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“Yeah, gets old fast, huh?”
“For sure. And I’ve never messed with drugs either except when I was twelve, when me and my best friend Robbie got dared to smoke a cigarette. We both did it and won three bucks.” He laughs. “I hated it and swore I’d never do it again. And I felt so bad that I told Lolly about it when I got home, and I swore toherI’d never do it again.”
I laugh, too. “You did?”
“Yeah! Ugh, I can still remember how it tasted.” I glance at him. He’s shaking his head with his nose wrinkled up in disgust.
“Well, I’m glad you learned your lesson.”
“Me, too. I honestly don’t know how anyone could smoke one of those and be like,‘Hey, I think I want to puff on these sticks of concentrated ass for the rest of my life.’”
We both laugh, and I finally look straight at him for the first time since he touched my hair. His smile is so nice. It makes his already-handsome face even more striking; friends only or not, that’s something I can’t overlook.
“HowisLolly?” I ask him.
“She’s doing pretty well, I guess.”
The day after our spaghetti dinner, he took my advice and went to see her even though he wasn’t really ready to. He was scared of what might happen, especially since that was the day she was switching back to Quiet Springs, but everything went smoothly…which was a good and also depressing development. She didn’t remember her wild outburst whatsoever, but she’s the only one, because Landon will never forget it. He came over and talked to me afterward, slightly more upset than he was before.
He went back, though, the next day. And the next day. And on Sunday, Rae and I went with him. He was nervous like the other time we joined him, but like back then, things ended up being relaxed. For the most part, anyway—Rae’s coaster really was broken, unfortunately, and she got emotional about it.
Landon got down on one knee so he could look her in the face and promise to help her make as many more as she wanted.
Even though she cheered up, it wasn’t automatic. She didn’t perk up right away and smile and agree to the plan. She looked at him with tears in her little eyes, her bottom lip trembling, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through the care and trouble of making new coasters if they might get broken, too. But after a bit more encouragement from him, she decided his idea to focus on lots of coasters was better than being sad about just one. She shuffled into the hug he offered and burst into giggles when he snuck a tickle onto her neck.
Yeah, that was one of the times I caught myself feeling a little too warm and fuzzy about him.
He’s kept up his daily visits with Lolly since then. According to him, she’s had some grumpy days, but nothing too bad. And she loved the six replacement coasters she got the other day as much as the original one, even though she doesn’t really remember that the original existed.
“How’s her hip?” I ask as my eyes find Rae. She’s heading toward a swing set with only one empty swing left on it.
“Great, actually! It’s still hurting her some, but that’s to be expected. She’s not having trouble walking or anything.”
“Awesome. I can’t imagine having a—”
My words become a gasp as I watch an older boy run up and push Rae away from the empty swing, hard. She stumbles for a good couple of seconds before she loses her balance completely and hits the ground.
I’m on my feet in a heartbeat, prepared to go comfort her and make the boy apologize, but I’mnotprepared for the shrill, pained scream that suddenly rips out of her.
I exchange looks of confused worry with Landon, who jumps to his feet, too. I’m guessing he was going to let me handle the tussle myself, which would’ve been fine, but now that Rae sounds seriously hurt, he dashes to her with me.
And that’s good, because I see shocking red blood on her hands when we get there.
Landon literally has to grab me back from running at the boy. No mere apology is good enough now, especially since he looks like he’s thirteen damn years old and couldn’t care less about Rae.
“What did you do to her?” I demand over her cries.
“Nothing,” he lies with a shrug.
“Bullshit! I watched you push her down! Why is she bleeding?”
With infuriating nonchalance, he maintains, “I didn’t do anything. She just fell.”
“You lying-asspunk!” I shout. I try to surge forward at him, but the arms around my middle don’t allow it. To my great displeasure, the vehement kick I throw out doesn’t reach his jerk face either. “This is your fault!”
I don’t know how he responds because Landon turns me away. “Liv, I know you’re pissed and I am, too, but I need you to forget about him! I gotta let go of you and pick up Rae, and I can’t do it if I think you’ll grab that kid up the first chance you get!”
I focus on Rae again. My fury heightens as I see the blood anew, but as her tear-streaked cheeks and deep sobs register with me, I decide Landon is right. She needs me to take care of her, not defend her—in this situation, there’s actually a line between the two.
