“Are you okay?” Nick checked.
Laurence nodded.
“Okay. Good.” He waited, holding on.
Laurence’s bottom lip trembled in the window reflection.
“I’m sorry I didn’t take you seriously,” Laurence said. “You were worried and asked what we’d do if something happened, and I wouldn’t even listen to you—and then somethingdidhappen, and I couldn’t do anything to help. I never even showed you a map of where we were. I didn’t explain anything about currency or social structure.”
A month ago, Nick would have agreed. He would have doubled down on Laurence’s worries, pointed out how dangerous it was beyond The Tear, and insisted none of them go anywhere near it.
“You know,” Nick said, “if you had turned around and said you wanted to go to England for college, I would have found something about that to be afraid of. I’d be looking up stabbings, pick-pockets, break-ins—anything I could to freak myself out—and then I’d try to dissuade you from going… I haven’t been in the best headspace, and I’ve been struggling to get my head around you not being a little kid anymore and not needing me the way you used to.”
Laurence frowned. “We’re only two years apart. When I was a kid,youwere a kid.”
“My emotions have a special skill where they’re totally immune to logical arguments,” Nick explained lightly. “A lot happened last year. Connor joined us, you grew up, and everything changed, but I think I’ve finally caught up with it all. I’ve lost so many nights of sleep stressing about something bad happening to one of you, and when it happened”—to Nick, so not exactly the worst-case scenario, but still—“rather than the world ending, I met the love of my life. And I’d never have met him if I’d convinced everyone to stay here and never live their lives.”
“You were kidnapped!”
“So was Connor. Does that mean it’s your turn next?”
Trevor walked in and overheard that last part, and immediately both of his hands shot up. “Laurence, please. Donot get kidnapped. My heart can’t take it.” Trevor joined the hug, arms wrapping around the two of them.
“Gross,” Connor said childishly from the doorway.
Laurence giggled, and Trevor chuckled in a good-natured manner. He pulled back, ruffling Nick’s hair and pressing a kiss to Laurence’s crown. “Both of you go on and sit. I’ll cook.”
Laurence pulled Nick along to the living room without objection, and Connor joined them soon after, leaning over the back of the couch and offering a cup to Nick. “Here.” Vapour curled up from the hot contents, the pleasant aroma making his mouth water.
Nick accepted it, swallowing a gulp of scalding liquid with a delighted groan.
“I bet you missed coffee more than us.” Connor plopped onto the couch on Nick’s far side while Laurence leaned away with a sound of disgust.
“I had withdrawal headaches for weeks,” Nick admitted. He downed the rest of the cup, willingly re-engaging an addiction his body had finally triumphed over. “I just realised I have no idea where my phone is.”
“I plugged it in over there.” Connor gestured across the room. “It was left behind at Vi’s.”
Laurence fetched it for Nick, but when he powered it up, he wished he hadn’t. His phone pinged continuously as the notifications for hundreds of missed calls and texts pinged in. “How many people reported us missing to the guards do you think?” he asked, scrolling to the start of the messages. The earliest came from the assistant manager at the café, asking Nick if Trevor’s phone was broken because she couldn’t get a hold of him. Things quickly spiralled from there.
“The consensus is we died in a boating accident. Sam’s family too; none of them came back while we were looking for you,” Connor explained.
Former classmates, teachers, friends, teammates all flooded his inbox. Nick side-eyed Laurence. “Have fun dealing with that at school tomorrow.”
Laurence scoffed his objection. “I’m not going to school tomorrow. I’m tired. I need to rest. At least…a month.”
“You’ve already missed a month of school, and just before your Leaving Cert too. You’re going.”
“I’m not a kid.” Laurence met Nick’s side-eye head-on, reminding him, pointedly, of the conversation they’d just had.
“That conversation was completely unrelated to this.”
“I think this is exactly what the conversation was about. You agreed not to boss me around anymore, and –”
“I definitely did not agree to that. Besides, Dad’s in the same boat as you, and so am I. I’ve got to get to college and talk to my professors too.” Nick went to stand. Laurence latched on to his arm.
“Okay. Yeah. Fine. I’ll go tomorrow,” Laurence agreed, rushed.
Half out of his seat, Nick looked at Laurence in surprise. He considered the clinging hold Laurence had of his arm and sank back down into the seat. “Do you want to watch a movie?” he asked.
