Chapter 2 Messed Up

• OAKLYNN
• I’m not over Kylo King.
• And I doubt I ever will be.
• It’s been three weeks and four days. But who’s counting?
• Now that’s out of the way, let’s move on, shall we?
• Did I cry for him?
• Yes. Too many times.
• Was I tempted to call him?
• Yes.
• Did I religiously stalk him on social media?
• C’mon? That’s a given.
• I religiously and meticulously stalked his social media pages daily and at least four times on the weekend.
• Don’t judge me.
• Did I not so accidentally butt-dial him?
• Yes.
• Did he answer?
• No.
• Did I drunk text him?
• Almost. On more occasions than I’m ashamed to admit.
• Did I listen to Tracy Chapman’s Baby Can I Hold You more times than I can count? Yes. Did I listen to Where Do Broken Hearts Go by Whitney Houston until my neighbors got annoyed? Yes!
• In my defense, I was simply trying to get some direction as to where I could go with my shattered pieces. In my broken state, I thought the song would have some pointers on how to deal with my pain and suffering.
• It didn’t.
• I’m pathetic. I know.
• I had one last trump card though... Though the normal thing to do would be to forget about him.
• Move on.
• Impossible, my heart screamed.
• I couldn’t do it.
• I had his house keys, and I had to return some of his stuff to him and vice versa. I had tried to get Mason to be a go-between, but he refused. Told me he wasn’t there during the initial exchange of said items, so why should he be a part of it now? Don’t even get me started on Hailey...While she sympathized with me, she was Team Kylo all the way.
• “I love you, Lynn, but you were wrong. You didn’t even need to lie, really. It was unnecessary. You should have just been honest with him from the jump,” she lectured. “While I understand why you felt you had to keep the truth away from him, you could have just put it out there and dealt with the consequences. I’m sure he would have accepted the truth for what it is and accepted your honesty. But now you’ve hurt him and yourself in the process. All this could have been avoided.”
• “Why couldn’t he just trust me?”
• “Trust you?” She punctuated her sentence with a snort. “Really?? Is that the angle you’re using, Turner?”
• “Whatever,” I grumbled. “I don’t need him. I don’t need this drama.”
• “Now you’re just lying,” Hailey laughed in my face. “And please don’t even think of asking Tristan’s mom to call him to vouch for you.”
• “But-”
• “No!”
• Well, there goes that burst of inspiration. I was officially out of ideas.
• His rejection still stung like salt in a wound. Even after all the grand gestures I’d thrown his way, he continued to attack my pride and dignity with harsh, scathing words. I had used up all my cards. I had nothing left.
• I missed him so much that my heart and body physically ached. Everywhere I looked or went, there were reminders of him. Especially in my apartment. I was considering moving out, but that’s an expense I couldn’t afford right now.
• I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to get him back in my life. I felt utterly lost, alone, and broken. All I wanted to do was crawl into the nearest hole and, like a bear, go into hibernation. Unfortunately, this was real life, and I had to find a way of moving on.
• It was true, growing up was a trap.
• I had graduation coming up, after which, I’d make my way back into the corporate world. It was time to put on my big girl panties and shimmy on with life as best as I could. The tabloids wouldn’t afford me that luxury, though. They made getting over Kylo next to impossible. To top it off, Tristan’s stupid ring continued to wreak havoc in my life. Somehow-well let me put it this way, ever since Kylo walked out on me, I kept wearing it as a sign of rebellion. I don’t know what I was trying to prove, so don’t ask me. It was stupid, I know.
• I continued to rock the bling for a while until the novelty wore off. The truth of the matter was, I couldn’t get the blasted thing off. And I didn’t have time to go to the jeweler's to try to hack it off. I had promised myself that I’d do it after school, but something came up, so I put it off until the next and the next... Then one fateful day, an eagle-eyed journo zeroed in on it while I was grabbing coffee at a local cafe. Another reporter also stumbled upon it when we were both waiting in our separate cars at the traffic lights. They both had the insight to snap a photo before they dashed off, and just like that, I was making headlines all over again. Word on the street, that is, in the entertainment circles, was that Kylo had popped the question.
• This painted a very bad picture. He probably thought I was still wearing this wretched thing for a reason. The reason is that Tristan and I had reconciled. The paps hounded him and me, pressing him for a comment or confirmation about our upcoming nuptials.
• Gosh! What a mess...
• The next morning, I was up with the sun and got ready for college. Slipping a pastel skater dress over my head and sensible flats, before throwing my hair in a messy bun, I was good to go. My salon appointments were still covered until the end of the year but I didn’t have the time or the energy to go get my hair done. While driving to school, I thought about going this weekend. My hair, along with my life, was a mess.
• “Morning, sweetness,” Noah smiled, and there his arm over my shoulders as we walked along the corridor.
• “Hey, Noah,” I answered the guy, who had been trying to score a date with me since the beginning of the semester. We had a few classes together, but hardly talked until recently. He was an all-American hot, filthy rich-and dateable quarterback. Girls threw themselves at him and he took as many as he could handle. Tall, skinny, short-he did not discriminate. It’s like he had a target of some sort.
• “You’re looking drained, gorgeous. Are you okay?”
• “Yeah, just didn’t sleep well, that’s all.”
• “You should have called me,” he grinned wickedly, his freshly shaved jawline glinting while his chocolate gaze roved over me. “I would have come to tell you a really good bedtime story...sang you a lullaby...tucked you in...and kissed you goodnight,” he licked his lips, his eyes eating me up.
• “How generous of you,” I stopped midway and crossed my arms over my chest.
• “All you have to do is ask, sweetheart,” he winked as he whipped his floppy blonde hair across his brow. “Once you’ve had a real man, you will get over your little infatuation with that pretty boy rockstar,” he said, a lustful gleam in his eyes.
• “I’ll bear that in mind,” I said with a bland smile.
• “Are you coming to my pre-graduation party Friday night? That is if your little boyfriend won’t mind?”
• “Is that an invitation, quarterback?”
• “Do you want it to be?” His hungry gaze devoured me as he slowly undressed me with his eyes.
• “Aww, are Mommy and Daddy out of town?” I pouted my lips and pinched his cheek, avoiding his question.
• He shrugged and gave me a sheepish grin. “Something like that.”
• “I don’t think I can make it.”
• “Yes, you will,” his finger pinched my chin and tilted my face up. “I’ll pick you up at eight. Wear something sexy for me, angel face,” he rasped before he sauntered off with a confident swagger.