Does he even know he’s doing it? Or is it automatic, like breathing?
I lean into the touch anyway. It’s soothing. Like he’s grounding himself by touching me.
Or maybe I’m grounding him. I really like that thought for some reason.
Kevin and Miles are moving on to quoting movies at each other when Marie suddenly runs up from behind me, breathing hard.
“Give me your leather jacket. And scoot over.”
I turn around and look at her like she’s nuts, but I start to scoot away from Sara to make space for Marie at the bench.
“Hey, I love your hair.” For once, she’s wearing it down instead of in the tight double braids she always, and I meanalways,wears it in.
Marie looks not just harried but panicked as she shakes her head. “No, the other way!” she flutters her hands at where I’m sitting. “And your coat. Now!”
I have no idea what she’s going on about, but I’ll always help out a friend in need, and Marieclearlyneeds my leather jacket, if the way she’s peeling it off my shoulders is any indication.
Still breathing hard, she swings the jacket around her shoulders and slides her arms through at the same time she plonks down on the long cafeteria table bench, all but landing in my lap in her attempt to sit between Caleb and me.
“What the hell, Marie?” I laugh, scooting over to give her more room.
“I’ll explain in a minute,” she says, her small shoulders heaving. She glances behind her and almostbreaks her neck swinging her head back around to stare at the table and hunch in her chair.
“Wanna clue me in now?” I ask, looking over my shoulder to see what on Earth this could be about.
I start to get a clue when I catch a glimpse of the Queen Bitches entering the cafeteria with McKenzie Davis at the helm.
“Oh Jesus, what do they want now?”
McKenzie zeroes in on our table, and a vicious little smile creeps up her face.
I roll my eyes.
“It’s not me they want this time,” Marie whispers, her dark eyes flashing up at me. “Just follow my lead, okay?”
I frown at her, but before I can ask what her cryptic statement means, McKenzie and her posse, flared out behind her, have reached us.
“I always knew there was something off about a delinquent like you,” McKenzie annunciates loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. “But frankly, I didn’t have the imagination to consider that you’d fuck your own brother.”
I feel my mouth drop open, and I shoot to my feet, ready to throw down.
“Excuseme?”
Unexpectedly, Marie pops up at my side, her high-pitched voice joining mine. “Yeah, excuse me?”
McKenzie frowns, momentarily distracted and clearly surprised to see her. “Screw off, pipsqueak. This has nothing to do with you.”
But Marie just puts her shoulders back,so different from the cowering girl I met on the first day. “It does, too, if you’re referring tomyCaleb.”
It’s good I already swallowed the bite of pizza I was chewing so I don’t choke when Marie flings her arm around Caleb, who looks just as startled as I feel.
Marie reaches down and snatches his hand, then looks at me, bottom lip trembling. “I’m sorry we’ve been hiding it from you, but your brother and I have been dating for a few weeks now.”
I look past her to Caleb, whose brows are at his eyeline. He looks completely shocked at every word out of Marie’s mouth, and his eyes shoot to mine. I can see the denial about to grace his lips. I don’t know why Marie’s doing this, but I’m fast to pick up context clues. So I quickly aim past Marie’s skinny legs underneath the table to kick Caleb lightly in the shin.
“You’re just gonna hook up with my best friend and not tell me about it?” I accuse Caleb, trying to tell him with my eyes to go along with it.
For a long moment, maybe eventoolong considering our audience, Caleb just stares at me, dumbfounded.