It was never effortless to love Aaron Warner. He was a difficult teenage boy who seemed to forget a lot of the time that that was what he was-a teenage boy. He'd always felt that loving or even caring for him would be impossible for all the world to...
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I STARE AT the table. I haven't touched my food yet and I don't think I will this morning. I didn't even listen to Taylor Swift when I went to the gym this morning. Then again, that isn't exactly a big deal—I've only just begun going to the gym every morning and I think I've had enough already.
I just can't stop worrying about Aaron. Wait. No, Warner. Warner. And I'm not worrying about him, but about what Castle found out about us and the way that he hasn't looked at me normally in the last few hours since our discussion. I don't like upsetting people and I don't like making them feel like I'm an untrustworthy person. Not only that, but I hate lying unless I deem it absolutely necessary. And now that Castle claimed that I was basically a terrible person for having lied, I genuinely feel like it.
"Hey, Mar," someone behind me says, right before they place their hand on my back. When I turn slightly I see that it's Isaac, Juliette, Adam and Kenji. Isaac and Kenji go to sit beside me, leaving me in the middle, all whilst Juliette and Adam move to sit across from us.
"You okay?" Kenji asks.
I nod.
"But you haven't eaten your cereal," Isaac says, his forehead frowning in concern.
I blink at him, mildly irritated. "Don't talk to me like that, it makes me sound like a four year old or something."
Isaac's eyebrows fly up.
Kenji laughs dryly. "Someone's touchy."
I shrink back a little. "Sorry. That was rude."
Isaac won't stop looking at me like I'm someone else. "You're good, don't worry."
Juliette nudges my leg under the table. "Are you sure you're alright?"
I nod again but I know, too, that I look totally unconvincing. But whatever. As long as they don't ask me again, 'cause like I said, I hate lying. Especially to those I love.
"What the hell is this?" Kenji interrupts my train of thoughts, gesturing between Adam and Juliette, who are unusually close right now. "You guys playing footsie under the table or someshit?"
Adam moves away from her, just an inch or two, and exhales a deep, irritated sigh. "You know, if you don't like it, you can leave." He nods at the tables around us. "No one asked you guys to sit here."
"That's bullshit and you know it," Kenji says. "I told you this morning that I had to sit with you guys. Castle wants me to help the two of you adjust. And that includes Mar and Isaac, okay?"
Isaac snorts. Nods in Juliette's direction. "Listen, I don't have a clue what you see in this guy," he says, "but you should try living with him. The man is moody as shit."
"I am not moody—"
"Yeah, bro." Kenji puts his utensils down. "Isaac's right, you are moody. It's always 'Shut up, Kenji.' 'Go to sleep, Kenji.' 'No one wants to see you naked, Kenji.' When I know for a fact that there are thousands of people who would love to see me naked—"
