The Chord to my Heart

30: Run-In

30: Run-In

“How did you not hit her?” Scarlett asked. She came over as soon as she heard about my confrontation with Tracy at school earlier.

“I’m telling you, I was about to but Mase stopped me,” I said, watching as he slightly shook his head.

“You’re lucky I was there. You’d be suspended right now if I hadn’t stopped you,” he said.

“Big deal. You should’ve let her have her moment,” Scarlett said, rolling her eyes.

One thing was for sure. Even though things were horrible at school, I could always count on these two to cheer me up. Or at least help me forget for a little while.

“Just wait for prom. Those pictures will do more damage than anything you would’ve done today, Lyla,” he said. I knew he was right. Those pictures would do a lot of damage. Maybe even more damage than what she’d done to me. And I couldn’t help but to feel the same uneasiness as before about this whole thing, even after everything that happened today.

“Speaking of prom, do you even have a dress Lyla?” Scarlett asked.

I was so caught up in everything that was going on, I completely spaced about having to buy a dress.

“Oh, right. I’ll need a dress for prom. Can I just borrow one of yours?” I asked. I wasn’t in the mood to go on a shopping spree and prom was just a few days away.

“What? No way. Not an option. Not for prom. You don’t recycle clothes for prom,” she said, a horrified look on her face. I didn’t realize she took this prom thing so seriously.

I was contemplating, knowing I’d have to ask my dad and Ruth for money. Dresses didn’t come cheap. And I assumed Scarlett wouldn’t let me off the hook without buying jewelry and shoes as well.

“Okay, fine. We’ll go shopping tomorrow,” I said.

She nodded her head while standing from the edge of my bed. “Of course we will. Now I have to get home for dinner. But don’t worry about all this stuff at school, Lyla. It’ll all be old news in just a few days,” she said, while blowing me a kiss and giving Mase a little wave before making her way out.

 “So I was thinking that we should go to my room and do something to get your mind off of things,” Mase said, his concrete colored eyes pouring into mine. His fingers were playing with a strand of my hair.

“Mase, if you want to make out we can do that in here too,” I said, the words spilling from my mouth before I could stop them. There was an instant blush coloring my cheeks.

“I was actually suggesting that we go practice playing the guitar, but that’s not too bad of an idea either,” he said, leaning in and kissing me with his smiling lips.

His lips moved against mine and my fingers somehow found their way into the mess of his brown hair. I was lost in Mase for a long moment. I breathed his smell and felt his touch at the small of my back. He was intoxicating.

I pulled away from his lips just long enough to mumble, “You still want to go play your guitar?”

He didn’t bother replying, pulling my body closer to his instead. I got lost in his touch and his breathing and the way my hands held on to him, willing him to never let me go. And we stayed that way, lost in our own universe, until we heard Ruth’s voice calling our names from the bottom of the stairs.

We went down for dinner that night in silence, his hand pressed against mine, my cheeks flushed and lips numb. I was falling hard for Mase Dean. And I just hoped he would fall with me, too.

**

I’d been at the food court in the mall waiting for Scarlett for almost a half hour now. I’d sent her three texts and called once but no reply. I got up to toss the remainder of my lemonade in the trash when I saw her.

Tracy was at one of the far end tables at the food court. She was sitting at the table with her father, sharing a sundae and laughing about something. I’d never seen Tracy outside of school and here, at the mall with her father, she looked like a normal girl.  Not the evil Barbie I had gotten to know at school. Her father must have said something else funny because she laughed again, and leaned into his arm. He kissed her the forehead while smiling. And even though I didn’t know him or what their relationship was like, I could tell he really loved her. They had a bond that was visible to anyone who took a moment to stop and notice it.

I felt a sharp pain of something in my gut as I watched them. I didn’t know if it was pity because she would be finding out about her father’s affair in just a few days, or if it was jealously because I longed to have a relationship like that with own father.

I shook off the feeling as I walked towards the exit of the mall. That’s when I saw Scarlett rushing in through the entrance.

“I’m so sorry, Lyla. I know I’m late. My mom needed help with something and my phone died so I couldn’t call you,” she said.

“I’m not really into this whole shopping thing anymore. Let’s just go to your place and I’ll pick out one of your dresses,” I said, trying to keep from looking over at Tracy and her father again.

“What? No, we still have enough time to shop. Come on, it’ll be fun,” she said.

My gaze wondered over to the end table of the food court again, and this time Scarlett’s gaze followed.

“Oh. Shit. She’s here? And is that her dad?” she asked.

“Yeah, it is,” I said.

“Look, forget Tracy for now. We’re not just going to prom to sabotage her. We’re also going to have a good time, right? Which means you need to find a nice dress that Mase will like,” she said.

“I’m fine, really. I don’t even care about prom,” I said.

She hooked her arm through mine and pulled me back towards the mall anyway.

“Well I care about prom and I care about you so we’re doing this,” she said. “Trust me.”

I sighed, thinking for a moment to protest some more. But I went through the trouble of asking my father and Ruth for some extra money. And we were already here. So I let it go and did exactly what she asked me to. I trusted her.

author's note: thanks for being patient with me! hope you enjoy this next chapter while i work on the next. get ready for some craziness to happen guys :)) please don't forget to vote, share, and comment!