"You're not stupid," Meka said, her face concerned. "Sometimes professors just don't speak the same language as you, you know?" she shrugged a little. "I'll help you out Papa Bear."
She laughed then. "Smokin' might kill me but an attacking bear could kill me too," she smirked.
"Yeah. If I read better it wouldn't be a problem. But thanks, Meka." He smiled at her and threw an arm over her shoulders, hugging her to his side briefly.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess so. Watch out for bears, then!"
Meka leaned her head against his shoulder when he hugged her. She wasn't particularly into the "hugging thing" but she didn't mind hugging Papa Bear Kyle. It was kind of his thing.
"I'll keep my eyes peeled," she said with a lazy laugh. She was going to need to lit another cigarette soon. "What did you get up to this summer?" she asked.
"I went to Rike's house for a few days, went mudding with her. It was so fun. Mud everywhere," she grinned fondly thinking of her summer fun. "Then I went to see my dad, he was not pleased to see my clothes," she said digging another cigarette out of her pocket. "Visited my brother in New York and went to see Rowan," she finished detailing her summer as she lit her cigarette with Kyle's lighter. "Thanks," she said handing it back. "Saves me one of my cute little matches," she grinned.
"Sounds like a lot of fun." Kyle sort of wished he'd had the time to go visiting people during the summer, but he'd had to work as much as he could, and Victor had probably been doing the same. There was always next summer, though.
"Good, can't have ya running out of those!" He laughed and lit another cigarette of his own.
"It was," she said brightly. "Maybe next break you can come out to Hawaii with me for a bit," she suggested.
She laughed again. "Very true. They are double useful.They're super cute and they light things on fire," she said smartly, a little mischief in her eyes.
Meka felt bad that her friend spent pretty much his entire vacation working when she had been doing the exact opposite and getting into massive amounts of trouble. She found that getting into trouble was pretty much one of the only ways to get her dad's full attention. "There's no I guess, Kyle Copeland. Free room and board, cheap beer, and might I again mention... beach parties."
She giggled at her matches. "It's the one thing I can actually buy for myself without getting dubious looks from the cashiers," she grinned.