Cry Me A River

Chapter Thirteen - Thanksgiving Break

{Dakota}

"It's finally break!" May yelled happily, skipping over to Elle, Andi, and I. The three, now four, of us were standing around the front of the school, waiting for the last bell to ring.

"Where's your boy toy?" Dillon wondered, coming down the staircase with Pierce.

"Her boyfriend is right here," Landon chimed in, coming out of nowhere and slinging an arm over my shoulders. I smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Dillon scrunched up her nose and turned to talk to Andi. Grace was the last one to join us, carrying a giant stack of books and papers. Elle chuckled.

"I still don't understand why you took so many AP classes this year. You're taking three," Elle said.

"I like the challenge," Grace responded. The final bell rang, excusing everyone that hadn't been let out early.

"Where are you guys headed this week for break?" I asked them as we all walked toward the parking lot. Landon dropped his arm and grabbed my hand instead, intertwining our fingers.

"My family all lives up North, so we're going there for the week. We actually leave tomorrow," May told us. Grace nodded.

"My family too. We're having a hawaiian Thanksgiving, since my grandparents live there," Grace added.

"How about you, Pierce?" Elle wondered. Pierce glanced around at us and shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets. Landon nudged him and gave him a look that I couldn't quite decipher.

"Probably just staying around town," Pierce answered, looking at the ground.

"I'll see you guys later," May said, waving to us as she and Grace headed to their cars. Landon and Pierce always parked toward the backside of the parking lot, closer to the exit.

"Hello?" Elle answered her phone and stepped to the side.

"Bye," Dillon mumbled, leaving with Andi.

I turned back to Elle, who nodded, "mmhmming" a couple times, and then sighed, "Alright, I'm coming now." She hung up. "I've gotta go. My mom needs me to go help set up the guest rooms."

"Bye," I gave her a quick hug.

"Are you going to have him over for Thanksgiving?" she asked quietly, nodding to Landon, who was a few feet away talking to Pierce. I shrugged.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm worried it might scare him off. I mean we've only been dating for a month. I'm not sure he's ready to meet my entire family," I replied.

"Call me later and we can talk about it more," she told me. I nodded and she left.

"Let's go already. School is out," Landon said as I walked back to him.

"Okay, okay. Chill out," I mumbled. He'd been a bit of a grump since the beginning of the week, and I wasn't sure why.

"I'll see you guys later," Pierce called. I nodded, gave him a little wave, and followed Landon back to his bike, getting on behind. He started it up and we sped off to my house, arriving about five minutes later. He turned off his bike and watched me as I got off and stood next to him.

"I'll see you later," he said, pushing himself up to stand and kissed me, resting a hand on the small of my back, his other holding his helmet. I pulled away and he furrowed his eyebrows, sitting down. "Something wrong?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," I told him. He sighed, running a hand through his helmet hair.

"I'm just not a fan of the holidays. Neither is Pierce. That's why he was acting so weird today too, if you were gonna ask me about that next," he snapped.