Healing Takes Time

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I didn't wake up until noon. The only reason I did was because Connie jumped on me, knocking the air out of me. I groaned and sat straight up after he jumped off of me. "Oh my God," I wheezed.

Connie laughed and darted downstairs.

I leaned forward and buried my face in my hands. I scrubbed my fingers through my hair. Jesus, that hurt--he had some bony ass knees. I swung my legs off the side of the bed, threw on a random tee shirt that I grabbed from my suitcase, and ran downstairs. Dad was in the kitchen making sandwiches. Connie was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell?" I blurted.

Dad looked up calmly. "What?"

"Did you send Connie up to jump on me?"

"No. I sent him to wake you up--it's already past noon. I let you sleep because you were up late--did a shitty job of sneaking around, by the way. What were you even doing?"

Making out with your friend's son in the middle of the lake under a ton of stars. Then I made him cry. It's all good though because now I know why he's so insecure when it comes to us, and I promised him that he'd be happy with me. I popped my neck and stretched. "Nothing much. Just thought it would be nice to walk around outside for a while."

He raised an eyebrow in my direction. "For three hours?"

Well, damn. I didn't check the time when I'd gotten home, so I didn't know that we were out that long. Did we really talk and make out for almost three hours?

"Your friend came by to visit," he said offhandedly, jarring me from my thoughts.

I made a face. "We had breakfast with him, and he's my friend." My voice caught on the word friend. I hoped he didn't notice "The least you can do is call him by his name."

"You're right. Sorry. Marco came by to see you earlier."

I blinked. Did he just apologize to me? Like, apologize apologize? In a non sarcastic way? 'Cause that kinda shit hardly ever happened. I stared at him. He didn't seem to be acting like it was a big deal.

I shook myself. "Uh, thanks. Did he say what he wanted?"

He shrugged. "No. I sent him upstairs to wake you up first, but he said that he couldn't get you to keep your eyes open for more than five seconds, so I had to send Connie to do the job. He just left too. Marco, not Connie."

My ears perked up at that. "Oh, okay. Thanks." I slipped my shoes on and headed outside.

* * *

Levi watched out the window as his eldest son jumped off the porch. He shook his head. He reminded him of Hanji sometimes in the deliberate and bouncy way he did things. Levi'd never tell him that, but it was just an observation.

Speaking of, he'd always been good at making observations. Like the way Marco's voice had softened the slightest bit when he'd said Jean's name, almost like a caress. Now looking back, Levi realized that sending Marco up to wake up Jean probably wasn't the best idea on his part, but it wasn't like he could change that now.

Then the way Jean's face had stalled the slightest bit when he'd been asked what he did last night. Levi knew for certain now that he'd snuck out to see Marco. But Jean had never been one to sneak out just for friends. Actually, Levi didn't think that Jean had any real friends.

Combine that with the fact that the both of them said each others' names with such softness brought Levi to one conclusion: they liked each other.

He wouldn't mind it if Jean was into guys instead of girls, but he was confused. Jean always kept to himself, so why did he decide to open up now? What was it about Marco that made Jean put his guard down?