School For Troubled Boys by Lina Langley

Author:Lina Langley [Langley, Lina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Half Past Three
Published: 2018-08-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Alix was sitting on the porch, quite literally kicking rocks. When he heard me approaching, he didn’t look up. “Quinn,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. “You’re right. I’m an asshole.”

He looked up at me then, then shook his head. “No,” he said. “You’re not.”

“No, I am,” I replied. “I should have told you earlier. I mean, you were the one who wanted to get together with him and I—”

He laughed, throwing his head back. “Yeah, but it just means you have good taste,” he said. “For what it’s worth, I totally get it.”

I smiled, a little weakly. “Do you mind if I sit with you?”

“Nah,” he said. “Go ahead. Though if you keep disappearing, you might get in trouble.”

“Shit, I’m going to get in trouble?” I said with mock fear as I sat next to him.

He laughed but didn’t say anything else.

I sighed as I sat next to him. “There’s something about him,” I said. “He makes me feel alive. He makes me feel… I don’t know, real. He makes me feel real.”

Alix looked at me, saying nothing. His lips were a straight line, his eyes wide, but he had yet to say a thing.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt real,” I said, digging my fingers into the wooden boards underneath my fingertips. “Actually, I think I might never have before.”

“What?”

“Felt alive, I guess,” I said. “Like I’m, I don’t know, here.”

“In a good way?”

“Yeah,” I said, furrowing my brow as I thought about it. “Yeah, in a good way. Like living in my body is okay.”

He put his hand on top of mine. “I’m glad,” Alix said.

“It isn’t even what he says to me,” I said. “It’s like… I guess it’s just the way he looks at me. Like I’m this amazing version of myself.”

“You are,” he said.

I chuckled, no humor in my voice. “And yet here I am,” I said.

“I’m glad you are here,” Alix said. “I’m glad you’re my friend. And I’m sorry I was a dick. I was just jealous, okay? Because I’m a child and I have abandonment issues.”

I smiled at him. “Okay,” I said. “But you know that I love you, right? I’m never going to leave you for anyone. Girl, boy, enby, fae—”

“He’s a fae, right? Pretty sure he’s a fae,” he said, then nudged me with his shoulder. “You better not. Jerk.”

I draped my arm his shoulder and squeezed him close. “I wouldn’t.”

“Good,” he said. “I love you too. Now go and get your man.”

“He’s not my—”

“Shush,” Alix said. “God, you’re so good at ruining the moment. Go, dick.”

I stood up and brushed myself off, steeling myself to talk to David. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. All I knew was that I really needed to tell him how he made me feel, because I couldn’t just let Alix down after that.

I walked up to our dorm to find David quietly packing his stuff.

“What are you doing?” I heard myself ask. “Did your parents—”

“Stepdad,” he said. “And no.

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