The Broken Girl and The Golden Boy

A Hurricane of Hyper-Efficiency

Chapter 41: Piper

So... what now?  Those words spun around in my head, filling me with a confusing blend of joy and apprehension. I don't think I'd ever fully believed that Sadie and I would make it this far together, so now I was stricken with all the possibilities and overwhelmed with all the work left to do.

There were the obvious things to take care of - reporting my father, for one - filing the custody papers, finding a place for Sadie and I...

And maybe Justin, too? I thought, glancing over at the passenger seat where he sat drumming his fingers on his knee. I mean, he had kind of just up and left his parents' house, too. He'd probably make sense for him to live with us, right? And the extra income would be even better for making a case at the custody hearing. 

And there's the obvious fact that you want him to be there, so you can stop trying to make logical excuses to convince yourself otherwise, my mind snarked at me. I flushed a bit, but I couldn't exactly lie to myself and deny that it would make me happy to have him there.

"Hey... Justin?" I finally murmured, keeping my eyes on the road as I drove down the familiar roads to the Sugarses' house to pick up Sadie.

"Yeah?" he answered, and I could feel his curious eyes on me.

"Well, I was wondering... do you... I mean, where are you going to live now that you've cut ties with your father?" I asked, chickening out on asking him straight-out if he'd like to live with Sadie and I.

"Well, I was figuring I could probably stay with Ian while we looked for a place," he replied easily, making my eyes flash to him, "Er... or... until I can find a place on my own, if that's not... I mean... I didn't think it would be that shocking of an idea, but I guess... we are... well, um..." 

He kept fumbling over his words, making me laugh lightly as I turned my gaze back to the road ahead, "Actually, I was thinking the same thing. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you beat me to the punch after what happened when I was trying to tell you I loved you."

"Oh thank god," he sighed, slumping slightly in his seat, "I was worried I'd said something weird."

"I mean, you did," I joked, "Just because I was planning on saying it if you hadn't done it first doesn't mean it's not weird to suggest living together. We are still in high school after all."

"And we've only been going out for around six months," he added, chuckling a bit, "Guess we're both kind of crazy, huh?"

"Huh..." I blinked at his words as I pulled into the driveway, "Has it really only been six months? It feels like I've known you a lot longer than that."

"Well, technically," he replied with a teasing smile, "We've known each other for eight."

"Ha ha," I rolled my eyes, "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I do," he smiled softly, leaning over to kiss my cheek before we got out of the car and headed up to the porch, "It's weird thinking that less than a year ago we'd never even spoken to each other and now I couldn't imagine life without you."

"That was so cheesy!" I exclaimed, shoving his arm playfully and looking away to hide my embarrassed blush, "I can't even look at you right now."

"Ah, right, I'm sure that's exactly why you're turning away from me," he laughed, "Nothing to do with the fact that your face turned bright red at my 'cheesiness'." Of course he'd see right through me.

"Mind your business," I huffed, pulling a face at him as we stepped up to the door, "I just... got too much sun or something."

"Hey," he held his hands up in a placating gesture as I rang the doorbell, "I was agreeing with you. I don't get why you're getting so touchy with me about it." His lips twitched as he did his best to bite back an amused smile.