16. Calm Before The Storm

 Chapter 16 - Calm Before The Storm

    The sky was over casted, and my dried up hands were freezing as I walked home. I quickly pulled my sleeves of my maroon sweater to cover my hands, wishing that I wore a jacket. But at this point I had more things to worry about then just wanting a jacket.

   Luckily, the sounds around me calmed me down, the rustling of the leaves around me and the howling wind was all I needed to calm myself down from what happened earlier.

   I took a left turn, which happened to be the longer way home. All I was trying to do was to buy time, considering what I said to my father this morning.

  I don’t know why I felt like this towards the fact he’s writing a novel. And about love? How was he going to do that when it’s been almost eleven years since his and mom’s divorce was finalized? I mean sure, you can fake a love story, but how and who is giving him the inspiration to do this?

‘Grow up!’

‘Grow up!’

‘Grow up!’

It rang through my head again, and it wasn’t going away.

   “Grow up, huh?” I muttered, and yet here I have my father picking up his dream that he threw out himself.

   Then here’s Derek to the side, who happens to be a hopeless romantic in the flesh, but funny how he can’t keep a girlfriend for longer than a year.

   I call it just a bunch of bullshit at this point. But if Derek wants me to ‘grow up’ then so be it. I’ll show him ‘grow up’ Laila. Grownups are nothing but grouchy, loveless, and nothing but seriousness. And if he wants me to stay away from Alex, then looks like that will be part of the package deal.

   If Alex cared for me like he said he did to my father, then he would have talked to me already, or atleast try to communicate with me in some way. It’s not what I wanted to do – leave Alex in the dust. But from what it looks like, he has already beaten me at it. Besides the fact I’ve done nothing wrong.

   I should have known that this wouldn’t work out. And sure, I could have taken the warnings from Derek and my Dad. But Caleb should have opened my eyes of who Alex could really be. Yet, I saw Alex the way others didn’t. No one saw Alex at his highest peak of happiness like at Chucky E. Cheese. Or his sassiness at the times I’ve spent at his apartment besides me.

    The wind catches my attention as I felt a tiny wet drop landing in my hair, my eyes roll back in my head. “Don’t you dare, please?” I warned the sky, with the only niceness it will ever get out of me.

   That’s when it started to downpour as if Heaven opened up and started to grieve. I moved my legs in a running pace, until I trip on my lose shoe lace. I fall hard on the pavement, getting my hands scrap up and dirty.

   Regretting that I took the long way home, I pick myself up slowly. I was drench by this time. There was absolutely no point to run, my clothes hung on me tightly and my hair was turning into wet ringlets.  

   I wanted to cry as I stood there in the rain, nothing but being fed up was my emotion. I’m cold from the October air and dripping wet, and my mind was a clutter mess. I was on a back road, meaning I must have taken a wrong turn. I was supposed to take a right turn. God only knows how long I’ve been walking down this road since the last turn.

   So now I’m lost, this situation couldn’t get any better. Looking down at my feet, I notice a folded paper on the road. I pick it up and carefully opened it without tearing it from being wet.

   It must have tumbled out of my bag when I fell.

   The ink of the letter was smeared but yet readable. My heart takes a stop and my breath gets caught in my chest.

Laila Rose,

Come to my car in the parking lot after school. I need to see you.

Xx

A.W.G

   “Fuck,” I muttered, he probably hated me now without even a second guess. Alex must had slipped the note in my bag with me not noticing, and before lunch, consider he must have went to internal suspension after the fight. And what the hell did the ‘W’ stand for?

   I begin to walk, I wasn’t getting anywhere by standing in the rain. My senses weren’t sure if I was crying, or it was just the extra rain on my face. Either way, I was beyond just sick and tired of my life.

   It’s at this point it's when I started to hated myself. And that never happened to me before. I ponder on the question of why I couldn’t be a normal teenager. You know, an average teenager with friends, and a boyfriend without drama (or heartbreak), and a family that’s supportive. Oh and let’s not forget a type of teenager who doesn’t face a problem of a disorder that makes them refuse to speak to a certain extent. 

  My eyes suddenly bulge from the noise of a faint engine of a car in the distance. It was over powering the sound of the rain. It becomes louder, and more into my ear. But then, it comes to a unexpected stop. Like it was completely cut off.

  The car had stopped directly next to me. Something in me was telling me this could be a killer. Until I turned my head to see the car, and who it could possibly be. It was like God was playing the narrator of my bound to story.

   And my bound to story just so happened to include Alex being in his black car, with the passenger window down, and gawking at me as if I was a mad man.

   “Laila, get in the car.” He sternly said. I take notice of his hands that are wrapped up in a white bandage. Along with his face that had a small Band-Aid on his chin. I ignore him, but kept staring at him. I don’t know why, but I just did. It was a moment that I was more than just confused for what I should do. My body didn’t allow me to speak a vocal.

  I wipe my cheek with the palm of my hand, although it was useless to even bother since the rain was still coming down, it just wasn’t as hard as it was earlier.

     He shook his head and runs his tongue over his lips, and took his caramel eyes onto the road ahead instead of having them on me. I wait there for something to happen, debating if I should just walk again since this was starting to look like a time consuming pointless event. His eyes finally meet mine. “Laila, I’ll explain if that’s what you want.” It looked like it took a lot of him to say it. There was a gut feeling that I should just listen, so I did.

 I opened the car door and got in without thinking any further.

   "Never did I think I'd see you in my car once again drenched." He turned the heat of his car up a notch. I was quite thankful for the much needed heated air. It was refreshing since my clothes only seemed to be getting heavier on my skin.

    When we arrived to his apartment, I changed into sweatpants, boxers, and a black T-shirt of his. I was once again intoxicated by the scent that was lingered on the clothes; Vanilla and cologne. 

   Alex tossed my soaked clothes and undergarments in the washer machine of the complex that was down the hall in a closet after I changed.

   I didn’t mind making myself at home. Usually I wouldn’t do this type of thing, seeing it’s rude. But with Alex, he was little by little becoming my home. And I don’t mean his apartment by all means. I mean him in general, his whole existent.

I cuddle up with the throw pillow on the couch, resting my chin on it.

“Would you like a drink of water?” Alex asked from the kitchen, raising an empty cup.

   “I think I got enough water earlier. Thanks anyways.” I casually smile from the dry joke, although Alex founded it hilarious considering he laughed hard. So hard that by the time he made his way over to the couch, he was still spilling out the contagious noise.

  But after he sat down and got comfortable, and took off his shoes, the air suddenly thickens with intensity of what he was about to tell me.  

“What do you want to know?” He bluntly asked.

   “That’s a pretty obvious kind of question, don’t you think?” I raised my brow. There was an ever-lasting list of things that needed explaining.

   I decided to go with a recent and small one off the list. “How do you know Sofia?”

   “I used to hang out with her here and there, never really talked to her. Why do you ask?” His hand reached for the pillow behind me, and then he lied down on the couch, and puts his legs on my lap as I sat crisscrossed. 

   “Just asking.” I bite the inside of my cheek. I look around as to where I was sitting. His place was cleaner since the last time I was here. The awful smell of cigarettes and booze loosened up, and there weren’t pizza boxes or red solo cups in the kitchen either. “Explain today.” I whispered.

   He let out a hasty sigh, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sure you know where the guy is from.” He paused. “Jake is his name.”

    I nodded, taking in the information that I already knew. I watched Alex’s plum lips, which were slightly bruised. I take notice of his defined jawline, and his messy chestnut hair. I couldn’t help but notice his chin being a little scruffy with hair – and the already mentioned Band-Aid. He must shave, and just happen to forgot today.

   My mind simply had the best of troubles to wrap around the idea of the fact of having him in front of me. He was the most beautiful human being I had ever laid eyes on. There was no other way to explain the feeling I had looking at him.

“Are you listening?” He frowned.

“Sorry.” I scrunch up my face apologetically.

   “Anyways,” He held out the word. “he’s friends with Caleb. People have been talking about us I guess. And he said something about you that pissed me off.” He played with the lose string coming from the pillow with his fingers. I took it as him trying to avoid eye contact.

   I moved closer to him, pushing his legs away. I reached up to his face and took his chin with my finger gently. “Explain Caleb.”

   He lets out a shaky breath as he stared into my eyes, then they wonder around my face.  “I completely understand if you want to leave me after I tell you this.” He stammered, looking down at the pillow once again.

   My mind begins to think the worse of the worse and what he could have possibly done. This caused my heart to pound out of my chest with my blood running cold with a heavy pulse. There was a sea deep of anxiety in my stomach. My hand clenched slightly, only to be found with a thin layer of sweat on the surface of my palm.

    “And I don’t know how to even say it or how to explain it. I never told anyone besides the ones who were involved. And it’s okay if you want to leave because I would leave to if I found out, you know? And even if it breaks –“

“Alex,” I stop his rambling. “just tell me, okay?”

“Okay, I can do that.” He lets out a heavy exhale. “I can.” He repeats himself. He breathed heavily, then spoke again, “I dated his sister.”

I knitted my eyebrows, “And what’s so bad about that?”

   He narrowed his eyes and bites down on his lip. “Who happened to be much older.”

   “How much older?” I was still clearly confused. What was so bad about dating Caleb’s sister who happened to be a tab bit older?

   “Well, we technically didn’t date. I was just horny.” My face jolted back from his use of words, but mainly the word of ‘horny’. His eyes went everywhere besides mine, and he made it seem as if he was talking to himself. “She was twenty-four.” He paused for a minute and shook his head slowly back and forth. “And she was married Laila.”

The words hit like a stack of bricks.

   “Woah,” Trying to take in everything I had just heard, I sat back in the couch. Alex had an affair with a married woman. I tried to say something, with my mouth wide open, the only thing I could get out was a croaky noise from the back of my throat. I could understand why Caleb would be so angry about it. Had Alex ruin the marriage?

  As if he read my mind, he spoke, “They’re still married if you’re wondering.” He muttered it to the point I hardly understood him.

   My heart ached for him a little, he was young most likely at the time, and didn’t know what he was doing.

  “Well that’s not too bad?” I half smiled. It was obvious that Alex regretted it just be his face expression, although sad looking as well.

  “It gets worse. Like this is the part that I don’t even want to bring up at all. It eats me alive every night. I hate just thinking about it. Let alone talking about.” His facial expression was haunted, very worried looking. His skin color turns to pale as if all of his blood ran out of him.

  “It’s okay, Alex. Just tell me. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You promise?”

  “Promise.” I confirmed, although I wasn’t even sure how big this promise would end up to be the moment I said it.

Squirming a little and hesitating, He gulped. “She became pregnant at one point in the affair.”

________

a.n

Oh snap, Lailex. 

Sorry if you want to kill me after leaving with a cliffhanger yet again. Maybe next chapter there won't be another one?

Comment what you think is going to happen! And please vote! :)

Chapter dedicated to: abby_wuvs_wamsay c:

-Kc Jul 10 2014