Chapter 8

I looked over at him. He never told me about this. I had no idea that he was going to be showing his work so exclusively.

"When do you need to leave?" I asked quietly. He looked over at me and frowned.

"I can work with them on the date, but no later than next month."

"So you're gonna be leaving soon?" I asked, trying to hide the tension that was caught in my throat.

"Can we not talk about this right now?" he looked at me and then at Nana.

"Sure, we can put it off for as long as you want. I'm going back to bed," I kissed Nana on the cheek, "Good night."

He put his arm around my stomach as I tried to walk past him. Stupid steroid-popping walking building! Okay, he never took steroids, but anyone who didn't know him wouldn't know that.

"Don't touch me." I muttered, stepping back and away from his arm.

"I'm sorry that I didn't bring this up earlier."

"I don't want to talk. I'm going to bed."

In one quick movement, I pushed myself up against him and slipped between the tiny amount of space that he left between his body and the door frame. I don't know where he slept last night and I don't know where he was planning on sleeping tonight, but he without a doubt wasn't getting in here. Nana practically had her own room in this house so she's more than set. So what better way to take out my anger than to throw myself onto my bed and lock my door like the not-so-good little young adult that I am?

Okay, so he was going to be leaving, this I already knew. What I didn't know was that he was going to be leaving as soon as next month. This was quite the shocker. It was lucky for him that Nana was there or one of us just might have ended up in the hospital and I think we all know which one I'm talking about.

I rolled onto my back and threw my hands under my head. Aw crap, I have a wake to go to in a couple of hours. They might as well change the name of it from 'wake' to 'pity party'. To be honest, I'm just not up for it but I guess I can't exactly skip this one. What do you do at a wake anyway? What do you wear to a wake? Oh gosh. This is going to be terrible.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. She was a wonderful woman."

Who the heck are you?! I swear to bob, if one more person comes up to me telling me how sorry they are for me and I don't even know their name, I'm gonna have to scream. I was sitting in the back corner on a stool while my mother's body sat in a casket in the front of the room. She was facing up in true casket fashion, so it was impossible to tell that her neck had been broken. There were daffodils and tulips in vases all over the room. They were my mom's favorite. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. Oh and I guess I didn't mention my outfit. I had spent so long trying to find an outfit for this thing so that I wouldn't stand out that I ended up running late and had to throw on a pair of slightly tight jeans and my black shirt that had rather lovely illustrations of a skull, black roses, and a heart with wings and a halo over it. Quite an interesting choice, no?

Well, it was my only option at the time. And to top off this lovely morning, it had all started with me ignoring Mike and getting text messages from various friends, including my guys, who wanted to know about when and where the funeral would be. At some point, I just started mass forwarding the message with the information so that my phone would stop vibrating. I twirled my water bottle around in my hand and watched the water swirl. GAH! It was going to be such hell when all of this sunk in. I could feel it. Next to Mike who had left earlier after being here for nearly three hours, I was the only person in the room who hadn't cried a single tear that day. As the daughter of the victim, I get to be here for another two hours, which will make a grand total of ten hours I think. I stopped watching the time when I realized that it was driving me insane.

Seeing how irritated and exhausted I was, Nana decided that it would be okay if I went home. I walked out of the overly air conditioned building to see Mike standing in the driveway by my car.

"Are you still ignoring me?" he asked, crossing his arms. I have the strange feeling that I was set up.

"Should I be?" I asked while walking over to my car door. He blocked my way.

"No."

"Then I'm not."

"It's never that simple with you."

No, it really isn't.

"You know me so well."

"I always have."

"Why won't you let me get into my car? I want to go home. EW, I don't like the way that that sounds. It doesn't fit for that place."

"I just need a little bit of your time. Is that too much?"

He crossed his arms and looked down at me with those eyes. I couldn't get mad at those eyes when they were all sad and serious like that. I sighed and leaned against the hood of my car.

"No, it's not. What did you need to tell me?"

"I had reasons for not telling you about the gallery in Florida."

"And what would that be?"

"I can't tell you. It's still a surprise."

I'm not sure what it was. It could have been the fact that the only thing that I'd had to eat or drink that day was half a bowl of cookie crisp, or that I'd only gotten about two hours of sleep last night, or that I'd nearly died of boredom. Regardless, one second I was standing and the next…the ground was getting amazingly close to my face. I was waiting for the collision and it was really taking it's time. Later I finally realized that Mike had caught me right above the gravel. I felt his hands slip into my pockets followed by the jingling of my keys. He unlocked my doors and sat me in the passenger's seat. This is the second time that I've woken up in my house and not been able to remember how I got here.

But at least I wasn't drunk and close to getting laid like I had last week. sigh that reminds me, I haven't talked to Christian in quite a while. But my schedule would be free once this whole funeral thing was cleared up. Ok maybe not clear. I doubt that it would be all that worse. My family wouldn't be here as often, but I would miss Nana. It was fun having her here to a certain extent. And Mike would be leaving.

That wasn't exactly something to look forward to. Speak of the devil, I turned over and there sat Mike in the recliner. That was when I realized that I was in my living room rather than in my bedroom.

"You should eat something. It's getting pretty late."

I sat up to see Nana sitting by my feet on the edge of the couch. She smiled that great grandmotherly smile of hers. I couldn't help but to smile back. I stood up slowly. Mike was watching me as if he thought that he would have to catch me again.

"We ordered some Chinese. It's in the microwave."

"Thanks." I said, kissing him on the cheek. He seemed surprised. But my mother's funeral was going to be in a few hours and I was going to enjoy the little bit of time that I had before the depression kicked in. I didn't even know what kind of depression it was going to be or when it was going to kick in, but it was going to be colossal. That I could feel. I walked into the kitchen and pulled the box out of the microwave. Aw, that was so sweet and convenient. All of my favorites were in one take- out box making the ultimate combination. I grabbed a pair of chopsticks, a paper towel, and a bottle of water and went back into the living room. I plopped down on the couch to see Nana watching me.

"What?" I asked with a mouth full of sesame chicken. I was starving!

"I'm worried about you Layla. You act like nothing's happened."

"I'm waiting for it to kick in. it's not like I didn't cry when it happened. You can ask Mike. I cried all day."

"It's not that I want you to cry, it's just…you don't seem like you care."

I took a sip of water.

"I care. I'm just getting over a few things."

"She was your mother."

"And she was your daughter, that doesn't change what she did. If you would've heard about some other woman who let her son be killed by his stepfather, then you would be angry too. It's not exactly something that's easily forgiven."- I put a piece of broccoli into my mouth. –"That man was a monster and she let him stay here."

I said this with a shrug.

"She was afraid of what he was going to do the three of you."

"And her fear didn't help anything. I still got beat on and Chris ended up getting killed. She shouldn't have dated the bastard in the first place."

"Watch your mouth." She said quickly.

"I'm sorry. But you know if she never would have dated that first guy, then Chris would still be alive and maybe she would be too. Her dating hasn't helped a single thing."

She let out a really deep breath. Yeah, she knew that I was right. It was a sad truth, but it was true nonetheless. Wanna know just how heartless I am? I did all this without coming anywhere near shedding a tear and without a single change in my tone. I just sat, ate, and drank.

"You should probably start getting ready."

I looked up from my spot on my bed a few hours later to see Mike standing over me. He actually looked pretty damn good in a tux. I sat up and balanced myself on my knees.

"Your tie's a little crooked," I said, starting to fix it, "You know, I know I haven't said this since you've been here, but…thanks. You're the only one who's put up with me during my whole 'mom' thing and I really appreciate it."

I straightened his jacket. He looked really good. His black hair was cut short and I could smell the aftershave mixed in with his body spray. He never used too much like most guys do. He just did a few little sprits. He had a new band-aid under his eye.

"You don't have to thank me for that. It's practically my job," He said with a smile and giving me a quick peck on the lips, "Now go get ready before your grandma loses it."

"Fine."

I pushed him out of my room and went to my closet. There was no way that I was going to go out and buy a dress, so I decided to wear my Homecoming dress. It was in the very back. I took it out, laid it out on my bed and ran to the bathroom. I still had enough time to wash my hair and style it. In the shower, I shaved my legs and under my arms. I used Dove soap and my special shampoo. The scents of both were meant to smell good and relax you and they did just that every time. I brushed my teeth and washed my face carefully before taking the time to curl my hair with my straightener. I flipped the ends out and took extra time on my bang. I was feeling a bit edgy today so I cut it. Now it rested right above my right eye flowing with the rest of my hair. I thought it looked pretty good for something that I did last minute. Next, I did my mascara and eyeliner. It was a funeral, so I did them both a tad bit darker than I would on any other day. It made the green in my eyes stand out more than usual.

I stepped out of the bathroom in my black strapless bra and my matching black underwear. Any other time, I wouldn't do this, but I wasn't about to take my dress into the bathroom with me, so I left it on my bed. And there sat Mike on my window sill.

"Do you have anywhere else that you can possibly be right now?" I asked. He turned and stared.

"Put your tongue back in your mouth." I said with a smile.

"Have you been working out?"

"You know I have. I used to go to the gym with coach, but I've been…busy."

"With your many boyfriends, you mean."

"Yeah, them. I'm trying to put that behind me."

"You know I kinda feel like I had a small part in that." he replied.

"How do you figure?"

"When I left you went to Brian. When I was still here, you certainly didn't have five guys following you around."

"No I didn't."

He looked me up and down and then crossed his arms.

"You know your grandmother just left and we have a couple of minutes." He said, standing up.

"That's not funny. I have to get dressed."

"No you don't."

"You are such a pervert."

"You make me want to be a pervert."

"Should I be concerned that you just implied that you want to screw me on the day of my mom's funeral?"

"No."

"And why shouldn't I be?" I asked with raised, and very sarcastic, eyebrows.

"Because, my dear Lala, I would never screw you."

Okay, what?

"But you just said-"

"Screwing is for horny people who aren't in love. That's not the case here."

"You are so stupid."

"I'm fine with that as long as my stupidity still makes you laugh. And look at that…it does."

I couldn't lie. It does. It always has and probably always will to a certain extent. I picked up my dress and stepped into it. I pulled it up slowly as Mike whistled. I threw a pillow at him and he caught it. Stupid reflexes.

"If you refuse to leave then can you at least help me with this?" I asked, walking over to him. He didn't hesitate before putting his hands on my hips as I threw my hair over my shoulder. He pulled the zipper up carefully, making sure not to break it off in his massive hands. I looked at my mirror on top of my dresser across the room. I loved this dress so much. It looked better now than it did months ago at Homecoming.

The dress was black and slimming with a few ruffles along my waist line and sleeveless along the top, hence the strapless bra. There was a slit in the dress that cut from the middle of my left thigh down and over to my left shin. Along the slit was white fluff that filled in the majority of the open space. It hugged every one of my curves in the best way as if it was made specifically for me and I think that that was my favorite thing about it. There was just something unusual about the way that it looked today that wasn't there the first and last time that I had worn it. But I guess I look different too. My look was a bit more intense this time. It seemed…dangerous almost.

I threw my hair back over my shoulder and let the curls drop. Mike put his arms around my neck the way he had at the scrimmage. I smiled.

"You know, someday they need to invent a word that's better than beautiful 'cause I'm having a really hard time describing you right now," he whispered in my ear before kissing the base of my neck, "You ready?"

"I just need to get one more thing and then we can go."

I stepped out of his arms and walked forward to the dresser. On it sat my Tweety jewelry box. It had been a while since I had opened this particular box. I wore earrings every day to keep my holes open and maybe a necklace every once in a while, but I usually left those on the dresser. My special jewelry went into the Tweety box. The first necklace that caught my attention was simple and made of silver. The charm on it was so tiny that most people had to squint their eyes or move in really close to me to be able to see it. This tiny charm was a little figurine of my feet when I was a baby. Obviously, it wasn't meant to be life like, it was just the shape. Within the little feet were tiny diamonds that seemed to change color when you put them directly in the light. I swerved the necklace around front so that I could see the clasp and made sure that I heard it click before turning it back around to the front and flipping my hair over it.

I looked around in the box until I found my diamond studs. I still have no idea if they're real diamonds or not, but I really don't care, they're cute. I played with the necklace carefully and stared at it in the mirror. Somehow, I had managed to keep it in perfect condition after all of these years. Of course, my mom kept it when I was younger. It was her idea to buy it for me when I was born. She had done the same thing for Chris but he had never been as excited about it as I had. I grabbed my black strap heels and led Mike out the door.

"Hey. Take your car. I might stay a bit late."

"Alright. We'll meet back here?"

"Yeah...eventually. I'll let you know when I'm on my way."

Aw crap. I had left my purse in my room. I ran back in once Mike had pulled out of the driveway and sprinted up the stairs and back in my room to grab my bag and do it all in reverse. I drove to the graveyard with my window down and my music blasting. I had to clear my head somehow and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise. I parked beside the sidewalk at the cemetery. There weren't very many cars simply because I was early. I was here to at least be there for people to notice when they came in to see my mother. And one of the worst things about this setting was that it was perfect weather. There wasn't any rain and it wasn't dark like it usually is in movies. It was perfectly sunny with just a few clouds to keep the sun from being unbearable. There was even a comfortable breeze going. I crossed my arms and walked across the grass surprised to see a familiar combination of snake bites, jet black hair, and beautiful blue eyes. I ran over and nearly tackled him, while tripping only twice in the process.

Christian wrapped his arms around my waist and stared the same way that Mike had earlier. Did I really look that different today? Jeez.

"Whoa, you look…wow."

"Are you stalking me now?" I asked. I couldn't believe that I was this happy to see him. I wanted to scream. But you know, screaming probably isn't one of the best things to do in a cemetery. But honestly, if you can't scream in a cemetery, then where can you scream?

"Well, you make it easy when you send you entire schedule for the day. How are you doing?"

"I'm actually doing okay. I don't think you have any idea of how happy I am to see you."

"I think I have a pretty good idea."

"You know, black really is your color."

"Yeah, I've heard that before."

"Well you're going to be proud of me. You remember that day when I woke up drunk and you told me that story and I ran out of your house?" I asked.

"It sounds familiar."

I smiled at his sarcasm.

"Do you want to know why I left?"

"The suspense is killing me."

"I went to go break up with my guys."

"You broke up with all of them?"

"Not all, just most."

"Really, because I think a few of them are here today."

"What?"

"There were a few guys who looked about as lost as I did when I got here. My guess would be that they were looking for you."

"Well, that's just peachy. But I don't think that they expect anything from me. We had a very…enlightening conversation."

"So where does that leave me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. His hands were still around my waist and my arms were still around his neck.

"What do you mean?"

I had a pretty good idea of what he meant.

"You never told me if I was officially one of the many."

"There isn't a 'many' anymore. There's only three and that may change very soon."

"Really now? Are you thinking about dropping me?"

I tapped the right stud with my fingernail and then ran the very same nail along the edge of his bottom lip. I leaned in.

"I'll get back to you on that." I whispered against his lips. Unlocking his fingers from my waist, I smiled devilishly and walked off to find my nana. Instead, I found Shawn, Coach, and Tammy. Tammy hugged me instantly.

"How are you doing?" Wow, five seconds in here and I already get asked the magic question. That must be some kind of record. I glanced over at Shawn who was staring. I think that's another record! I'm just racking up all kinds of points today.

"I'm fine, but would it be okay with the two of you if I talk to Shawn for a second?"

They looked each other and smiled at me before walking off. Yeah, the smiles really weren't all that convincing. They were stressing on the inside, but that's what I do to people. Shawn was still watching me. It was clear that he was uncomfortable with me in more ways than one. That kinda hurt my feelings.