Fumbling Perfect (Raymere Grove Series Book 1)

by Nikki Kwiatkowski

  She didn’t bother messaging him back to ask how to get the notes to him. Instead, she boldly headed to the field. If he had told his teammates that she was his tutor, why should it matter?

  Lilah completely ignored the mass of bodies on the grass grunting and running into each other like they had no sense, and made her way to the gruff man yelling commands from the side.

  Coach Turner appeared very irritated. As red as his face was, Lilah figured it might be from the heat, but changed her mind as a cool breeze blew past her. It was a breeze that left her with the same feeling only two days prior when…

  “Excuse me,” she coughed, tapping Coach Turner on the shoulder. If he were any taller, she’d be on her tiptoes.

  “What?!” He appeared taken aback when he turned to face the dainty little girl behind him. He cleared his voice and gained his composure. “Miss McCallister, sorry about that.”

  “That’s alright,” Lilah said, now slipping her bag from her shoulders.

  Coach Turner eyed her suspiciously as she rummaged around, finally withdrawing a purple spiral. She stood and proudly presented it to him.

  Lilah read the confusion on his face. “If you could see to it that Kyler gets that?”

  “Oh! Yeah, yeah. Of course. Everything still okay between you two? Is he staying focused?”

  Lilah took in a shaky breath and felt her skin heating. The coach meant his studies, she knew that, but she couldn’t tell her mind and body to cool it with how it registered when he asked about Kyler’s focus. All she could think about was the focused attention he had on her for those few moments on Saturday, and the sickness and disgust at being some homewrecker, kissing another girl’s boyfriend, regardless how horrible said girl was, returned.

  Chapter 15

  Kyler dug through his bag and withdrew the purple notebook that his coach had given him.

  He had seen Lilah at practice, and while she caused him to lose focus at first, something else about her presence gave him the energy and adrenaline that his body desperately needed after a long and stressful weekend. Though he was ready to crash and call it a night, she had gone through the trouble of getting her notebook to him, so the least he could do was spend some time studying and pray that he passed the test.

  It was going well at first. She took amazingly concise notes and had some of the prettiest handwriting he’d ever seen.

  Everything would have continued perfectly, had he not come across a folded piece of paper that obviously didn’t belong in the notebook. It looked like it had been crumpled at first, then folded, and it had probably fallen into the pages somewhere along the way. He should have ignored it, but his curiosity as to its contents was too overwhelming.

  He moved from his desk to his bed and tirelessly plopped down. Before he even had the paper completely unfolded, he already knew it was some form of note. There were two distinct pieces of handwriting, one in pink, and one in black. Kyler easily recognized the one in black as belonging to Lilah.

  Maybe he wouldn’t have read it had it not been for that first sentence; however, that one line drew him in.

  I can’t believe you kissed him!

  Stop it and take notes.

  Shut up! That was your first kiss! How was it?

  Fine.

  Lilah!!! Tell me. This guy is boring and writes slow.

  We kissed. It was an accident. What more do you want?

  Kyler froze when he read that and felt his insides churn. An accident? He couldn’t believe that’s what she thought about it. Her slipping and falling was an accident, but it’s not like she accidentally fell on his lips. Hadn’t there been some kind of moment between them, drawing them together? He shook his head at the mushy thoughts running through his mind and kept reading.

  So your first kissed sucked?

  Pretty much. Now will you drop it?

  I could have sworn that you were going to say you saw fireworks and were madly in love with Kyler West.

  Sorry to disappoint.

  Not even a little crush?

  Not in this lifetime.

  Strangely, those words were worse than any blows he had taken on the field. He couldn’t explain why he suddenly felt queasy and dizzy, but he did. A million different thoughts ran through his head.

  Aside from a couple texts about meeting for tutoring, he had no contact with Lilah since the kiss. She left coldly. Maybe she did regret it. Maybe, rather than confront him with how she really felt, she intentionally placed that paper in her notebook, knowing that he’d find it.

  He thought about putting it back, but instead ripped it to shreds and tossed it into the trashcan near the bed. He wanted it gone forever.

  Fueled with frustration, surprisingly he was able to study. At least how well he did on that test was in his control.

  Forget Lilah McCallister.

  Forget that stupid kiss.

  Forget is what they both did.

  Chapter 16

  “Why do you think we’re being called to a family meeting,” Rover huffed as he landed on the sofa.

  Lilah didn’t bother looking up from her book. “No idea.”

  “I heard Jamie isn’t coming home until Thanksgiving break.”

  “Good.”

  Jamie was the eldest of the siblings, needless to say, she and Lilah did not get along. Jamie was pretty much the Sarah in high school, and Lilah knew it. Her first two years of high school were her sister’s last.

  Jamie thought herself to be a model, even if it was only to her social media following. As far as school, she was in the process of getting a degree in some sort of fashion. That’s about all Lilah knew. Their dad was not pleased about it.

  “Did you max out any credit cards? That would warrant this,” Rover continued.

  Lilah finally put her book down and shot him a look. “Where would I go to max out a credit card?”

  “I don’t know, a bookstore,” he laughed.

  Lilah rolled her eyes and was just about to get back to her reading when her parents, Steven and Jenna, ominously strolled in. Just the looks on their faces suggested that something was seriously wrong.

  While their mother sat down a distance away from them in an accent chair near the windows, their father remained standing.

  Rover quickly spoke up. “Did someone die?”

  Lilah groaned at her brother’s candor.

  “No, son,” Steven spoke in a commanding voice. “We’re here to talk to you about the status of our relationship,” he continued in a formal way.

  Lilah felt sick to her stomach. What were they doing? Were her parents complete idiots when it came to actual parenting? What they were saying just couldn’t be happening.

  “So you’re still going to live here,” a confused Rover asked after a great deal of explanation, mostly from Steven.

  “Yes. While we haven’t started with formal divorce proceedings, we are separated, and though we’ll live under the same roof for the time being, we are living separate lives,” Steven continued.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Lilah screamed.

  “Sweetie,” Jenna chimed in. “I know this is a lot, but this has been going on for some time. We figured that we needed to tell the two of you before–”

  “Before what, mother,” Lilah spat as she rose from her seat. She didn’t intend on listening to much more. “Before Rover found some Rob guy in your phone? Before my classmates saw you out to dinner with Doctor Greene, who, by the way, is married as well? Before that? Is that what you’re talking about? If so, too late!”

  Lilah stormed out of the living room and up the stairs to her bedroom, tears quickly finding their way down her face, blurring her vision. Once she reached her haven, she slammed the door and locked it. She then flung herself on her bed, buried her head in a pillow, and allowed the tears to come. It had been so long since she had truly cried.

  Her head was so confused. She had the perfect family, everyone said so, and now her parents were destroying it.

  ✽ ✽
✽

  From the distance, Kyler noticed that something seemed off with Lilah. Over the last two weeks, since the incident, he and Lilah had fallen into a comfortable level of acquaintanceship. If he was honest, she still sent his stomach into a tailspin anytime they held eye contact for longer than they should; however, she never mentioned the kiss, so he never mentioned it. After all, the note pretty much said all he needed to know.

  He had to wonder if her friends noticed. They seemed to be chatting like normal, but when there was laughter, Lilah’s smile was forced and insincere. He’d know. It was a rarity to even see.

  “Hey, Ky,” Sarah said, interrupting his thoughts of Lilah.

  He quickly looked away from her table. He wasn’t sure what the deal between Lilah and Sarah was, but he didn’t want to find out. High school girls could be evil and vicious. The last thing he wanted was to get in the middle of that.

  “What’s up,” he casually responded, so as not to be rude. He didn’t intend for that to be an invitation for her to sit down.

  “Since you don’t have a game tomorrow, what are your plans?”

  Kyler hadn’t given much thought to it. He had to work tonight, but he had been given the weekend off, Friday included. He should have tried to work since it was their bye week, but was excited to get a full weekend off from it all. He had hoped to relax and perhaps do a few odds and ends around the house to help his mother and sister out; however, his mother had Saturday free and wanted to go into the city. He had heard her mention the zoo. While it seemed childish, he had a greater appreciation for those kinds of days since his father had gone.

  “I’m not sure. My mom probably has a list of junk for me,” he answered, placing the blame on his mom. Sarah was annoying but he didn’t want to be rude and sharp with her if he didn’t have to. Sadly, she had difficulty getting the message.

  “Do you think you could go to a movie tomorrow? After school? Or maybe later in the evening?”

  Kyler gave her his attention now. He didn’t mind girls being forward, but sometimes it gave off the wrong impression, especially in Sarah’s case. It immediately made him think of Lilah and how shy and hesitant she became the few times in the past when they had gotten off topic, how easily she blushed, how nervous she was in the park.

  He mentally scolded himself. One of the hottest girls in the school was basically asking him out and all he could do was find fault with her, all because of some girl who wanted nothing to do with him.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Sarah’s jaw dropped. Obviously, she wasn’t accustomed to rejection. “Well, that’s still tomorrow.” She shrugged and thought how to recover. “Why don’t you think about it and let me know?”

  Kyler took a deep breath and went back to his previous thought. She absolutely didn’t take rejection. “Yeah. Sure,” he replied to shut her up, though his words held no weight or meaning.

  It seemed enough to please Sarah and she patted him on the shoulder and excused herself to go back to her friends.

  He watched as she left. Every guy on the team either had a crush on her or, at the very least, wanted to hook up with her, but something about Sarah just didn’t do it for him. Looking at her body, she was gorgeous, like a manufactured Barbie, but he cringed when he had to talk to her. That was a good enough reason to not date her, right?

  Kyler: Public library today? 5-6:30 or so?

  When Lilah read the text, just out of a strange habit, she looked up to where she knew she’d find Kyler. He was laughing at something with his regular group of friends. She smiled just looking at him, remembering how his laugh sounded. It was melting. She shook the thought away. Who cared about Kyler’s laugh? He just happened to get lucky being born with it. She did notice that, surprisingly, Sarah wasn’t cuddled up next to him like earlier. Not that she cared about that either, but it was worth noting.

  Kyler was disappointed when all he received back was a one-word confirmation.

  Lilah, Jolee, and Alice split off in different directions after lunch, as they did every day. With different interests, they had very few classes together.

  Lilah nearly screamed bloody murder when she felt a tug, yanking her into the cubby of a classroom that had no class for the upcoming period. She knew because she remembered, and the strangest sense of déjà vu flooded over her.

  “What is wrong with you,” she snapped.

  Kyler held the door open to the darkened room and Lilah looked at him like he had lost his mind.

  “Tech apps is off for this period. While I was waiting, I decided to try the door.” He played with the handle to show her that it was indeed unlocked. “Can we go inside to talk for a second?”

  Lilah glared at him. “Absolutely not.”

  He let the door close. “Fine. Here is good too.”

  He crossed his arms and leaned into the door behind him. Lilah couldn’t help directing her attention to his chest. She had never noticed how strong and manly his arms looked, but of course they would, he obviously worked out more than he studied. She vomited a little after associating words like strong and manly with Kyler. She didn’t want to picture him like that.

  “Are you sure? You’re not embarrassed that someone might see you talking to me?”

  Kyler remembered what that friend of hers had said at the party and rolled his eyes. “On the contrary, people might think I have magical powers if I can get the most stuck-up girl in school to talk to me.”

  Lilah huffed and spun on her heel to storm off, but Kyler softly placed his hand on her shoulder, causing a warmth to spread all the way down to her toes, disabling any further movement other than turning back to face him.

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t look so broken. It would take more than that to hurt my feelings,” Lilah sighed impatiently. She didn’t want to be late, and Kyler was dangerously close to making that happen.

  Kyler watched her carefully. Something was definitely different about her. Even her words, as cruel as she intended for them to be, came across as lacking.

  “Do you want to talk?” He clenched as soon as he said the words. He sounded like some weird counselor or therapist.

  Lilah now crossed her arms and evaluated Kyler, wondering what he had up his sleeve. Before she could say anything, he rather nervously continued on.

  “You look a little off today. I just wanted to see if everything was okay.”

  Now Lilah truly froze. She thought that she had done a pretty good job of getting through the morning so far, even Jolee and Alice didn’t comment on her behavior. How could Kyler possibly think such a thing?

  “I’m fine.”

  He took a step closer, studying her. “You don’t seem fine.” He swallowed heavily, not believing how bold and forward he was being with her.

  Lilah forced herself to push certain thoughts away, thoughts of her parents, thoughts of how good Kyler smelled. It took every ounce of energy in her to maintain her demeanor.

  “You don’t know me. Don’t go making assumptions like you do,” Lilah told him as coldly as she could.

  Before he could get any closer, before he could touch her again, she tore off to her next period class, the tardy bell ringing, silencing her panicked breaths from the situation she had just left.

  Chapter 17

  Lilah still felt guilty when she woke Friday morning, but after lunch, there was no way that she could spend nearly two hours with Kyler. He was caught up with his assignments for the most part, even passing English with a solid B at the moment. So he could miss a few of their sessions. While he complained relentlessly, he seemed to be doing much better with Pride and Prejudice than he did with Hamlet, although, if Lilah had to hear one more comment about Kiera Knightly, she was going to lose it.

  School was just another day. She tried to put on her best fake smile when she was around her friends; if they noticed anything, they didn’t say it. She’d get through her family drama in time. There was no sense in dragging outsiders into it as well. She found
that she was even more self-conscious when it came to lunch. She tried her hardest not to make any eye contact with Kyler, but from time to time it was like she could feel his eyes on her, and twice she broke down and looked up, only for him to immediately look away.

  She could assume that he was irate at her for canceling, but he’d have all weekend to get over it.

  By the end of the day, Lilah felt like she could finally breathe. She had no plans for the weekend other than staying in her room and reading. With the cool temperatures coming in, maybe she’d even take Rover to the park. Little did she know, when she walked through the entry, her mother had other plans, plans that didn’t involve her or her brother.

  “Where have you been,” Jenna screamed before Lilah could even close the door.

  “School,” Lilah replied bitterly. Over the last forty-eight hours she had suddenly grown quite sharp with her parents.

  “I have been texting you!”

  “My phone must have been on silent in my–”

  Her mother interrupted her. “I’m dropping Rover off for a weekend sleepover at a friend’s house. Go pack a bag,” Jenna insisted.

  “What do you mean go pack a bag? Wait, where’s dad and Antonio?” Until then, Lilah hadn’t given it much thought. When Jolee insisted that Lilah ride home with her so she could tell her about her upcoming weekend trip to her grandmother’s, Lilah didn’t bother calling Antonio. It would have been nice to know that he wasn’t even an option should she have needed.

  Lilah watched as her mother fumbled for words. “The two of you haven’t been spending near enough time with your friends. I thought you might like to get out this weekend.”

  Lilah narrowed her eyes. “No thanks.”

  She could see right away that her mother wasn’t pleased with her words, but she also knew that her mother caring about whether or not she saw her friends was a load of lies.