Choices (Book Four)

Chapter 32

Shawn

Today is my birthday. July eighteenth. Summer is already half way over and it's gone in the blink of an eye. I spent majority of my days working on rehabbing and strengthening my knee. I picked up a part time job at a bar in town as a bartender. It's a small place and doesn't get crazy busy so I've found it manageable so far to stay on my feet all shift. Plus the manager is really great about letting me just work five hour long shifts three or four times a week so I didn't overdo it on my knee. It helps to get me out of the house a bit and take my mind off worrying about my knee or a certain blue eyed girl.

Lyla and I have stayed true to our promise to keep in touch and email almost everyday. Every time I see her name pop up with a new notification in my inbox I get excited and have to try and restrain myself from replying to in under two minutes. Today I am especially excited because she had asked last week if we could FaceTime for my birthday today. I had immediately told her I would love to and we setup a time that worked for both of us given the time change. Which means in about seven minutes the call should be coming in.

I head back into the bathroom for the fifth time in the last hour to check my appearance once again. My hair is short right now, I let Bailey buzz it down to only about a quarter inch long three weeks ago and it hasn't grown out much since. It took awhile to get used to the new look but it has definitely grown on me and if the tips I receive from the ladies at the bar mean anything, it must suit me as well. I check my teeth again making sure I have nothing stuck in them and run my hand over the short beard I've grown out in the last week or so. Lyla always seemed to like the bit of facial hair I would grow so I decided to not shave it this morning and hope I made the right choice.

I head back into my bedroom and close the door behind me. I have my laptop setup already on my desk and take a seat on the computer chair I've had since grade school which is way too small for me now and quite uncomfortable but to hell with it. I have my FaceTime app up and ready to go as I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. The nerves and excitement stir in my stomach as I bounce my foot up and down on the floor beneath me in anticipation. The clock shows it's officially one minute passed the time we agreed to and I start to worry that maybe she forgot when an incoming call pops up on my screen accompanied by Lyla's name.

I click accept and when Lyla's face appears in front of me I lean back in my chair and let out a quiet sigh. She smiles through the screen at me and I can't take my eyes off her, I don't even want to blink. She's beautiful as always. Her face is free of any makeup and tanned a beautiful bronze colour. Her hair is pulled back and I stare into her blue eyes, sinking into them willingly.

"Hey," she greets with a small giggle and an awkward wave of her hand. "Happy birthday."

"Hey, thank you," I reply and try to contain my excitement and control my smile to not be so ridiculously obvious but it's no use I just grin back at her. "How's it going over there?"

"Fantastic," she answers me excitedly. "It's even better than last year which I didn't think was possible, but since I've graduated now they are allowing me to do so much more here in the clinic."

"That's awesome, congrats," I tell her and just bask in her happiness that radiates through the call.

"Thanks," she says as her eyes drop for a moment and I can tell she's starting to blush a bit before she looks back at me through the screen. "I can't believe it's already halfway over. There's so much to do here that it feels like we can never get ahead. Luckily we were able to increase the volunteers from last year to twice as many so that has been a big help. The other day Will and I were helping one of the Doctors in the village get the clinic supplies all organized and it took us a whole week to get it done."