"He definitely wants to sleep with you," he taunts.
"Excuse me?" I look at him weirdly, "What are you even talking about."
"The way he touched your arm. That's what people do when they wanna fuck someone." He looks down at his paper and continues to...
"Can we go to the rich neighborhoods now?" Finn asks from ahead of us.
"Sí, we've been around the houses a million times," Sofía adds.
"Okay, we can go back to the house," Lavender offers and we all turn around and walk back to where she said.
Harper follows back to Lav and her sister as Finn comes up to me. "Do you think we can trick or treat alone?"
"What? Me and you?" I wonder.
"No, Sofía and I."
"You? And a girl? All alone on the 'scariest' night of the year? I don't think so, buddy." I pat his shoulder.
"Why does it matter? You hang out with Lavender all the time alone?"
"Why— what? Why does that matter?" I laugh.
"You're a boy, she's a girl. Lavender's pretty, Sofia's pretty. It correlates pretty well," Finn sasses.
"Well you guys are like twelve and practically, we're legally adults. How does that correlate?"
He groans.
"I'll let you guys walk ahead and we'll follow way behind, how about that?"
"Fine," he mumbles.
I smile and shake the plastic firefighter hat on his head.
"Hey, do you want to take my Mom's car? It has eight seats. Plus the car seat for Giselle," I turn around and offer.
They all nod and we end up at my house soon enough. I go inside real quick for the keys.
"Done already?" my Mom asks as I come in the door.
"No, I was just wondering if I could borrow your keys, please? Finn wants to go to the mansions."
She takes a moment and looks at me over at the kitchen island. "Okay, be safe then. I love you."
"I love you." I smile and grab her keys hanging off the wall.
I come out of the house to see Lavender looking at Sage weirdly as he talks. I can't hear what they're saying but she looks over my way and subtly smiles.
I smile back and unlock the car, scaring Sage and making him scream from the noise. Lavender bursts out laughing and I can't help but grin. She has no idea the effect she has on me.
I start the car and everyone gets in. Finn and Sofía head to the very back, Harper buckles Giselle in her car seat in the second row along with Sage, and Lavender takes the spot upfront.
Backing out of the driveway, I put my arm around the passenger seat to look over my shoulder to see the back window.
Pulling out to the road, I put back my hands on the wheels after lowly turning on the radio. Soon enough, the car erupts in their own conversations.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"You always do," Lavender responds.
"Do you really think I would do that to you?"
"Do what?"
"I mean- I was with you all day yesterday and you thought I called up a random girl to hook up." I glance over at her and she's staring at her lap. I hesitate before reaching over and squeezing her bare knee. "You take up all my attention, Quinn."
I take my hand off her knee and place it on my own. Focusing back on the road, I can't see her expression but through the corner of my eye, I see her look at me.
She turns back away and I smile.
———
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
