Page 37 of Letters to Lily

“What in the fuck are you doing with Sasha?” He yelled at Mason.

Mason very calmly set me back on my feet, but at the same time he tucked me behind him in a protective gesture that set Kade off further. “Are you serious, right now?” Mason asked him.

“Deadly,” Kade responded.

“Then maybe you want to ask skanks one, two, and three about how they always push Sasha away from you. Not once have you cared about those bitches putting their hands on her, so they’re getting bolder and almost knocked her to the floor this time.”

“That’s not true,” skank one, otherwise known as Mandy, huffed. It didn’t matter what she said though, Kade turned his eyes on me and there was a fire behind them I had never seen before.

“Is that true, Sash?” I just ducked my head further behind Mason, resting my forehead on his shoulder blade as I refused to answer Kade. I didn’t stay quiet because I was afraid of the skank squad either. I stayed silent, because if he cared at all, he should have noticed what was going on. I stayed quiet, because he never should have had to ask me if it was true.

“Of course, it’s true, you’ve even asked a couple times where Sasha ran off to when you finally look around long enough to realize she isn’t there hanging off your coattails anymore, you blind idiot.” Mason was angry on my behalf, and it actually felt good to have someone in my corner pointing this stuff out, but it also made me feel rather pathetic too. Kade stood there, eyes traveling back and forth between Mason’s fuming features, and my shamed face.

“I get that the two of you have some really crazy long-term best friend thing going on or whatever it is, but damn man, it’s not fair to Sasha how you treat her. Other guys won’t come around her because you snarl at them, but then you let your skanks treat her like complete shit and do nothing. I don’t know how anyone could fail to see Sasha, or know that she left a room, because she has this amazing energy that follows her around everywhere. Yet, you are supposed to be her best friend, and it never phases you.” Mason huffed out an unfriendly sounding laugh. “I wonder how quickly your friendship would dissolve if she stopped trying.”

I was shaking now, because Mason just called out my worst fear. I balled my hands up in the back of his shirt and pressed my cheek to his back, begging him in my head to please stop there, while wishing I could just disappear into his warmth. The embarrassment I felt about someone else pointing out that my best friend, the man who had broken my heart, didn’t notice me, was all-consuming.

“Sasha?” Kade’s voice was low and the anger had faded to something else. It sounded almost like worry.

“Please, take me out of here,” I whispered just loud enough for Mason to hear, but no one else. He turned on a dime and pulled me closer while walking me away from everyone.

“Sasha?” Kade called out, but I ignored him and kept going, because I was about to lose my battle against the stupid tears brimming in my eyes. There was no way I was about to break down crying in the middle of the student union with Kaden’s skanks standing there to take it all in. There was also a tiny, bitter piece of me that didn’t want him to see my tears either. He didn’t deserve them.

Once we were out of the student union, and on a mostly deserted path that ran down one side of campus, Mason stopped and pulled me into a hug. “I’m so sorry. I should have handled that better. I didn’t think about how that might be embarrassing for you. I didn’t mean for it to be. I just, hell, I don’t know. I’ve been thinking for a while now that Kade needed someone to put a foot up his ass where you were concerned.” I just clung to Mason as my tears stained through his shirt.

“Thank you,” I finally offered him, even though it only came out as a soft whisper. “For noticing and for speaking up,” I added while patting the wet spot on his shirt as I moved my head away. “Sorry about the mess I made of your shirt too.” I laughed lightly, despite my heart being in complete turmoil.

“Don’t worry about that.” Mason stopped me when I turned to go. “Where are you headed? Let me walk you.”

“I’m just headed back to my apartment for now. I think I’m over classes for the day.” He nodded his head in understanding.

“I’d still like to walk you and make sure you get back safely.” I didn’t argue, so we walked in silence for a bit before Mason asked the question I’d been anticipating for a while now. “Why do you put up with that?”

“I don’t know,” was my only answer. I thought for a moment, and then added to it. “Things went weird with our friendship at the end of our last year in high school. They haven’t been the same since, and I was just trying to figure out how to fix it while he was busy ignoring the elephant in the room. Honestly, after hearing the way you put everything, maybe he was trying to finish our friendship off.” I shrugged. “The weird thing is you talked about him not noticing if I was even in a room or having left it. Things between us never used to be like that. Any time either of us walked into a room, from the time we met, we knew. It was like radar or something. I still feel it when he’s around, but apparently he’s grown out of it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s the case. Did you guys hook up or something?”

“Not even close,” I laughed. The sound came out a little jagged, because truth be told, the thought of how far from the truth that was made my insides hurt all over again.

“Huh!”

“What do you mean by, Huh?”

“I thought that was why he was being weird with you, because he really does work at scaring other guys away. I figured you were the one who kicked it back to the friend zone after a hook up or something.”

I really did laugh then, because that was just crazy talk. By the time Mason walked me back to my apartment, Kade was there, sitting on the steps waiting for me. “I got it from here, man,” he told Mason.

“Are you okay?” Mason asked me to be sure, while ignoring Kade.

“I said I have it from here,” Kade repeated, but Mason didn’t budge.

“I’m fine, Mason. Thanks for everything you did today.” When I looked up at the boy who was standing in front of me, I was reminded again that he could have played the part of a fallen angel. He looked like pure yummy sweetness wrapped in a mischievous package. His dark hair hung haphazardly in his bright blue eyes. His arms were a work of art that I wouldn’t mind feeling wrapped around me again, and the look in his eyes as he stood there watching me was something that I had rarely seen bestowed upon me by a guy. Mason seemed enraptured.

“I want you to go out on a date with me,” Mason pretty much demanded as his head dipped closer down towards mine. I was caught up in some sort of spell he was weaving around me in that moment, and I just nodded my head in the affirmative. Then, he shocked me further, as he dipped down closer, and kissed my lips so sweetly and reverently that I thought I would melt into a puddle right there.

“What the hell?” Kade was yelling as he pushed Mason away from me.

“It doesn’t feel too good to see that shit, does it?” Mason growled at Kade who was standing there, bowed up like he was ready to kill the other boy. “Imagine how she feels every time you stand there throwing that shit in her face, especially after those bitches just pushed her out of the way while you did nothing.” Mason’s words were spoken softly, but he might as well have screamed them for all the venom they were laced with, and apparently they hit their target dead center, because Kade flinched back and the blood drained from his face.

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