Lovers of Yesterday

Chapter 27 • Books

For the fifth time, I glanced at my suitcase that sat against the wall while we finished setting up Lynch's guest room. He managed to convince me to pull out a few books to read while I stayed in his apartment. I tried to argue that I'd be too busy to do anything else but he just countered that I wouldn't have as much to do because I'd be with him.

We got the furniture set up and we're now going through boxes. He'd look at what was in them and decide what could be pulled out and what he wanted to leave in boxes. There weren't as many boxes as I thought there were because some of it was just bedding and towels. He took them out to the hall closet, leaving me to open another box.

I tried to lift one but it was too heavy to lift. I found the box cutter Lynch was using earlier and opened the box. I closed the box cutter and opened the box. It was filled to the brim with hardcovers. All classics.

I heard Lynch walk back in and I turned to look up at him. He glanced past me to see which box I had opened. He walked over and knelt down next to me, pulling out one of the books. He ran his hand over the intricate design and he sighed.

"Ma always loved to read and she like the books with the pretty or detailed covers. These are all classics. Besides a few pictures, these books, and the chain I wear, I don't really have much from her. Her life was never really hers."

"Have you read any of these?" I asked, curious.

"A couple but only because of school. To Kill A Mockingbird and Fahrenheit 451 are the ones I remember reading." He shrugged and gingerly set the book back in the box.

"Well, even if you don't read them, do you want to display them? Maybe not in the living room but somewhere private?" I suggested.

Again, he shrugged. "Maybe. I know I have good memories from when I was younger with Ma and Pop but I also remember seeing her come home with bruises and cuts and she was crying. I didn't understand it when I was younger and I couldn't help her by the time I did understand."

I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. His hand found mine and squeezed. I squeezed back, hoping to give him some of the comfort he gave me. His head dropped to lean against mine. We sat there for a while until he was ready to finish unpacking the rest of the boxes.

He left the box of books untouched but open while we sorted through the others. In the end, he set the books out on a small bookshelf. The box was discarded into the hall.

• • •

"What?" Lynch grimaced and chuckled. "Why'd you knee him?"

"He was a pervert and trying to touch one of my friends so I kneed him. I think it was well deserve because of the reputation he carried." I crossed my arms.

He put his hands up. "That's fair. I probably would've gone a little farther but if it worked then that's great."

"What would you have done?"

"Punched 'em. Rough him up a little so he knows not to pull stupid shit like that. I don't like people like that."

I nodded in agreement. "Me either. Well, what about you? Did you do anything that got you in trouble?"

He sat back and thought about it. "Probably not as good as your story. It was and accident but back in high school when I played football, we were practicing. The cheerleaders were off practicing their routines somewhere else on the field while we were working on plays. During one of the plays, some of the cheerleaders though it would be smart to run into our practice.

"Well, I ended up slamming into one of the girls and taking her down. She was pretty bad considering I was wearing all of my padding and my helmet and I was not a small kid. At first I was gonna get off because it was her fault for running into the middle of our practice but then her parents came down and started giving the principal hell for it.

"Eventually he called me down and gave me a couple days' suspension just to please the parents but he knew I wasn't in the wrong. I took it just cause I didn't want to start more shit."

My eyes were wide by the end of his story. "Wow. I kinda feel bad for the girl but not that much cause that's just plain stupid to run out during the middle of a play. Did she explain what actually happened or did she make up some story?"

"From what I know and remember, there was a rumor that started up sayin' that I beat her n' shit but she shut that down quick. She did tell her parents the truth, they were just pissed but didn't wanna be pissed at their daughter."

I nodded and leaned forward so my arms braced on the table. "At least she didn't help spread the rumors. And I think you're story is better than mine. That's insane."

He shrugged. "I don't see it as crazy but that's probably cause it happened to me so I just don't see it that way. Ok, what about... something embarrassing that happened in school?"

"I'm not sure I have any embarrassing stories from high school. Do they have to be about me?"

"If you don't have anything on you then sure, you can give a story about someone else."

"Well, I have several stories of prom-posals gone wrong." I paused, trying to remember. "Oh! I got one. It's not about me but one of the girls that everyone knew.

"She would always go on and on about this boyfriend she was with. It was a long distance relationship. Every day in class, she'd have something to day about him. She told everyone that he was the same age as her and was really cute but she never showed anyone pictures. She was sixteen at the time.

"One day, she showed up to school gushing about how he was flying in to see her. What she didn't know was that he was apparently planning to pick her up. When everyone started leaving, he was out in the parking lot standing outside of his car with flowers and everything. Well, she lied about his age. He was like twenty- something and she was too embarrassed to tell anyone.

"She ran over to him and they got into a very loud argument which basically ended in him being pissed that she was embarrassed of him and her being embarrassed this happened in front of the whole school. For the kids who didn't see it, it got around pretty quickly about what happened. No one really said anything about it but she ended up moving schools after that year."

"Damn. That's something for sure." He laughed. "I feel bad for the guy. He probably really liked her if he was showin' up like that. It was probably embarrassing for him to."

"Yeah, I thought about that too. We never heard about him again but they pretty much broke up in the middle of the student parking lot so I'm not surprised."

I yawned before Lynch could start his story. He looked at me and then the clock on his phone. "We should probably head to bed. It's eleven oh six and we both have work tomorrow."

I hummed. "I expect to hear your story tomorrow."

"Alright, sweetheart. Now go to bed. You're tired."

I stood up and shuffled out of the kitchen. I heard him stand up too and pick up the plates from our dinner. The water turned on but was quickly muffled as I closed the door behind me. I changed out of my clothes and into the sweatpants I was still borrowing from Lynch before crawling into bed.