioned excitement with me, but his family certainly had their own brand of excitement. It might have started again had not both Bru and Dorian Prinze made their way on the bus. The two had a handful of bags, but even with them, they hadn’t matched what was already on the bus. Wolf had clearly put some work in, but it was the least he could do for lying to his family for so long.
He was acknowledged by Dorian, but just barely, and Bru’s glance was cordial but nothing more than that. These people were steamed with him, and after this bus trip (and we were no longer sharing space), I had every intention of not making any of that my business. I’d be avoiding a certain wolfy asshole as soon as the opportunity allowed.
That started now, as I watched these boys stow the rest of the bags, then pound fists. Wells still appeared a bit prickly after Sloane’s comment, but he kept his mouth shut when Dorian asked him what his problem was. Dorian had his arm wrapped around Sloane at that point, and I assumed Wells’s silence had something to do with that.
A mumbled “nothing” came out of Wells’s mouth, which made Thatcher bark a laugh. Wells punched at him, and the two continued to jostle each other until Dorian barked at them to cut it out, and Sloane sighed at Dorian to cool off. The dynamic was so familiar it kind of hurt. They were all that way too when Wolf and I had been fake-dating.
Fake.
I had forgotten that then, but I didn’t now. Now was a new era, and when everyone started to head toward the front seats, I got up to follow. I suppose I wanted to be a team player and not wallow, but I was surprised when Bru held back.
“Hey, can we, uh…” he said, waving to hang back with him. He gestured to a seat, which I took, and when he joined me, I was well aware of the lack of space. He had to fold himself in, and I really didn’t know this Bruno. He’d changed a lot physically, and I’d joked with him about that at the airport.
“So, I guess I wanted to give you a way out,” he said, and I looked at his face for the first time. He was flushed, his dark hair strewn about. He waved a hand through it. “There’s still time, and you’re not locked into anything.”
I didn’t understand and paused when he got closer. He smelled like sea breeze and ocean, and I remembered that.
Maybe not everything had changed. His smell was the same. I recalled that on the roof as we listened to pigeons and studied open air for minutes, hours.
“You don’t have to go,” he said, the reason for his closeness. He got real quiet, only the two of us back here, which was obviously his intention. His head lowered. “If you’re saying yes for the sake of being polite… for my parents, you don’t have to. They’ll understand if you don’t want to go. We all do.”
I glanced up and over his shoulder, a third party to this conversation. I wasn’t surprised to see Wolf’s head angled back. He wasn’t making it obvious, still under his hood, but he was a part of this conversation.
At least, he was trying to be.
Maybe he knew that Bru would be the one to try to fix all this. Maybe he wanted to look like the bigger guy, say I could go, and that he didn’t mind. All the while, he knew his brother would try to do the right thing and give me an out. He would if he knew Bru.
So maybe a lot really hadn’t changed.
Bruno Sloane-Mallick may look different, but he was still that same guy. That nice guy and completely the opposite from his asshole brother.
I faced him. “If I stay, you will too.”
The look on his face said everything, his lips coming together. He massaged his jaw. “Please tell me that’s not why you’re going.” His hand dropped. “Because of me.”
It was part of the reason, and I wouldn’t lie about that. I shrugged. “Tell me it’s not true.”
If he could, I would stay, but all he did was shake his head.
He propped an arm on the seat. “Well, would you look at us? Years pass, but we’re still the same.”
“Idiots.”
How many times did I cut class only for him to do the same and vice versa? How many times did only one of us have a bad day, but we both ended up on that roof?
How. Many. Times.
Too many to count, and when he laughed, I did too.
“Taking off in about ten minutes, kids,” came from the front, Mr. Mallick. He had a couple bags too and mentioned the Reeds, Thatcher and Bow’s parents, would be joining us on the bus. It seemed they had just arrived with Bow, but the other Legacy parents would meet us at the airport.
Mr. Mallick got off after he loaded the bags. I didn’t know why, but I assumed he’d return with the rest of the parents. Bru edged close. “There’s still time for you to change your mind.”
“Will you?” I cocked my head, and when I got another laugh, I knew my answer. “Well then, I guess we’re both going to South Carolina.”
“I guess so.” His smile was easy, also familiar. He smiled so easy, effortless. That was something I always admired about him. Despite his tumultuous home life, he always came to school with a smile and a laugh. And one better, he always had one to offer me.
