Misfits (#2)

46.

Everest.

"Am I going to have to punch you for you to stop staring at me? I've been nice but you're pissing me off." Luca abruptly snaps.

It almost makes me smile. That's the Luca I know. Angry because he's being forced to eat breakfast when he never used to. He has to take care of himself, having undergone a whole major fucking surgery whilst he was gone. Dick. He's looking at the slice of toast like he wants to rip it to shreds.

"Your fault you vanished." I shrug, "Sue me, but seeing a dead man is a bit hard for me to get used to."

"Fuck off with that. You're just pissing me off." He picks up his plate and just as he goes to toss his toast into the bin, he stops at the sound of Ria's voice.

"Try it. And I'll make you pick it out of the bin and eat the scraps." Ria had snapped, turning over the back of the couch to raise an eyebrow at him.

Luca swallows, "But-"

"Try it." She challenges.

He half groans and slowly sets his plate onto the counter again, toast still in tact. He picks it up begrudgingly and takes a bite. When Ria smiles, Luca's lips edge up at the corners like a puppy that's just seen a treat. I've seen this fucker beat dudes until they're bloody and broken. I've also seen him as a ball of fucking lovey mush.

I hear Lola's yipping before I see her, sprinting towards Luca's legs. They have a soft spot for each other, so he turns into mush for the pup too. He picks her up and casually holds her in the crook of his arm whilst eating a slice of toast.

I have to blink a few times to really comprehend it all.

I shake my head and leave him there, walking over to Ria and jumping over the couch to sit besides her. I almost spill her coffee so she sends me daggers.

"You're peppy this morning. Did he not fuck you over the balcony again?" I smirk, stifling a laugh when she tenses.

We'd heard. All of us had heard, the night Luca returned. The whole of New York probably fucking heard.

She slowly turns to glare, "Sometimes I dream of strangling you to death."

"You dream of me?" I gasp.

She looks like she wants to punch me in the face so I grin, looking at the laptop set in her lap. She's browsing schools in the area. Ria's eighteen but she's practically a mother. Benji needs to acclimate to everything and settle into school come September.

"You're looking at private schools?" I cringe.

"I don't know. They're higher rated, and better resources and shit. I need him to be safe. Happy. I'm not sending him to a shitty school with evil little children that prey on the weak." She rambles, fingers fisting her cup of coffee tighter, "Then next thing you know, Benji's a serial killer because he was bullied his whole life. Or worse, he resents me."

"Him hating you is worse than him being a serial killer?" I cock an eyebrow.

She looks at me like I'm stupid, "Yes? You idiot."

"Okay, you think you're maybe overthinking this?" I take the laptop from her, "Benji won't be preyed upon. Me, Luca and Hud will just kill the evil little children before they can get to him." I shrug.

"You don't know children. They can be heathens." She looks outwards, tense.

"What about this one?" I ask, clicking on it, "It looks good enough and it's only a block away from Miguel's new high school. So they can band together and fight the evil little children-"