Page 46 of Some Kind of Forever
“I took a trip to see Ashlie for spring break, and when I got home, I found him in my roommate’s bed. With my roommate. Alone together.” She twists her fingers around themselves, voice shaking. “I should have known better. He was always flirting with other girls and then reeling me back in with empty promises whenever I got upset. Not to mention, we just didn’t make sense. He was the wealthy star football player, and my roommate was on the cheer squad. They fit inside each other’s worlds. I very obviously did not.”
“So what did you do?” I try to keep my voice steady, but searing heat fills my chest. My back teeth grind together at the thought of Kayla being mistreated. I’m angry for her. Pissed that someone would do that to her, make her feel less than the beautiful person I know today. Upset that someone would take advantage of the fierce loyalty I’ve seen from her.
She shakes her head as a crease forms between her eyes. “I did nothing. I didn’t stand up for myself. I just walked out and avoided them. I was devastated.”
With a clearing of her throat, her voice comes back strong, confident, the way I’m used to hearing. “I spent the rest of the semester in the library, trying to salvage the nine months of school I’d neglected. With help from my advisor and caring professors, I worked my ass off to get the extra credit I needed, and I made it happen. It was hard as hell, and I promised myself I’d never let aguy get in the way of my future again. So I work and avoid distractions.” She bites her lip, uncertainty shadowing her face as she looks up at me.
“And I was a distraction…” I say, as I piece together every moment we’ve shared up to now. After everything she just told me, I can see how my efforts to get her attention would have pushed her farther away. I reminded her of some asshole who broke her heart and destroyed her confidence in the process.
“Yeah.” Her voice is barely a whisper.
“What changed?” I ask, searching her face for a glimmer of hope for a future with her. Hope that I’ve shown my character enough for her to know I would never treat her that way. But the hope I seek doesn’t come from the look on her face. It comes from the way she lies back on my chest, head to heart, and curls her body into mine.
“You were there for me,” she mumbles, on the edge of consciousness. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. In no time, her breathing slows, signaling her transition from awake to fast asleep. Stroking her back, I hear the faintest sigh, and a memory of her smiling in the sunlight is the last thing on my mind before falling asleep myself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
KAYLA
“Shit!” I hiss, scrambling up from the couch in my living room. “ShitshitshitshitSHIT!” I throw magazines and remotes off the coffee table in front of me, looking for my phone. The alarm didn’t go off. Or I didn’t set it. Did I turn the sound back on after work? I was so tired last night; I don’t even remember.
“What’s going on?” Chase yawns from the couch. I drop to the floor, seeing if my phone bounced underneath the sofa.
“We fell asleep, and my alarm didn’t go off. I’m supposed to be at the diner at five to have breakfast started by six, but I can’t find my phone.” The words rush out of my mouth as fast as the racing pulse I feel spreading through my chest. My mind is hazy from sleep, and heat rushes to my face in my panic. I’m about to start throwing couch cushions when Chase stands and grabs a hold of my shoulders.
“Hey, breathe.” He strokes my cheek, reaching for his phone in his pocket with his other hand. “It’s five-fifteen. Grab your stuff, and I’ll meet you in the car.” He leaves a quick kiss on my forehead and heads outside.
I race to my room and throw a bra and uniform shirtand pants out of my closet and onto myself as if I’m going to miss a flight. After stumbling into the bathroom for a haphazard tooth brushing, I leave the toothbrush unrinsed on the sink and run back through the house. Grabbing my shoes and bag from the entryway, I hurry outside, barefoot, pausing briefly to lock the door.
Chase is tapping away on his phone when I get to the car. “Hey…” He reaches up, loosening the scarf tied around my hair. It drops to my shoulders, and I snatch it up and stuff it inside my bag. I quickly wiggle my feet into my shoes. My finger scrapes away at the cuticle on my thumb as we round the corner out of my neighborhood. Chase must notice it, too, because his hand snakes around mine, and he lifts my thumb to his lips, kissing it lightly before moving our conjoined hands to his cheek. “Stop. Breathe. It’s going to be okay.”
He drops me off in the back lot of Patti’s Place. I manage to remember to squeeze his hand and thank him before running toward the door. Muscle memory takes over, and my arm is halfway up to the light switch before I realize the lights are already on. Was I so tired last night I didn’t turn them off? Momentum takes me into the supply room to start the preloaded washer, which is also already running.
Weird.
I walk slowly down the hall, confusion settling in the closer I get to the dining room. The smell of freshly dripped coffee permeates the air, and the mixer in the corner whirs away with muffin batter. Patti stands at the prep station, cutting up fruit for pies as she dances to whatever song is in her earbuds. I put my hand on her arm, wondering what she’s doing here.
“Oh! Kayla!” She jumps, clutching at her chest before slipping out an ear bud. “You scared me! What are you doing here? I gave you the day off…”
“Um, no? You called me yesterday during lunch saying you neededme to open…”
“I woke up around ten-thirty last night feeling wonderful, so I sent you a text with the schedule change. I thought, worst-case scenario, you’d see the message when you woke up.”
“I lost my phone,” I say, wondering if this is some kind of stress dream I’ll wake up from and realize I really am late for work.
“Well, get your buns back home and take a nap or two. Maybe spend the day with your friends out there.” She nods her head toward the window where, to my surprise, Ashlie is standing next to Hunter and Chase. “Go have fun. You deserve it,” she says as she nudges me toward the door.
I walk out the front door with my face scrunched, holding onto the strap of my bag like it’s a lifeline to reality. I’m still not completely convinced I’m awake.
“What’s going on?” Hunter says with a yawn.
“Apparently, I have the day off…”
“Bruh.” Hunter turns to Chase. “You woke us up at the ass crack of dawn, and she doesn’t even have to work?”
Chase shrugs, looking to me for the answer.
“I did have to work, but I guess Patti texted me to cancel my shift last night. And I lost my phone, so I never got the message…” I lift an eyebrow at Chase and ask, “Whydidyou call them at the ass crack of dawn?”
