Inhale: Book One (bxb) ✔️

12. Stay.

Landon Luna

Miami, Florida
November 11th evening.

"Stop! It's my cinnamon roll! Everest bought it for me, not for you!" I dodged Lennox, but he started coming after me with a shit-eaten grin on his face. "Get your own before I throw you off the highest point in this mall."

"Sharing is caring, dick." Lennox reached for my cup that housed the cinnamon roll, but I lifted it above my head. "Oh, my god, I'm going to deck you."

"Get your own!" I cried as his arms wrapped around me like an octopus. "Maybe if you ask nicely, West will buy you some."

"Aren't you rich? Why are you protecting this particular cinnamon roll with your life?"

I frowned as I peeled him away from me with my free hand. "Everest bought it for me."

Lennox smirked like I handed him the nucular codes to take out his enemies. "Ah, so it's all about lover boy? He's not around; you can tell me."

He was right, he wasn't. Everest went with West to check out what they had and bring back a map for us to go over. If I was being honest, I did need to talk to someone about what was happening in my brain. I was morbidly confused, but I also wasn't. It was a terrifying place to be where my brain was concerned.

Ever since Everest said that I was the world he was trying to grab, I spent every waking hour flipping over that statement in my head. It could mean exactly what I thought it did or it didn't. I was easily confused. I misread social cues and mannerisms. I could be over-exaggerating the message behind what he told me, and that was the part I hated about myself.

The moments when I couldn't make sense of the kind words Everest tells me often. Then yesterday, when he stood in the room that was made up for me, I couldn't help but track his movements. He remembered my favorite book. He never questioned my reading choices out of respect for me. Everest didn't do that for anyone else that I knew of. He picked me to be his partner on this trip. He held me while I cried about my brother. He wasn't mad when I didn't tell him who my brother was. The list went on.

Then he opened up to me, and I had a feeling he'd never really done that with another person that wasn't his parents. I didn't expect him to tell me something so deep yesterday, and yet, I was glad he did. I felt selfish as I thought about the ways he grew close to me but kept everyone else in a specific place. They were his friends, he enjoyed being around them, but I was an exception. I was allowed to be close.

Even in high school, I was allowed to be close.

What did it all mean?

"Do...I like Everest?" I finally managed to ask Lennox. "I mean, I feel like I do, but sometimes I can't trust myself."

Lennox laughed at first until he looked at my face, and it died off. "Shit, you're serious. Sorry." He gave me a small smile. "I mean, personally, yeah, I think you like him. More than like him. I think you've liked him for a very long time, Lan." He glanced around to make sure Everest and West weren't approaching before he faced me again. "You've had a connection with him since you were thirteen. You went to public school to be there for him. You talk about him constantly. You worry about him. You want to be there for him and still manage to be respectful. Yes, Landon, I think you like him. I think you more than like him."

"I never looked at it that way." I frowned at the cinnamon roll in my hand. "Maybe in the back of my head, I did. And now I'm getting possible signals from him that he...might like me. As more than a friend. I'm very confused."