Page 27 of After All This Time

“I mean you’ve known him longer, but let me take this one. You deserve a break,” Xander says as he stretches his arm to pat Grayson on the back.

Grayson crosses his arms over his broad chest and gets up to move his chair against the wall. He leans against the concrete wall. “Take it away, man.”

Xander gets up and moves his chair on the left side of me against the wall. Now, I’m in the middle of these two dumbasses.

“I know I just met Dani, but I’ve heard you talk about her non-stop throughout high school. You guys weren’t even talking anymore by the time we became friends. From what I just witnessed here today, I can say with confidence that you, Noah Matthew Kaplan, are undeniably in love with this woman.”

I stare off into the distance ahead, my mouth partially open and my eyebrows furrowing to express my annoyance. I close my mouth and whip my head in Xander’s direction.

My annoyance shifts into laughter, vibrating down to my stomach. “You literally just met her. How are you so confident about this? Wait, I see what’s going on here. Did Grayson put you up to this shit?”

A small smile appears on Xander’s face. “No, he didn’t. It’s just an observation I made.”

Just an observation, my ass.

“Let’s change the subject. You told us everything that happened. You didn’t tell us exactly what happened to your dad. Does the doctor know how it happened?” Grayson takes in what he said and rephrases. “Sorry, that didn’t come out right. What I meant was?—”

I cut him off. “I know what you meant. Dr. Miller told us his organs shut down due to the impact of the accident. Some asshole side-swiped them,” I say with a straight face, feeling my insides crushing piece by piece.

Xander walks over to me, arms spreading out until they wrap around me. At first, it makes me uncomfortable since I’m not the biggest fan of physical touch. Not right now anyway. But, I don’t mind it.

I hate when I’m in situations that are beyond my control.

I freeze with my arms pinned straight down both sides of my body. Eventually, I defrost my frozen, cold-hearted exterior and sink into the embrace. Our hands lightly pat each other’s backs.

Grayson is standing there with this sickeningly sweet expression written all over his face, tilting his head to the left and nodding.

“You’re an idiot,” I say.

Grayson smiles at me, laughing. “Hate to break it to you, but we’re both idiots. We're founding members of The Idiot Club.”

“Hey, why am I not a part of The Idiot Club?” Xander is appalled at the idea that he wouldn’t be considered a founding member.

I beat Grayson before he can say something sarcastic and dumb. “You’ve always been a part of it. You just don’t want to accept it.”

I pull away from Xander’s hug and give him a playful punch below his left shoulder.

Xander rolls his eyes. “Oh, shut the hell up.”

“Okay, we’ve made it abundantly clear we’re all proud members,” I tell the guys. “I have to go home and pack. Celia wants me to stay at the house with Dani because she doesn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone.”

“I’m sorry. Come again. Dani’s mom wants you to stay with her? At her house?” Grayson’s tone is full of sarcasm.

I roll my eyes. “Yes, dipshit.”

“Oh, this is going to be interesting,” Xander adds.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I say.

“Look at you with your big boy words. You really are a writer, aren’t you? Aren’t you?” Grayson rushes over to me, scratching the top of my head like I’m a human-sized dog.

Luckily, Xander comes to my rescue and I’m able to escape Grayson’s grasp.

Slapping Grayson’s wrist, I proceed to fix my hair and try to put certain tendrils back into place afterward. “You really are an idiot.”

“Haven’t we already established this?” Grayson puts his top lip over his bottom one, shrugging his shoulders.

“I don’t know if Lizzie’s going to wake up, and I don’t want to miss it if it happens.” My thoughts come out as one messy sentence.

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