Jim stealing toast because he knows he can.
Dalton watching all of it.
RJ’s hand in mine, brief and deliberate.
Gray, waiting at the edge of the week.
“Better than yesterday,” I say.
She studies me, chuckles, then nods.
Chapter twenty-one
Alex
Gold House is quieter than Red House.
No locks on the outside of the doors, no mechanisms on the frames at all — just doors that open and close like doors in a normal building. I stand in my new room with my bag and think about Gray, who is somewhere in this building right now, whose bond has been pulling east all week and is now pulling at the right distance for the first time since the transfer.
I drop my bag and go find him.
He's in the common room.
He looks up when I come in and I cross the room and he pulls me in and I press my face into his chest and feel the bond blaze warm. The frequency of him from the right direction finally.
His arms tighten.
"Hi," I say. Into his chest.
"Hi," he says. Into my hair.
We stay like that for a while. When I pull back he looks at my face the way Gray looks at things — thorough, reading what's actually there rather than what I'm presenting.
"You look better," he says.
"I think having you back helps. And being back here with everyone and RJ," I say.
"Lumi told me about RJ." Something moves through his face. "I can’t wait to see him."
I pull him back in and we stand there until the building starts waking up around us.
***
The dining hall is bigger than the Red House one.
Higher ceiling, longer tables. It fills fast. Leo and Torres come in from Orange House with way too much energy to burn. Jake and Jim arrive together, Jake with his coffee already, Jim still deciding if he can handle coffee at dinnertime. RJ comes in with Cal — the ease of it still catches me, RJ moving through a room without checking the perimeter first. Just walking in. Just arriving.
Jon comes in with Dalton.
He surveys the hall once and then sees the table.
"This is all of them," he says to Dalton.
"All of us," Dalton says. "Together."
I look around the table — Leo already leaning forward, Torres beside him. Jake and Jim settled into their usual proximity. Gray with his coffee. RJ at the end with Cal.
All of us. Together.
