#Chapter 259 – Schematics

We all give up pretending to study as Jackson comes back from the nook with some paper, some markers, and some tape, and – bizarrely – two different kinds of candy that my mom sent back to school with me, knowing they’re my favorite. Quietly, we all watch as Jacks hastily tapes four pieces of paper to the table and then uses a marker to deftly reproduce the schematic map, effectively blowing up the scale so that he and Luca can see it better. I learn forward with interest, then, when Jackson opens the candy, scatting it out over the paper and arranging the two different kinds – peppermints and caramel chocolates – on different points. Anxiety starts to well in me that he’ll ruin the candy, getting ink all over them, but Jackson glances up once, raising an eyebrow at me, sending a teasing little bump down our bond to tell me that my priorities are in the wrong place right now. I fight my laugh, knowing that he’s right, nodding and leaning back onto the couch cushions with my arms