Starlee's Home (The Wayward Sons 3)

I laugh, because I’ve never thought of myself as particularly brave. If anything, running felt weak, like I couldn’t stand up for myself on my own. I had to sneak out in the middle of the night and do it from three thousand miles away.

“Can I ask you something else?” she says. Her voice is quiet and hard to hear over the music and other diners. There’s a few tables of kids I recognize from school, including one filled with football players. I scan the group for Jake but my heart sinks when I don’t see him.

“Probably,” I reply with a smile.

“What’s really going on with you and the guys? I mean, I know you were sort of dating Jake at homecoming, but I get the feeling there’s more going on.”

I pick up a fry and then drop it back on my plate, feeling the salty grease on my fingers. “We’re just really close. Close enough that I don’t feel like I could ever choose one guy over the other.”

And they won’t make me, I almost add, but don’t.

“I’ve known them for a long time, Jake especially, and they’ve all calmed down since you moved here. I’m not scared of much, but Dexter was pretty terrifying for a while. A complete loose cannon. I mean, he always had that sexy bad boy thing going on—you know, if you’re into that,” she laughs, “but he was also trouble with a capital T.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that guy.” I think back to the night we met—when he protected me. “He’s come a long way.”

She nods. “George was such a goofball mess. Always the loudest one, but you could tell he wasn’t happy until he moved in with Sierra. There was a darkness under all that energy.”

I don’t like hearing that—George is the brightest of them all. I never want to see that side of him.

She sucks on her straw again. “Charlie was an enigma. Probably still is, but I’ve seen him talk and smile more in the past three months than in the whole time I’ve known him.”

“And Jake?” She and Jake had been friends through Christina back in the ninth grade. She’d done both of them wrong.

“Jake just seems settled. More focused. I see the way he looks at you—he never, not once, looked at Christina like that.”

“They’ve helped me too. I never had many friends growing up and I missed out on a lot of basic teenager stuff.” I look around the diner. “Like this but even more. I had a lot of fears when I came here last summer. They showed me it was safe to try new things.”

The waitress comes over and lays our checks on the table. Claire glances at the time and then out the window. “We should probably go if we want to get good seats.”

I don’t tell her this is my first time going to a movie with a friend since I was much younger. I’d gone often with my mother—she loved documentaries and considered them part of my education. Those were always held in the weird art theaters instead of the mega-plex just off the highway. The June Lake theater has one of those old-style marquees in the front with the titles of the movies lit up in red plastic letters. There’s only two choices and we pick the action movie over the cartoon. The theater itself is huge, with two wide sections of seats covered in soft red fabric.

“Do you mind if we sit in the back?” she asks as we walk in, our hands filled with drinks and candy. “I hate sitting near noisy people.”

“Sure,” I say, scooting down the next to last row. It feels a mile away from everyone else, but I really don’t mind. I prefer quiet during the movie also.

People continue to file in during the previews—which are actually my favorite part—and I settle into my seat, ready to watch giant robots save the world from aliens.

The movie has barely started when Claire leans over and whispers in my ear. “Have fun.”

I tear my eyes away from the hot guy on the screen who happened to lose his shirt in the first ten minutes. “What?”

The seat on the opposite side of me squeaks as it lowers and the body filling it takes up way too much space.

“Hey, babe.”

My heart lurches when I hear his voice. “Jake?”

I look back for Claire, but she’s already exited our row and is walking down the aisle, taking a seat a bit further down. Jake, in the meantime, has pushed up the arm rest dividing our seats and thrown an arm around me, pulling me close.

The explosions coming from the stereo hides the thundering of my heart but I’m genuinely in shock that he’s here with me. In the dark. Semi-alone. “How did you know I was here?”

“A bossy, edgy friend of ours called me. She figured I’d make a better date than her.”

“Oh,” I say, dragging my eyes off his shadowy face and looking back at the screen.

“Is that okay?” he whispers, taking my hand in his.

I swallow and nod. “Yes, just a surprise.”