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“She’s going to snap soon,” Braxton said as Sebastian stood up before that could happen, only to go still when he spotted Uncle Jason stepping between Mikey and the girls and gestured for her to join him in line.
“Yes, she is,” Sebastian murmured softly as he sat down, watching as Uncle Jason followed Mikey in line and began grabbing items for her and placing them on her tray.
“You know what else she’s going to do?” Jonathan asked, sounding thoughtful.
“Look the other way when I finally snap and shove you in front of oncoming traffic?” Sebastian asked as he shifted his gaze from Mikey as she made her way through the line to the teenage girls determined to make her life a living hell.
“Probably,” Jonathan murmured as he took in the way that Nicole watched Mikey’s every move before glancing back at Mikey as she took her time selecting a slice of pie only to have Uncle Jason place two slices of pumpkin pie on her tray. “But I was thinking that she was going to start wondering why you look like you’re going to be sick every time that you look at her.”
Because he had no idea how he was supposed to talk to her anymore, which was absolutely killing him since Mikey was the one person that he could talk to about absolutely anything. But he couldn’t talk to her about this and god, he’d tried. For the past three months, he’d struggled to come up with the words that would make this easier, but every time he opened his mouth to tell her how he felt…
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing came out, leaving him standing there, staring helplessly at her as he struggled not to panic, while Mikey would simply stand there, blinking up at him as she slowly nodded and mumbled, “Good talk,” before she went back to doing whatever it was that she’d been doing. He just…
He just needed more time.
* * *
“Stay out of trouble, Miss Campbell,”Uncle Jason drawled as Mikey dropped down in her chair, only to sigh a few seconds later when he plucked a slice of pumpkin pie off her tray and made his way to the teacher’s table.
That was followed by Jonathan and Cole helping themselves to the other slice of pie, her roll, a bite of her cranberry sauce, and her chocolate milk. When they were done, Mikey grabbed her fork and took a bite of mashed potatoes, absently noting that it wasn’t as good as her mother’s while she watched Chloe slam a cup of apple cider on the table in front of Cole with a look that dared him to say something about it.
That was followed by Chloe dropping down in her chair, grabbing her fork and-
Mikey watched as Chloe tightened her hand around the fork as her eyes narrowed on the teenage boy who was clearly enjoying screwing with her head when he finished off the cup of cider and shoved it back in front of her with an absently murmured, “Thanks.”
Wondering just how long it would take before Chloe snapped, Mikey took another bite of mashed potatoes as she watched Chloe snatch the empty cup off the table, shove her chair back and storm off. That probably wasn’t going to end well, Mikey thought as she glanced back at Cole to find him watching Chloe with a look in his eye that had her wondering why he was trying to piss off the girl who he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off.
“You might want to rethink whatever you’re up to,” Mikey said, taking another bite as she glanced at Sebastian and once again found him staring helplessly at her.
She could handle the glaring, but this whole thing with him staring at her, looking like he was going to be sick at any moment was really starting to concern her. She considered asking him what was wrong only to decide against it when she remembered what happened the last time that she made that mistake.
The incoherent muttering and panicked look that he got in his eye before she was forced to hunt down a cupcake and shove it down his throat to calm him down had unnerved her a bit there. After that, Mikey decided that perhaps it was in her best interest to let him tell her whatever it was that he needed to tell her when he was ready.
“She adores me,” Cole said as she shifted her attention to Braxton, noting that he was once again ignoring her. Wondering why the teenage boys in her life seemed to go out of their way to make everything more difficult than it needed to be, Mikey opened her mouth only to end up frowning when she caught the look on Jonathan’s face as his gaze shifted between her and Sebastian.
Wondering about that, Mikey glanced at Sebastian to find him glaring at his brother and mouthing, “I will kill you,” as his grip tightened around his tray until the backs of his knuckles turned white. She should probably be concerned about that, but at the moment, she had other things on her mind, like the teenage boy who had been avoiding her.
With that, Mikey shifted her attention back to Braxton and simply stared at him until he finally accepted the fact that they were stuck together. For a moment, Braxton didn’t say anything as he ate, but that muscle ticking away in his jaw told her everything that she needed to know.
He was finally about to break.
It had taken a few months, but that was fine because she knew sooner or later that he would finally break and now…
“God, you’re a pain in my ass,” Braxton bit out as he finished off his chocolate milk.
“A pain in the ass that needs an A on her science project,” Mikey said, nodding in agreement as she gestured with a forkful of turkey for him to get on with it.
“We can do this over email,” Braxton said, shrugging it off.
“How exactly are we supposed to do a science project that we have yet to decide over email?” Mikey asked, blinking at the stubborn teenage boy who seemed to be going out of his way to avoid doing this project for some reason.
“Fine. Then, we’ll do it at your house,” Braxton muttered with a heavy sigh as he ripped his roll in half and took a bite.
“You want to do a science project at my house where four little boys under the age of three, two of them making it their life’s purpose to get into everything, roam free? That’s really where you want to do something that will most likely involve wires and other shiny objects?” Mikey asked, blinking at Braxton as his eyes narrowed dangerously on her.
“Then, we can do it here after school,” Braxton bit out.
