Page 47 of Akarnae

All at once, they began to make their excuses.

“I’ve just remembered—”

“I told Fitzy I’d—”

“I’m supposed to be meeting—”

The only person who failed to come up with something fast enough was Jordan, who was unable to speak since he’d just taken the last bite of his food when they’d all decided to abandon Alex. He swallowed the considerable mouthful with a grimace and said, quite unconvincingly, “Um, I think I can hear someone calling my name?”

Alex grabbed his arm, leading him forward. “Come on, Sparkie. Just show me where to go and you can leave me there.”

He grumbled something about how unfair his life was and pulled her in the opposite direction. “This way.”

She followed him around a number of shelves, twisting and turning through numerous aisles, before he finally came to a stop. They waited in silence for a few minutes, and the quiet was so uncharacteristic of Jordan that Alex began to worry he was annoyed at having to stay back with her. When she finally looked up at him, she didn’t find the frustrated expression she expected. On the contrary, it seemed like he was fighting a grin.

“What—?” She jumped and only just managed to bite her tongue on a squeal when a hand came to rest on her shoulder a second before Bear stepped into view.

“Took you long enough, mate!” Jordan said, laughing at Alex’s shock.

“I had to make sure they didn’t follow me,” Bear explained. “I actually had to go with them to the food court before doubling back.”

“What are you doing here?” Alex asked, confused by his presence.

Bear looked at Jordan. “You didn’t tell her?”

Jordan laughed again. “Nah. I was having too much fun watching her worry about whether I was mad at her for missing dinner.”

Alex’s mouth dropped. “I was not!”

“Yes, you were,” Jordan said. “You’re so easy to read. You’d think by now you’d be used to the idea that we actually enjoy your company.” He looked at her with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. Then, in a brotherly gesture, he pulled her in for a rough hug. When he let her go he reached a hand upwards and messed with her hair.

Both her friends laughed at her indignant expression, which was highly ineffective since she now looked as if she’d just fallen out of bed.

“Ha ha ha,” she drawled. Annoyed as she was, she still couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“You weren’t actually worried, were you?” Bear asked seriously. “About us not wanting to hang out with you?”

The thoughthadcrossed her mind, but she only shrugged, feeling embarrassed.

“You should talk to us about that stuff, you know,” he told her. “We’re guys, so you have to clue us in from time to time.”

Jordan nodded his head in agreement. Alex didn’t think she’d ever seen either of them so serious before.

“Okay,” she said quietly.

Jordan reached out to tilt her head up, so she had no choice but to make eye contact. “Promise you’ll talk to us whenever you’re worried about something? No matter how big or small you think the problem is?”

“I promise,” she said, looking at them both.

“Good.” He released her chin. “That’s what friends are for.”

“They’re also good for sneaking into secret levels of the library,” Bear said to lighten the mood. “We only have a couple of hours left before curfew, so we should get moving.”

“Right,” Jordan agreed. “What we need is around here somewhere…”

As Jordan thumbed through the collection of books on the shelf closest to them, Alex turned to Bear and said, “I’m still not sure why you had to make sure Connor and Mel didn’t follow you back?”

“Because where we’re going is secret,” Bear replied.

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