Chapter Twenty-One

Luke

Brady sat across from me in my bedroom at my dad’s. Familiar blue-painted walls still held the old basketball posters and spaceship models from when I was in fourth grade. The only thing that’d been updated was Dad had gotten me a bigger bed and new bedding. But everything else was as I’d left it when Mom had hauled us out of here.

“Damn, it’s strange being in here again,” Brady said, leaning back in his chair.

“Tell me about it. Part of me thinks I’m dreaming. Except you’re here—so I know I’m not, because I’d never dream of your ass.”

Brady chuckled. “Love you, too, man.”

“I’m still not a hundred percent sure about this. It’s like I keep waiting for the ball to drop. My dad comes back into the picture, but why now? Just because the courts got involved?”

“Maybe it’s like he said it was. Look at everything your mom put you through.”

I shrugged. “I know. It’s just, what if he’s putting on a show? What if this all falls apart? Then what?” And even though my mom had put us through so much, a part of me still felt bad for her. I wanted her to get help, to maybe straighten out and be the parent she was supposed to be. The judge had ordered that whenever she was released from jail she was to be sent to a safe and sober program for her drug and alcohol addiction.

“Then we’ll figure it out, man. Either way, you’ll have a place to go. You and Landon, okay?”

I nodded.

Brady’s brow furrowed as he watched me, and he brought his chair level again. “Look, I think Jack is suspicious about Ayla—he and Jenna have seemed really intense about her. I think they’re up to something.”

“As in?”

He stood, pacing the room, his hand gripping tight to a tuft of hair at the front of his head. “I’m not sure. But Jack was being a dick to Ayla today. So I stepped in.”

“If I’d been there, I probably would’ve punched him in the face,” I said.

He sighed. “It’s just, you guys need to be careful around him.”

“She said she was deleting the video, so there’s nothing those two are going to be able to figure out. Besides, Ayla and I are together now.” My pulse thundered beneath my skin. Fuck. What if Jack and Jenna put two and two together? Of course, I’d deny it. How Ayla and I got together was none of their business.

“And you think this is going to make him be nicer to Ayla?” Brady asked.

“If he’s smart he will. If he’s going to treat her like crap, then I don’t need him around.”

“So you’re really into her? Even after all she’s pulled?”

My cheeks burned. “Yeah. She’s been there for me. With all the stuff that went down with my mom, taking care of Landon when I needed her to…I don’t know, I just feel different when I’m with her.”

“What’s going to happen after the election, then? What if she doesn’t feel the same?”

I sighed. Those very thoughts had run through my mind more than once this week. Did she plan on letting things fizzle out after the election? We’d been spending so much time together lately, I didn’t want to her to go back to ignoring me in the halls.

Damn, I was screwed up in the head. Who actually fell for the girl who’d wanted to destroy him only weeks ago?

“We’re dating now. Everything’s changed. After all this is said and done, she’ll still be around.” Or at least that’s what I told myself.

“For your sake, I hope so. I guess I should probably head home now. I’ve got a ton of trig homework.” Brady made his way to the door. “It’s good to have you back up on the Hill.”

“Trust me, it’s good to be back.” I walked him out then wandered into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I stared at all the food. My mouth watered. It’d been so long since we had so many options to choose from, if we wanted, we could have more than one thing.

“You hungry?” Dad said from behind me.

I shut the door and spun to face him. “No, not really.”

“If you want anything, just go ahead and take it. This is your house, too.” His gaze met mine. After visiting Mom’s house today, he knew exactly the type of life Landon and I had been living. How many things we’d been forced to go without. But I didn’t quite trust him yet. He didn’t really have a choice but to take us—I mean, CPS always looked to place kids with their families first. Maybe he just didn’t want to look bad by letting us go into the system.

Fuck. I hated this. Hated doubting every damn aspect of my life.

But Dad’s jaw had been clenched almost the whole time we were packing up my things and Landon’s. When he’d seen the bare cupboards and nearly empty refrigerator, he’d broken down, apologizing—on the verge of tears. But was it an act?

“Dad, I’m fine. Really.”

He patted me on the back. “Your life is going to be different now—you have my word.”

The pressure between my shoulder blades seemed to release, and for the first time in a long time, I felt the stress melt away. “I know.”

Or at least I hoped things would work out. But I still couldn’t afford to lose my scholarship, even if my dad was back in the picture, because what was to stop him from leaving again, too?

“Well, I’ve got to be up early for work. I’m going to head for it. Try not to stay up too late,” Dad said.

“I won’t.” Wandering back to my room, I stopped off to peek in on Landon, who was snuggled up beneath a heavy blue-and-white comforter. He had his stuffed Yoda tucked beneath his arm. For once, he didn’t have a night-light on. Maybe it was because things were less scary here. He wouldn’t have to worry about Mom coming in drunk in the middle of the night or hear our shouting matches, though I’d tried to shield him from those. Here, he could just sleep.

When I got to my room, I shut off my light, fell back on the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. Tiny green glow-in-the-dark stars pushed back the darkness. I was surprised they still glowed. I found the Big Dipper near the corner of the room, then Orion’s Belt. Back when I’d first put them up, I’d been obsessed with space and constellations. I’d wanted to be an astronaut like pretty much every other kid in my grade.

Tonight their familiar light brought me comfort. Covering up, I fought to keep my eyes open but soon ended up drifting off to sleep.

…

Ayla stood in the lounge waiting for me when I got to school the next morning. Her dark hair was pulled back in a messy bun. Her nerdy glasses sat perched on her face, and she wore a May the Force Be With You T-shirt with a black lace skirt, galaxy leggings, and a pair of white Star Wars Vans.

I grinned. That’s one thing I loved about her. She dared to be different and embrace who she was.

“Hey,” I said, catching her hand as I joined her.

“Hey, yourself. So, how did the first night home go?”

“Good. It’s strange, but it’s like I never left. All my stuff I left behind as a kid was still there.” My thumb brushed against the back of her hand. “Including my awesome collection of glow-in-the-dark stars.”

She laughed. “Are they better than sitting up in my tree house and staring at the sky?”

“Almost.” We stopped at my locker first so I could grab my books, then we headed over to hers. “So, I was thinking that maybe tonight after play practice, we could hang out for a while. Maybe celebrate all the good things that have happened for us lately.”

Ayla’s palm rested against my chest as she stared at me. Her brown eyes soft, searching. “I’d like that. What did you have in mind?”

“Maybe Paris or Rome,” I teased.

“On a school night? I just don’t think I could swing it.”

“Fine, how about your tree house? I could pick up a pizza…”

“Hmm…you know my weakness. How does eight sound?”

I bent down until my lips brushed her forehead. My fingers traced her chin. “Sounds perfect.”

“Do you think you could grab some cheesy garlic bread, too? I freaking live for that stuff,” she said.

“Anything you want.”

“You might not want to say that to a girl, because trust me, I can think of lots of things I want.” She pulled back, reaching for my hand so we could walk to class.

“Is that so?” I raised my brows at her.

She snorted and whacked me with her blue folder.

As we turned the corner, I noticed Jack and Jenna watching us. My gaze narrowed. I wanted to go up to Jack and ream him out about how he’d been treating Ayla, but that’d only fuel the fire with him. And I didn’t want to bring anything up in Jenna’s presence.

But later, he and I were going to talk—because Ayla and I were together now, and he’d either accept it or he was out of my life.