Summer Days to An End

Chapter XVIII.

"It was nothing, Lo just went to the bathroom is all," said Finn, taking two bottles from off the table in front of them as he passed one to Lo, before taking a sip out of his own.

"With that out of the way, Lo, I'm curious: why didn't you come to our last meetup?" asked Miyo, and slowly, all eyes turned to Lo as they expected her answer.

Having anticipated this question before arriving at the house, Lo already had her response well-prepared.

"Well, there are two reasons for that, the main one being that I'm moving out of town," she stated as she took a long swig out of her drink, and had there been no music playing in the room, the entire house would have been silent at that moment; so shocked were they all at her response.

"Lo, you're moving out of town? Why? You've lived here for your whole life," Selah started.

"It's not that I don't want to live here anymore, I'm moving out because of my parents. As always, my step-mother and I can't find any common ground between us, and that leaves my dad to find a way to cater to what each of us wants, and that only ends in the other person feeling dissatisfied." Lo explained, pulling down the long sleeves of her dress to cover her hands as she rested her drink on the table.

"I've gotten tired of making things more difficult for him, and I've also gotten tired of pretending like I'm ever going to get along with Lola. So, he and I agreed that since I'll be leaving for college soon, I might as well get a place for myself so I won't have to head back home when the semester ends," she continued, and although Lo always tried to hide her feelings when it came to such topics, they could all tell that the idea of being away from her family was taking a toll on her.

"As for the second reason, I had a feeling that things wouldn't end well if I had gone that evening, so I chose not to go at the last minute, and judging by the looks on all your faces, it seems I made the right decision."

"You weren't wrong about that, it all went south within a matter of minutes," said Leo, ruffling his hair with a sigh as Miyo let out a small laugh at his manner.

"It looks like not everything went bad; when did this happen?" Lo remarked as she pointed at their hands, their fingers carefully intertwined as for the first time when they were caught in this position, they kept their hands together.

"Oh, right, you weren't there for that. Long story short, I accidentally told everyone about us, and that was the start of it," Miyo explained.

"I called it, I said Leo had a thing for you back when we were in New York, but you wouldn't listen to me," Lo muttered playfully, and Selah smiled as she stifled a laugh at Lo's response.

"Hold on, I have the perfect idea." Selah began, hopping out of her seat next to Finn as she rushed out of the living room, before returning a few minutes later with a bronze-colored bottle of plain vodka.

"Selah, don't even think of opening it," Miyo stated as Selah twisted the cork of the bottle, and seconds later, it came out with a loud pop.

"What? It's just us here, and if anybody asks, my brother said we could have it." She smirked, pouring some of the alcohol into her drink as she held it out for anyone else.

"Why not, pass it over here," Finn shrugged as he extended his cup out to her, and in one motion, she filled his cup with the fragrant liquor.

"I'll pass tonight, I have to stay sober to drive Miyo home," Leo said as he waved the bottle away, and Selah nodded as she passed it to Lo, who stared uncertainly at the bottle.

"I know this one. I've seen my step-mother drinking it before. It must be good, since I don't remember her ever trying to talk to me when she did." Lo chimed, and they all laughed at her comment as she too poured a bit of the vodka into her cup before taking a short sip of it.

"Forgive me for saying this, but I don't know how your dad has remained so oblivious to the way she treats you," said Miyo, resting her head on Leo's shoulder as he placed his arm around her waist in return.

"Don't worry. I'm not offended by it at all. Besides, I've already managed to get him to see through her lies once, since our most recent argument ended in him believing me at last." Lo responded, laying back in her seat as the alcohol sent a warm feeling through her body.

"It'll be fine. Soon enough, he'll start taking your word more than hers. Love isn't blind forever." Selah stated.

"I certainly hope so. By the time I finish my first semester, she better be out of the house," Lo went on.

"Speaking of, Lo, I just remembered that I borrowed a shirt from you a while back. Come with me upstairs so I can give it back to you." Selah continued, and Lo nodded as the two placed their drinks on the table in front of them, before standing up and heading out of the room and towards the staircase.

"I don't remember you borrowing one of my shirts, at least, not recently," said Lo, proceeding to follow Selah upstairs as she wondered what her real reason for calling her away was.

"You didn't; I just used that as an excuse to pull you away for a bit, since there's something that I need to talk to you about," Selah explained once they had reached the second floor, opening the door to her bedroom as the two stepped inside.

"Look, if this is about you and Finn, I already know that you two broke up."

"I figured as much. I assumed he used that time outside to tell you. But, I doubt he told you why."

"I don't understand what happened. You seemed so happy when you told me, and within less than two weeks, it's over between you guys." Lo answered.

"Lo, that day when I came to your house and told you about us, I could see it on your face just how heartbroken you were. It didn't matter to me how happy you were for us because I knew that no matter how much I try to love Finn, I'll never love him as much as you do." Selah said as she drew back the canopy curtain draped over her bed before taking a seat on the mauve-colored blanket.

"Selah, please don't tell me you left him because of me." Lo said in a strong voice, her eyes facing the ground as she spoke.

"It had to be do-"

"Couldn't you have just let me take it? Why couldn't you have listened to me? I was just beginning to get ahold of myself from these past few weeks, and now I have to carry the shame of breaking you two up," Lo's voice grew louder as she lifted her gaze to Selah, and seconds later, Selah could see her crystal-clear tears rolling down from her cheeks and onto the rug below.

Slowly, she stood up and made her way over to her, pulling her into her arms as Lo rested her tear-stained face on her shoulder.

"You wouldn't be crying right now if you didn't love Finn too, Lo. I know it's not my place to make decisions for you; but, it wouldn't hurt to point you in the right direction," Selah answered as Lo continued to cry into her sleeve.

"If you love him, then why would you leave him for me?" Lo's question came out in a muffled tone.

"It's as I said, I don't love him nearly as much as you do, so it's only fair that out of the two of us, you deserve him more than me," were Selah's next words, and Lo stepped away from their embrace as she dried her eyes.

"I told myself I wasn't going to cry tonight, and now look at me," She muttered in annoyance, and shortly after, the two of them broke into laughter as they walked out of the room.

"Well, now that you know the full story, it's time for you to make a choice," Selah responded, leading the way downstairs as Lo followed a few steps behind her.

"Let's just hope I can make that decision within the next week or so. I can't afford to chase you guys down on your way to the airport, now can I?" said Lo, and Selah gave a small smile in reply as the two made their way back into the living room with the others.

It will all be over soon.