order about ten burgers to split between the four of them. I choose to get chicken tenders instead, with a side of ranch dressing and some fries. Lucas smirks at me when he hands me back my food in the car, and I can’t help but smile back.
He freezes, Adam’s apple bobbing, as his eyes drop to my lips. A need so strong that it leaves me breathless pours from his gaze before he quickly looks away, as icy and impassive as ever.
As Elias pulls back onto the road and begins to drive us towards my house, I notice Karsyn once more bent over his textbook, his burger sitting forgotten on his thigh. I nudge his shoulder inconspicuously.
“Hey, you okay?” I ask softly, and he glances up with a tentative smile.
“Yeah. Just stressed as hell about this exam. I need a scholarship to college, especially now that I don’t have the football one…” He trails off, cheeks tinting pink, as my own insides tighten into thousands of knots. Guilt stabs my stomach, twisting like a knife until my guts and innards spill onto the ground for the world to see. “Hey, don’t look at me like that.” He leans forward and plants a tender kiss to my lips. “I told you. It’s okay. I deserved everything you did to me, and I’m not even mad.”
“You know…” Cassian begins casually from the other side of me. “You still haven’t gotten your revenge on Lucas and Elias yet. That’s not fair, baby.” He pushes out his pouty lip.
“I got beat up,” Elias points out, rubbing at his cheek where there’s still a slight yellowish mark from his fight with Emmett.
“Would you like to get your revenge on me, Peony?” Lucas questions seriously, swiveling in his seat to face me. “Because you are more than welcome to. I won’t even stop you. Might I give you some suggestions? I have a trust-fund that you are more than welcome to. Or we can get rid of it completely. I’m sure my parents would write me out of their will if they discover I’d…let’s say…snorted weed.”
I choke out a laugh before I can contain it, and on either side of me, Karsyn and Cassian throw their heads back. Even Elias begins to chuckle from the front seat as he turns onto my street.
“What?” Lucas’s perfect lips curve into a frown as he glances between the four of us.
“Lucas…you can’t snort weed,” I say around my giggle, and I swear he actually blushes. Maybe it’s a trick of the lighting, though. I doubt Lucas will ever do something as cute as blush.
“Oh.”
“And I don’t want to get my revenge on you guys,” I add, staring down at my pale hand holding a French fry. “Not anymore.”
It’s mercifully silent the rest of the ride as the Jeep slows to a crawl. Karsyn once more resumes his diligent reading, a tiny crease forming between his eyebrows.
Like before, I nudge his shoulder until he glances up at me.
“Everything okay?” I whisper.
“Yeah.” His lips straighten into a taut line. “I mean, no. This shit is hard.”
“Karsyn…” I keep my voice low so as to not be overheard by the others. Fortunately, Lucas and Elias are engaged in conversation at the front of the car, and Cassian has his earbuds in, nodding along to his music. “Have you ever…”
“Have I ever what?” He places his book down completely in his lap and offers me his full attention. I squirm slightly. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.
“Have you ever been tested for dyslexia?” The words tumble out of me before I can stop them. I wince, waiting for him to get mad, but instead, his expression turns contemplative.
“You think I…?”
“I noticed it before in middle school,” I confess. “When you were writing, you would often forget certain words or they would get swapped around in a sentence. And I also couldn’t help but note that you struggle the most with the essays on your exams.” I shrug my shoulders helplessly, worried that he’ll be pissed at me for overstepping my boundaries.
He scratches at his eyebrow with one of his long, calloused fingers. “I’ve never thought about that before. Reading and writing have always been harder for me than it was for a lot of the other kids my age.”
“I’m not a doctor or anything.” I release a dry chuckle. “Just a crazy witch. But…”
“But you think I should talk to my doc about it,” Karsyn finishes, that same thoughtful