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“No, the moment’s gone,” Quinn sighed.
“But now I’m curious,” Nick said. “What were you talking about?”
“Nothing,” Cara said quickly.
Nick raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged.
Jackson leaned forward. “Nick, are you okay? A few of us are worried. You haven’t answered a single message in days, man. The group chat has been going non-stop, and you haven’t replied to anything.”
“Sorry about that,” Nick said. “My brother’s bar was broken into. He seems fine, but he got knocked out, and he’s pretty bruised up. I’m just making sure he’s okay.”
The others broke out into gasps and shock and Cara let their voices wash over her, but her eyes were on Nick. It wasn’t technically a lie, was it? It all happened, but there was so much more.
Cara wasn’t sure if she liked how smoothly he was able to lie, but on the other hand, it wasn’t like they could be honest with their friends about what really happened.
“I haven’t been on my phone much,” Nick said. “But still, I should have replied when you guys reached out.”
“Don’t worry about it, Nick. Family comes first. I’ll tell the others, so they don’t keep blowing up your phone.”
“Thanks, Jackson. I appreciate it.”
Cara caught Nick’s eye and nodded towards the kitchen. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
They went in, but the open space didn’t give them much privacy. Julia and Jackson started chatting about something else, probably just being polite despite their obvious interest in what Nick and Cara were discussing.
Quinn, on the other hand, was openly staring at them. Cara caught her eye, and Quinn gave her a quick thumbs up. Quinn dropped her hand when Nick looked over, and Cara had to smile.
“What was that?” Nick asked quietly.
Cara shook her head. “Nothing. Just Quinn trying to be supportive.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Does she think we have a problem?”
“She doesn’t know, but she knows something’s up. If I had to guess, I’d say she thinks you rejected me the other night, and that’s why I’m acting strange.”
He grinned. “I rejected you?”
“Don’t let this go to your head.”
“Too late.”
She laughed, and when she felt three pairs of eyes looking towards her, she sighed. “Let’s go outside. We can talk there.”
She led the way through the back door. The kitchen overlooked an outdoor area shared between the whole row of houses. It was probably grass when it was built, but now, it was lifeless grey concrete. It wasn’t pretty, but it was nice to have an outdoor space. Most of the places around here that were within their budget didn’t have anything at all. A few cheap lawn chairs and a folding table were sitting just outside.
“Nice chairs,” Nick said.
“They were this horrible shade of green when we bought them,” Cara explained. “Julia suggested painting them, but the three of us couldn’t agree on a colour.”
“I can see that,” Nick said.
The chairs were all different - pale blue, deep red and vivid green.
“You’d be surprised how expensive paint is,” Cara said. “In hindsight, it was a terrible decision.”
Nick didn’t say it, but he obviously agreed.
“Do you want to sit down?”
