Because of that Night (Book 2)

Chapter 49: Lila

That past summer before senior year had been difficult. No longer working at Garnsey in order to stay away from Hunter as best as she could, Lila started helping out more with Aunt Nova's maid services. But that wasn't so bad. In fact, Lila felt proud to know she was helping out the family in a more prominent way. Aunt Nova and her mother were in need of more hands anyways, so really, it wasn't even about steering clear of Hunter so much as it was doing her part in the family.

She knew Michael wouldn't want people knowing the real reason she was no longer working for Garnsey. But Lila couldn't help but feel sad that her time working at Garnsey was being cut short. She enjoyed the hard work that went in to making all of those gorgeous summer homes look immaculate from the inside, out. The problem was that Michael could sometimes get lost in his own head. Even if Lila explained to him that the reason she was sad not to be working there was because of the actual work, he would get himself hung up on thinking the real reason Lila was sad was not being able to see Hunter every day. They ended up getting into an argument about it a few days prior to when Michael was leaving for his last set of camps at the start of summer.

His anger and frustration towards the subject had made Lila tense, and Michael seemed to recognize her changed nature as he spoke. He had sighed, acknowledging where he had gone wrong in the conversation. He just didn't want Hunter getting the satisfaction of knowing he was jealous, that was all. She had to understand that. She just had to understand.
"He's gotten to hang out with you more every summer that you've been here than I ever have," Michael had pointed out. "I don't want him to know that bothers me as much as it does. Because then he wins, you know?"

Lila didn't know what it was like to have a sibling. She didn't know what it was like to be a younger brother like Michael was or a big sister like Zooey was. She could only observe what it was like through her friendships and relationship, and from her perspective with Hunter and Michael, it seemed to always be about competition. She and Zooey had talked about the Cooper brothers' dynamic many times. Michael had always been so focused on proving his worth compared to his brother, but Hunter and Michael were impossible to compare. They had different passions, different strengths, different desires and dreams. Why they couldn't just be happy for the other was beyond Lila or Zooey's comprehension, so Lila figured she just had to accept it for what it was. Michael would compare himself to Hunter no matter what anyone said.

In some ways Lila found it comforting. Michael seemed to excel in just about every aspect of life. It felt good to know he had flaws, and it felt good to know his weaknesses involved her. It was just because he cared so much about her. When he got angry it was because he cared. When he told her to stay away from Hunter that summer, it was just because he cared. She maybe hadn't understood it then, but she knew better now. It wasn't like she hadn't tried. She really tried to keep her distance. The amount of times she had rejected Zooey's invites to things once she mentioned Hunter would be there were too many to count that summer already. But Zooey also wasn't one to stand for something like that forever. Eventually, she fought back on Lila's dismissals.

"You can't be busy this Friday again," Zooey had moaned one July night that summer.

"Saturdays are always early mornings for me, Zo, I've told you that," Lila had groaned back. "It's the" –

"End of the week cycle, yeah, yeah. I know," she had said, cutting her off. "But can't your mom and aunt pick up the slack just this one time?"

"I – I just don't know," Lila stuttered.

She could only lie for so long. Michael was only gone for the first three weeks of summer that year, but with Zooey's badgering to hang out, it might as well have been months. There were only so many excuses, so many ways to say no before Zooey would finally sniff out something suspect and call her on it. It was the final Friday before Michael got back when Zooey had finally had enough.