36. Lucas
36
LUCAS
The storm didn’t let up enough for me to drive home until nearly midnight. I spent that time studying in the library, though no one else from the study group showed up. Then when that closed, I went over to the union. I texted Jayden a few times. He said Kyle had messaged and said he was going to stay at his frat house. So that was good. My stepbrother wasn’t my favorite person, but I didn’t want him dead on the side of the road with a tree across his truck.
The house was dark and quiet when I entered. I didn’t even realize that the lights were off until I tried to turn on the wall switch.
I was exhausted. I trudged back to my room, hoping to find Tori there, but she wasn’t. That made sense. If only she and Jayden were here, she was probably downstairs with him.
I set my stuff on my desk and pulled off my shirt. I was going to brush my teeth and then probably be asleep within minutes. But after I was done in the bathroom, I didn’t head back to my room. I just needed to make sure she was okay. It was a bad storm. It wasn’t over yet, but it had let up considerably.
Quietly, I crept down the stairs, not wanting to wake them. I had my phone flashlight on, but I angled it down so it wouldn’t blind anybody.
Soft breathing met my ears as I approached the bed. And there they were. Tori was the little spoon, in the middle of the bed on her side. Jayden was behind her, his arm wrapped around her stomach, his face nestled in her hair. Big surprise there.
Tori had on a white long-sleeved t-shirt, and I wondered if it was his. I’d liked it when she wore mine when we stayed in the hotel.
I turned to go, but then I heard her say my name.
“You’re home,” she whispered sleepily. “I was worried about you.”
I turned back, not wanting to intrude on Jayden’s time with her, but her concern touched me.
“I was worried about you too.”
She reached for my hand. “There was a tornado watch.”
“I know. But it expired.”
Her voice was quiet in the dark. “Maybe you should stay down here. Just in case.”
I shook my head. “It was just a watch, not a warning. All that means is that the conditions were conducive to a tornado forming, not that there was one in the area.”
“But it’s still storming,” she said. “You’ll be safer down here.”
The house was sturdy. It could handle a storm.
Jayden’s sleepy voice interrupted my thoughts. “Dude, she wants you to climb into the bed next to her. So do that so we can all get some sleep.” He nuzzled her hair and settled back into place, apparently considering the matter settled.
Tori, however, was still looking up. “Please?”
I smiled, though she couldn’t see it in the dark. “It’s probably safest. With the tornado watch and all.”
She smiled and lifted the covers. I stripped down until I was just wearing my boxers and slid in next to her.
Jayden still had his arm clamped around her waist, but she pulled me close. She wrapped one arm around my bicep, as if it was her own personal teddy bear, and placed the other hand on my stomach.
If that’s how she wanted to fall asleep, it was more than okay by me.
I sat on the porch a day later, listening to the faint hum of the washing machine coming through the open front door. Jayden was downstairs taking care of laundry, but I could still catch some of the rhythmic clunking. Tori and I had just gotten back after her meeting with her advisor, which had run later than she’d expected.
On the drive back, she clearly hadn’t wanted to talk about it, so I dropped the subject. But from the way she was pacing back and forth, it was obvious it hadn’t gone well.
Finally, she settled in the chair next to me, tucking her legs beneath her. She looked tired. “Dr. Mitchell told me there’s no space left in the Adolescent Development and Learning class I need to take next semester. None.” She combed her fingers through her hair, shaking her head. “He kept telling me Child Development and Learning was the same thing, but it isn’t. It’s for elementary ed teachers, and I want to teach high school.”
I reached out, squeezing her hand in sympathy. She was clearly disappointed. “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “No fun to get stuck in a class you don’t want.”
“Exactly,” she said, huffing out a sigh. “He’s acting like it’s just a minor inconvenience, but I know what I want to do. I want to teach older kids—teenagers—and I hate that he keeps nudging me toward the younger grade levels.”
I nodded, letting her vent. In my head, though, an entirely different conversation was happening. I knew Tori was passionate about working with high school students. She’d mentioned it before—how she wanted to get them excited about readings and writing.
But part of me couldn’t help thinking about how small and soft-spoken she was, especially compared to the majority of male high school students. I couldn’t quite picture her being a firm disciplinarian with an unruly class of teenagers. “I think if you wanted to, you’d be great with little kids, though.”
Her eyes snapped to me, and I read the flicker of annoyance there. “I mean,” I clarified, “you’re patient, and you’re passionate, and I just think the younger ones would really benefit from having you as their teacher.”
She shifted on the chair, biting her bottom lip. “Older kids need passionate teachers, too. I don’t want to spend my day making sure my students line up properly or color inside the lines. I want to teach them the writing and critical thinking skills they’ll need in the future.” Her gaze settled on the distant hills. “Like the stuff I’m helping Kyle with.”
“Yeah, but could you handle a whole class of Kyles?”
“That’s the job,” she said. Then she looked over at me and smiled softly. “It would be nice if there were a few Lucases and Jaydens in there, too.”
I smiled back. “I get it. You should teach what you want to teach.“ It was her future and her choice, so I dropped the subject.
We both turned our heads when we heard the low rumble of an engine approaching. Then Kyle’s black pickup pulled up.
My jaw tightened on instinct. Kyle killed the motor, hopped out, and strolled over.
He offered me a curt nod—maybe not even that—then turned to Tori. “How’d your meeting go?
Tori let out a sigh and brought him up to speed. She kept it concise, just the facts about her advisor and the registration drama. Kyle listened, leaning his broad back against the porch column, arms folded like he was settling in for a long story. When Tori finished, he just nodded.
I tried again, half-facing her. “Look, maybe it won’t be so bad to just take the course. You might find yourself getting interested in working with younger kids. I know you’d be great with them.” That part was true. I could just see her teaching them and then someday, being a warm and caring mother to children of her own. “If not, you can still take the Adolescent Development class next time it’s offered. A year’s delay isn’t the end of the world, right?”
Kyle made a sound in the back of his throat—something between a scoff and a laugh.
I shot a look at him. “Do you disagree? You, the guy who made a substitute teacher cry our freshman year of high school? Do you really want her around students like that when instead she could be working with cute little?—”
“Dude, quit thinking with your ovaries.”
“Excuse me?”
He ignored me. “Tori, if you want to take that class, fight for it. It’s your degree, your future. Don’t let your advisor tell you what grade to teach. Or your roommate, either.” He glared at me. “You want to teach high school? Then do what you have to do to make that happen.”
He said it so simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Tori glanced over at me, then back at him, blinking hard. She looked torn, as if she had to choose between us.
“But the class is full,” she said finally.
Kyle shrugged. “So you talk to the teacher of the class. Talk to the education department. Move some mountains or kick some butts if you have to. Don’t just roll over because some asshole told you it was full.”
“But my advisor said there’s nothing I can do.”
“So? He’s not the only professor you have a connection to. Get your comp teacher to back you up—she chose you to work with the incredibly charming and hot baseball star out of all of her students, right? I bet she’ll have your back, even if certain other people don’t.” He cocked his head, looking straight at me. What an arrogant ass.
It wasn’t that I disagreed with Tori’s goals, it was just that high schools could be scary places, and I didn’t want to see her get hurt. But Kyle had no problem with it, apparently.
I watched Tori out of the corner of my eye. Her fingers were curled around the edge of the chair, her expression shifting as she tried to decide. For a second, the porch got quiet. Even the washing machine’s distant thumping seemed to pause, like it was waiting for Tori to decide whose advice she would take.
“I’ll talk to my advisor.”
The next afternoon, Jayden and I were in the basement, picking our way through the next big pile of Aunt Mabel’s clutter. We’d decided to go ahead with clearing a space for working out. Kyle had been tasked with looking for equipment we could use.
Jayden wiped his forehead with the edge of his shirt after transporting a bunch of dusty old hardbacks into the recycle pile. “Why aren’t Kyle and Tori helping?”
“They’re doing a tutoring session at the kitchen table.” They’d been at it since he drove her back from campus. I set aside a box labeled “Random Crap from the Attic” and let out a slow breath. “As soon as she got in, she made a beeline for me —practically tackled me in the hallway. She was so excited when she told me she got into the Adolescent Development class.”
Jayden smiled. “No kidding? I thought that was full.”
“It was.” I said carefully. There was something that had been bothering me ever since she got home. If I couldn’t discuss it with my best friend, who could I discuss it with? “He helped her.”
Jayden didn’t need to ask who I meant. “What do you expect? He’s not the monster you make him out to be. He really?—”
I interrupted. “No. I mean he truly helped her with the situation with that class and her advisor.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Jayden clearly didn’t see the issue.
I sat down on the arm of an ancient recliner we’d just unearthed. “I was there yesterday when she was so upset. I listened and I tried to help her. I gave her advice—told her maybe she should accept the elementary education route for now, and reassess next year. But Kyle told her to fight for what she wanted. She did, and she got it.”
I laughed under my breath, but there was no humor in it. “I just… never realized Kyle had something to offer a woman like Tori. Something more than his muscles or his innuendos. I never thought he could be good for her.”
Jayden understood. He came over and clapped me on the back.
“Hopefully, we’re all good for her. Shouldn’t you want that? I don’t think she’s had a lot of people in her corner. Plus she’s had the world’s shittiest luck with roommates. Ideally, all three of us should help her. And she helps us. That’s how it should be.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I just didn’t realize until just now that he might be able to support her the way she needed him to.” Especially when I’d failed so thoroughly. Kyle had accused me of thinking with my ovaries, a body part I didn’t have, but maybe I’d been thinking about how I viewed Tori—sweet, kind, and nurturing. Not how she actually was or wanted to be.
I’d been doing that a lot lately and never seemed to learn from it.
Tori and Kyle were still working together when we got upstairs. They had their heads bent over a laptop, discussing a passage on the screen.
Jayden walked over and placed a hand on both their shoulders. “Guys, it’s Friday afternoon. It’s bad enough when Lucas spends the whole evening studying. I didn’t expect it from you two.”
Kyle straightened up and grinned. “Times change, bro.”
“We’re almost done,” Tori added.
“Good.” Jayden squeezed her shoulder and let go, sitting in a chair opposite them. “Because I’m thinking pizza tonight. Any requests?”
“Pepperoni,” Kyle said, his attention back on the screen.
“Tori?” Jayden asked.
“Anything but pepperoni,” she said with a grin, elbowing Kyle in the side.
“Okay, one with pepperoni, one without. Lucas?”
“I’m good with anything.”
“Where should we get it from?” Tori asked.
“Enzo’s. Tell you what—you order it, and I’ll go pick it up.”
“Deal,” she said, pulling out her phone.
It chimed before she could do anything else. She swiped open the screen, read for a moment, and then frowned.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“They want me to come to a meeting on Monday at the English Department. With my advisor and Professor Abrams.” She looked worried. “Do you think they’re mad that I insisted on taking the Adolescent Development course?”
“If they had any brains, they’d be glad you’re doing what’s best for your career,” Kyle said.
Then his phone chimed as well. He thumbed it open, his attention still on Tori—but then he looked at the screen, and his face turned pale.
“I’m supposed to go to that meeting too,” he said slowly.
Tori looked utterly confused. “Why?”
Kyle didn’t say anything. His mouth was a thin line.
Tori put her hand on his arm. “Did they say why?”
Finally, he nodded. “Yes. Because I got an F on my second paper.”
“What?” Tori said. “No, that can’t be. It was really good.”
Jayden agreed. “Yeah, the part I read was well done, man.”
Kyle was still staring at his screen. “They changed my grade on the first one to an F, too.”
I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Tori was still perplexed. “What? How can they do that?”
Kyle set down his phone, pressing his hand on the table so firmly that his knuckles turned white.
“They think I cheated.”