Rain (19 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Since Kyle had kissed me and told me how he felt, we had been pretty much inseparable. That was saying a lot considering we’d spent most of our free time together before. Today we were hanging out on Kyle’s front porch with Liz. It was a warm spring day, the sun was shining, and a gentle breeze stroked my face. Liz had been ecstatic when I told her about my perfect day with Kyle. He was a good sport about her nonstop jabbering. He smiled and nodded and laughed along. It was nice not to have to choose between them because they got along.

Liz was gushing about some new hot history teacher when a taxi pulled up in front of Kyle’s house and a girl stepped out, pulling a suitcase behind her. She was tall with long, slender legs that were exposed, her skirt not covering much of them. She was wearing an insane pair of black heels that made her even taller than she was and a black shirt to match. Her stick-straight hair was a sleek black, and it went to the center of her back. Thick lashes and dark makeup along with tan skin and manicured nails completed her perfect package. She looked like a model; maybe she was one. I certainly didn’t have a clue who she was. She leaned back into the cab and, I assumed, paid the driver before coming toward us like she was walking down a runway.

Kyle stood up, eyes wide, and I knew that I wanted her to get back in the cab, which was now pulling away, and go with it.

“Leah?” Kyle sounded unsure.

Liz looked from her to Kyle and then narrowed her eyes.

“Kyle!” she exclaimed, hugging him, making me clench my teeth.

I was never a jealous girl before, but damn if I wasn’t feeling insecure and threatened at that moment. I had no idea who she was, but she was gorgeous and I was, well, me.

Kyle only hugged her for a few seconds before pulling away.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned, still looking confused.

“You know my
dad
…” she said, emphasizing ‘dad.’

Kyle’s eyes turned angry and dark as his whole body went rigid, and he clenched his jaw. “I do.” His voice came out cold. What was that about?

“I went to see you and your mom told me you moved here. So here I am,” she announced.

“You came all the way from LA to see me?” he asked, eyebrows scrunched together.

“Needed to get away, you know?” she said breezily, like it was perfectly normal.

“Where are you staying?” he asked her, arms slack by his side.

“With you, of course,” she laughed, flipping her hair behind her back.

I looked at Liz, my eyes ready to pop out of my sockets, and her expression mimicked my
What the hell
one I had going on. Liz crossed her arms and glared at Leah. Protective over me as always. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to clear the shock from my face, and looked back over at Kyle. I found him looking at me with surprise also before he looked back to her. She was smiling at him, oblivious to anything that wasn’t him. He wouldn’t let her stay with him, would he?

“Okay…” he said nervously.

Apparently he would.

“Great!” she chirped before strolling past me directly into the house without even looking at me.

What the hell.

I looked at Kyle, dumbfounded. He lifted his arms and dropped them to his sides again. Liz was now glaring at Kyle, who seemed to be at a loss for words. I grabbed Liz’s arm, standing up.

“We better go,” I told Kyle, pulling Liz with me toward my house.

“You don’t have to leave,” he said quietly, almost sounding unsure. He shouldn’t have sounded unsure, and he sure as hell shouldn’t have that girl sleeping at his house when we were together. Except, we weren’t really together, were we? He had said he loved me, but we never stated that we were a couple. I guess he could do whatever he wanted.

“You have company,” I bit out and dragged Liz across the street.

“You are leaving him alone with her?” she asked incredulously.

I probably should have been staking my claim, but I already felt crazy and needed to get away from them before I actually did something crazy and embarrassed myself. I slammed the door shut behind us, letting some of my anger out.

“What the hell was that? Who is she and why are you allowing her to sleep in his house with him? She acted like we weren’t even there and just strolled in like she belongs here and owns the damn place. She is going to try her very hardest to end up in his bed, and he is a guy so he will only be able to resist so much,” she practically yelled at me. Her face was even a bit red. You would think he was her boyfriend. Truth was, he wasn’t even mine.

“He isn’t my boyfriend, Liz. He can do what he wants,” I told her, sliding down the door and sitting on the floor. I felt pretty pathetic.

“He was your boyfriend long before he kissed you, Taylor. You don’t need to talk about the label for that to be true. That guy has been by your side and been crazy about you since you met him. Don’t let some tramp take that away from you. He is yours,” she declared, hands on her hips, looking like she meant business. She was right; Kyle and I had had a significant relationship for a long time. Unfortunately, standing next to Leah, I wasn’t sure that I would still measure up.

“Ugh,” I groaned.

Liz sat down next to me on the floor and put her arm around me. “I’m sure she will be gone in no time. Probably nothing to worry about.” The bite was out of her voice as she tried to comfort me. I raised my eyebrow and looked at her, not really believing it, and her eyes told me that she didn’t really believe it either. This girl emitted trouble.

***

Kyle stood in front of me in my doorway. He had apologized for earlier; he hadn’t been expecting her and hadn’t even seen her in years. He explained that his mom used to date her dad when they were kids. Kyle didn’t seem to be a fan of her dad, but he didn’t go into detail. He assured me that Leah would be sleeping on the couch and that I shouldn’t worry. I felt a little better, but I was still worried. He touched my cheek, leaned in, and kissed me, melting me until all of my anxiety and anger vanished and it was just us. No Leah or world. Just Kyle and Taylor. I barely heard the faint clicking of heels until an annoyed voice reached my ears with it.

“Kyle… You didn’t hear me?” she asked with disbelief, planting her hand on his arm.

The perfect kiss was destroyed by her presence, and I felt anger bubble inside again. I looked up at her perfectly white, fake smile and forced one of my own. Removing only one of my hands from Kyle, I mustered the best bubbly voice I could
and stuck out my hand.

“Hi, I’m Taylor!”

Leah looked at my hand with distaste and then dismissed it. “Hi…” she drew out, unimpressed.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes and continued smiling, letting my arm drop and go back around Kyle. I was nicely making my existence known and staking my claim on Kyle. Unfortunately, her hand was still on his arm, and I glared at it, wishing my glare had the power to catch her hand on fire.

“I need help,” she pouted, her focus on Kyle.

“I’ll come help you in a little bit. I’m talking to Taylor right now,” he told her, his attention back on me, giving me a smile, clearly dismissing her. A genuine smile spread across my face as I looked back at him. My happiness was short-lived when she spoke again.

“Didn’t look like you were talking,” she whined, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll be right there,” Kyle said, sounding annoyed.

She huffed and her heels began clicking back toward his house.

“Sorry,” he apologized, looking sad. I didn’t want to be mad at him either. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was a good guy. It wasn’t like he was going to throw her out on the street even though I would really, really like that.

“It’s okay,” I whispered and kissed him before he could examine the emotion in my eyes too closely. I hugged him and then let him go. “I should do some homework anyways,” I told him so he wouldn’t feel bad.

“See you soon,” he smiled softly and drew me in to kiss me one last time before leaving me on my doorstep.

I didn’t want him go back to his house and back to her. Dread hit me as he closed his door. She wasn’t going to make this easy for me, and I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to deal with it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

It was bad being home all of the time and not having to go to school. Instead, I stared out the window like a deer caught in headlights at Kyle and Leah coming and going. She was always with him, touching him every chance she got. It made me feel sick, and I couldn’t stand it. I hadn’t spoken to Kyle or let him see me. I didn’t trust Leah, and losing Kyle like I had Austin would hurt too much. I couldn’t do it, so I was avoiding him and trying to let him go while I still could.

Spying from the window wasn’t exactly making it easier, but I couldn’t help myself. He glanced at my house, causing my heart to race. I rushed behind the wall so he didn’t see me, but I couldn’t help but notice the grim expression he was wearing. It pulled at my heart, making me want to be the one to make him smile again. I risked another peek through the window and saw that he had started to walk toward my house. My heart skipped a beat, and then he turned his head back to Leah in his doorway. He looked back at my house again and then slumped his shoulders before turning around and going back to his house. My heart fell, and I slid to the floor. I wasn’t sure why I wanted him to come to my door. I had ignored his attempts at ringing my doorbell and hadn’t returned the missed phone calls I could have answered.

Liz thought I was being stupid and mopey, but she hadn’t been dumped by her serious boyfriend without even being told while in the hospital. I wasn’t going to let it happen again. Between sessions of staring hopelessly out the window, I did a lot more homework. It kept me busy and distracted me from being mopey. It was hard tearing myself out of Kyle’s life when he had been a big part of it for so long. I rarely went a day without seeing him. Well, I still didn’t go a day without seeing him. He just didn’t see me.

“What are you doing?” My mom’s voice startled me. I looked up at her, and she was giving me one of her mom looks with her hands on her hips.

“Nothing,” I responded gloomily.

She shook her head at me. “I don’t know what is going on with you and Kyle, but you haven’t left the house in two weeks. Tomorrow we are leaving this house,” she said sternly.

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” I declared, meeting her eyes.

“Tomorrow you will stop moping and go shopping with your mother and like it,” she demanded, looking serious. She would probably drag me out of the house kicking and screaming if I didn’t agree.

“Fine,” I groaned, crossing my arms unhappily. I was quite content with barricading myself inside and eating cookie dough ice cream in my pajamas like I had been doing.

“Good.” She smiled brightly at me, and I decided to get up and go hide in my room before she decided that now was a good time to grace the world with my presence.

***

Apparently Mom had felt that I needed to be pampered to feel better because that was what our
shopping
day had turned into. My mom had insisted that I get a cute white dress that fanned out at my waist and cut off just at my knees with matching heels and wear them out. She’d told me that dressing up would make me feel better. So now I was sitting next to my mom while we were both getting manicures and pedicures in this pretty dress, which was way too dressy just to be out and about in. I felt silly, but it also felt kind of good. Maybe this was what I needed.

Just when I thought we were done, she told them to do my makeup. I hadn’t bothered to put on makeup before leaving the house this morning, but I knew how to do my own. I tried to object, but my mom shushed me. I hadn’t even realized that this was a full-service salon. I’d expected it just to be nails, but they did everything.

By the time I was allowed to look into a mirror before we left, my mom had even had them restyle my wig. I was a whole new girl. My face looked flawless with the makeup they’d applied. They knew what they were doing; I wasn’t able to make myself look this good. The eyeliner was a thin black stroke that trailed with the natural line past the end of my eyelid. The eye shadow was light and shimmery. A little blush and some red on my lips added some color, and my hair was halfway up with a fancy silver barrette. I looked pretty amazing. Smiling at my reflection, I was glad my mom had forced me to do this. I didn’t look sick at all, and it made me feel actually pretty again. I looked at my mom, who was smiling her approval. Her eyes sparkled as she took me in.

“You look beautiful,” she appraised.

“Thank you—and thank you for doing this.”

Her eyes grew glossy, and she hugged me tightly. “I just want you to smile. To be happy,” she said into my ear.

“I know,” I exhaled.

“Ready?” she asked, releasing me and smiling.

Nodding, I followed her back out to the car.

When I realized we were headed back home, I was surprised. Now that I was all dolled up, it seemed like a waste to go home now. I glanced sadly at Kyle’s house as we pulled into our driveway. It was hard living across the street from the guy you were trying to stay away from.

I unlocked the front door and was looking down to throw my keys back into my purse when a chorus of “Surprise!” met my ears, startling me. I looked up, bewildered to find family and friends gathered in the living room with a huge ‘Happy Birthday’ banner hanging from the ceiling along with scattered balloons and decorations. My eyes met Kyle’s, stealing my breath. He was here--in my living room. I didn’t see Leah, which made me feel partially better about him being here. He had this unshaved look going on, making him appear dangerous. I tore my eyes away from his nervous, searching gaze and tried to wipe the shock off my face and replaced it with a smile.