The Academy In My Head

Fading into Fall

For Brittany... AKA rosebud024 :)

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I looked up when there was a light knock on the door. "What?"

The door creaked open and I mentally made a note to talk to North or Silas about putting something on the hinges. Those were annoying! Kota popped his head in the door. "Hey sweetie."

"Hi Kota." I put my bookmark in my book and sat up on the window seat. "Come on in." I said, happy to see him. It had been a crazy week of assignments for everyone and he'd been on one of the longer ones. I hadn't seen him since last week. "I'm glad to see you. I missed you." I said, leaning into him as he settled on the window seat next to me and I inhaled his spicy scent before kissing his cheek.

"I missed you too." He said, putting an arm around me and turning me slightly. He smiled and bent his head closer to mine, his lips brushing mine with a light kiss. "Are you busy today?"

"I don't think so. I was just reading. I don't have any assignments today. Sean said I couldn't."

"Oh, he did?" Kota raised an eyebrow at me before pushing his glasses up with one finger. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." I hedged.

"Sang..."

I squirmed in my seat. "It wasn't anything bad."

He sighed softly. "You're not grounded, are you?"

I scrunched my face up, thinking about it. "No, he didn't ground me, he would have told all of you if I was grounded." I said.

He smiled. "Very good point and there have been no text messages about grounding our favorite bird. So, what did you do?"

"I ... I made the mistake of getting off a roof in front of him." I finally admitted.

Kota went still and raised an eyebrow at me again. "Something tells me it wasn't the roof of a dog house or shed..." He said.

I squirmed under the weight of his arm. "No..." I murmured. "It was off a tree house." I admitted. "What's done is done though. He was there, you weren't so he didn't ground me and no one else can either." I said defiantly, jutting my chin out as I glared up at him, daring him to say something.

He shook his head at me. "You've got to be careful with that stuff. You know it isn't good for anyone's blood pressure." He said before beeping me on the nose. "Fine. He didn't ground you but if you did that in front of Mr. B or North, you'd be lucky to be wandering around without bubble wrap or just plain wandering around in general."

"I know." I said with a sigh. "What did you want to do today?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd just come hang out with me. I've got a few surprises up my sleeve if you're in." He smiled. "I'll give you to the count of ten..." He said.

I laughed.

"One.... Two...."

"I'm in!" I cut him off and leaned in to kiss him quickly. "I should just change though. Give me a hint?" I asked.

He pressed his lips against mine again before pulling away. "Dress for outdoors. Jeans, boots..." He shrugged. "I'm not as picky as Gabriel." He said with a smile. "We'll be outside for a while, okay?"

"Okay. Give me 15 minutes." I said as I got up from the window seat and he did too, leaving my room but not before I'd had a chance to admire his body ... specifically how well he looked from behind in jeans.

All my boys looked just fine in practically everything.

And over the past year, I'd come to appreciate certain aspects of them in things they didn't usually wear. Like jeans, for instance. Kota, Owen, Victor and Sean didn't wear jeans as often as the others. It was a rare treat for my viewing pleasure.