He reached out, pinched a lock of my hair between his fingers, reminding me of Cole. “Yeah. Don’t kill the messenger, but it kind of fits.”
“Maybe I’ll just hurt the messenger a bit.” I felt at ease with him, I realized. I liked him. And, the good news was, he had to live close to me since we were riding the same bus. Maybe we could, I don’t know, hang out after hours. Clearly I needed to break up my routine. “By the way, I never thanked you,” I said. “Sorry about that.”
“Thank me for what?”
“For helping me out with Mr. Butthole that first day, as well as the pointer about Mackenzie.”
He raised a brow, even as he gave another laugh. A warm, natural sound, as if he found amusement in a lot of things and wasn’t afraid to enjoy himself. “Butthole? You are into nicknames, aren’t you?”
I shrugged.
“By the way, the trick with Buttle slash Butthole is to suck up. If you tell him that he’s the smartest teacher you’ve ever had, he’ll be yours all year.”
Buttle. Duh. How could I have forgotten that? “Is that what you did?”
“I manned up the words a little, but yeah.”
“Manned up,” I replied with a snort. “So you grunted a lot and drilled your knuckles into his shoulder.”
“That’s cave-manning up. Learn the difference.”
Now I was the one to arch a brow. “Show me the difference.”
“All right. Here’s manning up.” His expression took on an awed cast. “Dang, Mr. Buttle. My brain hurts from information overload. Good job, dude.”
The bus hit a bump, and we bounced in our seats. “So telling him that he clearly put the ‘fun’ in ‘funeral’ is out?” The moment I spoke, I wanted to snatch the words back. No way did I want to talk about funerals.
“Please, please, please tell him that. I’ll even walk you to his room the moment we get to school,” Justin said, but he must have noticed my discomfort a second later because he quickly changed the subject. “So, hey…I noticed you hanging with Kat.”
“Yes.”
“Have you known her long?”
“Met her over the summer. Why?”
A long, heavy pause; a shrug. “Last year she hung out with Cole Holland’s crowd, and she definitely will again. Once someone breaches their inner trust circle, that someone doesn’t leave it without a world of pain. I’d be careful if I were you, or she’ll drag you down with her.”
I liked Kat. A lot. I didn’t care who she hung out with or dated, even if that “who” had Cole on speed dial. As for Justin’s second warning, I wasn’t sure what was happening between me and Cole—something? Anything? Nothing?—but I wasn’t going to discuss it with him. I could barely even discuss it with myself.
“So you know him? Cole, I mean?” I asked, not changing the subject but making it clear relationships were off the menu.
Justin lost his smile. “Yep.”
“Have many people entered that trust circle of his?”
“Nope. Hey, we’re here.”
I looked around, and sure enough, the bus had stopped in front of the school, and all the other kids were standing, moving outside. The ride had never ended so swiftly.
I stood and strode down the aisle, Justin close on my heels. Automatically my gaze shot to the sky. A long stretch of baby blue, fat clouds inching by—but no rabbits. Thank you, Lord.
Justin stayed by my side as we entered the massive, winding building. “We should hang out this weekend,” he said.
“Yeah, I—” Had promised to go to Reeve’s party, I recalled. Well, Kat had promised for me. Because I adored her, I had to keep that option open. Just in case. And wow, what a difference a few days could make. Before, I’d scrambled for an excuse, any excuse, to avoid going. Now, I was actually considering making an appearance. “Wait. I’m not sure—”
“Never mind,” Justin muttered, his voice thick with embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it.”
“No!” I rushed out. “Not never mind. I wasn’t thinking of ways to turn you down or anything like that. I was figuring out the best time.”
He gave me another warm smile, all straight white teeth and happiness. “Yeah?”
It was a grin I found myself returning. “Yeah.”
Of course, that’s when I ran into Cole. Literally ran into him. I had been looking at Justin, not paying attention to the path ahead of me, and plowed right into Cole’s solid chest.
His arms snaked around my waist, preventing me from ricocheting off him. I grabbed his shirt automatically, fisting the material. He was so strong, so steady, that he didn’t move an inch.
“I’m so—” Our gazes locked, my blue with his violet, and once again the rest of the world faded away. Only, this time we didn’t kiss. We—
—fought?