Close Behind || Aaron Minyard

18

When they walk back into the hallway with the Foxes dorms Naomi can see the cousins standing in the doorway of theirs watching them carefully. Kevin is the only one who doesn't look entirely terrified of her at the moment, which is fine.

Nicky refuses to look at her and has eyes for only Andrew and Neil walking behind her. It's a smart choice, cowardly, but smart. As she walks right in front of him she nods to him, he flinches a little.

She makes her way to the small clump of upperclassman, it's the first time Naomi has chosen them over the Monsters. She places herself between Renee and Allison, feels the way Andrew stares at that and doesn't say a word.

It's not like she's drawing a line in the sand forever, Andrew understands well enough she will smack him if he comes near her for a day or two. The rest of the cousins group, though, doesn't seem to understand that as well and looks a little hurt.

She can fix that later.

Dan rushes past them and makes it to Neil with a worried expression that's almost big sister energy. She grabs him by the shoulders and looks him over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Neil says.

"Youre always fine," Naomi mocks him.

"Andrew?" Kevin asks.

Andrew pauses in their door long enough to look back at Naomi, nods barely. He looks back at Kevin. "I'm washing my hands of this. He's your problem."

"And Naomi?" Aaron asks, it's a mumble but everyone hears it.

Andrew looks at his brother and huffs a bitter little sound. "Follow the rules and there won't be a problem. She understands."

He practically marches back into the room and the cousins all follow him inside with a glance back at her.

Naomi releases a sigh and leans into Allison a little bit. She's just exhausted at this point. Boys are so tiring.

Allison looks down at her and squints a little bit, suspicious. "What do you understand?"

"Alllison," Renee cuts in calmly. "If Naomi has earned Andrew's respect and he has earned hers than we will respect that as well."

"Oh, my God," Allison groans loud enough to gain everyone else's attention. "Please don't tell me you had a threesome."

"If I were able to forget that," Naomi says with slow disgust. She glares up at Allison. "Then I would."

"I don't even want to know," Dan says, exasperated. She waves a hand around the group and points towards the boys dorm. "Come on."

A few minutes later they've dispersed themselves around the room. Allison and Seth are trying to steal from the fridge as if it wasn't Seth's room.

She follows Renee into the living room because she had been promised a lesson on how to play solitaire. Naomi thinks she'd like it, a game that's unpredictable, no one sees when you lose.

Neil goes into his bedroom with Matt and Dan, she ignores it. It's not like she's Andrew, she isn't monopolizing his time. They won't be here forever, Naomi will be his only friend when they leave so she wants him to enjoy it while he can.

After a little while of Renee explaining how to deal and set up the game, Allison and Seth sit all up fucking in each other on a couch and watch them.

"He tried to get in here," Allison is telling her, Naomi hums in acknowledgement. "They didn't let him in. He sent Nicky to try and get into ours."

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky," Naomi muses as she tries to make a move in the game, Renee shakes her head and corrects her. "Poor little Nicky."

"We actually don't entirely hate him," Allison says, like she's allowing Naomi to be nice to him.