Page 33 of Can't Help Falling

He almost laughed as both pairs of eyes brightened at the exact same moment. They were obviously ready to get outta Dodge.

“Kylie, why don’t you use that Lyft account I set you up with? No need to fight the trains at this hour.”

“Cool.” She ordered the car, Tyler helping her to decide which entrance to have it pick them up at, and then they were up. Fin was just scooting past him when Tyler tapped her wrist. She looked down at him.

“You mind staying at the house until I get back? Shouldn’t be later than 11:30.”

“Of course.” She couldn’t hide her obvious pleasure at the request.

“Thanks.”

She was moving past him again and he used the wrist-tapping method once more.

“And thanks for dinner.”

ONTHEWAYHOME, Fin noticed Kylie messing around with the Google Maps app on her phone, tracking their blue dot of movement.

“Figuring out how it all fits together?”

“Yeah,” Kylie said, absently looking up. “The neighborhoods are still pretty confusing to me.”

Fin tapped Kylie’s phone. “I used to do that too. When I first moved here. Only I used maps I printed off from the library computers, not a phone.”

Kylie clicked her phone off. “You’re not from here?”

“You couldn’t tell by the southern accent?”

“Oh. Right.” Kylie went a little pink in the cheeks. “Duh. I guess since Via, Seb and Tyler were all born here, I just assumed.”

“Actually,” the driver cut in from the front seat, “it’s pretty rare to find born and bred Brooklynites. Most people are transplants.”

“I can tell from your accent,” Fin said with a grin, “that you are not a transplant.”

“Nah, Bed-Stuy for life, baby.”

Kylie and Fin grinned at one another at the pride in the man’s voice.

“So, where in the south are you from?”

“Louisiana. I moved up here to live with my aunt when I was about your age.”

“Ohhhhh,” Kylie said. “It’s all making sense now. I just figured you were secretly into Ty or something.”

Fin frowned. “Uh, what?”

Kylie waved her hand in the air, though her cheeks were pink, like maybe she’d said a little too much. “I just wondered why you were hanging out with us. And I guess I just thought it was because you liked Ty. But now I get it. You’re hanging out with me because our situations are kind of similar.”

“I...” Fin was a little stymied. “I like spending time with you,” she eventually said. “I guess I just figured I knew how you might be feeling, getting dropped in the middle of Brooklyn with an unexpected family member to take care of you. I had my aunt and then Via to help me figure it all out, so I wanted you to have someone too.”

Kylie looked up from her phone. “I have Tyler.”

“That’s true.”

“But he can be pretty ridiculous sometimes. The man arranges his remote controls by size. He Swiffers literally every day.”

“Neat freak?”

“The freakiest.”

---