I Love You Just the Way You Are (Book 1- Rock Canyon Series)

Chapter 14 - Kellan

Chapter 14 – Kellan

I wasn't ready for Monday morning. If I slept at all over the weekend, I wasn't aware of it. I dodged texts from Tyrell asking what happened with Jasmine. When I heard a car door slam late Saturday afternoon, I peeked out the living room window and saw Ty coming up the sidewalk. I hid out of sight until he finally left.

I didn't want to deal with any of that. It was disappointing that Jasmine had immediately run to our friends and talked about what happened. I would have thought she would be embarrassed to have been rejected, especially given what she was about to do to me. Now I'd be on the hook to explain why I didn't sleep with her, and just who exactly I was in love with.

The only bright spot about the morning was that mom didn't work the previous night, so she was still asleep. I'd be able to prepare for the day without a bunch of unnecessary bullshit.

I grabbed my phone and connected it to the Bluetooth speaker in the kitchen. I made a cup of coffee and then scrolled through the songs I had downloaded, selecting "Beach House – Space Song." I sat on the couch, enjoying the first glimmering rays of sun filtering into the living room. I quickly got lost watching the odd patterns of light and shadow dancing on the carpet. The house plants hanging in the windows created odd shapes that seemed to match the soundscape coming from the speakers. I thought that it was neat how eerily calm I felt even though I was faced with impending doom. 

Without uncertainty, what was there to fear?

I sagged into the couch cushions, closing my eyes and releasing myself into the sonic bliss that was Beach House. "Space Song" felt like it belonged to me and Maddie.

"Who will dry your eyes when it falls apart?"

I had listened to this song on loop all weekend, and each time I heard it I fell more in love with her. She was so alone, and she must be so scared every second she was in school. She can never be certain what's going to happen. How does she live like that? How is she so incredibly brave?

I took my final gulp of coffee as my phone was ringing. It was Tyrell.

"Hey man, what's up?" I said as if nothing had happened over the weekend.

"Dude... I don't... what's going on, bruh? You ignored me all weekend. Are you okay? Once I know that you're okay, I want you to know how fucking pissed I am that you didn't return my texts."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I'm okay. And yeah, I saw the texts. I've had a rough weekend man. Since everybody blew up my phone, I guess you heard what happened Friday night."

"Yeah, man, that's not cool of her. She ought to know better than to kiss and tell. But it sounded like from what we heard you threw her out of the house and told her you were in love with somebody else."

I let the line go very quiet and very pregnant for a few seconds before responding. 

I didn't really want to go there just yet with Tyrell. I still clung to my "no distractions" motto for football season, even though I knew that ship had sailed.

"You picking me up this morning?" I finally asked.

He snorted. "Yeah, alright. I got you. But I want some answers bruh. If I'm going to have your back, I need to know what's going on."

"Alright, I'll tell you when you get here. Let me hop off and get some food real quick and then I'll meet you at my mailbox."

I hung up with him and started freaking out. What was I going to tell him? We didn't lie to each other. We might lie to our parents, to girls, to our coach, to our other friends even... but we never lied to each other. That's not the type of relationship we had. It would be less painful to jump onto a bed of nails than lie to him.