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IMANI
When I woke up this morning, Landon wasn’t lying in my bed. I padded out of my bedroom with my pajamas buttoned to my neck, so Mom wouldn’t think anything fishy had gone down in my bedroom last night.
The thick, buttery scent of waffles drifted up the stairs. After looking for Landon in all the bedrooms on the second floor, I walked down the stairs. When I reached the bottom floor, I stopped and stared wide-eyed at Landon, who sat at the kitchen island across from Mom, who was … laughing?!
I quickly walked over to them, unsure if Mom laughing was a good or bad thing, and slid next to Landon, brows drawn together in confusion. She sipped her coffee and smiled over at me as Landon laid his large hand on my knee.
“You guys are …”
“Oh, Landon was just telling me about the first time you met.” Mom laughed.
Like a fucking psycho, I turned my head ninety degrees to the right and glared at Landon, giving him my best I’m going to kill you smile. “You were telling my mom how we met?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“When you slapped me in the hallway,” Landon clarified.
After releasing my balled fists, I took a deep breath and turned back to the counter. I swore, if that boy ever told Mom that he and I used to cam naked with each other, I would literally cut off his balls like he had with Principal Vaughn’s dick, then feed them to him.
Mom continued to laugh silently while finishing a huge plate of waffles with strawberries, chocolate fudge, and whipped cream. I eyed her carefully, totally confused. Mom was laughing with Landon. What kind of sorcery was that?
“You didn’t spike her coffee, did you?” I whispered, leaning closer to him.
Landon squeezed my knee. “No, but if you want me to, then I—”
“No, I’m good. She just hasn’t laughed like this in so long, especially with you.”
After placing the plate in front of Landon and me, Mom took another sip of coffee. “Are the others going to meet us at the mall?”
“The mall?” Landon asked. “Why are we going there?”
“I, um … kinda asked my mom to help me sign you guys up for health insurance. I hope that’s okay. I want to make sure that you guys are covered, especially if you’re going to do shit like you did last night with”—I glanced at Mom and lowered my voice—“Vaughn.”
“Your principal deserved to die that way after what he did to Allie,” Mom interjected with her back turned toward me as she made a plate of waffles for herself. “If he had done that to you, I would’ve wanted them to do much worse than what they did. Redwood has done far worse.”
Parting my lips, I stared at her in surprise. Who was this new woman acting as my mother?! Maybe this was the real her, coming out after all these years. She knew that she wasn’t going to change me and couldn’t protect me anymore.
“Health insurance?” Landon asked me, eyes widening and a small smile stretching across his face, as if he couldn’t believe someone could love him so fucking much that they wanted to make sure he was good in that area of his life. “You really asked your mom to help us do something like that?”
“Yes, so … can you ask them to come? Also, don’t mention that I will be there today, okay?” I asked Landon, inching closer to him and gnawing on the inside of my cheek. Nerves bubbled in my stomach. “If you do, then João won’t come.”
“What happened?” Landon asked, stuffing waffles into his mouth.
I swallowed hard, thoughts of last night clouding my mind. It had all happened so fast. João had brought me upstairs and into a bedroom, fucked me senseless, then wanted me to admit that not only did I care about him, but that I … loved him too.
How would Landon react to something like that? He was the only boy who I’d ever told I loved, and he had some minor anxieties about me finding someone else. If I told him that I might’ve loved João too …
Fuck, I didn’t even know if I did.
I mean, that boy did something to me. He was the quickest to get me angry. It was a constant battle with him, trying to get him to see things from my point of view, but … he was the Poison member who had forced me to grow outside the Redwood rich bubble Mom had put over me.
I …
My stomach tightened. I had feelings for him, but it was so much different than how I felt about Landon. When João and I were in the same room, we were like a fucking fire with each other. I could feel the tension in my body from merely thinking about him.
What did that mean? That I loved him? If I did, what would happen with Landon and me?
“Thank you, Mrs. Abara,” Landon said once we were finished. He cleaned the dish off in the sink, then stored it in the dishwasher. He glanced over at me and gave me a small, boyish smile. “Nobody has ever made me waffles before.”
While my thoughts might’ve been of João, I couldn’t stop the warmth that burst through my chest at how happy Landon looked at this moment. He might’ve never had parents who cared, and Mom wasn’t the best parent in the world, but at least she was warming up to Landon.
