Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
FRANKIE
I f Monday has seemed almost endless , Tuesday blew past too swiftly for me to track.
French was a lot more interesting with Mathieu shooting me quick smiles during the assignments.
Probably because he mentioned that his favorite dessert was tuxedo cake when Coop and I picked him up that morning, and I picked tuxedo cake for my project.
It also helped that the guys weren't giving me as much grief today. I don't know what changed between yesterday and today, but they seem to be doing better with the idea that I was dating Mathieu. When lit ended, Matthew actually met Coop and me on our way downstairs and toward the cafeteria. Coop eyed him but he didn’t complain. We barely made it another half dozen steps when Laura intercepted calling Coop’s name.
Though he hesitated, Coop glanced from me to Laura, and then back again. I gave him a little shrug, if he wanted to go talk to her I wasn't going to stop him. With a sigh, he lifted his chin and said, "I'll catch up." Then he diverted towards Laura.
"Do you want to wait?" Mathieu asked his gaze tracking after Coop briefly before glancing at me again.
"Nope," I said. "He'll catch up."
With a nod Mathieu gestured towards the room, and I nodded towards the doors that headed outside. "Planning to eat outside today. We’ve got some great picnic benches. I brought my lunch. Did you bring yours?"
"No,” he said slowly with a slight grimace. "I'll go get mine and meet you out there?"
"Of course," I said. "I could go with you, if you want." Not that I wanted to go because if we didn't get out there soon, we were not gonna get one of the picnic tables. Mathieu only smiled, then dropped the kiss on the tip of my nose.
"Go get the table," he said. "I will find you soon."
With that, he headed towards the line and I let out a little sigh. I really did like him so very much. Still smiling, I turned and headed for the doors. I made it to the only open picnic table just three steps ahead of some freshmen. When they hesitated, I just stared at them.
Seniors got perks.
So, disappointed or not, the freshman just shrugged and turned away. And I took my seat with a happy little grin. Despite the suffocating heat of August, the trees and the building created shade back here.
The breeze, as warm as it was, helped to stir the air. It was just kind of nice to be outside where the noise level was definitely at a lower decibel.
I just started unpacking my lunch when Bubba slid a heavily laden tray onto the table across from me. He sat, a familiar smile warming his face.
“Hey, Frankie.”
“Hey, Bubba.” As irritating as they could all be, Bubba had the temperament of a golden retriever.
Like the day before, he looked tired, despite his smile.
He dropped his backpack on the ground and reached for the container of chocolate milk on his tray of—a hamburger, a slice of pizza, and a small stack of fries and what… ?
“What is that?” I pointed to the plastic packed item that was upside down.
“Pop tarts,” Bubba said with an unabashed grin. “Brought them with me this morning but forgot to eat them, so I figured I’d have them for dessert.”
God, that was a lot of food. I bit into my sandwich and shook my head.
“It’s frosted strawberry,” he said, holding it up like he was trying to tempt me. “I’ll share.”
“I’m good.” I motioned to my carrots. “Got my dessert right there.”
“Rabbit food with a—” He canted his head to the side to eye my food. “A PB and J, you’re just rocking the top-of-the-line menu choices.”
“If it works…”
“…don’t change it,” Archie finished as he dropped onto the seat next to me. “Why are we eating at school?” Though Bubba was right there, Archie focused his attention on me.
“I don’t know, Arch. I’m eating here because I brought my lunch. Bubba appears to have staged a raid on the lunch line.”
Bubba laughed.
“Ugh,” Archie said, making a face. “I’d rather leave campus.”
“No one is keeping you here,” I reminded him and took another bite of my sandwich. When he reached for one of my carrots, I pulled them away.
“I don’t want to stand in the line,” Archie said by way of explanation. “And I don’t want to eat by myself.”
“You’re not by yourself,” Jake set his tray on the table on my free side. His was piled higher than Bubba’s had been—in that he had two of everything.
“Do they not feed you at home?” It was a rude question, but damn.
“Eh, couldn’t make up my mind and didn’t know if you had actual food or—” He motioned to the carrots. “Rabbit food.” He set a burger and a container of fries in front of me.
“Great,” Archie said, shoving his backpack under the table and reaching over me to snag some fries.
Rather than deal with the lean and reach, I transferred the fries to Archie’s side along with the burger.
“Hey,” Jake growled, and reached past me to put them back. “Those are for Frankie. Go get your own.”
“You’re all determined to starve me, aren’t you?” Archie looked so morose, I couldn’t help laughing.
“Poor baby, nobody loves you.” He was not remotely chastised by my comment.
“Here,” Bubba said. “I’ll share.” He slid the Pop Tart over to Archie. I had to bite my lip to keep from guffawing. Archie hated Pop Tarts. He acted like they’d committed a crime against breakfast food.
“Thanks,” Archie said with a scowl. He turned to me. “I’ll trade you this for the other half of your sandwich, since you have a burger now.”
I didn’t want a burger, but it was kind of pathetic…
“What the hell is he doing?” Bubba murmured, scowling. Bubba didn’t glare at anyone. A frisson of worry scooted up my spine. Was he glaring at Mathieu?
I twisted along with Archie and Jake to see what, or in this case who , had snagged his attention. Coop was strolling toward the parking lot with Laura and a couple of her friends. They were all talking in animated fashion, and he had an arm looped over her shoulders. Sunglasses hid his eyes.
“Being a dumbass,” Jake commented, returning his attention to the table.
“He likes her,” I reminded them. “And it’s not like you all haven’t had girlfriends.”
Archie snorted. “I’ve never dumped all of you for a girl.”
“You and Patty ate lunch together for two months last year,” I reminded him.
“We had a project and it was literally the only time we could work on it,” he retaliated. Then he stuffed a fry in his mouth.
“Whatever,” Jake said, nudging the burger. “Eat. I don’t care where Coop eats lunch. His loss.”
But Jake didn’t argue with me. They’d all had their girlfriends and there’d been plenty of times they’d individually or en masse disappeared down the dating rabbit hole.
“I’m not sure I’m burger hungry.” I held up the other half of my sandwich, only Archie snagged it then took a big bite.
Ass.
I punched him in the shoulder, and he winced, coughing hard a minute later. Served him right if he choked on it.
Bubba snickered. “Don’t take her sandwich next time, idiot.”
“I was trying to help,” Archie said with a wince, rubbing his shoulder. “Did you take up boxing this summer or something?”
“Or something,” I said, keeping it vague. The burger was not what I wanted, but I was still hungry.
“What did you do this summer, Frankie? We saw you at my party and at work,” Bubba nudged my foot with his. “But Coop said you were really busy and that stuff with your mom wasn’t great.”
Jake focused on the food in front of him, but Archie and Bubba looked at me expectantly. Apparently, Jake hadn’t shared his theories with them.
Before I could answer, Mathieu circled the picnic table and took a seat on Bubba’s side. A pleasant smile warmed his mouth as he glanced from Jake to Archie to Bubba, before finally meeting my gaze. “I’m sorry I took so long.”
I grinned at him. “I probably should have warned you. You have to haul ass now that they’ve given all of us the same lunch hour.”
“I’ll remember that for next time.” He flicked a look at Jake and I didn’t have to check to see if Jake was staring at him. “Did something come up…?”
“Nope, grab a seat. We have plenty of room.” I’d make Jake or Archie move if I thought it wouldn’t lead to another argument. As it was, I could live with Mathieu sitting across from me because so far Bubba had been the least antagonistic about all of it.
I’d take my wins where I could.
“You’ve met these guys briefly yesterday.” We’d talked about all of them the week before school started. I didn’t want him ambushed. “But as a refresher, that’s Bubba,” I said, motioning across the table, then patted Jake. “This is Jake and this is Archie. Guys, this is Mathieu Domienier.”
“It’s good to meet you,” Mathieu said, wiping off his hands with a napkin before offering it to Bubba first. I held my breath, because I could practically feel the tension vibrating off of Jake and Archie.
Bubba finished chewing his bite of food, and wiped a hand off on his shorts before he took Mathieu’s in a brief shake.
“Nice to meet you too.” Bubba almost sounded like he meant it. When Mathieu half-rose to reach across the table, Jake stood. Bubba shot Jake a warning look but Jake ignored everyone except Mathieu.
I would have reached up for Jake’s arm but Archie dropped his hand onto my thigh and just above my knee and squeezed. It yanked my attention to him. “Wait,” he mouthed the word more than said it aloud.
“Jake Benton,” Jake said finally, and he took Mathieu’s hand. Jake’s knuckles went white, but Mathieu’s expression never changed. “How long have you known Frankie?”
There was nothing friendly in that question.
“Almost three months,” Mathieu said. “Ten weeks?” He sent me a smile before meeting Jake’s stare. At six feet, he was roughly Archie’s height, so a little shorter than Jake. But if Jake’s broader build bothered him, Mathieu didn’t act like it.
He had a leaner, more slender build. But he also moved with such confidence. His features were sharper than any of the guys. His cheekbones were high, his jawline was strong and defined but his hazel eyes were so damn expressive.
“She’s known you since primary school,” Mathieu continued even as Jake kept his grip on Mathieu’s hand. “You are important to her and clearly she is important to you.”
“Let him go,” Bubba said quietly. But neither Jake nor Mathieu moved. “Jake.”
At the sharpness in Bubba’s tone, Jake switched his attention to Bubba then he huffed out a sigh and released Mathieu’s hand. There was no missing the red marks Jake’s grip had left.
Still, Mathieu glanced at Archie as though debating whether to offer him his hand or not. Rather than rise, Archie waved him off after he took his hand off my thigh. Without saying a word, Archie stuffed the rest of my sandwich into his mouth.
Nodding once, Mathieu sat once more and gave me a smile. The air around us crackled with all the things the guys weren’t saying and that just made the sweat trickle down my spine. A foot bumped mine and I tried to smile at Mathieu.
The discomfort thickened and I sighed. “Bubba…”
He turned those blue eyes on me and gave me an encouraging look. “Frankie?”
“Did you get those calculus questions done?” It was a stretch to come up with something to fill in the quiet, but we needed something.
“Most of them,” he admitted. “I think the last one had an error in it.”
I frowned. “A typo?”
“Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe we can go over it later?”
“You still want tutoring?”
“Yes,” he said firmly. “I can come to you. Or we can meet somewhere. Whatever works for you.” He slid a look at Mathieu then me. “I was hoping for today, but I don’t want to assume.”
Mathieu and I didn’t have plans for any day after school this week, mostly because he was trying to get a feel for his schedule and balancing everything. He also didn’t offer that information, letting me decide.
Another reason I adored him.
“I’ll check to see what I’ve got during study hall and text you, okay?” It was me avoiding making a decision now, but I didn’t want to do it here with Jake half-seething next to me and Archie’s icy silence.
“Whenever,” Bubba told me. “Really.”
He meant it.
That helped.
When the first bell sounded warning us lunch was almost over, I’d never been so glad for a chance to escape.