Here is Home • The Pack

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"So," Mitch said with a wide grin as Preston slid into the passenger seat beside him. "How was school?!"

Preston grinned over at him, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was good," he answered as Mitch pulled messily out of the airport parking lot in the Chevvy that their dad apparently had never taken back. "Hard work, but I love it."

"You're such a nerd," his brother was smirking.

Preston hadn't actually seen Mitch in almost three months, since his brother dropped him off at the airport in September.

It was now December 21st, four days before Christmas, and he was going home for the first time since he'd left at the beginning of that year.

He was really, really glad to be back.

Not that he hadn't enjoyed school, because really, he had. It was just he'd missed everyone back home. Especially Mitch, and especially Lachlan.

He'd spoken to Mitch pretty often since he left. One or two texts a day, maybe a phone call over the weekend just to catch up. Preston talked about school, and Mitch talked about his life.

He knew, for example, that Mitch had gotten a job at the old salvage yard just outside of town, and that he was now practically living with Jerome, who was seemingly spending most of his time at their dad's old house with Mitch.

He also knew that aside from coming back once to collect some of his things, Mitch hadn't heard from their father at all. There had been an argument, but Preston was promised that Mitch had taken care of it. Mitch was secretly glad he'd missed it.

But if he'd spoken to Mitch pretty often, then it was nothing compared to how much time he'd spent talking to Lachlan.

The guy's name was always at the top of his 'recent messages' list. When he wasn't texting Lachlan he was either asleep, in the shower, or in an exam.

It actually reached a point where his friends had started to become suspicious.

"You know Preston," his friend Charlie had teased him one night as they were sat curled up on the couch watching Game of Thrones, Preston's phone in his hand; "I'm starting to think you lied to me, and you do have a secret girlfriend back home you're not telling any of us about."

Preston remembered laughing and smacking her lightly on the arm.

Then there was the other time when Pj had grabbed his phone out of his hand during class.

"Oh shit bro I'm sorry, I thought you were texting a girl. Who's Lachlan?" He'd asked curiously, but Preston had snatched it back before he could read any further.

"Family friend," he had muttered as he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Unlike Mitch, who talked to Preston about the big things that were going on in his life, Preston and Lachlan talked about little stuff. Stupid stuff. Stuff like what to have for dinner, or what the weather was like, or how Preston's work was going.

They talked about stars, too, because for some reason Lachlan had suddenly really got into astrology and star signs and all that teenage girl shit. When Preston had pointed this out Lachlan had gotten offended and immediately blamed Jess, which Preston knew was complete bullshit, but he'd said nothing.

Only once had Preston asked about how his 'job' was going, but Lachlan had shut him down so fast that Preston was afraid to ask again.

They hadn't discussed their relationship properly since the last time they saw each other, but Preston kind of assumed that they were in a weird kind of long-distance almost-relationship thing, and he knew that Lachlan probably did too.