Because of that Night (Book 2)

Chapter 21: Lila

Lila laid on her bed facing the ceiling in her bedroom at Aunt Nova's. It had been over a week since Michael had left for Texas, and already the summer felt as though it was bound to be long and endless without him. Their communication was usually pretty short between the two of them, with Michael always having weird off hours where Lila wasn't around to answer a call. When Lila was around to call, it was usually when Michael wasn't.

Though she loved Michael, she couldn't help but sometimes hate the dependency she felt with him. Lila knew how to be on her own. She had years of experience of it under her belt with the countless moves and having no friends she could call on a whim to hang out with. It had caused Lila to develop as many hobbies as she could to keep her mind occupied and away from the thoughts swirling in her head of never finding a solid ground to remain on with her mother.

It had been the most solid Lila had really ever felt since they had moved to Borne almost a year ago now. It was shocking to Lila how much had changed in that short amount of time. But not all of the changes were good. Lila felt as though she had to relearn her independent tendencies now that Michael was gone for the summer, and she was a bit disgusted with herself to feel as though she were useless without Michael or Zooey around at the drop of a hat.

She decided to pick up a book and make an attempt at reading. Lila absolutely loved to read. Reading filled the silence of long car rides to new towns to settle in with her mom, and they also drowned out the noise of her mother's incessant complaining of whatever place they were leaving at that moment in time, too. She could get lost in a story, and many times she found that she would place herself within the story, forming a dreamland of a reality she wished would actually exist.

Nevertheless, as she made herself comfortable with a book in her hands, she found herself needing to read the same sentence over and over again. Her mind was being overtaken by other thoughts. Her first week working with Garnsey Brothers had gone well. Though the work was challenging (and hot), she liked seeing the outcome of her hard work. It certainly hadn't gone unnoticed by the workers who were employees of Garnsey. They praised Lila for how quickly she was able to pick up on how things worked on the job sites, even telling her that Michael hadn't picked up on things as quickly as she had. It made her feel good, but there was one person who was certainly making the effort to maintain distance.

Hunter and Lila were working on the same job site, but that was really all they were doing together. For the most part, Hunter seemed to keep his distance besides a polite "hi." It wasn't that Lila expected more than that. Their projects were entirely different, and it wasn't like there was time to chitchat while on the job. But whenever they broke for lunch, Hunter would swiftly disappear, heading off wherever in his green Corolla. She sometimes hoped that he would hesitate before leaving one day and offer for her to come with him, but she usually felt silly thinking this. What did it matter if Hunter went off and did his own thing? Just because he was the only person she knew at their work site did not mean they had to strictly hang out with just each other. Still, it didn't stop Lila from feeling convinced that Hunter had found some reason to dislike her, and as much as she wished she could shrug it off, she couldn't.

She finally tossed the book across the room and reverted back to looking up at the ceiling once again. Enough time had to have gone by for Zooey to be back from playing soccer with her dad, but when Lila glanced at the clock, she realized that Zooey had probably only just gotten to the field with her father. She groaned, doing a sort of somersault off of her bed, and decided that maybe a bike ride to the pier would kill some time. It was about a twenty-minute bike ride, and Lila guessed Zooey and her father wouldn't be too long.

She called out to her mother to let her know that she was leaving and found her and Aunt Nova working side by side in the kitchen, pounding out hamburgers for that evening's dinner. Her mother frowned at Lila's announcement of her departure but in the end, complied.