“Glad to see you, too.” Lawson flexes a brief smile, and my heart palpitates ten times faster. Honest to God, if he inspires a coronary incident in me, I will truly haunt him for the rest of his days. “Rush must have thought we’d make a stellar team.”
“Rush likes to annoy me—thus, your ever presence in my life.” I start in on a scowl, and that conversation comes back regarding his mother. If anything, I’m a sucker for a good sob story, and Lawson has one in spades. I’ve dealt with enough rejection in my life to know that it feels like a rusted razor sawing you in two from the inside. “Maybe we can turn the tables on Rush and actually get along?” I swallow hard because I can’t help but feel like I’ve walked into a hornets’ nest with that one—especially considering that I don’t particularly get along with anyone.
His brows furrow as if he doesn’t know what to make of me. “Maybe we can?”
The office attendant hands us a brief list of rules of what not to do, general school regulations, and a rundown on how to approach every situation with positivity. What she doesn’t give us is an actual assignment. Instead, she lets us know the student body is enjoying their lunch and will be for the very next hour.
“Great,” I say as we step out into the hall where nary the squeak of a sneaker is present. “So, now what?”
“That’s easy, Madden—we go eat lunch.” He tousles my hair like he means it. “What the heck, your meal is on me.”
Lawson and I follow our noses down the corridor and into the building across the way where hundreds, although it sounds like thousands, of students fill the large, cavernous room. An entire plethora of funky scents take over—which on a normal day might cause me to hurl, but on this half-starved day all I want to do is get in line and start snapping up the green Jell-O with the best of them.
Lawson and I do just that. With the cutting calculation of a surgeon, we meticulously piece together our meals. Pizza and fries for me with a side of said green Jell-O, and a burger with extra pickles, and fries for my partner in junior high crime.
“So, how do we do this?” I ask as the two of us stand with our trays and stare out at a sea of oblivious preteens. “I hated this part in junior high—heck, I hated it in high school, too.”
“Really? I would have pegged you for the popular girl. I bet guys fought for the privilege of sitting next to you.”
“Ha! More like repelled. I spent my time hiding out in the corner.” I spot a girl all alone, curled over her lunch tray like a snail, and my heart breaks. Her dark hair covers half her face. Her body is clad in black with shredded tights exposed as she hikes her foot up on the chair for comfort. “That was me. I passed the baton, and she’s running with it.” My words melt to nothing as my entire body aches for her. I pray she is nothing like me, not in the slightest.
“Then that’s what we do. Why don’t you go sit with your Goth friend and I’ll find a friend of my own? Nobody likes to sit alone. If anything, we can cure that. Maybe we can get some of these kids to congregate a little better before our stint here is done.”
Lawson offers a sympathetic smile in lieu of that dirty grin he usually sports, and there’s something about his simple yet brilliant idea that makes it suddenly impossible to take my eyes off this boy. Lawson Kent has a beating heart after all, and he’s wearing it on his sleeve today for all to see. How about that.
“Wow,” I marvel. “It looks like someone remembered his super cape this afternoon. Let’s divide and conquer all these lonely hearts. I’ll see you in an hour.” I take off and carefully approach my hairy-not-really-that-scary little friend, and before I know it, Emily and I have struck up a serious conversation regardingTheHobbitand the life-altering illumination Tolkien has offered up to the world. Just like that, the bell rings, alerting me to the fact that an hour has drifted by faster than I could’ve imagined, and soon my little friend and I part ways, both with a satisfied smile. I spot Lawson across the room hugging it out with a scrawny looking boy with hair the color of a flaming Cheeto, and my heart explodes in a nuclear blast as if I just spotted the cutest puppy on the planet. But more so than that, it was Lawson’s heart that exploded all over this cafeteria today. Nowhere in sight is that bullish ego of his. Nope. He left that at the door of his frat house. This afternoon is all about kindness toward a kid who probably needed it most.
Lawson comes over and offers me a quick high five. “We killed it. My new buddy, Freddy, is eternally happy we’ll be making regular rounds in the caf.”
“We get to kill it again as often as we like.” I shrug. There’s no real limit on how long our project lasts.
“Sounds like you and I have a very important job to do Monday through Friday.”
“Wow, you and I conquering the world at lunchtime? Who would have thought our combined superpowers would be enough to reshape the walls of my old stomping grounds?”
“I went here, too.” He gives a sly wink.
“Really?” I laugh at the thought of little Lawson tooling around with his backpack square over his shoulders. “I would have pegged you for an Academy boy.” The Academy is an exclusive private school tucked high up on Hollow Brook’s wealthy wing where the common plebs seldom trek.
“I was. But that came later once my father came to his senses.” He butts his shoulder into mine as we make our way to the parking lot. “I’m teasing. This is a great school. And, truth be told, I learned just as much here as I did at that pricey school I was shuttled off to each day. And now look at us. We’re both at Briggs together.” He squints into the sun, and there’s something about the way the tangerine light hits him that makes my muscles tense. “There’s a game tomorrow at five. You should come by. Ava says you’ve got a job down at your brother’s shop, and that’s why we haven’t seen you at any.”
“You should be glad I’ve been missing games. I’d probably jinx you anyway.” My cheeks burn at the thought of Lawson noticing my absence. Most likely because he had peace for once. My specialty seems to be getting under his skin—not that I mind. Getting under Lawson Kent’s skin seems to be what I’m best at these days. Besides, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I happen to have a very real aversion to that heart-shaped catastrophe.
“I’m too good for you to jinx.” He tousles my hair again, only this time it feels as if he’s actually running his fingers through it to feel how silky it is—at least that’s my running narrative. And just like that, he takes his hand back like pulling it out of a fire. “Sorry about that.”
“You better be,” I tease. “I’ve got a hot date in an hour, and I need to emulate perfection.”
“Hot date, huh?” He unlocks his truck, and it burps to life. “Who’s this date with?” His chest expands as if whoever this boy is he’s destined for a beating, and I laugh at the idea. Having Jet and Rush as my big brothers is more than enough. I certainly don’t need to add Lawson to the roster. I don’t think I’d want to.
“Professor Davis—sociology. We’re studying all things insignificant in society, and then I’ll be forced to spend my weekend piecing together my loose thoughts on the subject into a work of literary art.” I wrinkle my nose. “On second thought, maybe the date’s not so hot.” I give a brief wave and head to my own truck.
“That’s right—because all of your hot dates are with me,princess.”
I turn and howl out a laugh right at him. “You wish!”
“Let’s carpool tomorrow.”
“Okay, but only because I care about going green. Trust me, I’m not looking to verify the fact you were crowned a prince.”
