But the betrayal, the lies…so much had happened, pushed us apart. There was no quick solution to this mess. Why couldn’t she understand that?
Kyle and Rachel had destroyed me.
It wasn’t a question of whether or not I loved Kyle; I did, deeply. It was a matter of trust.
“Morning sunshine…Hey, what’s the matter? Lee, why are you crying?”
I tied my seatbelt, wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my sweater. “Nothing, Mike, we better go, or I’ll be late.”
*****
Kyle
I watched from my bedroom window as Lee climbed into Mike’s car, and had to hold onto the window sill to keep myself from rushing outside and causing a scene.
Looking at her through the glass; that’s all I ever seemed to be doing…
Pain, like I’d never known, enveloped me in that moment. I knew where she was going, of course I fucking knew, and a piece of me died inside, as I watched her drive away with my brother.
“What time is it?” Derek mumbled from his make shift bed, on my bedroom floor.
“Seven-forty,” I replied, not in the least bit surprised to find him in my room. This was the third morning this week. “You guys have another fight?”
Derek stretched his arms out, yawning. “Yeah, she went nuclear, last night. It was safer to come upstairs, than risk a pillow to my face,” he muttered miserably. “I don’t know what to do anymore, Kyle. She’s been a different fucking person since Christmas.”
I nodded.
We were all different people since Christmas, but I knew what Derek meant. Cam had changed.
“What are you gonna do?”
“Hell if I know man,” Derek grumbled, as he slid on his jeans and stood up. “At the rate we’re going, I doubt I’ll have to worry about it for much longer. We haven’t had sex in two weeks, Kyle, two fucking weeks. That’s like a year for us.”
“Yeah, that must suck,” I muttered, finding it hard to muster any real sympathy for Derek’s two week drought.
That fact that it was late February, and Lee and I hadn’t been together since before Christmas, being the main contributing factor to my lack of sympathy.
Jesus.
My bedroom door swung open, and Cam glowered at both of us from the doorway.
“Where’s my phone?” she asked Derek in a cold voice.
He pulled her cell out of his pocket and tossed it to her. “Sorry, I forgot to put it back…How are you feeling this morning, babe?”
“And why haven’t you put a stop to this Mike and Lee, fiasco?” she demanded, ignoring Derek’s question, glaring at me. “I know you were watching her from the window. Your curtains were moving.”
I felt myself stiffen defensively. “Why don’t you walk your ass out of my room, Camryn, and keep your fucking nose out of my love life.”
“You are a joke, Kyle,” she hissed. “Letting your brother take Lee everywhere. Grow some balls and man up, will you? Mike shouldn’t be taking Lee to her doctor’s appointments.”
“Did you get a lobotomy while visiting Lee, in the damn hospital?” I spat, tugging on a shirt, and zipping up my pants. “Because you should go and get yourself a refund. This new version of you, you’ve got going on, doesn’t suit you. New Cam is a ratty bitch.”
I didn’t wait to hear her snide comeback-which, of course, she’d have.
Instead, I picked up my shoes and brushed past her, into the bathroom. Brushing my teeth, I tossed some water on my face before slipping my shoes on.
“Derek, do you want a lift to school?” I asked as I buckled my belt and headed for the stairs.
I didn’t have any classes today, but I wasn’t about to throw Derek to the wolves.
And right about now, that’s exactly what Cam reminded me of. A blonde, snarling, cranky-assed, she-wolf.
“Yeah,” Derek muttered, joining me in the hall and tugging on his hoodie and sneakers.
“What about me?” she demanded, as we walked down the stairs.
“I’m sorry,” I called out, as I opened the front door and stared up at her. “New Cam can walk her own ass to school. But let me know when old Cam resurfaces, old Cam can have a ride.”
*****
Lee
I sent Mike away after he dropped me at the hospital. He’d argued with me about walking home, so I’d told him I’d catch a cab. I’d needed space, to think, to be alone with my thoughts.
I walked for hours, recapping the fight I’d had with Cam.
Maybe I had changed? Maybe Cam was right in what she’d said this morning. I was moping and pining...
But was there supposed to be time limit on grieving?
Like; ‘It’s been months since you lost your baby, Lee, it’s time to get over it.’