Because of that Night (Book 2)

Chapter 33: Lila

The Cooper family seemed to finally be gaining some traction with good karma. Hunter's hard work had paid off; he had been accepted to MIT with a good scholarship and had finally let up a little when it came to his schoolwork. Michael and Hunter played their last year of baseball together. The team was so talented, they even made it all the way to the district finals and won. Michael had a banner year and was named as the district all-star which was unheard of for a sophomore player. Even Mr. Cooper seemed to be in better spirits; he had been attending AA meetings and was officially clean and sober for the past four months.

Things were looking up for Lila, too. She had saved up enough money to the point where she had more than what her mother had wanted her to provide for money for a car of her own. By the end of baseball season, she had finally gained this new level of freedom. She and Zooey drove down the coastline screaming along to the radio as loud as they could, laughing and yelling as the warmth of the springtime sun continued to remain in the sky later and later with each passing day.

She and Michael would drive out to nearby Webhannet for the start of their drive-in movie summer series whenever it didn't interrupt baseball. Though Lila did like to actually go to see the movies that were playing, she knew that Michael liked the privacy more. They would do their best to park farther away from other cars, and by the time the movie had started, Michael's lips would lightly tickle the side of Lila's neck. She would squirm in delight at the way his lips tickled her delicate skin, and though it sometimes took some coaxing, more often they would end up in the backseat of Lila's car, having both forgotten what movie they had gone to see at all.

Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, Lila would miss how things used to be before sex had been involved in their relationship. She didn't hold regrets about doing it, but she felt a need to always have to oblige even when she wasn't really in the mood for it. She wished they could go back to nights where they would make out a little during movies they would watch and have that be it. It seemed to always turn into sex now, and Lila missed the intimacy that came with just being with one another. Sex was fun, learning new things about what they each liked and didn't like was fun too, but she missed the early times in their relationship when they would just go to the pier, wave their legs over the end of it, and talk about anything, about everything.

Though Michael would once again be away that summer, Lila was convinced there were good things to come despite his repeated absence. She felt the need to take responsibility in mending certain bridges that had been burned. Zooey had refused to hang around after baseball games that spring in order to avoid having to face Hunter just as Seth only attended games with his soccer friends instead of sitting with Lila and Zooey. Zooey had a tendency to put her pride before all else, so with her ego bruised, she decided to avoid the issues at hand. The ball was more in Seth's court to embrace Zooey as his friend again, but when it came to Hunter, nothing would be resolved unless Zooey was the one to do it. The outcome hadn't been what she wanted for it to be, but Hunter would soon be heading off to college. Lila knew just from the look on Zooey's face when she would depart early after the baseball games had come to an end that season that she missed having Hunter in her life. She would regret not making amends with him before he left for MIT, Lila was sure of it.

She and Michael drove out to "the spot" the night before he left for camp and watched the waves crash in the distance. They saw a few couples walking the beach as they put their windows down to smell the sea air, and Lila shut off the car. Though they both remained silent at first, Lila was more focused on looking at Michael than she was looking at the coast in front of them. He finally broke his gaze with the sea and looked over at her, a smile spreading over his face. Though Lila was sad to not have Michael for another summer, she knew how important baseball was to him. With the attention he had received since this season had come to a close, doing several trips to schools up and down the country and outperforming others there would be extremely important for him. It seemed like it was all they had talked about over the past few weeks, aside from when there would be a pause in conversation and Michael would lean forward and begin to kiss Lila, getting lost in her once again.