The Boy with the Violet Eyes

27

"Beau." Kamri answers, snapping her fingers.

"Beau?" I repeat with a raised brow. "Does his last name happen to be 'Peep', and does he own any sheep?"

Kamri guffaws and Octavia bites her lips to hold back her own laughs.

"Alright, alright," Octavia starts with a small smile as Kamri calms down. "So what's your idea?"

"I was thinking we get Lucas to go to prom with whoever he likes." Kamri explains before turning to me. "So, Māori Penelope Garcia, think you can find out if Beau Peep likes guys?"

"Okay, first of all, duh. I can find out anything." I point at her. "And two, you're both stupid. We already know Beau likes guys."

They both stare at me in confusion.

"How the hell do we know that?" Octavia questions.

I roll my eyes. "He literally slept with Luke at that party."

Both of their eyebrows shoot so far up their foreheads they basically blend in with the hair.

"Lucas slept with Beau?!" Kamri almost screams. "I thought he did it with that kid from our first semester Home Ec class!"

"Thomas?" I give her an offended look on behalf of Lucas. "Thomas is not his type."

"Oh."

"And Thomas tried—didn't work out because Beau swept in and saved Luke's damsel ass before Thomas could try to flirt some more." I recollect the events from the party. "Terrible flirting, by the way. On a scale of one to ten—brussel sprouts. I almost shoved my foot up his ass just to get him to stop talking for two seconds."

"Okay," Octavia nods. "So, Beau is bi? Because he had a girlfriend last year, if I'm not wrong."

I take a piece of chocolate from the block that's sitting on Kamri's bedside table, popping it in my mouth. "Pansexual, actually."

"How do you know that?" Kamri asks me.

"He told me."

She gives me a look. "You've had a conversation with him, yet you didn't know his name up until two minutes ago?"

I shrug. "Just because I talk to people, doesn't mean I know their names."

"Okaaayyy, anyway," Octavia trails off, leaning back in the chair. "I just need to get Lucas and Beau to go to prom together?"

"Pretty much." Kamri claps her hands together, shifting into a lying position.

"Are you sure we should meddle?" I chew on the inside of my cheek.

Octavia and Kamri both whip their heads around to look at me and I swear they almost got whiplash.

"Bitch, I know you ain't talking!" Octavia scoffs, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, you meddle all the time!" Kamri adds. "You locked Flynn and Tavi in a room together two weeks ago!"

"Yeah, and look how that turned out!" I exclaim, throwing my hands out in front of me to emphasise my point. "Flynn hates Octavia!"

"He hates me?!"

Oh, Lord.

"No, dumbass! I was exaggerating!" I yell at her. "He's just slightly, very mad at you right now."

"Oh my God, Winnie—"

"OKAY!" Kamri cuts us off before we can start arguing. "Octavia, don't meddle. We don't need another shitshow. Just encourage him to ask Beau to prom. But don't talk to Beau—don't go near Beau at all, got it?"

"Got it." Octavia nods, rolling the chair back and forth again. "Now, how do I ask Flynn to prom and apologise at the same time? I need to fix things with him before I do something stupider and he ends up in a true crime documentary."

I snort. "Girl, you might as well make amends with the whole world while you're at it."

My sister doesn't bother saying anything, she just flips me off.

Kamri shakes her head, laughing slightly before turning to me. "Winnie, you know Flynn best. Provide us with your wisdom."

"Wisdom my ass." Octavia retorts.

I glare at her. "Do you want my help?"

"I'll shut up now."

I hum victoriously before chewing on my bottom lip as I think.

Should I make Octavia embarrass herself on purpose?

No, I'm not that much of an asshole.

...okay, yes I am. But I'll be nice this time.

"He's not really into big gestures. So definitely no promposals of anything." I explain to her, fiddling with a loose thread on Kamri's blanket. "You should just take him out for ice cream or something, apologise, and ask if he'll go to prom with you."

"Okay," she nods. "Sounds easy enough."

"As friends." I emphasise, just as she had a few days earlier.

"As friends." She confirms, picking at her nails.

"If you mess this up, I'll shove my foot up your ass."

Octavia purses her lips. "Do not shove your foot up my ass."

"I will shove my foot up your ass if you fuck this up." I threaten. "I can not deal with any more of Flynn's bitching. Neither can Doni."

"Doni." Kamri huffs a laugh before Octavia can say anything else. "How's that going anyway?"

"We literally just talked about that before we had to deal with Tavi's midlife crisis."

"Midlife crisis—I'm seventeen! Almost eighteen!" She exclaims before gesturing to me. "So are you!"

I just shrug, eating more chocolate.

"Yeah, so back to what we were saying earlier—why don't you kiss him."

I start pulling at the loose thread again, my shoulders sagging slightly. "I don't know."

Octavia studies me for a second. "You do know."

Kamri runs a hand through my hair again, nodding at me to go on, and I'm grateful for the comforting touch. Once the mom friend, always the mom friend

"I just don't wanna fuck everything up." I admit, now picking at my lip instead of the blanket. "I don't want him to decide I'm not good enough and walk out on me somewhere down the line."

Octavia's face softens and she pulls my hand away from my face, fiddling with my fingers. "Baby, Adonis isn't ever going to walk out on you, or even dare to think that you aren't good enough. You're literally his favourite person in the world."

I smile slightly. "No, Flynn's his favourite person in the world."

"No, you're his favourite person in the world." Kamri backs Octavia up as she starts running her hands through my hair again. "You don't see him giving Flynn cookies, do you?"

"I guess not." I chuckle shortly.

"Daughters One, Two, and Three!" Uncle Max's voice floats up from the bottom of the stairwell. "Dinner's ready!"

We all laugh softly to ourselves. Trust him to brighten the mood without even meaning to.