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“I actually won’t say no to that.” I was tired of people overall. I could go home and hide under the covers.
“Then go on,” he said with a smile. “I’ll take care of it. I left a message for your mom, so I’ll talk to her as soon as she calls back. Don’t worry about any of this.”
Fine by me.
“Thanks.”
“And Frankie,” Diane said. “My door is always open.”
Well that was one way to let a draft in. But I just nodded. When I stood, Jake said, “I’m going to go now then…” He looked at his mother. “Maybe take Frankie to get something to eat. We missed lunch.”
“That’s fine, I need to get back to work, but I want to talk to you later. Understood?”
He bobbed his head. “I’ll be home later. You need me to do anything?”
“No, Rebecca and Blake are going out after school, and Louisa has dance. I should be able to pick her up when I’m off. So you’re free—for now.” The last she said with emphasis, and I winced internally. At least Jake wasn’t grounded, yet.
“Thanks, Mom, Joe.” Jake nodded to Mr. Rhys. I never called him by his first name, but then, he hadn’t asked me to, either. “C’mon.”
I wasn’t going to look a good escape in the mouth, Jake pulled open the door and, I slid out. As promised, Archie, Coop, and Ian were waiting a half-dozen steps away.
“We’re out of here,” Jake said. “Bubba’s dad is signing Frankie out.”
“Where to?” Archie asked as Coop wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I was tired, but we needed to dial back the PDA at school, no matter how much I enjoyed it.
I ducked out from under Coop’s arm and said, “Sorry. Talk about it out of here, okay?”
“No problem.” He searched my eyes, but his gray-green ones were a storm of worry.
Ian glanced past us at the closed office door. “Food,” he said before he looked at us. “Coop, you ride with Frankie, I’m taking the bike.”
“Everyone take your cars,” Jake said. “Then somewhere quiet to eat.”
Even as we headed away from the SRO hall, I said, “Guys, I don’t really want to go out. I’m exhausted. I’d rather go home and sleep.” At least there wasn’t anyone there to stare at me or whisper or give terrifically awful advice. The whole day sat on me like a too many heavy sacks, and I was tired of carrying all of them.
“We’ll pick food up and come over?” Jake offered.
The hopeful looks on their faces were hard to ignore. “Okay, but if I fall asleep, you guys just have to deal with it.”
“No problem.”
We split up with Coop and Ian falling in on either side of me as we headed for the exit closer to my car and Ian’s bike. Lunch was over in five minutes, and I was a total coward, I took a different hallway so I didn’t have to go through the cafeteria.
If Ian or Coop noticed, they didn’t say anything. Outside, it was sticky and humid. The clouds were back, but the air was torpid. That just added to my bad mood. A note was stuck to my car, right under a windshield wiper, and I sighed internally.
“I got it,” Coop said. Even if everything else left on or by my car lately had been sweet—this morning really hadn’t been.
“Thanks.”
“Hey,” Ian said as he caught my backpack when I slipped it off. “I know it’s been a shit morning, but it’ll get better.”
“You know that?” Because right now that sounded amazing.
“Yeah,” he said. “I do.” Then he pressed a kiss to my cheek and hugged me. If it weren’t so sticky and gross, it would have been an awesome hug. Despite the humidity, I hugged him back for a long minute before pushing away.
“What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t care, whatever anyone wants to pick up. I’ll kick in money for it when you guys get there.”
