Lilah swatted at Kyler’s chest. It was just as hard as she remembered. “I do not snore or drool!”
Kyler smirked and shrugged his shoulders, his silence causing Lilah’s face to turn red. He could easily assume that she was mulling it over in her mind whether or not he was picking on her.
“I’ll leave you alone,” he began, swearing that just with those few words he saw a flash of something across her face that he hadn’t seen before when it concerned him. Disappointment? “I’ll get some of my things whenever you go take a shower.”
“Thanks,” was all that Lilah said in response. For some sick reason she didn’t want the night to end. She had fun with Kyler throughout the day. Even the times where he was teasing her or annoying her, or even when they were bickering, it was still nice.
He took a step forward just as she began to turn from him and pulled her to face him. “Wait.”
Lilah’s breathing nearly stopped again with their closeness. Like a silly girl with a ridiculous crush, all she could think about was kissing him again.
He swallowed heavily and looked into the set of questioning eyes staring up at him. “What happened? With the guy?”
Lilah had to think for a split second as to what he was referring to. The kiss. Of course. “Nothing.”
Kyler narrowed his eyes. She knew that he didn’t believe her. “Nothing? Something that was so perfect…and nothing.”
Lilah didn’t want to talk about it and hated that he had to ask. She felt sick to her stomach with disappointment. “We just weren’t suitable for each other.”
Kyler took a step back, slightly aggravated. If she wasn’t making up an insane excuse and telling the truth, why would she say that? “Suitable?”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Lilah admitted. The day had gone so well and now he was going to ruin it.
“Did you even try to work anything out,” he pressed.
Lilah bit her lip, partly to stop from screaming at the top of her lungs. She just wanted him to stop. Why did he care anyway? He couldn’t possibly know that it was him, so why did he need to know. “There was nothing to work out. We came from different worlds. He wasn’t interested and I guess I wasn’t either.” That was the one time in her story that she lied.
Kyler was so close, too close, to correcting her, to telling her differently, but the stoic and emotionless look that her face held when she said those words told him that it was the truth, at least from her point of view. They had something between them, maybe not in the way he wanted, but he wasn’t about to ruin whatever it was by saying something stupid at the wrong time.
He took a few more steps back, masking his disappointment. “Goodnight, Lilah.”
Lilah sighed in annoyance and confused him when she walked forward, closing the gap. She didn’t stop until her arms were around his torso. It took about two full seconds before he could respond. She was hugging him?
“Thank you. Today was fun. Also, whether you wanted to or not, thank you for staying here tonight.” So it didn’t come across as too mushy, she added, “With me and your sister.”
Kyler clenched at the mentioning of his sister. It had almost been the perfect moment. The perfect moment between friends.
When she pulled back, a look of embarrassment on her face, Kyler made himself clear. “I wanted to.”
A look of surprise appeared on her face, but he couldn’t handle anymore, and with that, he pulled the door shut behind him.
Chapter 24
Lilah couldn’t believe how ridiculously well she slept in Kyler’s bed for a second night. It was a thought she would never in her lifetime admit to having. For some reason when she went downstairs that morning, she already had expectations: Helen resting from a long shift at the hospital, Krista banging around in the kitchen, Kyler already outside working on something for his mother. However, as she made her way down the stairs, she only smelled the strong scent of black coffee and only heard light noises from the television, noises that sounded suspiciously like a cooking show.
When she finally got to the bottom of the staircase, she saw Krista, curled up with a blanket and a cup of coffee, and just like she thought, watching some culinary competition.
“Good morning,” Krista called out cheerfully. After evaluating Lilah, “You look like you slept well.”
Lilah tried to hide the embarrassment coming to her face. She did indeed sleep well, if only her dreams weren’t constantly plagued by images of Kyler, and if only every time she breathed in, she didn’t smell him on the pillows.
Lilah looked around. The house seemed void of anyone but Krista. Krista must have sensed Lilah’s confusion, and before Lilah could ask she vomited all the information she had.
“My mom slept at the hospital. She has something going on this morning. Kyler was up at an ungodly hour. Apparently, they asked him sometime last night to work an early shift today.”
“Oh,” was all Lilah said, hoping to hide any disappointment.
Krista held a devilish grin that told Lilah there was something more. In a baby-like voice, “He left you a note on the entry table.”
Lilah narrowed her eyes and allowed them to dart between Krista and the small table near the door that held an aged floral arrangement and a set of keys. Sure enough, there was a small piece of paper, torn from a notepad, folded into thirds, just as one would fold to put in an envelope.
Krista laughed. “He could have just text you, but I guess he didn’t want to wake you.” She pretended to think. “I didn’t know my brother was such a romantic, writing handwritten love notes and whatnot.”
Lilah flung her attention from the entry to Krista, appearing shocked and horrified. “You have the wrong idea, we’re not–”
Krista busted into more laughter. “Relax, I know you two are just friends, for now,” she added with a wink. “I also couldn’t help but be a little curious. I mean, if he didn’t want me to be nosey, he should have taped it up or something. Don’t look so creeped out. It’s just as silly as my brother.” She rose and trudged to the kitchen refilling her coffee and grabbing a second cup from the cupboard.
Lilah didn’t want to appear too eager, but as soon as Krista’s back was turned, she rushed to the little table, her heart racing with anticipation. Kids their age didn’t write letters to each other. Sure, in class they passed notes. It was safer than risking having your phone taken up. An actual letter, if that’s what you could call what he left, was something completely unexpected.
I know you have to get back home today. I had to go into work, and I won’t be back until three or so. If you need a ride, ask Krista. She’s pretty useless on the weekends, unless she’s baking.
If you don’t have any plans for the day, there’s an afternoon game coming on around the time I get home. Since I know you’ll never come to any of mine, I thought we could watch that one. If not, I’ll see you at school.
-Kyler
It definitely wasn’t a love note, and Lilah hadn’t expected it to be; however, he was asking her to spend time with him. He could have had any of his many friends over to watch a game, but instead he was asking her. Did that mean something? Or was she reading into something that was only real in her imagination?
“Well,” Krista asked, phrasing it as a question, as she handed Lilah a cup of plain black coffee.
“Well, what?”
“I have an entire folder of game day snacks I’ve been dying to experiment with. So are you staying or not?”
Lilah didn’t know. She thought about calling her mother. All she had been told was that she could come home Sunday morning. Would it really matter if she came home Sunday evening?
For once, she did what she wanted to do, and not what she thought she was supposed to do. “Yeah.”
Lilah didn’t expect the day to drag on as it did. Maybe it didn’t. Maybe it was the strange anticipation of the afternoon to come that made time trail by so slowly.
She did enjoy getting to know Krista. As much as she woul
d have expected her to be a chef, she learned that the hours of a chef could be crazy early or crazy late depending. She also discovered that Krista’s cooking ability was only topped by her savvy ways with everything technology. Had she been more than a decade younger, she’d be the perfect match for Rover.
“Why are you only in sales then,” Lilah found herself asking. She saw that she hit a nerve and thought about dismissing it altogether.
“It’s just the company I work for. I got rejected as a developer, so I took what I could. However, one of the guys in my interview group, complete idiot, right out of college, he made it through.” The knife she was holding appeared to obliterate the pile of herbs on the cutting board.
Lilah scoffed at the chauvinistic mentality. “I think I’d find a different company.”
Krista stopped chopping, raised a brow, and cocked her hip to one side, her expression serious, and that’s when Lilah knew.
“You’re kidding me,” she groaned, shaking her head.
“Don’t get me wrong, McCallister Industries is a great place to work, but their hiring team leaves something to be desired.” She took the butcher knife and swayed it back and forth in Lilah’s face. “I swear, you better not go and tell your daddy. I want to get where I’m going in life the right way, even if it’s the hard way.”
Lilah agreed. Although she’d definitely talk to her father. She wouldn’t beg him to just give Krista the job she wanted, but she’d insist that Krista get another interview.
✽ ✽ ✽
After more than thirty minutes, Lilah finally gave up. What was she thinking? All she was going to do was sit on a couch and watch a football game. Kyler probably wouldn’t notice what her makeup, hair, or outfit looked like. At first, she had put on the one dressy thing she packed in her bag. That was a mistake. It would be immensely overdoing it, something that Sarah would do.
She looked in the mirror and pulled her hair down from the fancy ponytail she spent a good ten minutes working on, hating herself that Sarah entered her mind. But how could she not? The two times she had seen Kyler’s phone, flirtatious texts from Sarah popped up. Was aggravating him seriously her only hobby?
She then proceeded to wiping off her lip gloss. It was too shiny and drew too much attention to her lips. Normally that’s what girls wanted, right? Somehow, she didn’t. So far, she had gotten to be someone she wasn’t while she was around Kyler, and that someone was herself.
She tossed all the little odds and ends in her makeup bag and decided that simple would be for the best. While waiting for Kyler, she began packing her things so that she could leave right after the game. She knew Kyler had an assignment to work on. The books that he picked up Friday at the library sat on his desk untouched.
“Rushing out,” a low and soft voice asked from the doorway, startling Lilah.
She looked up and felt as though someone stole all the air in her lungs. Kyler’s gaze drifted over her like she was on display for him.
“No,” she finally answered. A part of her wondered what he was thinking as he looked her up and down. “I was just getting my stuff together. I should get home as soon as the game is over.”
Kyler chuckled and headed toward his closet. “If you don’t want to watch it, you don’t have to. I honestly didn’t expect–”
“I want to,” Lilah interrupted, her words so fast that Kyler barely caught them.
His hand tightened on the hanger of the shirt he held. He didn’t want to turn around to face her. She was too much. Too pretty. Too natural. Too normal. She wasn’t at all like the girl he had seen in school over the years.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you to…whatever,” she began. “I’ll see you downstairs.”
Kyler let out a breath when she finally left the room, scolding himself for leaving that stupid note to begin with. What was he thinking? He wasn’t. He never did when it came to her anymore. Perhaps if she had been standing in front of him when he thought it, he would have shut it down. He didn’t expect for something so simple to give him the nerves it had.
He really needed to think about distancing himself from Lilah after this. It had been a colossal mistake to invite her to spend a night, the weekend, at his house. If he didn’t pull in the reigns fast, it was going to be an even more monumental mistake thinking that he could stay just friends with her.
✽ ✽ ✽
“I could have sworn I read that a touchdown was seven points,” Lilah huffed while taking delicate bites of her wing.
Kyler chuckled, wondering when and where she saw that. “Not really. There’s the extra point from the kick. Most of the time it’s made, but not always.”
“Okay.” She nodded her head, extremely focused, now in learning mode, attempting to absorb the information. “Then what happened when I went to the bathroom? The three points,” she asked.
Kyler turned from the television and toward her, bending his knee beneath him on the couch. “There are a few different ways to score.” He held out his hand to count them off. “Touchdown, obviously. That’s six points and then there’s the extra point from kicking it between the posts. The next most common way is a field goal. It’s three points, and usually done on fourth down when the team is…” He shrugged his shoulders thinking. “I guess around the thirty-five-yard line or closer, and they’re not willing to go on fourth down and risk not scoring, so they try to get the three points. It’s safer than going on fourth, depending where you are on the field and how bad the score is.”
Lilah nodded. “Okay, I get it.”
“Then you have two-point conversions and safeties. Both of those are two points.”
Lilah groaned. “Well, what are those?”
“You’ll hardly see them. The two-point conversion is usually done later in the game if the score is extremely close. Rather than take the extra point, the team that just scored a touchdown basically attempts to score another one for two points.”
Lilah shrugged. “That seems like a lot of effort for only two points.”
He supposed she was right. “Risky, but sometimes it’s enough to determine a game.”
He turned back to the television once he saw how focused Lilah became on the screen. Surprisingly, she asked a lot of questions; she didn’t ask just for the sake of making conversation, it seemed that she genuinely wanted to know. It was a little difficult to focus on the game, but Kyler enjoyed it. Despite last night, and feeling like he was definitely in the friend zone with Lilah, which he’d take for now, he really liked being around her.
The vibes she sent off were a little frustrating while she sat on the couch with him, but ultimately, she was sure to keep a vast distance. He had thought about sitting in the middle when he got back from the bathroom; however, the one instance where their hands grazed over the plate of snacks and Lilah immediately jerked back, not eating for another ten minutes, totally shot down that idea.
Lilah glanced at Kyler from time to time, never staring for too long. He appeared to be intensely focused on the game or deep in thought, maybe a little of both.
She’d never tell him, she didn’t know how without it coming out the wrong way, but spending the weekend with him was one of the best weekends she had in a long time.
Chapter 25
“I feel so bad,” Alice repeated. “If I would have known that you wanted to stay over, I would have invited you to come into the city with us.”
“I guess I should have made my mind up before that evening,” Lilah laughed. It was incredibly difficult to try to laugh about, but she pulled it off.
Lilah and Jolee waited for Alice to finish going through her mess of a locker. How she was able to find anything in that thing was a mystery.
“At least you had fun,” Jolee sighed, looking extra sleepy as they walked down the hall. “My grandmother was fired up and the most critical and bitter person I’ve ever seen, but at the end of the day no one said anything about it because, as my mother puts it, we don’t know how long she has left.”
; Alice and Lilah sent skeptical looks to each other.
“Didn’t she go on a senior’s singles cruise this past summer,” Lilah hesitantly asked.
“Exactly,” Jolee scoffed. “She just gets by with saying whatever she wants because she’s old.”
Lilah tensed as they made their way farther down the hall, half listening to Jolee rant on about her grandmother. On her right, near a set of lockers, was Kyler and three of his friends. They made brief eye contact and he gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement.
It was strange. When it came to the hierarchy of the school, they were both at the top; however, that didn’t mean that their circles blended. She was so concentrated on how to best act around Kyler that she almost missed the insult from a group passing by.
“Loser,” Sean coughed, barely grazing Lilah’s shoulder as he made his way in the opposite direction.
For some reason, Lilah was feeling extra snotty that morning, and while that was something so mediocre that she should have let go, she couldn’t pass on the opportunity. Sean was always a jerk, and she loved putting him in his place. The best part was, more often than not, she always had the last word, and it was usually bigger and SAT quality material. Besides, he had clearly forgotten about the bet that she had won.
“Seriously,” she snapped, raising her voice as she spun around. Sean stopped and turned as well, rather surprised. “That is such a pitiful insult. It’s like you don’t even try anymore. Then again, I’m sure you’ve lost quite a bit of brain activity from how often you’re knocked out on the field.”
Lilah saw right away that his playing ability was a trigger. He stepped closer, so close that when he hissed in Lilah’s face, she could smell the old funk of milk from his breakfast on his breath. “Watch it.”
“Or what,” Lilah challenged, putting her hands on her hips. It wasn’t the first time she and Sean had gotten into it, and it probably wouldn’t be the last knowing him.
“That’s enough,” Kyler growled, finding it difficult to step in between them.
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