Page 12 of Reviving Kendall

When I tear my gaze away, I catch Maverick staring at me. I feel my face heat up in embarrassment. Goose in my peripheral is watching the two of us and smiling like a lunatic.

“Ok,” Teagan says walking back to the table with the small blonde under his arm, “Kendall meet Ryleigh, my baby sister. Ryleigh, Kendall.”

She holds out her hand across the table, “Nice to meet you.”

“Back at you,” I respond as I shake her hand.

Teagan throws his arm back around Ryleigh as he talks to her, “Kendall is coming to the game and Kelly’s party Friday. She doesn’t know anybody from our school. You’ll help her out and let her sit with you at the game and stuff, right?”

Her eyes light up like she’s happy to do anything and everything he asks, “Yeah, of course.” She turns to me, “I can come get you right after school since you get out a little later than we do. We can hang out at our house until the game starts.”

I see Lucas stiffen in the seat beside me and even as I answer her, he still doesn’t relax. “Sure. Sounds fun,” I say.

“Hey Ryleigh, we’re heading out,” Eddie says from the door.

She throws up her hand at me, “See you Friday.”

I nod at her and Lucas pounces as soon as she’s out of earshot, “Are you going to be ok riding with her?” His words are quiet, but the guys still catch it.

“Why would she not be ok?” Maverick asks in that serious tone of his.

Lucas looks to me in question and I shake my head. “No reason man,” he answers Maverick. Then to me he asks, “You ready to go?”

I nod and dig my wallet out of my side pocket of my shirt. Lucas puts his hand on top of mine stopping me. The other three watch the exchange with expressions ranging from curiosity, hurt and anger. The last coming from Maverick of course.

Lucas whips out a twenty and tosses it on the table, “I’m going to run Kendall home real quick. Meet you guys at the house in a little while.”

They all give me polite goodbyes, but if looks could kill, Lucas would be a dead man. I return Judy’s wave on the way out the door. Lucas opens his door for me and once I’m inside and buckled in, I take a tension relieving breath. It’s intense being around the four of them together like that, especially being attracted to all of them. Not to mention the seriousness of the conversation and the almost kiss earlier.

Lucas lets me get lost in my head the entire way back to Sleepy Pines. He goes to pull in and I stop him, “Right here is ok.”

He shakes his head, “I thought we were past this. Which one?”

Shame burns hot spots on my cheeks, but it’s not really for our place. It’s for all of the others around us. They’re all in bad shape and no one bothers to keep their tiny spaces clean like Gramps and me. I point to it on the end, “That’s me.”

He pulls up behind the Malibu and I grab his hand as he goes to throw the truck in park, “Thank you for everything today. I didn’t realize how much it would help to talk to someone about all of it. It’s not the same when you pay someone to listen. You’re much better than my therapist any day of the week.”

I feel stupid for saying so much, but he just smiles, “Anytime Kendall. Truly. If you ever need anything, just call me.” He reaches in the glovebox and pulls out a pen and napkin. After he writes down his number, he hands it to me, “Use it if you need to. Or even if you just want to.”

I nod and hop down. He shuts off the truck and comes around the side, “Can we go inside real quick? I almost forgot that I owe you something.”

My thoughts are jumbled in confusion caught somewhere between what he’s talking about and the thought of him coming inside.

His fingers move to the buttons on the front of his shirt, “Or I can just strip down out here.”

Then it clicks. His tattoos. “Oh my god, Lucas!” I freak out, “You can’t take your clothes off out here.”

He undoes the top button and his hands move to the bottom of the vest thing that he’s wearing like he’s getting ready to pull it over his head. My hands close around his, “Please stop. Save it for another day.”

His eyes narrow teasing me, “Are you sure?”

I nod, “I won’t let you forget.”

He smiles and leans down to press a kiss against the corner of my mouth. It sends tingles all the way to my toes. I watch as he gets back in the truck and winks at me before pulling out of the little driveway. Watching until he’s all the way back on the road, I don’t go inside until I can’t see his lights anymore.

S’mores

On my way out the door the next morning, I take a hard look at the keys on the hook. After I got home last night, I did a quick run through on all of our bills coming due for the month and was surprised to find that Gramps already paid the electricity bill. When I asked him about it, the only answer I got was ‘it’s covered until at least December’. I pressed him for more details, but it was like pulling teeth, so I gave up. That means that I’ve got an extra one fifty in the bank. Teagan’s words got me to thinking and why shouldn’t I get a cell phone? There are those prepaid things and if I don’t have the money that month then I just won’t keep service on it. I was so excited last night that I almost went right then to get one, but common sense won me over. It’s always best to sleep on big decisions.

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