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Bryan kept mumbling to himself as he clicked around his phone. I watched him for a moment, remembering what Seth said.
This was Bryan caring. He was angry and frustrated and scared, and he was lashing out because of it. I didn’t think I’d see this side of him. We’d clashed so much since meeting.
“Why are you smiling?” Toby asked.
I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant.
“You’re smiling weirdly.”
I laughed. “I hope I didn’t creep you out too much with it.”
Toby frowned, looking down for a moment before focusing his hazel eyes back on me. “It’s a nice smile.”
“Uh, thanks?” I asked, heat congregating in my cheeks.
Toby grinned and winked at me while Paxon chuckled, Justin did his tiny smile, and Bryan became confused.
What was left of the lunch period was spent with them giving me notes and homework assignments from the morning classes. I thought about Seth’s words from this morning.
Maybe it was time I really did pay attention to them and considered what they meant to me.
When the bell rang, Justin reached down to me and waited for me to reach out to him, to meet him halfway. I did, and he lifted me smoothly to my feet as gently as possible. Toby grabbed my bag, and we headed to our free period. Toby took position on my left and Justin on my right, keeping others away.
I never noticed that before. How when they walked me to my class, they made sure to create a kind of protective barrier that kept people from bumping into me.
We settled down at a table and pulled out textbooks, getting started on the homework. About halfway through the period, I felt a leg bump into mine. I shifted to give whoever it was more space. Not even a moment later, they bumped into me again. I peeked under the table and sent Toby a questioning look.
“I’m pretty sure your legs aren’t that long,” I said.
He laughed and bumped his leg against mine again.
I kicked out at him playfully.
Next thing I knew, we’d spent five minutes trying to kick each other. He had me giggling, trying to hold it in so the teacher monitoring us didn’t get angry.
Eventually, we calmed down, and I could focus again on the calculus homework. Toby always knew how to distract me and lighten the mood. The stress from the break-in was slowly slipping away.
The rest of the day went by quickly and quietly, the boys’ silent support during classes making the break-in a distant memory. When the day was finally over, Paxon and Justin were going to go to Seth’s after they were done with practice. They wanted to skip out, but Paxon couldn’t afford it if he wanted to play in the next game, and apparently, Justin’s coach was on pool duty today and expected to see him there.
Toby decided to accompany me to Seth’s with Bryan following behind in his own car. The drive was filled with singing, and by the time we pulled into his driveway, I was grinning ear to ear, my stomach hurting from laughing so much.
Seth came out, smiling as he watched us get out of my car.
“What has you laughing so hard?” he asked me.
I snickered as I pointed at Toby. “Have you seen his Papa Roach impression?” I asked.
Toby smirked and did another, and since we were standing outside, he was more dramatic. Even falling to his knees. He looked like he was begging me as he sang. His voice was good, but he added a funny accent to it that I thought was supposed to make his voice sound like Jacoby Shaddix’s but failed miserably as he sangGetting Away with Murder.
“Stop!” I said, laughing again, using Seth as support so I didn’t fall down. “Please stop, Toby.”
He did, laughing now as he came to my side as Bryan pulled into the driveway.
“What did you do to her?” Bryan asked curiously as he got out of the car.
“Jacoby Shaddix impressions,” Toby said with a grin, looking proud of his achievement.
I shook my head at him. I hadn’t laughed this hard in so long. I’d even forgotten that laughing too hard made my sides hurt.
