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“Roger that.” Conner salutes his dad, tucking me into his side as he guides me over to the kitchen island.
James leaves and Cole lets out a heavy sigh. “Is anyone else picturing all kinds of wrong things right now?”
“Do you think my mom is okay?” Remi frowns. “She doesn’t usually miss work.”
“Maybe she can’t walk.” Conner howls with laughter.
“Oh my God, don’t say that.” She gags. “Why would you say that? Now all I can think about is them... doing it.”
“James and Sarah, fucking in a tree... f-u-c-k—”
I clap a hand over Conner’s mouth, fighting a smile. He’s happy this morning, lighter. Hopefully it means we’ve turned a corner. Although as I sit there with my boyfriend’s brothers and their girlfriends, eating breakfast, I can’t help but think it’s the calm before the storm.
Because nothing this good lasts forever.
We manage to stay in school for the whole day. We spend every second we can making out, in the hall up against the locker banks, in the cafeteria to the moans and groans of Cole, Ace, and the girls. Conner even sneaks us into the closet again and makes me come all over his tongue.
Lylah and Marissa and their bitch crew watch us, their lips twisted with disgust. But I ignore them. Nothing is going to spoil this.
Hadley waits for me at the end of the day to walk back to the dorms together.
“Are you excited about the weekend?” she asks me.
“Yeah, I’m hoping it’ll give a Conner a push to make a decision about college.”
“You know, he’s probably waiting for you to figure out what you want.”
“College isn’t in the cards for me, Hads.” My stomach knots. “I can’t afford it.”
“You know James would—”
“He’s already done too much. I can’t take anything else from him. It doesn’t feel right. Besides, I’ve never really wanted to do the whole college thing. I think I’ll be happy getting a job, or maybe doing something vocational at community college.”
“I love working at Java Beans. Maybe I can ask Hilary if she could find you a couple of shifts?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I wouldn’t mind. Besides, it would be kind of fun to work together.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I grimace. It isn’t that I don’t want to work and earn my way, but I know what people around the Bay think when they see me.
We reach our dorm building. “I was thinking we could hang out later? Cole mentioned they’re having a guys’ night, so I invited Remi over. She’s going to sneak some wine coolers in and a batch of Ellen’s cookies. It’ll be fun.”
“Maybe. I was going to catch up on some schoolwork.”
“Seriously, Kennedy? You just told me you don’t care about college.”
“I didn’t say that.” Not exactly.
“I’d really like it if you came. I know Remi would too.”
My brows pinch. I’m not sure about that. She and I haven’t always seen eye to eye since I arrived in the Bay.
“Remi is good people, Kennedy. You can trust her.”
“I’ll think about it.” We make our way upstairs, but the second I spot my door, my spine goes rigid.
“Kennedy?” Hadley asks when she realizes I’ve stilled.
