The Sight (bxb)

Chapter 84 - A Little Better Again

"You got a crush on your friend's mom?" Josh seemed troubled by the information, but Angie didn't make anything of it and just nodded with a big smile.

"So you introduced them to Lola?" Aiden asked, his tone somehow accusatory. However, they all pretended not to notice his tone and decided to take it as an innocent question.

"Michael was taking us to school since we were sleeping over at his house. We had a spot in the car, so we took Lola," Angie immediately seized on the explanation.

"So does he live in your neighbourhood?" Kieran asked, and only he and Evan knew there was more behind his question.

"He does," Evan answered this time, and for a moment their gazes met. Kieran could see the seriousness in his eyes, and Evan couldn't imagine what he must be thinking after what he'd once revealed to him.

Silence fell again. However, Evan didn't dare point out that it was embarrassing or tell everyone to pull together since he knew it was really all his fault.

"This is really embarrassing," Angie assessed, leaning back comfortably against the tree, as satisfied as she could be that she'd said it out loud.

"We didn't have to do this," Aiden muttered. Despite his reluctance to be there, he was still here, and apparently, that meant he hadn't completely abandoned his friends, no matter how hard he tried to pretend otherwise.

"We didn't have to," Kieran confirmed. "But I don't know about you, but I've missed our crew quite a lot."

"Our little pack," Angie remarked quietly, a small smile appearing on her face. Despite the fact that everyone had heard her, and everyone knew it wasn't a typical way to call a bunch of friends, no one protested the designation.

"It was weird not hearing anyone complain about Social Studies," Josh remarked with a smirk, and Evan immediately made eye contact with an expression that said he knew exactly what he was trying to do.

"Social Studies are useless," was his short reply. But even that was enough to put a small nostalgic smile on everyone's face. Even Aiden looked less tense.

"Not as useless as your bickering over everything." Josh's gaze flicked from Evan to Angie, making it clear to everyone to whom his comment was directed.

"Just so you know," Angie caught on right away, "we're not arguing at all anymore."

"That's pretty hard to believe," Kieran interjected.

"What can I say, we've grown up," Angie replied dramatically, grabbing her hand to her chest.

"That's a joke, right?" Aiden raised an eyebrow critically, and it was hard to tell from his tone if he meant it as a joke, but everyone decided to take it that way.

"It is. You should've seen what she did when she lost at UNO," Evan teased, and Angie glared at him in return.

"Please tell me you didn't overreact when you lost at UNO," Lola interjected, looking at her best friend, who managed to cross her arms over her chest in offence.

"She lost every single game," Evan added the important information with a wry grin.

"It was just a coincidence," she said in her defence, making everyone laugh.

This was obviously the turning point that made the atmosphere between them finally relax. They were all still hesitant about what to say next, but their shoulders dropped, and the initial tension was gone.

"We should play a game too," Lola suddenly suggested, and although she looked confident in her declaration, the others appeared confused.

"What game?" Angie asked at once.