Years of Summer: Lily's Story

by Bethanie Armstrong

  Dave opened the conversation. “Lily, first let me say I am sorry. I should have been up front with you to begin with. I didn’t just see what I saw when I walked into the room that night. I heard you pleading with him while I was out in the hall. I almost walked right by the room and then I heard the terror in your voice and I knew I had to stop whatever was about to happen.” I watched Jace wince as Dave said that. What did he care?

  “Well, I should thank you for that, because if you hadn’t walked in when you did . . . let’s just say that it would have been a very bad situation. But why did you tell everyone else before you said anything to me?”

  “Because, well, I didn’t think you wanted anyone else to know, but I also didn’t want our fraternity to be associated with the likes of him. I wrestled with whether or not to tell anyone else for weeks, but I decided someone needed to be told. They were all wondering why I moved out of Chance’s room anyway. So since I had moved in with Jace when his other roommate moved out, I felt like he deserved a reason, so that’s when I told Jace. He told everyone else at our meeting the next week. That is when we black-balled Chance.”

  “I see.” I looked at Jace then. “Is that why at least one of your fraternity brothers has somehow walked with me anywhere I went?”

  He smiled so warmly at me. “Lily, I wanted you to be safe; Dave did too. That’s all and I apologize for the incident this afternoon. Can you forgive us?”

  I couldn’t help but smile back and the anger I had felt toward both of them dissolved in that instant. I should have clued in then, but I didn’t. “Hmm, can I forgive you for wanting me to be safe? I don’t know; that’s a tall order.”

  Jace laughed; I liked the way he laughed. I hadn’t heard him laugh much, but it was a warm, jovial laugh. His eyes were such a warm shade of gray I had never seen before. They reminded me of wispy clouds in a sunny summer sky and when he laughed they almost had a purple cast to them, but when he came in they had a gray cast to them, like he was upset about something, and he was, but I didn’t know a person’s eyes could show their mood that intensely. He was genuine. I couldn’t help but forgive them and as angry as I was with them that afternoon all of that kind of went away. Dave just kind of smiled in a defeated way.

  I never understood that, not then.

  Jace was looking in my eyes as I was looking at his, but I didn’t realize that until he remarked to me about my eyes. “Lily, you have really pretty hazel eyes.” I blinked myself back to reality, semi-embarrassed.

  “Thank you.” That is all I could say. I looked quickly back down at my pillow, following the stripes with my finger.

  Chelsea walked them back out and came back into our room with a grin a mile wide across her face. “Oooo, Jace likes you.”

  “Oh please, Chelsea, he is just a very chivalrous southern gentleman and would do anything to help anyone.”

  She blinked very intentionally and used her Southern Belle accent. “Especially a damsel in distress, chivalry is not dead ma’am.” I walked over and shoved her onto her bed and we both laughed. It felt good to laugh again. Something had changed, I just didn’t know how much. I really didn’t know how much.

  Chapter 2

  The next day as Chelsea and I got ready for class we decided to eat in the Cafeteria for breakfast. We both had English first class that morning—so did Jace, Dave, Ty, and Chance. We were all in the same class.

  Chance walked in and saw me, I ignored him. Right after he walked in, Jace, Dave, and Ty came in. All three of them saw Chance heading towards me. My breath caught in my throat, then. Jace, Dave, and Ty immediately brought their backpacks and set them down on the table with us. Chance made a b-line for the other side of the cafeteria.

  Jace winked at me, Chelsea elbowed me and whispered in my ear, "Told you so." A few minutes later the guys brought their breakfast trays and came and joined us. Then Tuck (short for Tucker), who was Ty’s roommate (Tucker and Ty, T-squared) came in shortly afterwards and joined our table. Tuck had English with us too. Jace sat next to me and Ty sat next to Chelsea. Dave sat on the other side of Jace, and Tuck on the other side of Ty. Something occurred to me at that moment, even though he had said it yesterday.

  “Dave, did you say you were rooming with Jace now?”

  “Yeah, moved in a couple of weeks after the beginning of the semester, why?”

  “Nothing, just a confirmation.” Something else then occurred to me. Someone was not telling me the truth.

  Jace looked at me confused. “Did you hear anything we said yesterday?”

  I looked down at the table, feeling self-conscious. “Yes, I just had something on my mind right before you two came in yesterday, kind of made everything else get a little blurred in the conversation. Sorry.”

  Chelsea kicked me under the table. I looked at her questioningly. She kept moving her eyes from me to Jace to get me to see “I told you so”. I kicked her back and gave her a diminutive shaking of my head, signaling “No way”. Jace was never one to have a steady girlfriend; he had many girlfriends, but never a steady one. I looked down at my watch.

  “Uh-oh, guys, we are about to be late.” Everyone looked at their watches; cell-phones weren’t that popular yet. We all jumped up quickly and took our trays up and then headed for class. We made it just in time.

  I took my normal seat, although we didn’t have assigned seats, I always sat in the same one and Chelsea sat behind me. Jace sat in front of me, and Dave and Ty sat on either side of me. Tuck sat in front of Ty. Where Ty was sitting, Chance normally sat. That made Chance angry. He had to find another one. I smiled. Chance was losing!

  He didn’t give up though.

  * * * * * * *

  Jace all of a sudden started spending a lot of time with me. I didn’t understand why, but I enjoyed the company. I still had a lot to work through though. He knew that; I guess that is why he kept it on a friendly level. Later that day after my classes were over and Jace and I went our separate ways, I decided to venture out to the quad again, because it was another beautiful day. The only difference this time would be staying closer to people. I hoped that would keep Chance away—yeah right.

  Chance was losing, he didn’t like to lose. I should have known he was going to fight to the end. Of course that day he took a different approach. He was not his usual mean and hateful self. He was his manipulative self.

  This time I did decide to read the book I brought with me. I was reading Gone with the Wind. I allowed that book to take me out of my world for a moment and let it pull me into the world of true Southern Gentlemen. I was reminded of Jace—my Southern Gentleman friend, with a bouncer’s edge. I laughed at that thought, because of the picture it created in my head.

  “Hey Lil, something funny?” I froze as I pulled my gaze from my book and Chance was standing in front of me. He kneeled down to me and I scooted back on my blanket quickly, but not wanting to make a scene.

  “Why can’t you leave me alone?” I said quietly, menacingly. He sat down on my blanket, uninvited. “Are you disappointed you didn’t get the chance to kill me?”

  He turned on the charm—it made me sick. “Aw, Lil, baby don’t be that way.”

  “Quit calling me Lil, that is only reserved for my friends, and I am not your baby.”

  “Lily (at least he listened to that much), I want you back. Please give me another chance. He pulled the box with my ring in it out of his pocket. Please will you put your ring back on? I love you.”

  I felt the tears coming up hot in my eyes as I filled with anger. At one time that might have worked, as stupid as that might sound. This time it didn’t. As I fought back the tears it made me angrier. “If you loved me, you would have never physically hurt me. We are through, Chance.”

  He jumped up off the blanket and yelled. “We are not through! We are staying together!!!”

  Scene? I didn’t care anymore. I jumped up and yelled right back, which created a very huge scene on the quad. “We are through! We are done! I hate you!!!” I cri
nged back as he raised his fist at me. The people behind me gasped loud enough where I could hear them and they were ten feet away. As I prepared to get punched, my Southern Gentleman’s voice I heard. He was right behind me.

  “Chance, I wouldn’t do that if I were you?”

  “Oh, and you’re going to stop me?”

  “If I need to I will.” Jace had no fear. You have to understand that Jace was a really big, purely muscular guy. Chance, although he had a little bulk muscle to him, was no match for Jace.

  Fear was thick, dripping off Chance. It made me happy. With narrowed eyes, just barely lifted corners of my mouth, my arms crossed over my chest, my smile was evil and menacing. His look threw daggers at me.

  Jace didn't like it.

  “Don’t look at her disrespectfully Chance, you might better turn around.” The good things about Jace’s fraternity were they were very protective of their fraternity brothers and their friends, which luckily included me. Chance turned around and looked at the five guys standing behind him. He was stupid, he antagonized them, starting with Jace.

  “So you afraid to fight me by yourself, you had to bring your idiot frat brothers with you.”

  It seemed as if hundreds of eyes were staring at the scene, with no noise at all. If I didn't know better it was as if time had stopped.

  Jace was very composed and gave away no clues that the antagonism worked. I don’t think it did.

  “No, Chance, I am not afraid of you. If you would rather it be just me and you, I’m good with that. Ty would you escort Lily back to her dorm please and the rest of you can go on, we’ll be fine.”

  I looked at Jace like he was crazy. “What?!! Jace, no, don’t be stupid, I’m not worth it.”

  Then Jace looked at me incredulously. “You are every bit worth it. I don’t like it when my friends get mistreated. Ty take her back.”

  Tuck picked up my blanket and followed Ty as he escorted me back to my room. Time seemed to restart, it was so strange as I begged them to leave me and stop Jace. "No, go stop him, what if he gets hurt.” They kept pushing me, however nicely, back toward my dorm room. “Please, stop him! I don't want him to get hurt.”

  “Lily, Jace can take care of himself, don’t worry.”

  I turned around to look back at the quad. The rest of the guys were leaving as I saw Jace and Chance face off. I couldn’t tell you what happened next. I was too worried about Jace. I didn’t give a care in the world what happened to Chance. I secretly wished he would beat him to a pulp and as I stood in my dorm room I wished it faced out to the front instead of over to the side. At least I could see what was happening, but right then I just paced back and forth. Ty and Tuck stayed with me.

  They chuckled. “Lil, would you calm down? Jace will be fine. Honestly, Chance is no match for him. What makes Jace angriest right now is the way Chance has treated you. Girl, why didn’t you tell any of us what he had done to you? We would have taken care of it.”

  I didn’t answer; I just climbed up in the middle of my bed and sat there, wondering why I was so worried about Jace. It was weird the way it felt. I knew he could take care of himself.

  I sat there and waited. Chelsea walked in followed close behind by Jace. I was so relieved. I looked him over. It didn’t look like he had been hurt. Why, all of a sudden, were things he was doing affecting me? We had always been friends, well, at least since I met him when I started college. I wasn’t sure what I was allowing to happen. I’m not sure I wanted that to happen, so I kept it on a friendly level, when right then all I really wanted to do was run to him and hug him like he had been on some long tour of duty and he had finally come home.

  I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t want to know what happened. It was like Chelsea read my mind. “So, Jace, who won?”

  Jace laughed. “The pansy ran off. I figured he would once everyone left. He’s all big and bad on the outside, but a coward on the inside. He only acts that way toward Lily, because he likes to see her scared, which makes me really mad.”

  Ty and Tuck and Jace shared some kind of hidden knowledge as they looked at each other. Jace was angry. “I wish I could have pummeled his face. I would have felt better. I’m sorry, Lil, but until he leaves I’ll be hanging around you quite a bit more. I’ll feel better about it, anyway.”

  The way he said that and what it implied gave me warm fuzzy feelings. I would be happy to have him for company. I smiled a little shyly, but still wasn’t sure I was ready for what this was screaming at me. As a matter of fact I knew I wasn’t ready for this. I kept it going on a friendly level. “Thanks Jace you’re a really good friend.”

  “Anytime, sweetie. By the way he dropped this when he ran off, do you want it?” Jace showed me the little blue velvet box that held my engagement ring.

  “You can throw it in the trash for all I care. It never meant anything to him but ownership anyway”—yeah, definitely not ready for any kind of a relationship right now. The way I reacted seemed to make Jace happy.

  “Well you could go hock it at the pawn shop and at least get some money for it.”

  “Why in the world would I want anything that ever belonged to him, he’d probably twist it all around and say I was only after him for his money, making me out as the bad guy again. Like I said go throw it in the trash, I don’t want anything to do with it.”

  He held up his hands. “Okay, okay, dropping the subject.”

  I don’t know whatever happened to the ring. He might have thrown it away. I didn’t care. I wanted no reminders of Chance anywhere near me.

  “Well, gentlemen, let’s be on our way.” Ty, Jace, and Tuck walked towards the door. Jace turned around and spoke to Chelsea. “Chels, what time are you two going to dinner?”

  “I don’t know, we are supposed to join Brianna, Hayley, and Jillian, and I think Nina is coming too. Hang on, let me call them.”

  Chelsea picked up the phone and then pulled them back in from the hall. Jace looked at me and grinned. His smile could melt glaciers. Ty and Tuck grinned at Jace. I could have sworn there was some kind of hidden message in their smiles. Jace came back to my desk chair and sat down until Chelsea was off of the phone. “Jace, I couldn’t get them, I think they are still in class until four. I’ll try around 4:15 and then when I find out I’ll give you a call.”

  “Ok, Chels. See you two later.” He stood up from the chair and kissed me on top of the head. Shocked?! You better believe it. “We’ll meet you for dinner. Dave and John will probably join us. Mike might too. Rider and Shawn probably will too. See you girls then.” Chelsea winked at me as she shut our door and escorted the guys out.

  What just happened? I wasn’t sure, but I thought I liked it. I found myself actually looking forward to dinner for a change, instead of dreading another onslaught of Chance. I started getting more excited, because that meant that if there were more of the fraternity around us, Chance would not be. I may get through a meal for once without loss of appetite. My mom already claims I am too skinny.

  I had lost a ton of weight in the past four months, like about twenty pounds, almost to the point of bony. I couldn’t help it, my nerves were shot, which made me unable to eat, unless I wanted to be sick. Lemon-lime soda kept me going.

  I was looking forward to Spring Break. I needed a break, but this year I wasn’t going home until later in the week. Our sorority sponsor invited us to her three-story beach house at Seaside for a retreat. There were twenty of us going. She and her husband were going to be there. They were going to be house-parents for that time. We were going to be right across the street from the beach. I couldn’t wait; we were leaving in two weeks.

  All of a sudden I was almost sad that I wasn’t going to be at school still. Jace came to mind. The grin he gave me this afternoon, made me want to melt. I wondered what he was doing over Spring Break. That was answered at dinner.

  Brianna called and let us know they were going to meet us at 5:45. Chelsea handed me the phone. “Call Jace and let him know what time.”<
br />
  “Why can’t you, you’re the one holding the phone.”

  “Are you chicken?”

  “What . . . No, I’m not chicken.”

  “Then call Jace and tell him.” She had an evil smirk on her face as I took the phone from her.

  I dialed Jace’s number. He answered. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Jace, this is Lily. We’re meeting them at 5:45.”

  “Okey Doke, we’ll see you then. Bye, Lil.”

  “Bye, Jace.” I hung up, glaring at Chelsea. “There, are you happy now?”

  She kind of bounced around me with her excited little girl trill. “Jace li-ike’s Lil-ly, Jace li-ike’s Lil-ly.”

  “Will you stop, Chelsea? So what if he does. He has never had a steady girlfriend in his life I’m sure of it, especially on this campus.”

  “Well dear sister, he has never met anyone like you either.”

  “Chels, I don’t want this right now. I just want a friend.”

  “Lil, even he knows that, he’s not going to try anything right now. He kissed you though.”

  “On the head, in a gesture of friendship, will you please quit trying to read things into this?”

  “You don’t have to read things into this. Even Ty and Tuck saw that this afternoon and did you happen to see how excited he was that you didn’t balk at his offer to hang around more. He’s sweet on you.”

  “Chelsea, enough. Leave it alone.”

  “Okay, fine, just go touch up your make-up before dinner.”

  “Chelsea, you’re driving me crazy. Please stop.”

  “Lily, I’m your best friend, I just want you to be happy, especially after the mess you just came out of. No guy should ever treat a girl that way and I know that Jace wouldn’t do that to you. I believe you would be so happy with him. He’s a great guy. I went to high school with him, remember. Although you’re right about the steady girlfriend, I think you are the exception to that. He really likes you. Jace knows what you‘ve been through. Just give him a chance, please. He won’t push his way in; he would rather take his time.”