I Loved You Before I Met You (New Version)

12

   Lauren looks at her hand then at her watch to check the time. "I've got to get started on dinner and yes, you can help if you want to." I guess she knew I would ask to help. It's crazy how she seems shocked that I like to help out.

   Lauren smiles then turns to go to the kitchen but I stop her with a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for today Lauren. I usually hate shopping but I actually enjoyed it. I also enjoyed you being there, it was fun." She smiles reaching up and squeezes my hand that is still on her shoulder then walks towards the kitchen. I follow her to the kitchen because I do want to help her with dinner and I just like her company.

   Just as Lauren and I finish cooking dinner Mike walks in the door and comes to the kitchen. He walks up to Lauren and kisses her on the lips and I feel a sharp pain in my chest. I scoff because I don't want him kissing her. I quickly look away as Lauren glances at me once he pulls away from her. Why did she look at me? "I missed you" he says to her then walks off to go put his stuff in his home office. He did not even acknowledge me being in the kitchen. Asshole. Once he comes back we fix our plates and sit down to eat.

   "So Kyler, are you ready for school next week? Mike asks. Like he cares if I'm ready for school or not.

   I shrug my shoulders "I guess." I'm still mad about the kiss even though I have no right to be, so I just keep my answer short. I can tell he doesn't really know what to talk about or he doesn't really want to talk to me. It's quite obvious that he doesn't want me here.

   We sit in silence for a few minutes then Mike says "well you might as well be ready for school because you're going. I got your bank card to give you for your monthly allowance. You will get $400 a month to use for whatever you need or want. That way you're not having to ask me for anything. Just don't blow it all at once because I will not give you anymore."

   I am shocked by him giving me that much a month and by his pissy attitude but manage to get out a "the allowance is not necessary."

   Lauren gently places her hand over mine "Kyler, it's okay. It's your money so when you need or want something you can get it. I promise it's okay."

   Mike excuses himself from the table as his phone starts ringing. Lauren sighs and shakes her head. Her hand is still on mine and we both look at each other. She finally says "he wanted to do the allowance so I promise it's fine. Who knows, you may be somewhere and see something you want or need to buy."

   I glance down at her hand still on mine which she finally notices and she quickly pulls her hand back and clears her throat. I sigh and mumble to myself, "I can't buy what I want."

   Mike comes back to the table and the rest of dinner consists of him talking to Lauren and a little small talk with me. Nothing of any importance is said even though this morning he said we had a lot of catching up to do over dinner. Guess he isn't really worried about catching up with me. Apparently I'm more of a bother to him than anything else which is why I don't understand why the hell he wanted me here.

   The next three days fly by after the weird dinner. Mike worked late each night and I helped Lauren around the house. I talked to Aunt Mary once and she wanted to know how everything was going and if I was settling in okay. Like I told her, it is what it is, definitely nothing to brag about. I did ask her again why couldn't I just come back to Pensacola but her answer was still the same bullshit. 'He's your father and the only parent you have left. Even if I would have wanted to, I couldn't fight him on you having to move there because I had no legal rights. You need to work on your relationship with him and try to repair it before it's to late, at least try.' In my opinion, it's already to late to repair our relationship. He made that decision for both of us when he cut me out of his life years ago.

   I also talked to my best friend Katie numerous times and she couldn't believe the way school is here or the fact that I ended up having two Spring Breaks. She also kept bugging me wanting to know if I had met any "hot Texas girls". For some stupid reason I hesitantly told her no and she knew I was hiding something from her. She kept bugging me until I finally told her about my obvious crush on Lauren. She yelled so damn loud in my ear that I thought I would be deaf.

   Katie wanted to see a picture of Lauren but it's not like I had one to send. So, leave it to my best friend to stalk all the social media platforms to see if she could find Lauren. Of course she found her Facebook and Instagram profiles. Katie took a screenshot of one of Lauren's pictures and sent it to me with a caption that read 'Damn bestie, you got one sexy sugar momma!' I swear, if I could have reached Katie through the phone I would have slapped her.
I text Katie back, 'Stop! She is not my sugar momma.' Katie called me after I sent that and was laughing hysterically until I threatened to hang up on her. I'm not going to lie though, after I did finally get off the phone with Katie, I did pull up Lauren's Facebook and Instagram and spent a good bit of time scrolling, mostly looking at her pictures.

   Today is the last day of Spring Break and tomorrow morning will be my first day of school at Alamo Vista. I'm looking forward to it in a way because I need a distraction from Lauren. It seems like she is the only thing that has occupied my mind since I met her. Hopefully I can make some friends at my new school but nobody will come close to Katie.