“Ryan, it’s been two weeks,” I playfully rolled my eyes and yanked hard on the metal lever.
“You ask me this every day.”
He chuckled, sliding his backpack higher onto his shoulder. “I can’t help it. You had me worried.” Ryan paused, staring out into the hallway for half a second. “But you are okay, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I insisted. “I’m fine.” He was never going to forgive me for dropping him off after the dance and battling evil without him. A cold shiver went down my back at the thought. What if he had gone with me? Ryan may never have made it out of there. The fears he stored in his mind were permanent and left marks of their existence. Still, I had called him the Sunday after, to fill him in. Actually, I would have called him Saturday, but I slept the entire day.
“So what’s the news?”
“My aunt is officially my guardian. Social Services called first thing this morning,” he said with a grin.
“Ryan, that’s great! Your aunt seems really nice; you’ll be in good hands.” I let out an involuntary chuckle.
“What’s so funny?”
Clearly, he was overlooking the irony.
“Well, it’s just that when I lost my guardian angel, you stood in; now it seems you’re being rewarded with your own.”
“Yeah, she’s already feeling comfortable in her new role. She made me homemade biscuits and canadian bacon at the crack of dawn this morning.
And my laundry is always folded on my bed. Weird.”
He was already reveling in his new life and deserved to be taken care of. I could only hope the years of abuse would become a bad dream of the past.
“You know,” he whispered, leaning in closer as I shut my locker for the day. “She even hugs me. For no reason. Just because.”
“You need lots of hugs, Ryan. Hugs are good for you.”
Ryan smiled, agreeing. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he knew it too.
“So, Garreth is back, huh?” I followed his eyes down the hall to see my blonde-haired angel making long strides toward us.
“He is.”
“And … Hadrian?”
I looked down at my shoe and bit my lip, feeling an unexpected catch in my throat.
“Sorry, Teagan, I know what you went through must have been hard.”
I looked up into his eyes just as Garreth was upon us and nodded.
“Back to normal, right?” Garreth said softly while flashing a smile at Ryan. Once upon a time, they would have been enemies, but not today.
“I’m still getting used to normal.” Ryan turned to me. “Just so you know, I’m still keeping my day job. Can’t give it up yet. Catch up with you later, Tea.
See you, Garreth.”
I watched my friend walk away to his next class. It was nice to finally acknowledge that. My friend.
Garreth looked at me curiously. “Day job?”
“You may have competition; he’s the best watch dog around,” I said with a smile. “I just think he’s afraid of losing me, like he did Claire.”
Garreth understandingly slipped his warm hand into mine.
“So how did you make out on the calculus test?”
“Can you believe I aced it? I didn’t even study. Actually this morning, I didn’t even remember that I had a test today.”
A smile spread across Garreth’s perfectly angular face. “See, now you’re the one with infinite knowledge.”
We rounded the corner past the locker quad at the far end the hall, when Brynn came barreling into the two of us. She was giddy and bubbly.
“Did you see it? It’s huge and perfect! I got to help pick it out!”
Scores of fellow students were walking past and lingered around to hear more. Number one, seeing Brynn excited was unusual. Seeing her share that excitement with me was mind blowing.
“I did, actually. You did an amazing job; it’s breathtaking.” I was trying to ignore the crowd of rubberneckers, especially the three standing against the water fountain. Brynn completely brushed off the fact that not only was she making a spectacle in front of half the student body, but she wasn’t sharing her juicy news with her old friends at all.
Sage, Lauren and Emily’s eyes widened in the same high, disbelieving arc, but neither came over to ask what the commotion was about. That’s alright. Let them wonder. After all, a rumor is more fun to spread when you don’t have the story straight.
“Okay, so you’re coming over today, right?” Brynn’s arm linked through mine as Garreth and I began our trek out to the parking lot.
“Yeah, sure. You’re getting a baking lesson, right?”
Brynn’s face lit up as she thought about the afternoon ahead. “She’s going to teach me how to make those lemon bars of hers.”
My mouth couldn’t help watering at the thought of my mother’s lemon bars. It was heaven in a little yellow square when you bit into one of those. I could just picture the happiness oozing out of my mom’s entire being knowing that Brynn was genuinely interested in learning how to bake one of her top secret recipes. I quietly calculated the lesson in my head. With Brynn and my mom in the kitchen, that would give me approximately twenty minutes to speak with Nate. As Brynn was excited about the time she was going to spend with my mom making a delectable dessert, I was equally looking forward to Nate finally showing me the contents of his ever-secretive journal.
“You know,” Brynn paused, eyeing the two of us. “You really are good for each other.” Then she bounded off, waving goodbye.
“Hellooo—earth to Teagan.” Garreth stopped me and took my face in his hands.
“Oh, sorry, just thinking.”
“It’s a lot isn’t it?”
“Overwhelming.”
“The fact that your mother has agreed to marry Dr. Dean, or the fact that he’s about to share some information?”
“Both, I guess. You know he’s been filling her in, little by little. He’s shown her the journal.”
His Jeep Wrangler was a few parking spaces away, and for some reason, I couldn’t get there fast enough.