[UPDATED WEEKLY ON FRIDAYS]
When Lilah, an innocent eighteen year old, moves nearly eight hours from her rural town and rough past to have a fresh start at college in New York with her best friend and her older brother, the last thing she expected...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I sat underneath the tree and watched the shadows from the branches dance along the ground. I had my left leg stretched as far out as it could go, and my right leg was bent so I could perch my arm on my knee. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. It had already been thirty minutes since Lilah and I skipped class.
Well, since I skipped class and Lilah tagged along.
"Do you still hate me?"
I could feel my jaw clench as I resisted the urge to punch something. I could punch the fucking tree for all I cared. The look of sadness in her eyes with visible tears rolling down her face made me beyond pissed off. Especially because I was the reason for them.
Why couldn't she understand that I simply couldn't have her in my life because of my own personal reasons?
I knew that if I continued hanging around her, she would become even more important to me and it would fuck with my head. I had other things to worry about, and her situation would've only added more stress to my plate. Not that I ever blamed her for being in the situation, but I couldn't be the one to help her out of it. She had Kayce.
The slight crunch of footsteps dragged me back into reality as I lifted my head to look in the direction. I was a bit taken aback to see it was Lilah. She didn't run away when I gave her ample opportunity to. I couldn't tell if I was happy that she stayed or regretful to even be around her outside of class.
I seriously needed to figure out what the fuck I wanted.
Lilah stopped to stand in front of me, clasping her hands together and resting them in front of her. She kept her gaze to the ground and I could tell she felt nervous. I wasn't sure what she was nervous about, but I knew she wasn't the only one.
Despite being friends as kids and hanging out constantly, we had never hung out just the two of us. Kayce was always with us. He was always there to break the awkward tension between one another.
"Can I sit with you?" Her voice came out quietly, almost in a whisper. I could barely hear her, but when she began slightly twisting side to side like she did when we were younger, I definitely knew she was nervous now. I hoped she wasn't nervous of me.
Despite my looks and hobbies changing, I was still the same person. I would never hurt her, or any female for that matter.
I mentally cursed at myself when I thought about the painful wince she had made from me tugging on her wrist too hard. She probably was scared of me now. Although she was scared, she still decided to follow behind and want to talk to me.
Why?
I let out a small grunt when I slightly scooted over to make room for her so she could also lean against the tree. I noticed a small smirk appear on her face, as well as a tinged blush spread across her cheekbones that the branches shadows were trying to hide.
