Chapter 62 Our Girl

Chapter 62 Our Girl
Kaelani POV
When we get back up to the group, Zaire pulls me into a hug and kisses me. I barely get a chance to laugh before his lips are on mine. Apparently a ninety-five means everybody has forgotten we're standing in the middle of a stadium surrounded by half the school.
The moment he puts me down, Kieran picks me up and spins me before kissing me also.
“Do you three just like embarrassing me?” I ask when my feet finally touch the ground again. I can already feel people looking at us, which only makes my face hotter.
Zaire shrugs. “Not trying to. We are just proud of our girl,” he says, kissing my forehead.
Our girl.
That should probably bother me more than it does. Instead, a stupid little smile tries to creep onto my face.
“You three are really like this with her?” Felix asks.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Liam says. He says it so casually, like the three of them surrounding me, kissing me whenever they feel like it and arguing over who gets to sit closest to me is completely normal now.
Actually, I guess for us it kind of is.
“What about Aliza and Stephanie?” he asks.
The smile disappears from my face.
“What about them?” Kieran asks.
“I mean, Aliza has been telling people you two are just on a break, and Stephanie, well, she’s basically saying you are using magic to steal him from her,” he says.
My head snaps toward Felix.
“I'm doing what?”
Kaia groans beside me. “I swear these bitches wake up every morning and choose delusion.”
I roll my eyes. “They’re delusional. I don’t have anything to do with either of those situations, and I also didn’t go looking for any of them,” I say. If anything, I spent weeks trying to get all three of these idiots to leave me alone. Somehow that part always gets left out whenever people decide I'm stealing somebody.
“None of that matters,” Kieran says.
His voice is firm enough that I glance down at him.
“Aliza can tell whoever she wants that we're on a break. It doesn't make it true.”
Something in my chest loosens. I don't need him to explain himself to me, but I can't pretend I don't like hearing him say it.
“Are we leaving after Seb and Canon finish?” I ask, more than ready to move on from Aliza and Stephanie.
“Yes, baby. What are you trying to do?” Kieran asks.
“I want to go to Mitzy’s,” I say.
“Food?” Liam asks.
“Obviously.”
“I'm in.”
“Then sleepover tonight?” Caelum asks.
I turn toward him. “Tonight?”
“I have training tonight,” I say.
“Oh, can we join?” Sebastian asks.
Kaia snorts. “You wouldn’t last five minutes. You wouldn’t even be able to last on our obstacle course,” she says.
Sebastian puts a hand against his chest like she personally offended his entire bloodline.
I giggle. “Yeah, you definitely won’t survive,” I say.
“Want to bet?” Sebastian asks.
“We can, but I know you won’t,” I say.
“How bad can an obstacle course be?” he asks.
Kaia and I look at each other.
“Don't tell him,” I say.
“Wasn't going to.”
Sebastian narrows his eyes. “Now I definitely want to do it.”
“That's your funeral.”
Just as his name, Felix’s and Canon’s names pop up on the screen.
Sebastian points at me as he stands. “We're coming back to this.”
“Sure.”
“Do you guys mind if I meet you at Mitzy’s?” Felix asks. “I know I haven’t earned a spot at the sleepover, but maybe I can hang out with you all still.”
There's something almost hesitant about the way he says it, and I realize he's actually trying not to force himself into the group. Considering he barely knows half of what goes on with us, that's probably a good thing.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I say.
“Cool.” He smiles before following Sebastian and Canon toward the field.
They all make their way down, and Kieran sits between my legs this time. Apparently they're taking turns now. I don't remember agreeing to that system, but my fingers still find their way into Kieran's hair without me thinking about it.
“So do you guys really have a treehouse in your pack?” Caelum asks.
Kaia laughs. “Yes, we do, but when I brought up the idea, I really meant the tree,” Kaia says.
Caelum looks confused for half a second before understanding crosses his face.
“Oh. The tree.”
I look at Kaia. “I thought that we were doing the sleepover for Kieran’s birthday,” I say.
“We can, but why not tonight too?” Caelum says.
I stare at him.
“Because normal people don't randomly decide to have sleepovers on school nights?”
“None of us are normal,” Kaia says.
Fair point.
Kieran looks at me. “Only if you want to,” he says.
The joking response I was about to make dies in my throat.
My heart pounds in my chest.
Do I really want to spend the night with all three of them tonight?
Not at somebody's party. Not sitting around the stadium surrounded by our friends. Not a couple hours together before we all go home.
All night.
In the tree.
With Kieran, Liam and Zaire.
“Yes,” Nyra says.
“Nobody asked you.”
“You did.”
“I was asking myself.”
“And I am literally inside your head.”
I hate when she makes a valid point.
I look at the three of them. Zaire is talking to Liam about something, while Kieran is still sitting comfortably between my legs like he belongs there. A few weeks ago, the thought of being alone with all three of them overnight would've had me searching for every excuse possible to say no.
Now?
I kind of want to.
I don’t even get a chance to respond because Aliza and Stephanie walk over to us again.
Any softness I was feeling immediately disappears.
“These two don’t know how to take a hint,” Kaia mutters under her breath.
“Apparently not,” I mutter back.
“Hey, Kieran, got a minute?” Aliza asks.
“I’m busy,” he says, still sitting between my legs.
He doesn't move. Doesn't even attempt to get up.
She looks at him, then at me, then at him between my legs.
Her jaw tightens.
I continue running my fingers through his hair. Not because I'm trying to piss her off—although judging by the look on her face, it's definitely accomplishing that.
Stephanie looks at Zaire on my left with his arm around my waist.
“You three look very…….cozy,” she says.
“We are,” Liam says from my other side.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
Zaire sighs. “What do you want, Stephanie?” Zaire asks.
“I just want to know if she is your girlfriend?” she asks.
Everything around me seems to pause for half a second.
Girlfriend.
Just yesterday—or technically less than an hour ago—we were telling Felix there were no labels. I like them. They like me. We're enjoying whatever this is without trying to force a name onto it.
Apparently Stephanie didn't get that memo.
Zaire sucks his teeth.
“You know what? Yes, she is,” Zaire says.
My fingers stop moving in Kieran's hair.
Excuse me?
All of us look at him, but me? I freeze.
Girlfriend.
We went from no labels less than an hour ago to Zaire apparently deciding we have one in front of half our friend group, Aliza, Stephanie and whoever else is close enough to hear.
“So we’re putting labels on this now?” Liam asks.
Zaire shrugs. “I mean, if we’re being honest, isn’t that what she is to us?”
Kieran looks at him like he's trying to decide whether he agrees or wants to smack him for saying it first. Liam just raises a brow.
And me? I'm still stuck on to us.
“We are not having this conversation right now,” I say, standing up.
“Well, it seems she doesn’t feel the same way,” Stephanie jokes.
I stop mid-step.
Oh, absolutely the fuck not.
I turn around and look directly at her. “No, it’s just none of your fucking business, and I would rather not define my relationship with any of them in front of either of you.”
Her little smile disappears and I don't wait around for another comment.
I walk down the stairs.
Kaia runs behind me. “Why the hell would he do that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m definitely not discussing that in front of those two,” I say as we walk toward the exit.
Because that's the part that pisses me off. Not necessarily what he said.
I don't even know what I would've said if he'd asked me privately.
Girlfriend sounds serious. It sounds official. It sounds like something the four of us should probably discuss considering there are three of them and one of me.
But hearing Zaire call me theirs didn't make me want to correct him either.
And I'm definitely not unpacking what that means right now.
“So, about the sleepover tonight?” she asks.
I look at her. “What about it?”
“Are you in? You know I won’t plan it if you are uncomfortable.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t know,” I say as we step outside.
Kaia doesn't push me, which I appreciate because my brain is already doing enough pushing on its own.
A sleepover sounded fun five minutes ago. Now I'm supposed to spend the night with three boys who apparently may or may not be my boyfriends.
What does that even look like?
Do we talk about it? Pretend Zaire didn't just drop that bomb?
And why does the idea of actually having that conversation make my stomach flip?
What the hell was Zaire thinking saying that around all of those people?
As if I’m not already ammo for the rumor mill in this fucking school.
By the end of the day there will probably be a post announcing I have three boyfriends, a poll asking which one I like the most and some ridiculous theory about how I'm using magic to control all of them.
Just fucking great.
I wanted one normal senior year.
Apparently the goddess found that request hilarious.