“Hi,” she said, smiling at him. Like she was actually happy that he was there.
When he didn’t respond, a flicker of uncertainty showed in her eyes. Maybe she’d realized she shouldn’t be talking to him outside of the group. Because of Blake.
Every time he saw her, he thought of Blake. Of what he’d done to him.
“Hi,” Drew muttered. Unable to be rude and walk away, he pulled out a chair and made a big deal of taking out his math book from his messenger bag. According to the clock on the wall, there was still another twenty-five minutes to go before the others arrived. He needed to catch up on his math. A year of not doing any had meant he’d gotten behind and couldn’t remember all of the formulas he was supposed to know before starting algebra II. He opened his book and tried to focus on working out the equations, except he couldn’t. Ruby was too distracting. He sneaked a glance at her a couple of times, like a moth drawn to a bug zapper. Engrossed in her copy of The Scarlet Letter, she seemed not to notice. On the third time, she looked up and caught him, so he quickly averted his eyes.
She closed the book and tossed it on the table. “Thanks for supporting my idea for the project,” she said, forcing him to look at her.
“That’s okay.” Drew shrugged. “The other ideas were crap, and it beat spending hours staring at plants and bugs.”
Ruby grinned. “Exactly. What’s not to love about my idea? I could think of a lot worse things to do than sit drinking coffee every day.” Her previous awkwardness had disappeared, and it felt like the old Ruby was sitting across from him. The one who’d been his friend.
“It’s more involved than that,” Drew offered, wishing he could shake his own awkwardness.
“I do know that. I’m not a total idiot.” Her gaze flicked upward, a look of mild annoyance crossing her pretty features, even though she was still smiling.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean that you were.” He rubbed the back of his neck, which felt so tense and rigid, he felt more like a wooden puppet than a human. God, would he ever know how to interact with people again without being a socially inept disaster?
“I know.” The corners of Ruby’s mouth turned up, and he realized that she’d been teasing him. It had been so long since anyone had done that, that it had flown right over his head. He could feel the tension gradually easing away from his body when she full-on grinned at him.
Drew resumed his math, but again he couldn’t focus. He wasn’t sure how much Blake had seen the other day in Echoes but was convinced that he wouldn’t want them talking. Drew didn’t want to come between the two of them. Ruby loved her brother, and it would hurt her if something drove a wedge between them.
“What are you working on?” Ruby asked.
Drew looked up from under his eyelashes. “Nothing.” He cleared his throat and then refocused on his book. The numbers in front of his eyes blurred and smashed together, meaningless to him. He used to like math. The logic of it appealed to the way his mind worked. But now, it felt like he’d forgotten everything he was supposed to know about the numbers before him.
“It can’t be nothing. You’ve been frowning and looking puzzled ever since you sat down.” Ruby leaned forward and rested her arms on the table.
“Why are you so interested?” Drew felt drawn to her long, pale, perfect neck. His fingers itched to trace a line from her chin downward, along her collarbone.
Every muscle in his body tensed as he tried to shake off the feeling. She was Blake’s sister, for God’s sake, and definitely off-limits.
“I just wondered if it’s anything I can help with. That’s all,” Ruby replied, chewing thoughtfully on her pen cap, her bottom lip jutting out just slightly to convey that her feelings had been hurt.
It reminded Drew of how she used to act when she’d been a lot younger and couldn’t get her older brother to let her have her own way. She’d have ridiculous girly tantrums, which made Blake and him laugh so much that they had inevitably given in to her demands. She’d really known how to play the both of them.
“Algebra? Really? Math has never been your strong point.” Drew laughed. He couldn’t help it.
“How do you know?” Ruby leaned back in her chair, looking really indignant.
“Because you were always asking Blake or me for help with your algebra homework when you were a freshman. And I think I remember you bribing me once with a bucket full of chocolate-chip cookies to do your geometry your sophomore year.” Drew arched an eyebrow.
“Well, that was in the past. I’m fine with math now.” Ruby tossed her head, causing her curls to swing softly about her shoulders.
“If you say so. In which case, what about these quadratic equations? Can you remind me how to do them?” Drew slid his textbook across the table fast, and Ruby just managed to stop it with her hand before it careered off the table. She picked up the book and stared at it in silence for a few moments.
“Um—um—” The way her cute button nose twitched had Drew mesmerized.
He inwardly shook himself. This fixation with Ruby had to stop. It was wrong on so many levels.
“So that’s a no, then?” Drew asked, shaking his head.
“I’m taking trig. I hate algebra,” Ruby said, going a light shade of pink. “I won’t remember how to do quadratic equations until Mr. Ernst goes over it again next year.” As juniors, they could either take remedial algebra, algebra II, or trigonometry, and then they’d have the choice of algebra II or pre-calculus their senior year.
They looked at each other and started to laugh at the same time. It almost felt like the fire had never happened, and things were exactly as they had been a year ago.
A loud bang made Drew start, and he jumped back in his chair. His laughter hung in midair as he saw Blake standing at the head of the table. He’d thumped it hard with his fist, and was about to thump it again.
“What the hell?” Blake growled. A vein in his temple throbbed, and he stared daggers at Drew and then at his sister.
“Blake, what are you doing here?” Ruby asked, blinking rapidly. She started twisting a small silver ring around and around her finger, seeming to shrink into herself.
“I’m watching my sister stab me in the back. Care to explain?” Blake leaned forward and rested his hands on the table.
“We’ve got a meeting for our science project. We’re in the same group,” Ruby said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Drew’s insides clenched. He couldn’t have imagined a worse scene if he’d tried. And, as usual, he couldn’t blame anyone but himself.
“Well, it doesn’t look much like a meeting to me,” Blake replied, pointedly glancing at the empty seats at their table.
“We’re waiting for the others to arrive. We were just talking about algebra, weren’t we?” Ruby looked to Drew as if for support. He felt like complete shit for coming between the two of them like that.
“Yeah, bro. That’s what we were doing,” Drew said, trying to sound relaxed and hoping he wouldn’t make things even worse.
Blake finally looked at him. “Don’t bro me. I’m not your bro. And never will be. Why don’t you fuck off back home? How many times do I have to tell you? You’re not wanted here. Get it?” Blake’s eyes blazed with anger as he turned and stormed off.
Drew’s only reaction to Blake’s anger was sadness. He missed his best friend. And the fact that he didn’t have one anymore was his own fault.
“He doesn’t mean it,” Ruby said, cutting into Drew’s thoughts.
Heaviness flooded his body, and his limbs felt tired. From where he stood, there was no question that Blake meant every word of it. And then some. “Of course he means it,” Drew snapped. “Because it’s true.” He drew in a long breath.
“Just give him time. He’ll get used to you being back.” Ruby didn’t sound at all confident.
“Yeah, time. Something Reese doesn’t have.” He stood up, leaned across to pick up his math book and jammed it into his bag. “You just don’t get it, do you?” He had to get out of that place, get away from Blake’s sister. “I don’t want your pity. I’m not your friend. And I’m going to fuck off back home now.”