Glass Hearts [BL] Chapter 28: Or Are You Just Gonna Stand There Gawking and Ad

"This looks better than hospital vending machine pizza," Henry laughed.

"You’ve had hospital pizza?" Marcus asked, horrified.

"One slice. One ti. I still have nightmares," he replied.

Alia told Henry he ate chips like soone who listens to sad love songs at 2AM, and he took it as a complint.

We ate.

We joked.

We teased Marcus until he threatened to leave us for a cooler friend group (which didn’t exist). Alia told a story about how she once tried to microwave a crayon to "make a rainbow soup" and i banned her from the kitchen for a week.

I laughed more than I had in days.

And for a second, I forgot.

Forgot about the rumors.

Forgot about the posters. The detention. The principal’s warning.

Forgot I was one vote away from getting kicked out of Blackwell.

Then I checked my phone.

7:30 PM.

A new ssage.

Unknown Number

[Sent 7:27 PM]

Hey. It’s Dominic. Here’s the address. Co alone.

I stared at it.

Sa address.

I blinked.

How the hell did he even get my number?

I blinked, reading the ssage like it would change. My thumb hovered over the screen.

Was I really about to do this?

Was I about to walk into the lion’s den?

"Everything okay?" June asked, noticing my shift in expression.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just...soone I need to see real quick."

"I’ll be back soon," I told them, standing up and brushing invisible crumbs from my jeans. "I’ll be back in two hours tops."

Marcus imdiately grinned, grabbing Alia’s plate. "More dinner for us, then."

I walked toward the window beside mom’s bed, to check my reflection before heading out. I leaned in and fixed my hoodie, brushed my hair down slightly.

June’s voice rang from behind. "Okay but... are you going on a date?"

I froze.

"Wait, is it a date?" she repeated.

"He’s probably going to see Pretty Ani Boy," Alia casually said with her mouth full of masked potatoes.

I turned slowly. "Alia."

"What?" she blinked innocently. "You can never make forget him, he brought Oreos and expensive al."

June sat up straighter. "Wait....who is Pretty Ani Boy?"

"No one," I said quickly, backing toward the door.

Alia lifted her hands and started describing Dominic. "Okay, he’s like this tall guy with blue eyes that’s perfect. He looks like a model..."

I was out the door before she could finish her fanfiction.

But just before I turned the hallway corner, I paused.

I glanced back.

June was feeding Alia another scoop of mashed potatoes while she kept talking.

Henry was showing Marcus so on his phone.

And Mom...

Mom lay peacefully in her bed.

Sothing about everything made my chest hurt and heal at the sa ti.

I stepped out into the cool night, and flagged down a cab.

Ten minutes.

That’s all it took.

Ten minutes to get back to the place where everything had started.

The cab pulled up in front of the mansion.

That sa mansion.

Dominic Vale’s house.

The sa one with the wide marble staircase, the perfect hedges, the polished glass windows you could see your regrets in.

I stepped out, staring up at it.

There it was....the rooftop.

The one Liam fell from.

The one they said I pushed him from.

The one where I was handcuffed and walked out like a criminal.

I exhaled slowly, unsure if my feet wanted to go forward or sprint the opposite direction.

And just as I was deciding...

The gate creaked.

Dominic walked out.

Leaning lazily against the gatepost like this wasn’t the sa place that burned my na into the headlines.

He wore gray basketball shorts and a sleeveless tank-top that clung to him perfectly, exposing his sculpted arms and the kind of shoulders that made you question your life choices.

The soft lighting from the porch behind him made his golden skin glow as he smirked.

His hair was a little ssy, damp at the tips like he’d just co from the shower.

He looked unfairly good.

Like... arrest-him-for-looking-this-hot good.

His blue eyes caught mine.

Well, well, well ," he smiled, cocking his head. "Didn’t think you’d actually show up."

I blinked, "You sent the address."

He leaned against the edge of the gate, crossing his arms, trying to flex his muscles just slightly.

His smirk deepened as he pushed the gate fully open, "Wanna co in? I promise I don’t bite...unless you ask nicely."

My throat went dry.

I blinked. "Uh..."

"Or are you just gonna stand there gawking and admiring . I won’t stop you."

I scoffed under my breath. "Cocky much?"

"Thought you’d chicken out," he added, eyes raking over from head to toe. "But look at you... all nervous and dramatic in that hoodie. Cute."

My mouth opened. But nothing ca out.

God, I hated how my face was already warm.

This was a bad idea.

A very, very bad idea.

But damn it... he looked really good.