Unbroken

Chapter 28: Conversations

School ended, and as soon as I exited the building, I breathed a sigh of relief. For the last half of the day, I'd ignored the rumors, wishing they'd just go away. And my concentration was shot. The guys knew I'd kissed all three of them, yet none of them were pissed? Why not? I didn't understand.

A hand touched my shoulder, making me jump and whirl around before I realized it was just Kacen. He wasn't exactly one to randomly touch me, so I raised my brows, silently asking if something was wrong.

His cheeks reddened. "D-d-didn't m-mean to s-scare you. C-called your name and you d-d-didn't respond."

Now it was my turn to blush. "Sorry. I was lost in my own thoughts, I guess."

"You okay?" he asked as we stopped at his car. He popped the trunk, allowing us to both drop our bags inside.

I shrugged, not sure how to respond. Luckily, the last half of my day went better than the first. "No more panic attacks," I felt the need to point out.

He pulled his drumsticks from his back pocket, tapping out a beat against his car. "No one b-bothered you?"

"Not really." I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing the others were here so we could leave.

He thumped one of the sticks against my arm. "N-need a hug?" He held an arm out toward me, letting me make the decision for myself. Tilting my head, I considered him, and he slowly dropped his arm. "Or not."

It wasn't as easy for me to initiate contact, but I wanted to. Stepping into him, I wrapped my arms around his waist. His sticks clicked together as he put them in the same hand, and then he used his free hand to run along the back of my neck, giving me a chill.

"Sorry," he murmured. I could hear the smile in his voice, but what was a bit weird was his lips brushing against the top of my head.

"Did something else happen?" Rook asked in concern as he came up behind me.

"No," Kacen replied as Rook leaned around us to drop his own bag in the trunk.

A hand was placed on my lower back as a fourth bag was placed in the trunk and Kacen pushed away from his car to shut the trunk. Nix pulled me toward the back door. "Sit with me."

It wasn't like I had any other options. Once we were all in the vehicle and headed away from the school, I tucked my feet onto my seat and wrapped my arms around my knees. "Where are we going?"

"M-my house?" Kacen asked.

No one else argued with it, so that's where we went. I sent a text to my dad to let him know where I was, and as soon as we were parked in his driveway, Kacen popped his trunk. We grabbed our backpacks and I followed the guys inside.

Kacen's room was huge, allowing everyone to spread out. I plopped down on his bed, not really sure what to do now. Then Rook brushed his fingers through my hair. "Homework first, and then we can talk."

I wrinkled my nose. It was a good plan, because there was a good chance we wouldn't get around to homework if we chatted first. With a sigh, I emptied my backpack and rolled to my stomach to get started. Surprisingly, Kacen chose to sit next to me with his lower back against my hip. He kicked his shoes off to put his feet on the bed and dragged his bag closer to himself. Within moments, the room was mostly silent as everyone worked on whatever homework they had.

My attention was mostly nonexistent, but I eventually finished the homework I had and put everything back in my bag. At some point, Kacen had made me scoot to one side of his bed so he could lie down, his head resting on my lower back.