Page 21 of A Vicious Rumor

"Which coffee shop?" he asked.

I gave him a small smile. "The one on the corner of Maple View."

"Cool," he said.

I waited for a second, wondering what might happen. I couldn't decide if I wanted him to kiss me again or not. I couldn't decide just how I felt about Tyson Stone. He'd blown into my life over the course of a day and I still hadn't had time to process anything about him.

I decided I wasn't ready for a second kiss from him. Not yet, at least. I jumped out of the car and ran inside. "Bye!" I yelled over my shoulder before closing the front door quickly.

I could hear the rumble of his engine as he stayed in the driveway for a couple of minutes, before finally his headlights traced a path through my windows and across the walls of my house as he backed his car up and sped off down the road.

"Lily? Who was that?" my mom called out from the other room.

I made my way into the kitchen and sat down. "Just an old friend," I said to her.

"You were out for a long time today," she remarked.

I smiled and nodded. My mother and I had an understanding. She knew that I liked to take long walks down by the water, but she also knew that I was always safe and came home before it got dark.

"Tea?" I asked her. My mother and I had an evening routine. We always had tea together and talked about whatever came to mind.

"Of course!" she said. "Who was the friend?" she asked, as I poured the water into the kettle.

"You haven't met him," I replied.

"Hm," my mother said. "I've met almost all of your longtime friends, and I don't remember any of them being boys." She was goading me, but it was all in good fun.

"You haven't met him," I replied. "He's just here for the summer," I added.

My mother put the magazine down that she'd been reading. I loved my mother dearly, and I was really proud of her. She'd been sober for going on five years now. I remember when I was very little, things were really difficult. But, ever since she'd put the bottle away, things had been great. She'd also lost a lot of weight since the time I was a child too. It was obvious that she was really trying to take care, not only of me, but also herself. She’d racked up a lot of credit card debt during those times, and that was one of the main reasons I worked as much as I did. I tried to help out where I could to get the collectors to stop calling. Even still, I was so proud of her.

"Those are the hardest kinds," she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Summer loves. They sting like sunburns when they're over."

The tea kettle whistled, and it startled me.

"No one said anything about love, Mom," I replied, jumping up to get the water.

"I know, dear," she replied, giving me a small smile. "I know you didn't."

7

TYSON

I watched her run into the house, yelling "Bye," over her shoulder. The front door to her home clicked shut and I sat in stunned silence in the car for several more minutes. I hadn't meant to kiss her under the highway. The moment it happened, I actually regretted it. A girl like Lily, she deserved better than some idiot thug like me who came from nowhere and was going nowhere.

Logically I knew this.

But, it didn't stop me from wanting to kiss her all over again this evening. Except, she'd all but bolted out of my Jeep before I could even lean over and try and make a move.

Still though, she wanted my bracelet, which meant she wanted to see me again.

Girls were really confusing.

I pulled the Jeep out of her driveway and zoomed off into the setting sun. I didn't know what to think about the girl, so I decided I better not think about her.

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