King and Queen

King

Ever since that unwanted kiss with LANIE, she had been hanging around me a lot more. I definitely didn't want her around. I mean she's pretty and all but she isn't the person that's been occupying my thoughts recently. It's no surprise that I was more than thrilled when she stopped dropping by my house, unannounced, last week. I've had a week of nothing but video games, texts from friends that go unanswered, and silence.

I started to think that it's time that I leave the house for more than a quick fast food run. With that in mind, I quickly text my mom saying that I'll be next door if she needs me, and I walk out of the front door.

As I near LYLA'S front door I start hearing noises coming from her backyard. It sounds like a couple arguing. I walk towards the noise and recognize one of the voices as being LYLA. I quickly take a step back before I'm noticed by either of the them.

"Look, GRANT, it didn't mean anything, okay?" she practically shouted at the other person.

"Of course it didn't, nothing ever does mean anything to you, right? I don't mean anything to you, neither does the boy next door. You've got some serious problems, you know." he replies calmly, but with irritation evident in his words.

I hear a twig snap as she must be walking across the lawn towards him. "You know that I didn't mean it that way." she pauses, "It's just that things are-"

"Complicated?" he interrupts her. "Yeah I know. You've told me that before."

One of them sighs and I hear a door open. "Just let me know when things aren't complicated anymore. I'll be inside." The door clicked closed and I took that as the moment to walk out into the open.

She looks scared when she sees me, only to realize after a moment who I am. I quickly apologize for not saying something when I first walked up.

"How much did you hear?" She asked while sitting down in a chair on the patio.

She lights a cigarette and my face instinctively contorts at the smell.

"Not much. Who was that?" I ask her.

She inhales the smoke and a thoughtful look crosses her face as if she weren't sure just how much she wanted to tell me. When she exhales, I can tell she's decided on how much she's willing to share with me.

"He's my ex, GRANT. We're still friends, but he wants to get back together."

I nod my head slowly, processing the information she just gave me.
"So, what was that all about?" I ask hesitantly. "But, you don't have to tell me." I add at the last moment.

She gives a small laugh and takes another puff of her cigarette. "He's staying here and he gets a little jealous sometimes."

I nod my head as if I were following what she was saying. In all honesty, I have no clue why he would be jealous.

Just then, DILLYN walks outside dressed only in a pair of cargo shorts. He flashes her a smile that she returns in a less than warm fashion.

His gaze finally lands on me and he gives me a small head nod in acknowledgement that I return. After that, his gaze is back on  LYLA as if she were the center of everything at that moment. Just then, everything seemed to click into place about why that guy was jealous and arguing with LYLA.

What had I missed in the past couple of weeks? Apparently, I'd missed a lot.

DILLYN leans down and places a small kiss on LYLA'S cheek before sitting down next to her.

"So," he starts with a smile on his face, "What are we talking about?"

"How it's been awfully quiet since LANIE left last week." LYLA says with a smile but shoots me a quick glare.

I give her a look of confusion because I have no idea why she'd look at me that way at the mention of her friend.

Maybe LANIE said something to her about kissing me. I still don't see why that would matter to LYLA though, it isn't like we're together.

"By the way, I'm sorry about you and my sister, man. That's crazy. I never thought she'd cheat on you." DILLYN says with a sad look on his face.

"Yeah. It's pretty crazy, right? I thought everything was good with us, but I guess not." I shrug at the end of my statement to show that I was getting over the situation. I nod my head in their direction before speaking again. "So, what's going on with you two?"

DILLYN'S face is overcome with a smile while LYLA had a much less enthusiastic look on her face. He looked over at her as if he were waiting for her to tell the story, and when she didn't, he began talking.

"Well, at your party, she came up to me and we started talking. Then, I asked for her number before you guys left. We've been texting and talking for a couple weeks now I guess." he paused and looked over at her to see if it was okay for him to continue. She gave him a small nod and he kept speaking. "Last night I stayed the night with her and we got drunk..." he trailed off his story just as LYLA'S other friend walked out of the house.

"There you guys are! Me and JAY were trying to find you." her eyes flicked over to me, "Hey, I'm SAM. That's JAY." she points over to the tall blonde guy behind her. "You probably already know him though."

"Hey, man. You haven't been texting any of us back. What's up?"

I give him a small nod, "Yeah man, sorry about that. I've been...busy."

He nods and tells me that the guys need to get together and hang out sometime. The rest of the conversation is drowned out as I stare at LYLA. She looks so out of place next to DILLYN. Her forgotten cigarette burns out and she lights another one, but doesn't put it up to her lips yet. She looks lost. It makes me think about that night two years ago.

All I could think of was how much I needed to get us both home, in one piece. I hadn't thought about how I would get into her house.

I gently shook her, trying to wake her up momentarily. I needed to know if she had a spare key somewhere. All I got in response was a small mumble.

I began looking around for a key under the potted plants by her front door. Nothing. I then checked the most cliche place to put a spare key, the floor mat. Of course she'd put the key under the mat.

I carefully unlock the door and attempt to pick her up again. I nearly drop her as we cross the threshold into her home.

I stand up and say my goodbyes, making up an excuse about having something to do, and telling JAY that I'll talk to him later. I cast a final, sad look at LYLA before walking to my house.
When I get back home, I let out a sigh of frustration as I feel my heart break slightly. Seeing LYLA with him, did nothing but put me back in the same position I've been in since I met her.

I still like her.