“Lilah,” Jenna sighed. “It’s not an option. You need to go stay with one of your friends this weekend.”
“Why?!”
“I don’t have to explain myself to–”
“Let me guess, so you can have the house to yourself? So you can shack up with one of your friends,” Lilah spat, now furious with her mother.
She wasn’t stupid. Her mother’s week-old pink nails were now red, and she wasn’t capable of attaining the remarkable waves through what appeared to be newly bleached hair on her own.
“I am your mother. Don’t speak to me like that. What has gotten into you?”
“Me,” Lilah screamed. “What has gotten into you and dad? You two are the mental ones!”
“I don’t have time for this little outburst of yours. Go pack a weekend bag–”
“So, you’re kicking me out,” Lilah interrupted.
Jenna skeptically watched her daughter, feeling like whatever her response was, Lilah had a hidden agenda. Sometimes she hated how smart her children were.
“No,” she slowly answered, now more calmly. “I think that you need to get out and spend time with your friends.”
Lilah quickly had a response. “Why can’t I have my friends over then?”
“Don’t push me,” Jenna growled, growing angrier with her daughter, as well as the quickly passing time.
“And if I have nowhere to go?”
“Don’t be dramatic. I’m sure one of them finds you tolerable enough to deal with you.”
Lilah grit her teeth and didn’t allow her mother’s words to have an effect on her. “When can I come back?” It felt like the strangest thing in the world to ask that. Her mother had never behaved like this before.
“Your father will be back from his business trip sometime Sunday morning. So, Sunday morning.”
Lilah heard a slight bit of uncertainty and nervousness in her mother’s words. Rather than argue, Lilah decided to sit back and think things through. She didn’t hate her mother by any means, but she was extremely upset by what she was trying to do. There’s no way that their father would be on board with her sending his children from their home while she used it as…Lilah didn’t even want to think about what plans her mother had for that weekend.
As soon as she got to her room, she grabbed a pink backpack and small matching duffel bag from her closet and began packing. Her main categories were always sleepwear, comfort wear, and generally an assortment of nicer attire, skirts, dresses and such. As she folded each item, she found that she leaned more toward the side of comfort this time. While Raymere Grove had its fair share of places where she wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of jeans, she didn’t imagine she’d be venturing to any of those for the weekend.
Thinking about the weekend, knowing Jolee wasn’t an option, Lilah sent Alice a text. She kept it simple, only asking if she could spend the night. Alice would want more details than a text allowed. Lilah only became uncertain and a bit frantic when more than thirty minutes went by in silence from Alice. Unfortunately, her mother’s screams shattered that.
✽ ✽ ✽
Kyler parked his truck in the parking lot of the Raymere Public Library with twenty minutes before its early Friday closing time of seven. He didn’t know how much work he’d be able to get done over the weekend, but he’d rather have the materials just in case.
“Picking up an online reservation,” he responded when the woman at the desk asked.
“Last name?”
“West.”
She clicked around on the keyboard before, “Oh, yes. I just pulled those. One moment.”
Kyler gave her some time to collect the books from the unorganized cart behind her and begin scanning them out. He leaned into the counter and observed the rest of the library. It was dead on a Friday night. There was an elderly couple in the computer station, and a woman with an armful of cookbooks in the nonfiction part. What caught Kyler’s attention most was someone past a set of glass windows leading into the children’s reading room.
It was the brown hair with just the right hint of red that caught his attention. Though he was tired from the lumber he had unloaded that afternoon, as well as the warm shower that soothed his muscles, something about seeing her in such close proximity was like the jolt of caffeine that he desperately needed; however, he was still very much irritated at her for bailing on him the day before.
The woman at the counter broke his train of thought. “Here you are then. These are due back in two weeks.”
Kyler crammed the books in an empty drawstring bag he had stuffed in the back of his jeans. He slipped it over his shoulders and began to make his way out, but before he reached the exit, he turned and headed to the children’s room. The library would be closing soon anyway. If she became sharp and nasty, he wouldn’t have to deal with her for long, but he really wished that she wouldn’t be.
By the time he finally walked in, she was curled up in one of the beanbags, quickly reading through a book. No wonder she excelled in English, as well as every other subject. She had probably memorized Hamlet before he ever got through the first act.
Lilah hadn’t noticed Kyler quietly making his way across the room. She was well into Charlotte’s Web. It had always been a childhood favorite of hers, but reading it today proved difficult through the blurred vision and sniffles that refused to go away.
Startled from nearby movement, Lilah pulled the book down and looked to the beanbag next to her. Her tear infested vision had to be betraying her. It had to be some sort of sick mirage. There was no way that Kyler West was sitting next to her in the children’s reading room of the public library on a Friday night.
Kyler tried to hide his shock. He wasn’t sure if he should look away or continue to stare at her like she was some three-headed alien. He tried composing himself the best he could. He knew something had been off with Lilah the day prior, but never in his life did he think he’d see her crying.
“It’s allergies,” Lilah immediately responded. She tried dabbing at her eyes delicately enough so that she wouldn’t have mascara smeared all over.
Kyler wanted nothing more than to call her out on the lie, but she genuinely looked to be in a state of undoing. He had only seen her vulnerable once, but he immediately pushed that thought away. What he saw in front of him was something completely different.
“What’s wrong,” he asked, only for her to shake her head and refuse to meet his eyes.
Her nose was buried in the book, but she was no longer reading, only using it to put up a wall between herself and perhaps the one person she refused to believe knew anything more about her than her name.
Kyler grabbed the top of the book, softly closed it and place it next to Lilah’s feet. He didn’t say anything, only sat back, made himself comfortable and waited for her to talk. It was something his mother always did with his sister, particularly when she was going through a breakup. Not so strangely, he was near certain that wasn’t Lilah’s problem.
Lilah stared at the laces on her sneakers, terrified to look up, terrified to speak, terrified of the person next to her seeing her like this. With all her might she stopped her emotions from coming through. She blinked several times and dabbed at any remaining wet spots beneath her eyes. After taking in a few deep breaths, it seemed to work. She could fall apart later.
While Kyler waited for Lilah to compose herself, he took notice to the bags she had with her and became even more concerned. He was just about to check the time when the woman from the desk popped inside and gave them a ten-minute warning.
Kyler knew that Lilah didn’t drive and he had so many questions that would take longer than ten minutes to answer, which is how he found himself asking, “Have you had supper yet?”
Lilah narrowed her eyes and finally looked up at him. The answer was obvious to him, but so far, she had barely said anything to him. He thought a question would at least break the ice a bit, obviously he was wrong.
“I’m going to head to Flip�
�s Grill for a burger, if you wanted to come along,” he finally asked, trying to suppress a smile as her eyes widened at the suggestion.
Lilah swallowed heavily. She wanted to ask Kyler if he had lost his mind. Flip’s Grill, named after the funniest person in town, Philip Rogers, was busy on even the slowest of days. Friday nights through the weekend were crazy.
Rather than decline or accept, “Aren’t you afraid we’ll run into some of your friends? I’d hate for you to be seen with–”
“Stop,” Kyler huffed. “It’s not like you go out of your way to speak to me in public.” While he didn’t want to argue with her, at least it seemed to be a distraction from whatever else was bothering her. “Just so you know, I planned on using the drive-thru. I’m starving and don’t feel like waiting on a table and then my order, and if you decide to come with me, I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be seen in a crowded restaurant right now, regardless of who you’re with,” he pointed out.
Lilah didn’t want to appear too eager, and while she still hadn’t figured out her situation for the evening, she wasn’t for a second under the assumption that she could simply hide in the bathroom until the library closed.
“I don’t eat burgers.”
Kyler laughed and reached for her bags. “Then you can get a salad or whatever.”
Lilah tried grabbing her bags just as Kyler stood with them, but he waved her off and whispered something about having them. He was only being nice because he saw her crying; that’s what she told herself.
She wouldn’t tell Kyler, but Lilah had to admit, as soon as they drove into the parking lot of Flip’s Grill, she had a craving for the greasy goodness that Alice drooled over. Since her mother’s diets, she mostly ate bland vegetables, salads, and any meat was generally baked and dry enough to choke on. Therefore, when Kyler asked her what she wanted, there was a brief spark of happiness that flickered through her as she told him a cheeseburger. It took him by surprise as well.
Lilah clammed up as soon as Kyler pulled in to one of the parking areas of Raymere Park. From the corner of her eye, he looked as calm as could be, which only further proved to her that anything about that moment in the park was a joke and meant nothing.
“Don’t forget your drink,” he said as he grabbed his own along with the large paper bag.
The ten-minute ride had been miserable. The smell of the food nearly killed them. Lilah hadn’t been in the mood to talk, so she didn’t bother to ask Kyler where they were headed, and he didn’t see the point in telling her.
While there was still a bit of daylight for the late evening, the fading sun combined with the clouds had been enough to cause the lamplights to come on.
Lilah continued to follow closely behind Kyler, to hopefully prevent any conversation, as he made his way to an area of picnic tables and lamplights that looked like giant candles.
Lilah stood, waiting, feeling awkward about the whole situation, while Kyler sorted through the bag. He read over the labels and placed two burgers and fries in front of him, and a burger and smaller box of fries across the table.
He looked up at Lilah. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” she nervously answered as she took a seat where he had sat out her food.
Kyler couldn’t hide his laughter when Lilah took a bite and let out the smallest of moans, like it was the best thing she had ever eaten. Even in the dim light he could see the pink tint of her cheeks intensify.
“It’s really good,” she mumbled through a full mouth, which she never did. Something about eating a greasy burger in the park made her feel more comfortable, and she was able to forget about her manners.
“When was the last time you had a burger?”
Lilah had to think. Technically she had one about two weeks ago, but if she told Kyler about that, she’d never hear the end of it. The thing she ate was nothing like what she had in her hands.
“I guess when our grade went on the end of year trip to the theme park, so sophomore year.”
Kyler shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Well, I don’t or can’t cook, and I don’t go out much. So, I only eat what’s prepared when I get home.”
She grew quiet when she mentioned home, and he watched as whatever little glimmer of light that had started to come back faded away.
It probably wasn’t the right time to ask, but he got the impression that there wasn’t going to be a right time. “What’s with the bags?”
“Nothing,” Lilah immediately responded, a little too quickly for his liking.
A cool October wind passed by that sent chills through Kyler. He saw Lilah try to hide her shivers, not once complaining. He was just about to ask her if she was cold but realized how stupid and unnecessary the question was.
He wrapped the remainder of his burger back up in hopes it would stay warm. “I’ll be right back.”
Before Lilah could swallow, much less say anything, he had jogged off. She took that small window of solitude to finally breathe, partly from trying to eat what seemed too large for an average burger, and partly from being around Kyler.
“What are you doing,” she whispered to herself. She glanced around and listened for footsteps. The last thing she wanted was Kyler popping up on her again while she was talking to herself. She shook her head. “This isn’t a date. Absolutely not a date. Just because he paid doesn’t mean…Ugh…What is wrong with you?”
She put the last few bites down. Her body could not handle anymore. Even though Kyler was probably twice her size, she couldn’t understand how he could eat two as well as the fries.
She looked off to the side when she heard fast approaching footsteps. Kyler had something dark in one of his hands. Lilah couldn’t figure out what it was until it was flung in her face.
He didn’t want to make a big deal of it, so he casually tossed the hoodie to Lilah, knowing that his mother would be scolding him right now for his delivery.
“What’s this,” Lilah asked, recognizing what it was, but taking a second to process.
“You looked cold,” Kyler said with a shrug and got back to finishing his second burger.
Lilah squirmed from side to side. It was such a kind gesture, even though he threw it at her like a football. She tried to calm whatever was going on in her stomach, from the burger no doubt, as she put her arms through the overly large sleeves. That’s when she caught a whiff of it and wrinkled her nose.
“It’s clean,” Kyler grumbled.
“I didn’t say anything!”
“You didn’t have to. You made a face.”
Lilah looked away, trying to hide the redness coming to her face. “It’s not like that,” she mumbled.
Kyler barely heard her, but dropped it. It wasn’t a conversation worth pursuing, not when there was something bigger going on with her.
Lilah honestly didn’t mean to make a face, nor did she mean to offend Kyler, especially after he had done one of the nicer things any boy had ever done for her. The truth was, his hoodie didn’t smell bad at all, not an ounce of sweat, although she was beginning to wonder if that would have had a negative or positive effect on her now. Instead, it smelled just like whatever he showered in or sprayed on. It was a scent that made her feel like a silly girl with a ridiculous crush, and that wasn’t her.
She was snapped back to reality when Kyler repeated, “Are you going to finish that?”
Now her face scrunched up in slight disgust. “No…Why?”
He didn’t answer her, only shoved the remaining few bites of her burger in his mouth.
“What,” he asked, genuinely shocked, when he saw the way she was looking at him. “It’s no different than me…” He stopped before he could finish that sentence and cleared his throat. He then guzzled the rest of his soda to account for the reason there was now an uncomfortable silence.
“Thanks for the meal,” Lilah said.
She realized that whatever they were doing was now coming to an end. It was getting darker and cooler
and Kyler, who kept glancing at the time on his phone, appeared to need to get somewhere.
He looked up at her, his face serious, and those gorgeous blue eyes masked a million questions running through his mind.
“What’s going on with you?”
So far Lilah had felt so much better since leaving the library. Sure, there was still that tiny voice she kept buried deep within, warning her that she had yet to figure out where to go for the night. “Nothing.”
“Stop! I can see you. I can look at you and tell that something is wrong. Then there’s the bags. What’s up with that,” he began, his words now very insistent.
Lilah rose. “It’s probably time to leave.”
Kyler quickly shoved the remaining trash into the paper bag and tossed it in a nearby trash can as he rushed to keep up with Lilah.
“Hey,” he said, gently pulling on her elbow and forcing her to turn around to face him.
He regretted it immediately. Tears streamed down her face and she refused to make eye contact with him.
“If you won’t tell me what’s wrong, will you just answer some yes or no questions?”
Lilah reluctantly nodded.
“Are you running away?”
She met his eyes briefly and scoffed at the suggestion. Apparently, it was absurd enough to cause her tears to slow.
“Okay, did you get kicked out?” When she didn’t answer, his stomach flipped. “What did you do to–”
“That’s not a yes or no question,” Lilah screamed, now turning from him.
He had never seen her so upset and dramatic. Though her back was facing him, he could see that she was trying her best to dab away her tears with the sleeves of his hoodie; however, he found that he didn’t mind.
He was surprised that she spoke on her own free will, without him asking another question.
“I was asked to go stay at a friend’s this weekend.”
He didn’t understand why that was a problem and was just about to speak up when he realized that she really didn’t have many friends.
Fumbling Perfect (Raymere Grove Series Book 1) Page 12