Dangerous Play

24 » open invitations

"...right? Abby?"

I blinked, and the wooden library table came back into focus. Maddox gave me a concerned look. "Are you okay? You seem distracted."

"Yeah, I'm good. Just spaced out for a sec." I was a terrible tutor today. Maddox had already corrected me twice, and I was supposed to be the one helping him. I glanced at the notes and textbooks scattered across the table and tried to remember what we were talking about. "So, transcription is the process where DNA is converted to RNA."

"We... kind of already covered that. We're on translation now," Maddox pointed out, though not unkindly. Make that three times. His dark eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure you're okay? Is... is it about Finn?"

I actually hadn't been thinking about my bone-headed brother, but the reminder sent a spark of anger shooting through my veins. Finn was still ignoring me. He had even gone so far as to tell me to leave him the hell alone, which, of course, made me want to do anything but. "Finn's just being his usual annoying, dramatic self. He'll get over it. Anyway, translation is when the mRNA gets translated into amino acids for protein synthesis."

Maddox scribbled that down in a notebook, then looked up again. "I think he's just hurt."

"What, that I have a life and don't have to tell him everything I do?"

"All I know is that he seemed more upset than angry when he talked to me on Saturday, but I was also, uh, not really paying attention."

I could read between the lines of that one. "Nice. So everyone was drunk out of their minds at this party. I'm surprised there wasn't a fistfight."

"You mean like when that skinny guy tried to punch Cairo at prom last year for supposedly hitting on his girlfriend?"

"To be fair, Cairo probably was hitting on his girlfriend." That was Cairo Ashford in a nutshell. Thrower of parties, provider of contraband material, and shameless pickup artist. Like Chuck Bass, but less evil. "Or when Felicity almost tripped into the DJ?" After pregaming too hard for prom, of all things. I was amazed Felicity hadn't gotten caught by the teachers prowling the edges of the room and looking for suspicious students.

"Yeah, and you and Rose ended up carrying her out of the dance while pretending she twisted her ankle." Maddox shook his head with a grin. "That was a fun night."

Judging by the silence that followed, I knew we were both thinking of the same thing. His face flushed bright red. "I didn't mean it that way— well, it was fun, but—" He cut himself off with an awkward laugh. "Sorry, I'll just stop talking now."

To my surprise, the familiar pang of regret didn't hit me at the memory of how things used to be between Maddox and me. I had spent months resigning myself to getting over the idea of what we had almost been. What changed?

Kieran.

The realization hit me like a razor scooter to the ankle. Or a soccer ball to the face. Somehow, the fake relationship with my brother's best friend had helped me get over something I didn't even know I was struggling with. Kieran and I had gotten close, sure, and he knew about my past, but that didn't explain anything. Rose and Felicity fit those criteria too, and yet it wasn't until recently that everything had changed.

But what did that mean? I felt like a donkey chasing a carrot on a stick. The answer was dangling right in front of me, and yet I couldn't find it.

Whatever. I would figure this out later. I smiled at Maddox, maybe a little too brightly, but he seemed to relax. "No worries. We should probably get back to studying, anyway."