Running in a Pack

by A M Burns

  Adrian only nodded to him, and Ivan didn’t look much better.

  Finn stuffed his bag in his locker and started to pull off his shirt so he could get changed into his required T-shirt and gym shorts. He hated how the shorts were bright yellow, and he couldn’t wear his own clothes instead of the uniform. But at least the shirt was black.

  “How often do they have gym with us?” he asked his friends, jerking his head toward the homeschooled brothers. He wished that his friends could be out with their gifts. Maybe if Adrian drew a spider and had it crawl toward the brothers, or if Ivan shifted and charged at them, maybe then those guys would be scared of them enough to leave them alone. Finn knew it would never happen though. They would never risk each other like that. Still, it was a nice thought.

  Adrian shrugged and finished changing. He just had to tie his sneakers. Ivan huffed, sounding irritable and not unlike one of the wolves when they got denied an extra bit of food or they felt they hadn’t gotten enough attention. Finn squinted hard and caught the fuzzy edge of Ivan's wolf as he put his ears back. He didn't mind seeing that other side of his friend. It was kind of thrilling, in a way, to hold Ivan and Adrian's secrets. He'd never been trusted with something so important before.

  “Whenever they want,” Ivan quietly told him. “They’re allowed to drop in as often as they choose to as long as they hit the minimum hours required by whatever program they’re in.”

  Finn rolled his eyes and leaned against his locker. As soon as they were all done changing, they could go out into the gym and away from Channing and Esteban, which couldn’t happen fast enough for Finn.

  They were nearly done and out of the locker room when Channing came around the corner of the row of lockers in front of them. Adrian froze and Ivan stepped slightly in front of him. Finn did too, though he wasn’t nearly as subtle about it when he saw Channing look them over. Esteban was still laughing about something—probably something stupid—behind him.

  “Hey, Ryan, want to see a picture?” Channing taunted him.

  Finn glared at him. “Is it of you getting your butt kicked?” He normally wasn’t that brave, and he wasn’t sure what had come over him at that moment to make him say such a thing. Maybe it was having Ivan right there beside him. Or maybe it was seeing the fear in Adrian’s eyes when Channing had come up to them.

  For a second, Channing paused as if he weren’t sure what would make Finn say that. Then he pulled out his phone. “Nope. Looks like you and I are going to be getting pretty close here soon.” He turned his phone around so Finn could see, and Finn found himself staring at Channing’s background picture, which just happened to be a picture of Channing hugging Shelby. Finn was still staring at it, unable to come up with a response, when Channing pulled his phone back. “Guess I’ll be seeing you at dinner some night. Assuming you’re not out with your boyfriends.”

  Esteban laughed, and Channing made kissing noises at him as they walked away. Finn was too busy going for his phone to notice them, though. “Dammit, Shelby, answer the phone,” he growled when she didn’t pick up his call. He tried a text instead. What the hell are you thinking spending time with Channing?

  There. He figured that would get her attention.

  He didn’t have to wait long for her to text back. Not your business who I date.

  “Is she serious?” Adrian sounded just as shocked as Finn felt.

  He shook his head and sat down on the bench between the locker rooms. “She can’t be. She’s….” Well she wasn’t exactly smart when it came to guys, and there had been that one jackass back in Austin. “Normally she goes for guys with at least average intelligence. And there are much better options here than him, even if her pickings are slim. I mean, you two are so much better than Channing without even trying.”

  Ivan raised his eyebrows. “Are you trying to pimp us out to your little sister? Because, seriously, that’s not going to happen.”

  The absurdity of that made Finn laugh, which got Ivan laughing as well, and soon Adrian was even joining in with them. With his two best friends around, Finn might be distracted enough to be able to make it through gym class without wanting to go over and punch Channing for ever looking twice at his little sister. It was just so wrong.

  Things were okay for a while—about ten minutes maybe. The teacher had them running laps around the gym and, even though Finn was sure Ivan could have run faster, he stayed with Adrian, so Finn did too. It put them at the back of the group, which was fine, since it meant they weren’t having to fight for a place to run with everyone else. The bad part of being at the back, though, was they were easy targets for when Channing and Esteban caught up to them each time since they were in the lead.

  Channing and Esteban made barking noises at the three of them, then laughed as they ran past. It was annoying, but, judging by Adrian’s reaction to them—moving closer to Ivan and Finn as soon as the idiots came within a few feet of him—he knew it could have been a lot worse if he’d been on his own. Finn stayed close to them, to make sure Adrian would be okay. Friends protected each other. So did a pack.

  Finn finally got the chance to ask Adrian some questions in the time between gym class and their next period. With everyone else out of the locker room, the three of them were finally alone, but with only a few minutes to spare.

  “Can I ask you some stuff about being ace?” Finn started off while Adrian finished tying his boots.

  He looked up at Finn as if he’d startled him, then at Ivan, before returning his attention back to Finn. “Uh. Sure. If you want to.”

  “Cool. So….” Where was he supposed to start? “I know you said you like hugs. But was that just hugs from Ivan, or can I hug you sometimes too? Not that I want to right this second, but say I’m having a crappy day, and you’re having a bad day too, and….” He shrugged and felt a bit helpless expressing himself.

  But Adrian just smiled at him. “Yeah. You can hug me too.”

  “What about kissing?” Finn asked. “See, I read a few forums over the weekend and some people said they liked kissing. Other people said no way in hell would they ever kiss someone.”

  Adrian blushed and slowly nodded. “I think I’d like to try kissing sometime. It hasn’t happened yet, but it could be nice.”

  Well that was much more than Finn had known before. “Holding hands?” he asked Adrian.

  Ivan chuckled. “Yeah, he holds hands.” He sat down behind Adrian on the bench.

  Finn shook his head, though. “With you, sure. I’m asking for me.”

  Adrian looked confused. “You want to hold my hand?”

  He didn’t know yet. “I more just want to make sure I don’t do something wrong.”

  “You can hold my hand. If you want to.” An amused smile graced Adrian’s face.

  “Cool.” Finn reached down to grab his messenger bag and pulled it across his body.

  Ivan followed his movements and frowned. “Those were all of your questions?”

  Finn wasn’t sure why he sounded so surprised. “Yeah. I mean, I’m sure some more will come up later. But I wanted to get the big stuff out of the way. Didn’t want to do something bad and get punched for it or something.”

  That made Adrian laugh. “You think I’d have any chance at punching you?”

  “Probably. I mean, if I wasn’t looking and you were really mad or something, you could probably do some damage.” Finn didn’t want to think about getting into a fistfight with one of his best friends. “Thanks for being okay with my questions.” He got off the bench and checked his phone. No new angry texts from Shelby. They could talk after school about her horrible taste in guys. They did only have three more minutes before the next class, though. “We better go.” He didn’t want to, but they couldn’t exactly ditch class and hang out in the woods all day together either—or at the center. He was pretty sure that none of their parents would be okay with them making that choice.

  10

  That evening Finn wasted no time in going to his sister and tr
ying to talk some sense into her. He found her at the dining room table doing her homework with their mom in the kitchen nearby and their dad on the couch in the living room. That was good. Everyone was there, so they could all back him up when they found out what a horrible guy Channing was.

  “You can’t date Channing,” Finn stated flatly as he sat down across from her and dropped his bag on the floor beside him.

  She looked up at him and glared. “Who says? He’s a great guy, and besides, I don’t tell you not to hang out with your loser friends.”

  Their mom came out of the kitchen. “What’s this about you dating?”

  Shelby rolled her eyes at Finn. “It’s nothing. He’s just a guy I eat lunch with sometimes. His name’s Channing, and he’s super popular.”

  Who was this person and where had his sister gone? She’d always been a brat, but she hadn’t been stupid before. “Since when do you care about who’s popular or not? And my friends aren’t losers. They’re a lot nicer than the bully you’re dating. And don’t tell me that you’re not. He’s got a picture of you on his phone.”

  She actually smiled at that. “I knew he liked me. And I care because it’s high school. I mean seriously, did you even stop to think about what being friends with the two biggest rejects in school would do to your reputation? We just got here, this is our first time sharing a school, and you start off like this? Everyone is talking.”

  Their dad came to his rescue. “Who Finn wants to be friends with is his business. And if you’re dating someone, we want to meet him. You should invite him over for dinner tonight.”

  Their mom nodded. “Yes. I think a nice family dinner would be great.”

  “He’s a bully,” Finn said. “He torments Adrian to the point where he’s afraid.” He couldn’t believe his parents were not going to back him in this. They knew from what he’d gone through in school how important it was not to tolerate bullying.

  Shelby had her phone out, probably to text Channing and invite him over. “Then maybe your friend should grow some balls. It’s not like the real world is going to be any nicer to him, and from what Channing has said, he doesn’t complain about it, so maybe he just likes the attention.”

  Their mother shook her head. “Shelby, that’s not at all okay. When did you start thinking like that?”

  But Shelby just rolled her eyes. “It’s what everyone is saying at school!”

  “That doesn’t make it right,” their father spoke up.

  Finn had to leave, especially if Channing was going to be coming over for dinner. And judging by Shelby’s smile, that was exactly what was going to happen as she ignored their parents when a beep came in on her phone.

  “I’m going out tonight,” Finn announced. “Have fun eating dinner with the school bully.”

  He didn’t wait around for anyone to stop him. Instead he just grabbed his bag and stormed out of the house. It took him ten minutes of stomping into the woods near his house to realize that he had to go somewhere and not just spend time by himself. He needed to be with the two people who actually would understand why he was so pissed right now, and those weren’t his parents. Not by a long shot.

  Finn tugged out his phone and called Ivan.

  “Hi.”

  He leaned against a tree and looked down over the houses before shaking his head. It might be wrong to hope that Channing got attacked by a bear on his way to the house. “Hey. Do you and Adrian want to get together tonight? But not at my house. My family has Channing coming over for dinner, and my sister is now Miss Popularity, but I’d rather hang out with my loser friends than with her perfectly popular boyfriend.”

  Ivan laughed. “That bad?”

  “Yes. I had to get out of there.” The sudden feeling of giving up his space at the table to Channing hit him. It was like a dark fist to his midsection. But there was no way he was going to sit at the table and be mocked by Channing, or worse, have to be nice to the Neanderthal.

  Ivan continued to laugh. “Then you’ve got good timing actually. I was just about to head over to Adrian’s. I’ll pick you up on the way.”

  “Great.” That would be much better than whatever his own plan would have ended up being.

  He pulled out his phone and texted his mom. Calling would have been better. Going back into the house and not yelling would have been the best thing. But at least this way she’d know where he was when he didn’t come back for a few hours.

  Going to see Ivan and Adrian. Be home later.

  There. That would be good enough.

  Are you sure you don’t want to have dinner with us? Shelby says he’s a nice guy. She’s sorry for what she said about Adrian.

  Finn rolled his eyes and tried to not hit the keys on his phone too hard while he replied.

  He’ll be nicer when he stops tossing my best friend in the dumpster. I’ll be home in a while.

  I’ll talk to her.

  Finn hoped she would, and also that everyone would see just what kind of person Channing was. Then they would know Finn wasn’t being a jerk for refusing to spend dinner with him. He tried to brush it all aside as Ivan pulled up in front of his house and he walked down the hill to climb into the center’s truck.

  He still must not have been completely calm, though, because Ivan grinned as he shook his head. “You looked pissed.”

  Finn sighed as he put on his seat belt. In the window he could see his mom and dad watching him. He waved to them. “Yeah. You don’t want to know. It’ll just make you mad too.”

  “Fair enough,” Ivan said, tilting his head at him before driving away. It would be good for Finn to get away for a while. Maybe by the time he got back, his little sister would have found some sense.

  Adrian lived in one of the brand-new townhouses along the outskirts of town. The only visitor space left open only would have fit one of the tiny cars no one in town seemed to own. They ended up finding a space at the grocery store parking lot a block away.

  “You sure this will be okay?” Finn asked him.

  Ivan nodded and slid his backpack over his shoulder. “Yeah. I do it all the time when I come over. There’s never parking for a truck this big anywhere in his complex. It sucks, but I wouldn’t get a car for anything.”

  Finn wouldn’t either. There was just something really cool about being in Ivan’s truck. It gave him a sense of power—something he wasn’t used to having.

  They walked over to Adrian’s town house and rang the bell. When Adrian answered the door, he looked surprised to see Finn there with Ivan, but he quickly hid it with a smile. “Hey, come on in. My parents will be home a bit later.”

  “Cool.” Ivan led the way, and Finn followed in behind him. “Channing is coming over to Finn’s house for dinner, so he had to get away.”

  “Makes sense. I’d probably try to move to another state if he ever wanted to come over here.” Adrian took them downstairs into the basement, which had been set up as his room. Finn took a minute to look at all the posters Adrian had hanging up, most of them either of wolves or horses.

  “I like mustangs,” Adrian said, almost apologetically.

  Finn shrugged. “I think they’re pretty.”

  Adrian didn’t seem quite so nervous after that as he lay down on the bed next to Ivan, who was already sitting on it and had his homework out. Finn wished he’d brought his own since he didn’t want to be a distraction to them, but he couldn’t go back and get it, so he took out his phone and sat on the floor with his back resting on the bed.

  “You don’t have to sit down there,” Adrian said. “There’s room up here.”

  He only had a twin bed, and it was pretty crowded already with just the two of them on it, but if Adrian wanted him up there, Finn would find a spot. A minute later he had his back against the same wall that Ivan did, with Adrian lying down on his stomach with his feet between them. It was nice, in a weird way, to be that close to them. Well, not weird exactly. It was like they were more together than they had been at the center because it wa
s just the three of them.

  “Can I ask you a non-ace question?” Adrian said after a few minutes as he turned to look back at Finn over his shoulder.

  “Uh. Sure.” He put his phone down in his lap to give Adrian his attention.

  “What do you feel about sex? I never think about or feel anything for it, but I’m not grossed out by it. So I’m wondering what your thoughts are.”

  Ivan snorted beside him, and Finn looked over at him, desperate for some help. “Hey, don’t look at me like that,” Ivan said. “I already answered this question last year.”

  Finn felt his cheeks heat up as he shrugged. He had no concept of what to say. And he’d never really considered what sex with a guy was like, but since he knew Ivan was gay and Adrian liked guys, he wanted to come at it from that direction. “Uh. I think it’ll be… nice? Maybe? I mean, probably pretty awkward the first time. But maybe it’ll be like little explosions or something?” He really wasn’t explaining it right. “Not how porn makes it look, though. And not with all the stupid talking. Just sweet and….” He shrugged and hoped Adrian would never ask him another question about sex ever again. “Being with a guy would be different than being with a girl, I think. But still completely awkward.”

  Adrian grinned and shook his head. “Awkward is right. I’m sure Ivan’s going to end up stepping on whatever guy he has sex with first. Or bashing their heads together.”

  “Hey! I’m not that clumsy!” Ivan sounded genuinely upset.

  But Adrian just burst out laughing. “When you’re paying attention, you’re not. But the second you get distracted or try to do too many things at once, you start dropping stuff.”

  Ivan muttered something under his breath, and Finn smiled. He was thinking about it now, though. Adrian mentioning Ivan having sex with a guy someday had him curious. It ran parallel with some of the thoughts he’d had recently about Ivan. More than anything he wanted to kiss Ivan again, to see if it felt the way it had up near Rainbow Falls.