Page 29 of Surviving Lies

“Hi, Jake. Yeah, we saw each other at the party on the first day back. How are you?”

At least Jake was brought up well. He stood up, wiped his hands on a napkin, and held one out to Lanie. “Hey, Lanie, good to see you again. I’m fine, how are you?”

They continued with some pleasantries while I went to get some food for the two of us. I knew exactly what Lanie wanted, a green salad with grilled chicken, a most boring meal. But it was what she liked. When I returned, she had Jake laughing out loud.

“Holy shit, he did that?” Jake cackled. Somehow, I knew they were exchanging stories about me. But I was fine with it because I appreciated that they were connecting, even if it was at my expense.

“Yep,” Lanie said, her side eye catching mine conspiratorially as her laugh settled. “But more about that later,” she whispered. “Thanks, Ty.” She took the tray of food from me and started making her salad the way she liked while I sat down with my huge sandwich and soda.

As I was about to take my first huge bite, I felt the chair next to me pull out, the metal legs scraping along the floor. Lanie’s eyes went wide as a familiar body fell on the chair next to mine.

“Hey, Ty.”

The sultry voice belonged to none other than Kayla.

“Hi, Kayla.”

So many things were supposed to happen with those two words. They were supposed to be a nice enough greeting for her; I didn’t want to be mean. But they also needed to let her know I wasn’t interested. Plus, I needed them to show Lanie I had no interest in Kayla as well. I had no idea if any of that came through in my tone.

Kayla’s hand went immediately to my arm.

I guessed I failed.

“You’re Lanie, right?” Kayla said, thankfully not in a mean or rude way. She wasn’t being her typical self at the moment. She was being ... nicer.

“Hi, yes, I am. I remember you from some of the parties last year, but we never met. It’s nice to meet you.”

Lanie was probably only at one party, if that, last year where she could have met Kayla. But Lanie was always going to be this polite. Lanie’s freshman year didn’t leave her that many opportunities to havefunwith all the shit she put up with from her ex. But with Xander in her corner, she got through it and has become a completely new person this year.

“Nice to meet you, too. You’re still with Xander, aren’t you? You guys make a really cute couple.”

That made me turn my head in disbelief. She sounded, well, she sounded like a nice person for the second time already. Even Jake took notice.

“Better watch it, Kayla. The devils down below will be turning in their graves with all this niceness from you,” Jake said. He laughed, but Kayla looked a bit hurt. Jake went right back to eating and hadn’t noticed, but Lanie and I did.

Lanie caught my eye, and I knew what she was going to do.

“Do you want to join us for lunch, Kayla?”

I closed my eyes in despair. I knew it was the right thing to do. It was what she wanted; she was alone with no one to eat with.

But I didn’t need her getting any wrong messages from me. At. All.

“Oh my God, I would love to, Lanie, thank you! I’m just gonna go grab something – I’ll be right back.” She jumped from her seat, securing it first with her bag, and literally ran to the food line.

Lanie caught my look immediately.

“What? She seemed so sad, Ty. So lonely. I had to ask her,” she explained.

Nodding, I responded, “I know, I get it. But I need to be out of here before Becca gets here. That will be the worst thing that can happen right now for us. If she even thinks I’m talking to someone else…”

“Why don’t we rearrange the seats? She can sit by me or Jake. Then, if Becca comes, it won’t be such a big deal.” But as we stood to rearrange the seats, Kayla returned and sat right next to me.

“Where are you guys going?” she asked.

Lanie and I slowly sat back down as if we were only fixing our chairs.

“Just trying to make more room; I think Xander is coming soon,” Lanie offered.

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