Page 44 of Losing the Rhythm

“Why are you guys doing this?”

Paxon took a moment to respond. “Why not is probably the real question. Give me one good reason we shouldn’t be doing this?”

That sounded more like a challenge.

“We should be studying for midterms.”

“We’ll burn out if we don’t take breaks to have some fun. Then our minds will be sluggish during exams, we won’t be able to think clearly enough and end up doing really bad.”

“I need to work. Not go out on a bunch of friendates.”

“Same reason. You need a break. To not think about the things that are stressing you out. If you keep working as you have, you’ll crash hard. You’re only seventeen, you shouldn’t be thinking about overworking yourself.”

“It’s dangerous. Just not long ago, the Ryder gang was looking for me.”

“And from the updates you received, they have all been apprehended. And the police have so much on them that they can’t even get out on bail. No one is after you. You’re safe now.” Paxon squeezed my hand. “You can’t hide forever. You have to keep living. Prove to them they didn’t win.”

“But—”

“Okay, enough, Cadence. Just admit that you failed and we’ll continue to take you out on these dates.”

I sighed. “It can’t be a date.” That word still felt weird.

“Why not?”

“Are we going to play that game again?”

Paxon sighed. “Friendate. Sorry, friendate. Besides, we’ve gone on dates with each other as guys too.”

“You and them. Dates?” I tried to process what he was saying.

“Yeah. Sometimes, one of us will kidnap the other and take them out, especially if they’re stressed. The one-on-one time helps us when we’re trying to process something. Hanging out together is fun and we all love each other. But there are times when that isn’t what we need.”

“And so you’re doing the same with me.” I thought I was finally understanding. They were calling it dates, but it was also them helping.

“You’ve had a lot going on. Just enjoy this time with us individually. We all want to spoil you. Give you something to smile about. There’s no escaping it, so just roll with it. Let us take care of you a little bit.”

I bit my lip and looked over at the bakery we were about to enter. “I feel like all you guys do is take care of me.”

“And we feel like you don’t let us do enough for you.”

Paxon’s words echoed through my head as we went inside, and Paxon bought two dozen apple cider donuts and two spiced hot apple ciders.

They wanted to take care of me. I thought I was being a burden, but Paxon basically just told me to let them do more.

Could I do that? Lean on them more?

Was that okay?

Chapter Thirteen

“So, how does this work?” I asked Seth as we set up the living room. He was covering all the surfaces and floor with cut open garbage bags.

“We carve pumpkins. Toby makes a mess. Justin helps me with cleaning the seeds. He likes toasted pumpkin seeds.”

“And you said this isn’t our friendate?”

“Nope. Once everyone is done, I’m kicking them out and taking you somewhere a little more romantic.”

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