Homebound (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 12

I walk out of school on Friday, actually happy with how my day went. Since my teachers have been focusing on catching me up to speed on everything, I've actually been doing pretty well with my work. My math teacher even got me a tutor fairly quick since he saw how bad I am with numbers. I'm confident that the rest of the year will go smooth from here on out, even if I haven't made any friends that aren't also Wynter's. I still sit alone at lunch, but I don't mind. I rather get a breather in the middle of the day anyways.

After about a week of me being at the school, people slowly stopped staring at me. Sure, there were multiple people that tried to befriend me so they could get some information on the whole kidnapping thing, but I was able to shut them down fairly quickly. Besides them, no one else has really approached me unless they knew Wynter. And to be honest, I'm perfectly fine with that. I have way too much to focus on right now, so maybe making friends wouldn't be the best.

I slide into the passenger side of the car with Lukas in the driver's seat, just like it usually is at the end of the school day. Paige's usually busy with work to pick me up and Lukas' school gets out before us, so he has plenty of time to come get me. We've fallen into a good routine since I moved in and I'm happy with how things are going. Even if Javi still avoids me every second of every day, I'm happy with everything else.

But as soon as I see Lukas' face when I get into the car, I know something's happening.

"What's going on?" I ask instantly, thinking the worst already. Are Millie and Sammy okay? Did Evie get placed in a bad foster family? Are my parents okay in jail? Oh, god, please tell me my family is okay. I don't know what I'd do if they aren't.

Lukas sighs before putting the car in drive and pulling out of the parking lot of the school. "Well, you know how we were planning to pick up all of your things tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I say, carrying out the word to show my confusion. Paige and he had told me that the plan was to drive the moving truck down there with all three of us and then Paige and I would drive back in my car while Lukas stayed with the truck. It would be a long drive there and back, but we all know that we had to get it done because I'm quickly running out of clothes that I wanted to wear. I'm also really looking forward to having stuff that's actually mine to use.

"Well, we just found out that I have to proctor the PSAT at my school and Paige wasn't able to get off that day, so we might not be able to take you," Lukas says, sounding disappointed that we wouldn't be doing the trip this weekend. I was looking forward to it since I had a little thing up my sleeve, but I guess I can reschedule if I need to. I'll just have to call Detective Heath and tell her or- "but Javi could take you if you don't mind."

My heart stops. Javi would take me? I would be alone in a car with him for hours with the only thing we could really do is talk? After all the time that he's been avoiding me, this is the thing that would force him to actually communicate with me? "Javi?"

Lukas nods his head, glancing at me for a second to probably gauge my reaction. "Yeah, I went to lunch with him and he was there when we found out I couldn't go and he offered to take you."

He offered? He fucking offered to take me after all that's happened? He's literally avoided me for more than a week and now he just offers to drive me multiple hours and help me pack my stuff up? What kinda bullshit is he playing?

"So, is that alright with you? It's okay if you're not. I know that you don't know him well, but-" Lukas starts, but I cut him off with a shake of the head.

"No, that's fine with me."

I try not to sound annoyed or excited – because even if I'm mad, I still have a major crush on him and I don't see that going away anytime soon – because that would definitely make Lukas suspicious. I have a feeling that he might have some idea about my sexuality just because he seems like the type of person to just know things about people, but he hasn't said anything. I think even if he does know about me, he won't ever say anything until I bring it up, which I'm grateful for. Even if I know he'll be okay with it because Paige is and Javi's apparently gay – or some other sexuality, I don't know – I still need to mentally prepare myself to tell him.