Chapter 48

“Are you okay?” Luke asked softly, and reached out. Shane twitched his hand back, and earned himself a frown before Luke closed the gap and slid his fingers under Shane’s on top of the open textbook. “Shane?”

Shane shrugged.

“Talk to me,” Luke whispered.

“He…yesterday…you know, he said it was okay. Said he wasn’t kicking me out or anything, said—you know, he didn’t get it but he wasn’t mad or upset or anything. That’s what he said.”

“But…?”

Shane squeezed Luke’s fingers, but kept staring at the revision. He felt shattered and wrung-out. Felt too tired to even feel upset right now. Felt exhausted. “He won’t talk to me, keeps looking at me like I’m an alien, keeps…it’s like he’s trying to remember who I am. I don’t…I almost want him to be mad, I can handle mad, but this…”