The Backup Plan

Eighteen

~Lucas~

After my short conversation with Kayla last week, everything seems to be even more awkward between us. We both keep avoiding each other like the plague. It's like she knows what I almost told her that morning. She is constantly on my mind and it is driving me mad. I think of the way she smiles, but it never quite reaches her eyes. I think of how she laughs and how it sounds like music to my ears. I think of the way she looks around the room before she goes in, almost as if she is afraid to enter. I think about how her mom, her mom who hated me almost my whole life, said that she was sorry and that she thinks that I would be good for her daughter. All of this thinking is going to make me scream.

I wish that I told her how much I care about her. And now, it is too late.

I was eating breakfast with my parents this morning, when Kayla happily sprang into the kitchen. She was holding her computer and she had an eerie cheshire cat smile on her face. "Good news everyone!" She looked directly at my parents, not even sparing me a second glance. "I found the perfect apartment. It's not too far away so I can visit often and it doesn't cost that much."

"That's great honey!" cheered my mom.

"Congratulations! I will get you some boxes to pack," said my dad before quickly adding, "for whenever you are ready."

"Do you want me to help you pack?" I quietly asked.

She looked at me, almost like she just realized that I was in the room. Kayla opened her mouth and closed it a few times, trying to decide what to say.

"Uhm," I must have caught her off guard. "Y-yeah. Sure. Can we start later? I need to do something first."

I gave her a small smile and a swift nod before she left the kitchen and went back upstairs. I glanced at my parents only to see them staring at me with sly smiles on their faces.

"What?"

They looked at each other before they burst out laughing. "Nothing honey," replied my mom, "keep eating your cereal."

Weird.

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I was sitting on the couch with Reg, debating whether 'silver foot' was a good name for a dog, when Kayla ran down the stairs. She was holding her bag in one hand and her keys in the other. She ran past us looking up and down for something.

"What are you looking for K Bear?"

"My keys. I need my keys. Have either of you seen my keys?" She continued to look all around, completely oblivious to the fact that she was holding them in her left hand. 

Reg and I shared a confused look before I decided to say something. "Kayla, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just fine. Why?"

She was looking at me very confused as I tried to find a way to explain to her where her keys were.

"Look in your left hand."

Her eyes slowly trailed down to her left hand until she saw the keys. "Oh." She released her grip on them and looked back up, her eyes darting between Reggie and me. "If I'm not back within the next hour, call the police."

Reg was about to laugh when he saw the serious face she was making. "I'm serious." She looked at me one final time, a sad look on her face, before she walked to the front door and left.