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“Happy to help.” He smelled great.
G was waiting for us with a pair of quizzes though, and I wasn’t alone in groaning.
“Remind me again why I wanted to do all these AP classes?” Dramatic? Sure. But a little on the serious side, too.
“Because it’s where all the cool kids are,” G teased us as he put the tests down. “You will have thirty minutes once you open the packets to complete the reading and Q&A sections. That will leave you another twenty-five to do the short essay.”
“That’s cold, Mr. G,” Jake protested.
“It is, isn’t it?” He grinned. “C’mon, let’s see you two show me what you got.”
With shared looks of commiseration, Jake and I dug in. The nice part, G didn’t make us sit away from each other. Even if we were testing—he was right there next to me.
Yeah. Okay. That was sappy.
But it still made me smile while I took the test.
* * *
The last bell was a relief,but I felt pretty good about the test. G promised to have our scores the next day. After a quick stop at my locker to swap out books and so Jake could see there was no note waiting for me, we headed out.
“So, good day? Bad day?” he asked as he pushed open the door for me. Since he already had my backpack, I should’ve been doing that, but he got there first.
“It was all right. Nothing—particularly bad, I guess, except Ian’s stuck doing the Homecoming committee.”
“Thank fuck he talked to you.” Relief seemed to roll off Jake.
“He texted,” I corrected him. “Briefly, we were both in class—do you mind if I ask about your session?” I wasn’t really sure if I should ask. It was definitely personal.
“It was fine,” he said with a wave of his hand. “What do you mean he just texted?”
“We didn’t have time to talk in math class, we had a test. Then you were there, and he just went the other way.” That hurt. Almost more than when he’d left Saturday morning.
Jake scowled.
“He said he would talk to you today.”
“Day’s not over,” I reminded him as we made our way out to the parking lot. Unsurprisingly, Coop was already leaning against the side of Jake’s SUV, Archie idling next to it, and Ian…Ian stood there holding his helmet.
“I can kick his ass if you want,” Jake offered, and even if he said it cheerfully, I rather doubted he was kidding.
“I’d really rather you didn’t.”
He made a face. “Fine.”
“Hey,” Coop called out as we got closer. “Is it weird that I found it weird there was no message or anything on his car when I got here?”
Archie rolled his eyes. “You are the king of weird.”
“Nah, maybe the jackass of it,” Jake tossed back, and Coop flipped him off. The relaxed manner brought a smile to my lips, and I fought to hang onto it as I tracked my gaze to Ian’s. He gave me a hesitant smile as he shifted the helmet in his hand.
Jake clasped my hand abruptly, and I squeezed his fingers. I was all right, we were still all friends, right?
“Hey,” I said to Ian.
“Hey…”
“We’re swinging by Frankie’s and my place for suits, then out to Archie’s right?” Coop said before Ian could continue.
