Dedicated to kelkel86 for helping me fix a mistake in the last chapter...thanks:)
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No matter how much I wanted the weekend to never end, I didn’t have the power to make that happen and much sooner that I liked, Monday had arrived. My brothers had told me last night, not to worry about breakfast. This had me in a panic because I thought they were going to offer to cook, luckily they just suggested we have a bowl of cereal and some toast, they promised they could handle that. It was evident they couldn’t by the smell of burnt toast that was wafting up to my bedroom, but it was the thought that counted and they had been really sweet to me this weekend so I wouldn’t give them hell for it. I would try not too, at least.
I carried on with my normal routine even though I knew today would be anything but normal. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and then picked out something to wear. I knew I would need to feel confident, so that would require an outfit that served that purpose. Moving my clothes around in my closet, I tried to find something that would work. After some thought, I finally decided and put them on my bed.
Heading back to my bathroom, I flat ironed my hair to give it a sleeker look than usual, applied some mascara and eye liner, glossed my lips with my favorite raspberry lip gloss, and added some cute black feather earrings that would match my outfit perfectly. I then approached my bed to finish getting ready.
Once I was done, I stood in front of my bedroom mirror and stared at my reflection with appreciation. I wasn’t conceited by any means, but I had to admit that I looked pretty hot today. My black skinny’s fit me perfectly, molding very nicely to my rear assets. The black halter style top I chose was tight in my breast area but flared slightly right below my boobs ending at my hips. The finishing touch was a pair of 3inch, open toe, wedged heels that had a tiny bow right where my toes peaked out, and was colored a glittery black. It might seem a little dark, with all the black, and maybe a little too fancy for school, but it gave me the confidence I needed to feel today and that’s all that mattered.
I gave myself a few sprits of my Tommy Girl perfume, grabbed my shoulder bag, and made my way downstairs.
I walked into the kitchen to see my brother’s seated in their usual spots, shoveling cereal into their mouths like no tomorrow. Hearing my footsteps on the tile below my feet, they paused in their pig fest and gawked at me. Lance spit the spoonful he had just taken straight at Leroy. It didn’t phase Leroy in the least because he stared at me in shock as cereal spilled from his mouth and milk dribbled down the sides. “Ah, Lee, you’ve got a little something on your chin.” I couldn’t help but tease.
Lance recovered first, “What are you wearing?”
“Better question, what are you going to change out of that, into?” Leroy added.
I looked down at my attire confused before meeting their stares once again, “What’s wrong with it? I’m not even showing that much skin. In fact, only my shoulders are bare.”
“Well, little sis, with how tightly those pants are molded to your ass, and shirt to your…uh…melon area, you might as well be naked!” Lance forced out with a slight tint to his cheeks.
Melon area? Really?
“It is not that tight.” I argued.
“Are you sure you can even breathe in it?” Leroy asked, sarcastically.
Why were they giving me a hard time? I thought I looked okay, this outfit made me feel bold and daring. It was silly to put so much stock into my clothing, but I was still broken inside, so this was my form of armor. Why couldn’t they see that?
My distress must’ve shown on my face because in an instant Lance was in front of me, placing his hands on my shoulders, “Ignore us, Ly. We’re just being hard headed brother’s. You look beautiful, doesn’t she Leroy?” he said the last part with a raised eye brow in my brother’s direction.
“But it’s so…the guy’s are going to be…thing’s are going to be said…faces are going to be punched…” Leroy rambled on.
“Leroy, tell Lylah she looks beautiful and let it go.” Lance once again sent a look Leroy’s way.
After a couple more glances at me, then one toward Lance and his no nonsense glare, Leroy relented, “You do look beautiful Lylah, you always do.” Then under his breath he mumbled, “That’s the problem.”
I smiled, finding his over protectiveness sweet, for the moment.
“Thanks guys.” I said kissing Lance on his cheek and then doing the same to Leroy. I saw that they had a bowl of fruit loops waiting for me, so I took my seat placing my bag on the chair next to me, poured some milk on my cereal and began eating. Lance returned to his seat across from me and finished his cereal.
From the corner of my eye I noticed there was a plate of burnt toast to the side of my bowl, but decided to ignore it. My brother’s decided otherwise as I felt their eyes on me. “Aren’t you going to eat your toast?” Leroy asked. “As soon as it was finished I loaded it with butter just the way you like it.”
I paused with a spoonful of cereal just inches from my mouth and flicked my glance to the burnt toast, then to Leroy’s anxious face, and once again back to the toast. I really, really didn’t want to. There were only a few parts along the top edge of the bread that wasn’t burnt, and I knew all the butter in the world wouldn’t take away that charred taste.
I wanted to say no, I really did, but my brother looked so hopeful that I couldn’t risk hurting his feelings by declining. Through all of my debating, it wasn’t lost on me how Lance was having a hard time hiding his amusement at my expense nor how his burnt toast had yet to be touched. I battled with myself once more before giving in. I placed my spoon of delicious, fruity goodness back in my bowl and reached for the toast. The smell of burnt bread intensified as I brought the toast closer to my lips and the last thing I thought before I took a bite was that it couldn’t possibly taste worse than the glue I ate on Theo’s cookie.
I was wrong. As I bit into it, I had to bite a little harder to break it, therefore taking more of it into my mouth than I wanted to. Had I been blindfolded, I would never have guessed that at one point this food product was bread, because it tasted like straight ash. I was literally chewing nothing but burnt air, is what it seemed. I was trying my hardest not to gag, and put my hand over my mouth while closing my eyes to compose myself.. Leroy mistook this for me thinking his toast was so delicious I had to closed my eyes to savor the flavor. “Pretty good for someone who can’t cook, huh Ly?”
Lance could hold back no longer and burst out laughing. My eyes shot open and I made sure to shoot him my deadliest glare, instantly reducing his laughter to chuckles. I forced the last bit of charred bread down my throat, and took a couple bites of cereal to rid my mouth of the awful taste before finally turning to Leroy. I was about to put my acting skills to the test, and lie to him with praises of how it was pretty good, when I saw the twitch to his lips before he too burst out laughing, Lance joining him.
“I can’t believe you really ate it!” Leroy choked out through his laughter.
I silently stewed, and discreetly undid the straps of my sandals under the table while my brother’s continued to have their little laugh fest. Once the strap on my second sandal was undone, I spoke. “So…you thought that was funny, did you? Making me eat burnt toast. I’ve only got one thing to say to you, Leroy.”
He looked at me, with no clue as to what was to come, “What is that?”
I smiled threateningly, “RUN!”
Quickly catching on, he sprung from his seat, but having been prepared for his flight, I launched myself at him, crashing my body into his just as he reached the kitchen door. I rolled him over as fast as possible, sat on him, and proceeded to give him the same treatment Koa got the day before when he played his little trick on me. Titty twisting.
He screamed for me to stop, the big baby, but of course I wouldn’t until he said sorry. He did, just as I knew he would, and I was hauled up to my feet by a still laughing Lance. I punched his arm and kicked Leroy’s thigh just for the hell of it, then turned to finish my cereal. As I did so, my eyes landed on our kitchen phone and I saw the message light was flashing.
I could hear my brother’s laughter behind me as Lance helped Leroy up, but it seemed a million miles away as the number on the machine kept flashing.
30.
There were 30 unheard messages on our phone, and I had an idea who they were from. It was strange how I spent all weekend so lost in my heartbreak, that the thought of a simple phone call hadn’t crossed my mind. My brother’s must’ve noticed my silence because they stopped their joking around and watched me.
I walked to my bag as if on auto pilot and searched for my phone. I remembered I hadn’t taken it off silent after work in my rush to get to Blayne’s house. Moving some books around, I finally found it on the bottom. Touching the unlock button, nothing happened. The battery must’ve died having not been charged for a full two days, I continued to stare at the blank screen not sure if I even wanted to see what was there.
“He’s called all weekend. The first call came right after we took you upstairs on Friday night. We knew you didn’t want to talk to him, so we just ignored it.” Leroy informed me, not daring to move probably unsure of how I would react to what he said.
Lance spoke softly, “After about the tenth call, we just shut the ringer off and let the answering machine deal with it.”
I nodded, not sure what to say. A part of me was grateful to them for doing that because I was in no state to talk to Blayne, but another part of me, the part that still held on to him was upset. I couldn’t give in to that part. I would be facing him today, maybe even him and Becca together. How was I going to do that if I still held my love for him so dear? I had to push those feelings behind me, put them in a little box and seal it up tight.
“Good…that’s good. I didn’t want to talk to him.” Was it just me, or did that not sound very convincing?
“Okay, well, Leroy and I gotta get to school early for our teams morning run. Do you want to switch phone batteries? I could charge my phone in the locker room while we run.” Lance informed me.
“No, that’s okay. I have a spare battery in my bag somewhere.”
“Sweet, well call us when you get to school so we can meet you and run some defense if you need it” Leroy said as he gave me a hug.
Lance did the same and then they were off.
I emptied my bowl and plate as well as my brother’s, which they conveniently forgot, then placed them in the dish washer. I sat back down on the table and began searching for my extra battery. It was in the small zipper of my bag. I removed the back cover of my phone and swapped out the batteries. Once the cover was back in place, I placed my finger on the power button, but didn’t turn it on. I then got up and faced the flashing messages signal on our house phone. My finger skimmed over the play button, then the delete button, before giving in and pushing the one I knew would bring the least pain.
Delete.
Glancing at the microwave clock I saw that 20 minutes had already passed by so I grabbed my things and made my way to the car. The drive to school in silence was a little unsettling, so I turned the radio on and began to sing along with it just to fill the space. Ironically, One Thing by One Direction came on and it was just the pick me up I needed. Remembering the silly performance the guys put on had me laughing and easing some of my worry.
I pulled up to the school, the unsettling feeling returning as I parked and eyed my phone. I needed to let my brother’s know I was here, so that would require me turning my phone on. It would mean facing whatever messages were on there. I could just delete them like I did the one’s at home.
Deciding that’s what I would do, I powered my phone on and waited for it to show my home screen. Once it did, I saw my voice messages were at their maximum and I had over 20 text messages. I was about to hit delete, when my curiosity got the better of me, and I clicked on a random message.
“I’m so sorry, please call me.” it read.
I clicked one more. “Did you get home safely? Please tell me you did.”
Once I started, I couldn’t stop. “I’m worried about you.”, “My mom’s worried, at least call her.”, “Why isn’t anyone answering your phone?” “You’re brother let me know you’re home safe, and to f**k off, I deserve it.”
I scrolled to the last message, which must’ve been sent this morning, “Waking up and knowing I was going to start my day without you was hard.”
A tear rolled down my cheek. His messages showed his concern for me, and gave me a lingering hope that maybe this break up showed him that his love for me was greater than his love for Becca. A niggling voice in the back of my mind told me not to get my hopes up, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted so badly to have my Blayne back that I would hope for the best.
Not even bothering to call my brother’s because I was prepared to face Blayne on my own, I got out of the car and scanned the parking lot for his truck. I saw it and my breath caught in my throat as a familiar figure stood leaning against it.
Blayne.
I started to make my way towards him, when another figure came into view.
Becca.
They weren’t doing anything unusual, just talking to one another like they did all last week and I felt my heart drop. It must’ve just been his guilt texting me. I was about to turn away, when something in his stance seemed different.
Gone was the confident stance and energetic aura that was always around him. His shoulders seemed to be sagging as he leaned his back against his truck. His hair messed as if he didn’t put any effort into combing it. Unconsciously I had taken a few more steps in their direction, now bringing me about two car lengths away from them.
As if sensing me, his eyes met mine and I was shocked to my core. He looked, tired and sad. His eyes didn’t hold their usual humor and he had the makings of dark circles under his eyes. Our stares connected and I saw a spark in his as he took all of me in, obviously liking what I had on. We locked gazes on one another and it was as if time stopped for the two of us. We were back in a world of our own, before Becca and before I ended things. It felt warm and wonderful.
Then Becca said something to him and it was broken. That simple transfer of attention was all I needed to remind me of why we were where we were at to begin with. No matter what Blayne and I shared, Becca still had a hold of a piece of his mind and heart. His gaze flicked back to mine before once again being drawn back to Becca. He was still so confused of what he wanted, and it was the reason I left him on Friday night. Turning on my heel, I began to make my way to where I knew my friend’s and brother’s were, sad and disappointed, before running footsteps sounded behind me and I spun into the familiar embrace of my now ex-boyfriend.
I gave myself a moment, brief as it was, to lean into him and inhale his clean, fresh from the shower scent. I let my body soak up his warmth and comfort as he held me tightly and rested his head upon mine. I even allowed myself to wrap my arms around him for one last good hug, before pulling out of it and stepping away.
He looked at me a bit sadly before asking, “How are you?”
Broken, aching, crushed, I thought. “Good.” was what I said.
“Good, that’s good.” he said a bit awkwardly. My eye’s glanced at Becca who looked a bit unsure and even a small tad hurt that Blayne was talking to me. I wondered if they had already struck up a relationship, I mean, she was hanging with him at his truck.
Sensing my unasked question, Blayne lightly touched my cheek, reclaiming my attention before saying, “We’re not together. I wouldn’t do that to you. I know I’m a jerk for even putting you, us, in this crazy situation, but I’m not heartless and I wouldn’t deliberately do something I know would hurt you. I love you.”
I once again saw the sincerity in his eyes, and leaned my cheek into his hand for a moment.
“But you love her too which is the problem.” I said, moving my face from his grasp. Once again glancing at Becca, I saw that she heard every word we were saying, and a look of pain lingered in her eyes probably due to Blayne’s declaration of love for me. She knew he loved me, just as I knew he loved her, the only difference was she didn’t care.
She still wanted to be with him knowing a part of his heart belonged to someone else. I didn’t know whether to slap her, or pity her. Then a thought struck, what was the point of me letting him go, to be free to love who he wanted to, if he wasn’t going to act on his feelings?
If I gave him up, only for him to refrain from any type of relationship with Becca, wouldn’t that mean I gave him up for nothing? That would make this whole break up and heart ache pointless and would make me ten kinds of stupid. If Becca could accept him, half his heart and all, then maybe she should have him. Two idiots in love should be with each other.
Mind made up, even though it still hurt inside, I spoke, “You should be. Together that is.”
Blayne looked at me shocked. “W-what?”
“You and Becca. You should be together. All that I ask is that you don’t flaunt your new relationship around me. Have enough respect for me and what we had not to do that.” I said, looking directly in his eyes so he could see how serious I was.
“Lylah, no, I can’t. It’s not right…”
By this point I was getting mad, “It stopped being right the minute you questioned your love for me, Blayne. I’m done crying over this bull shit! I didn’t want to share your heart with someone else, but evidently she’s willing to.” I practically shouted pointing a finger at Becca. “So if you two want each other so damn bad, and love each other so damn much, you should just be together. Why let little ‘ol me stop that?”
Blayne stared at me for a minute, before a sad resignation filled his eyes, “I’ve really lost you, haven’t I?”
I thought about it for a minute. The pain his confession caused me, the hurt I struggled through all weekend, the emptiness I felt deep in my bones. Then I asked myself, even if Blayne were to realize his mistakes, would I be able to take him back? Or would I always doubt his feelings?
The truth was painful, but it was obvious, “Yes, Blayne, I think you have.” I got out in a heart broken whisper. Though I could see the pain in his eyes at my realization, I knew a part of him was relieved to finally have his decision made. If he lost me, why fight his feeling’s for Becca? I needed to get away from him, and from the sadness that surrounded us.
“Is there a problem here?” Koa’s arm came around me just when I needed it, and I allowed myself to lean into his support. “He bothering you, Lylah?” he asked, not masking the anger he was harboring.
“No, we’re just dealing with things.” I answered, not missing the glare Blayne was directing towards the arm Koa had slung over my shoulder. Although he accepted my close friendship with Koa, he never really liked it, and now he had no say at all about it.
“Good, well, are you finished?” Koa asked, still eyeing Blayne like he was a piece of gum under his shoe.
Blayne returned his glare before his gaze landed on me and softened. “Yeah, unfortunately we are.” he whispered.
Koa smiled at me before kissing my cheek and saying to Blayne, “Best news I’ve heard all morning.” Then he turned with me still under his arm and started to walk away before turning us around to face Blayne once more, “You know Blayne, we have something in common, besides baseball. We both dated an awesome chick. But the difference is, she loved you ten times more than she ever loved me, and you gave that up. Me, I would’ve killed to have her love me like that, but at least she still loves me like a brother. She’s still a part of my life, but she‘s out of yours and that‘s gonna be your biggest loss.” With that said, he turned us back in the direction of school and away from Blayne.
I didn’t realize tears were falling from my eyes until Koa wiped them away, “Don’t cry baby girl, it’ll be alright. He’s not worth any more of your tears.”
By this point we had made it up the stairs and into the school. “That’ s not why I’m crying.”
“Then why are you?” He asked, pulling me towards some lockers and out of the way of passing students.
“Because of what you said out there. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I did, because it was the truth. You’re really something special, Lylah, and one day you’re going to find a guy who see’s what I do.”
“Why couldn’t I have fallen in love with you?” I said, resting my forehead on his chest.
“Simple, because you couldn’t handle all of my sexy beastiness. I’m like a wild lion, uncatchable, untraceable, and untamable.” he boasted.
I stood up straight and rolled my eyes, “Oh right, that’s why, because there wouldn’t be room enough in our relationship for me, you, and that gigantic ego you have.”
He laughed while waggling his eye brows pervertedly, “That’s not all that’s big!”
“KOA!!!” I slapped him causing him to laugh, “You’re such a perv! I pity the girl that does fall in love with you, she’s gonna have it rough.” I started to make my way to my locker and friends, Koa following behind me.
“Oh trust me, the ladies I’m with always have it rough, they like it like that!”
“EEEEEWW! Seriously Koa, it’s too damn early in the morning for you to share your unwanted sexcapade details with me, so go find my brother’s and Spencer to gossip with.”
“But it’s so much more fun to share it with you, plus I need a female opinion. So, when a guy goes down on-” I slapped my hand over his mouth.
“Don’t you dare finish that question, Koa, I’m begging you.” He gave me the look I knew so well, and I moved my hand just in time to escape his tongue licking it. “You’re really are gross sometimes, you know that?”
“I know, but at least I got you to smile again.”
He was right. This morning didn’t exactly start off well, but Koa knew just how to make me feel better. Even if it was with his sick, perverted antics.
“Thanks Koa.” I said, kissing his cheek.
“Anytime, babe, anytime.” he answered before once again slinging his arm over my shoulder and leading me to our friends.
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Sorry for any mistakes I missed, but it's 3am here and I'm totally ready to zonk out lol. I gave it a quick edit though...hope you liked it and don't be mad with Lylah for her choice, they say if you love someone set them free and if it was meant to be they'll come back to you...only I don't think Lylah wants him back and I'm pretty sure Koa would just swat him away like a fly...gotta love Koa:)