AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And…I am now seeing this relationship thing is hard.
What did I do?
I laughed. Loud. The release of endorphins through my system was a physical thing that seemed to break up the brittle chunks of darkness.
“What’s funny?” Rhys caught my hand. Jonah grabbed my other while I laughed some more. Tears filled my eyes when I lost my breath. But I felt good.
“I was just thinking that relationships were complicated. Then I remembered none of us have had an actual relationship, so it’s like the blind leading the blind,” I wheezed.
One side of Rhys’ mouth tipped up as Jonah grinned. The tension hanging in the room dissipated as we found humor in what could have been a bad argument. We could have said things we didn’t mean, we could have thrown accusations and pointed fingers. Tried to strong arm each other. But we didn’t. Mainly because the youngest of us, and the newest, was smart enough to learn from our mistakes. He was top of his class as Rhys pointed out, and I was seeing now, more than ever, we could benefit from this.
Good thing he was here to keep us in line.
“I really do have to catch my flight,” Rhys reminded us after a few minutes. His hand twisted to link his fingers in mine in a seeming apology.
“I really would like to go with you. Thatch too.” I bit my lip, trying to keep the blatant hope out of my eyes. We wanted different things and it wasn’t really fair of either of us to get our way, was it? Someone would lose.
“I had planned to stay here with Beck anyway, to help him with his collaboration this weekend. Why don’t I drive behind you, let Astrid and Thatcher ride with you to the airport, and you can talk it out on the way?” Jonah didn’t wait for our answer before tugging us to the door.
The hallway was deserted, only a lone teacher passing through on the other end. When it was time to leave, no one wanted to be here any longer than necessary. There were still some students and cars parked outside, but maybe a tenth of what would have been here ten minutes ago. If nothing else, Silver Ranch High had an efficient exit strategy.
Thatcher was parked in front of Rhys’ Rover, blocking his exit. He leaned against the car with his arms crossed, making his faded jeans and thick winter jacket look like something out of a model catalogue, when in reality they were the poor college kid’s uniform.
I jerked back for a beat as Rhys stopped in the door.
“Being seen with you is never a problem for me. I refuse to hide, and it kind of offends me that you think I care more about any smear rags than you.” I didn’t tug or squeeze his hand. Instead, I waited for him to come to his own decision. Because Jonah was right. We needed to figure this stuff out together.
It was too easy to fall into bad behaviors if we didn’t check ourselves.
He glanced around and took a deep breath. “Fine. If this is what you want, I won’t try and avoid being around you in public.” He winced. “It does sound bad when I say it out loud.”
“There’s a lesson here.” Jonah shot us a playful smirk over his shoulder as he led the way to Thatcher. “Every time you think you have a bright idea, recite it out loud and see if it still sounds good. Chances are, it won’t.” He chuckled, then released my hand and pulled his keys out of his bag.
“This doesn’t look like the war zone I thought I’d find.” Thatcher hooked an arm around my neck and planted a kiss on my lips.
Even though I couldn’t see him, while facing Thatcher, I could feel the anxiety rolling off Rhys. He probably thought a photographer caught another picture of us in a compromising position.
I peeked around, looking for suspicious vehicles or the black flash of a camera. There was nothing out of the ordinary. If it hadn’t been for the one day they’d actually caught pictures, I’d believe Rhys was overreacting, placing too much weight on being Mr. Bennett’s son. I still thought that, only I also knew to be cautious too.
To meet Rhys halfway, I let go of his hand and stepped away from Thatcher. If someone was stalking us, they’d only get friendly photos now.
“We’re going to talk about it on the way to the airport. Jonah’s following just in case we don’t go.” I looked to Jonah for confirmation and he nodded.
Then Rhys surprised me. “Fuck it. Let’s go. If you all aren’t worried, I’ll deal with whatever happens.”
“Ifanything happens,” Jonah interjected, a warning note in his voice.
“We all know something is going to happen while I’m there. But I’d love to have you all with me, if you want to go.” He unlocked the Rover and tossed his backpack in the back, right on top of his duffle bag.
“That means we’re doing it. Jonah, will you and Beck take my car to my apartment?” Thatcher opened his trunk and grabbed both of our bags, while I stuffed my boho bag in their place.
“Yup.” He took Thatcher’s keys and opened his driver’s door. With an elbow propped on top, he glanced at us. “Call me when you land. Let me know if you all need anything. And have a good time.” He pointed at Rhys like he was an errant kid.
We all had a good laugh, even Rhys, and then we were on our way to the airport.
Michigan, here we come. Here’s hoping for a fun but uneventful weekend.
Famous last words…
