Just like that, Kyle became my best friend, too. The next morning he held my hair out of my face while I puked. He made me breakfast and made sure I ate three meals every day. He made sure I showered, and put me to sleep. He slept in my bed with me to put the nightmares to rest when they became an issue.
We watched Blu-Ray movies on my old school TV and he laughed at all my jokes. He never crossed the line from friendly to flirty. Sometimes he seemed like a robot. I wasn’t attracted to him. I still wanted Dion back, but after a while I thought he was never coming back.
A month passed, and I spent all of my time with Kyle, who secretly used my phone to call Dion and give him a report on what we’d done for the day and how I’d been feeling when he thought I was asleep. I ignored it. The asshole was worried enough to have his friend spy on me, but not enough to take care of me himself. I didn’t mind. Kyle was company enough.
In early November the leaves were falling in Michigan. The weather was getting colder rather quickly. I had to wear a jacket and pants to go outside, so I had to abandon going to the club, even though I rarely did that anymore. I was too busy doing what Kyle had planned for us. I assumed Dion had a hand in making sure I stayed too busy to get drunk.
“Kyle,” I whispered, pausing the movie and turning to look at him. “Is he okay?”
He sighed. “Liles, I can’t tell you about that.”
“Just tell me if he’s having a hard time. Just tell me that he’s not having it easy.”
He scoffed. “He’s not having an easy go of it. That’s the truth.”
“He’s taking too long. I don’t think he’s coming back.” I put my hand up to my eye to wipe the tear before it fell. I sniffled. “It’s been over a month.”
“You’ll be okay.”
“I can’t decide if you’re here to make sure I don’t go anywhere until he comes back, or to make sure I have a smooth reentry to the world because he’s gone forever.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me closer. “Why don’t we finish the movie, and when I call him I’ll tell him you asked about him?”
“Okay.”
“Dion,” Kyle said into the phone. “No, she’s still awake… She knows I talk to you... Of course she knew. She’s not stupid- she’s heartbroken… She started to ask about you again today… She asked if you were coming back. She said you’ve taken too long. It’s been over a month… I told her that you were upset, too, about what happened. I told her you’re having a rough time with this whole thing just as much as her… She thinks you’re using me to either keep her busy until you come back, or to make sure she’s okay because you’ve really left.”
He was quiet for a second and then looked at me. “He wants to know if you’d rather I left?”
“Can… can I talk to him?” I had no idea what I was going to say to him if I was able to talk to him, but he was the only person I had that I could take my problems to, and he was my problem. It created a dilemma.
Kyle handed the phone to me after nodding into it for a second.
I cleared my throat, sitting up straighter. I hadn’t spoken to him since my birthday, since he’d told me to stop calling. “Hi,” I said lamely.
“Would you prefer if Kyle left you alone?” He asked.
“I’d prefer if you came back.”
He made no sound on the other end.
“I like having him here. He keeps me company,” I whispered. “I feel like I’ve kidnapped him from his own life, though. You’re the only person who’s been around me and I feel like our problems are our problems and we should deal with them. We aren’t dealing with them. Don’t you understand that you’re my parents and my boyfriend and my siblings and my best friend all in one person? My ability to stay sane hinges on your presence.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Just come back." I wrapped my arm around my belly.
“I can’t do that.”
“Ever?” I creaked.
“Delilah. You’ve just begun to live.”
“I don’t care! I’ve never lived in a world where you don’t exist and I refuse to live in a world without you in it.” I handed the phone to Kyle. “Here. Take it. I don’t want to talk to him. He’s still being an ass.”
He smiled lightly. “Dion? Are you still there? He hung up.” He started to rub my cheek and I knew that was his way of telling me everything would be okay. “He’s dealing with things. You spoke. That’s… progress. I’m afraid to give you hope because I honestly don’t know if he’s going to come back. I hope he does. He was happy with you, but I’m not sure if he knows what’s best for him.”
“He used to say it was because of the way he was before me. The way he slept around. I started begging him to sleep with me when I was fifteen, when my parents were killed. It took me three years. He couldn’t have been as easy as he tries to portray.”
He laughed. “You should go to sleep.”
“Shh. Do you hear that?” I jumped up and ran into the living room. Eleanore and Clare were curled up on the couch watching the TV. “What is this?” I asked.
El looked at me with tears in her eyes. “It’s a documentary called Life is But a Dream.” She skipped back a few scenes. “Listen to this song.”
“This singer had a miscarriage,” Clare explained.
‘I guess love just wasn’t enough for us to survive, I swear, I swear, I swear I tried. You took the life right out of me. I’m so unlucky I can’t breathe. You took the life right out of me, me, me, me, me. I’m longing for your heartbeat, heartbeat, heartbeat.’
I stared at the screen and then turned to rush back into my room before I started crying. I was in Kyle’s arms before I was able to turn all the way around.
“It’s okay. Try to go to sleep," he said, rubbing my arms as he guided me back to bed
“That song… I’ll never stop hearing that in my head. Please don’t tell Dion. He’d be so hurt.” I wept into his chest until I fell asleep.
YOU ARE READING
Reflection (Book #2)
VampireSTART BY READING PROTECTION, this is a series and that is book one. In the last book, we left off with Dragos being defeated and finding Alex. Now, Dee and Ben have to learn how to parent together. Ben has to learn to parent for the first time, and...
