“There’s not really much wecando right now, is there?” Everything was about the hurry up and wait.
“No,” Archie said with far more empathy than he’d had earlier. “Not right now. We’re doing what we can. Focus on what you can change, and ignore everything else.”
“I don’t want to ignore Frankie,” Coop said.
“None of us do,” I said. “That’s not even a question.”
“Except she doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Jake argued. “Just that French asshole.”
“Maybe not him,” Coop said slowly. “She was upset when he said he wasn’t going to ask her to homecoming.”
“Wait…” Jake scowled. “Why the hell isn’t he asking her?” Instantly defensive on her behalf. It transformed Jake’s morose mood immediately and I had to swallow a smile. Weirdly, thefact that in the middle of this fractured, chaotic, and messy situation, we were still all about herhelped.
It was about keeping her safe, letting her breathe and doing the right thing even if we fucked it up before.
“Has she mentioned homecoming at all since last week?”
One by one, the others shook their heads and I picked my burger up. There was a real chance she’d go to the dance without us, if she went at all.
As much as I wanted to be there, I was wondering how did we make it happen without smothering her but still staying close enough to protect her.
“I’ll get us a car,” Archie said. “Let her know we can give her a ride if she wants. We can all go stag.”
Even Frankie was the implication and a huff of laughter escaped me. Archie didn’t let anything like uncertainty push him around, he just made a call and went with it.
“Cool,” Jake said. “Then she can get mad at you for being pushy if she doesn’t like it.”
“I can take it,” Archie said, then took another drink.
And I couldn’t really fault him. Even if she was mad, we’d be there. We could watch out for her.
“Think we should talk to him?” I asked slowly.
“Who?” Jake asked finally digging into his own burger.
“Mathieu,” I said. “Talk to him about how much the dance means and that she’d probably appreciate it if…”
All three of them stared at me like I’d sprouted a second head.
“Never mind,” I said. “Clearly, that’s a terrible idea.”
Archie snorted but a flicker of a smile finally lifted some of the gloom from Coop’s face.
“Look, if you want me to punch you,” Jake offered. “You don’t have to go out of your way. Just say the word.”
That pulled a laugh from Coop, faint, but real and Archie just rolled his eyes. I let it go, cause, yeah, I didn’t want to help out Mathieu. If he shot himself in the foot, his loss.
Chapter
Fifteen
FRANKIE
Morning in Texas wasn’t cool so much as… less murderous. Autumn here didn’t come with crisp air or red leaves or any of that poetic stuff people pretended happened everywhere. No. Texas had exactly two foliage settings: alive or dead. Currently we were in the “brown but not crispy” phase, which was about as festive as we were going to get.
At least I wouldn’t sweat through my shirt walking to my car. Small blessings.
I hit the unlock button, ready to crawl into the driver’s seat and caffeinate my way into basic human function—but then I saw him.
