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“Did you tell Astrid?” Thatcher didn’t waste any time. As soon as Betty took our drink and food orders, he dove right in.
“Barely. You all pulled up just as I was laying it all out.” Beck crumpled up his straw wrapper as Betty set down our drinks.
“Do I even want to see the pictures?” I groaned. My purpose in life was to be behind the camera, not in front of it.
Jonah tapped his fingers on the cheap tabletop as he studied me. “They’re not bad. The issue, that I think Rhys has with this, is that people are going to know that we’re in a group affair.”
“Were we ever really hiding what we are to each other?” We didn’t flaunt our relationship, but we’d definitely never been ashamed of it. I hadn’t, anyway.
“No.” Beck covered my hands holding my steaming coffee mug. “We aren’t ashamed, and we aren’t hiding it.”
“I can see where he’s coming from though,” Thatcher said quietly as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He kept his gaze trained on the table as if he could pretend we weren’t entering into another cluster.
Only this wasn’t our fuck up. It was Rhys’ dad’s. We were just collateral damage.
“Can I see the pictures?” I asked. Beck and Thatcher exchanged a look, but Jonah immediately picked up his phone and started tapping away.
“I think we can live by the golden rule that we shouldn’t read articles and comments about us if they happen to pop up. But I’ve already seen the article and saved the pictures. Today was our mistake. Our learning curve.” He turned his phone around for me to see. The screen wasn’t lit up with the article. Instead, he had snapped a screenshot of the pictures.
Taking the phone from him, I swiped through what he had saved. There were only two. One of Rhys and me kissing outside the car, and one of Jonah and me in the front seats. They were great shots. The resolution was so high I could tell I needed to shape up my eyebrows. Still, the little imperfections didn’t take away from the innocent beauty of our feelings for each other in the pictures.
“Can you send these to me?” I handed his phone back.
He smirked and even Beck chuckled.
“See Thatcher, Astrid isn’t so bothered by the articles. She wants to save the pictures.” Beck laughed even harder as if he were pleasantly surprised.
“When is Trinity’s court date?” I asked Thatcher. It was coming up soon, but Trinity had never actually said when it was. She had been too morose to talk about it for more than a few seconds of acknowledgement.
Thatcher chugged down the rest of his coffee like it was hard liquor. “We have an appointment with her attorney today. This will tell us how he thinks it will go and what her options are. Best case, this is over with before the school year ends. Worse case, it drags on because the courts are backed up on these types of hearings.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry.” Jonah squeezed his shoulder as our food was set down. The delicious, sweet smells made my stomach rumble.
"Let’s table the heavy discussions and just enjoy our breakfast.” Beck nodded to the food as he unraveled his paper napkin and silverware.
And we did. The rest of the time, we discussed random TV shows, what was happening at Tippy’s, and Thatcher’s college. He only had about three, maybe three and a half months left and then he was done with his bachelor’s. I was equally jealous and excited for him.
Beck picked up the bill and we headed out toward our cars. He caught my fingers and tugged me to a stop. “Jonah, wait up!” He hollered to Jonah who was climbing into his car. “I have to go to work early today. If I’m going to meet with that TikToker I need to get a head of the schedule. Can you ride with Jonah to school? They’ll have to take you home too.”
“Of course.” I raised up on my toes to press a kiss to his lips. He gripped my hip until I broke away. Breathing hard, I grinned up at him. “Let me know if you want to hang out with us tonight.”
“You know I will. Tonight’s our night off from band practice.” Then he was gone and Thatcher took his place to give me a quick hug and kiss goodbye. “Wish us luck. Maybe text Trinity if you want. She was nervous when I left earlier,” he murmured in my ear.
Trinity and I had gotten along well the last few weeks and she’d settled right into the sister role to the group. The entire thing had Thatcher deliriously happy. I was sure he felt like he had his sister back and I was glad he had that relationship with her. She needed it too. She’d always had it with him, but was just now figuring out how much it meant to her.
I shivered, hugging the backpack to my chest as I waited for the heat to reach a decent temperature. That was the nice thing about Rhys’ Rover. The heat was pretty hot within a minute and the seat heaters were even better. None of our other vehicles had that kind of thing.
“We eating out for lunch today or did you want to hit the library like old times?” Jonah dropped his hand on my knee.
“Let’s do the library. I don’t want to hide what we have from the world, but I also don’t want to make an easy target.” I pulled out my phone and typed out a message to Trinity asking how she was and what time her appointment was. “You think Trinity is going to be okay?”
Jonah stiffened and his fingers flexed over my leg. I glanced over to him.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” My phone beeped.
Trinity: It’s at 9. I’m freaking out. Don’t mind me, freaking the fuck out over here. It’s only my future on the line. Did I already tell you I’m done with being a screw up? I am. This is too much stress for me to deal with on a regular basis.
