Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
Enoch
Shiloh licked her lips, looking down at her leggings and oversized sweatshirt with a faded YMCA logo on it.
“Are you sure this is okay?” she asked, not quite believing me.
“Of course I’m sure! You look stinkin’ cute. Now get your butt in the car.”
She huffed, making me bite my cheek to avoid smiling at how adorable she was.
I waited for her to buckle in before pulling away from the apartment building.
My blood was pumping hard at the thought that she would be spending the night with me tonight.
I loved sleeping next to her. Waking up to hold Shiloh made me feel like the happiest fucking guy alive.
It sounded dramatic and cliche, but it was like all those romcoms described. I knew I was going to be leaving after graduation, but I wasn’t going to think about that. Right now, I had an incredible girl in my life, and I wasn’t going to waste any time before then.
Because Shiloh was unexpected. Our friendship and now whatever the start of this was.
I mean, how could I not fucking fall for her?
Freaking smart, a sharp tongue and a dark sense of humor, and incredibly strong, not to mention the most beautiful human being I’d ever laid eyes on.
I was a goner from the beginning. If I had a type, it would be called Shiloh Tellez.
Shiloh liked to pretend to be mean and scary, but she was easily misjudged.
Her semi-permanent scowl and short temper meant that most people probably wouldn’t take the time to get close enough to her to realize that she was funny, an excellent hugger, and vulnerable enough to accept help when she needed it.
“Bro, it’s a green light,” Jae said, slapping my arm lightly.
“Oh, crap. Sorry,” I said, checking the intersection before following the flow of traffic towards the interstate.
I had completely zoned out, running on autopilot as I drove the three of us towards my sister’s place in College Station.
Shiloh was sitting silently in the passenger seat watching out the window.
I smiled to myself as I checked my side mirror and caught a glimpse of Shiloh’s profile before turning my attention back to the road.
“Samantha just heard back from TCU and made it in for Early Decision,” Jae said.
I shook my thoughts away from Shiloh and focused on the conversation.
“Wow, so she’s, like, set. Damn,” I smiled. “Good for her.”
“I don’t think you’ve told me what you’re doing Jae,” Shiloh perked up, turning around in her seat to punch him in the leg.
“Yeah, I could say the same,” he grumbled, shifting out of reach from her arm. “You probably did Early Decision too, didn’t you?”
I glanced at Shy. She seemed… annoyed?
“No, fucknugget, I didn’t. I’m not going to college. I mean, at least not right now. Just gonna get a job,” she shrugged, suddenly interested in one of her cuticles.
“What?” Jae practically shrieked. “But you’re, like, smart smart! Like scholarly smart.”
“Whatever, quit avoiding the question. What about you?” she shot back.
“Oh, yeah, same. I’m not going to college right away.
Going to work for a year and then decide what route I want to go.
Maybe a trade school. I’m not sure,” Jae said, shrugging nonchalantly.
“College is overrated anyways, right? I mean if I wanted to attend a bunch of frat parties, I could do that without paying 70 grand a year.”
I chuckled at Jae’s argument for why college wasn’t worth the money. “Hey, it’s not a complete waste of time if you actually know what you want to do with your degree,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Eden got her degree in clinical nutrition and she’s loving her job as a registered dietician.”
“Eden is an outlier, okay? She’s freaking smart, knows how to get what she wants, and isn’t afraid to tell you what she thinks…
well come to think of it, she’s basically Shiloh if you dipped her in pink and covered her in glitter.
With significantly less snark, no offense, Shy.
” He patted Shiloh’s arm with a smile, and I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Honestly though, that’s pretty damn accurate,” I said as I gasped for air between laughs. “Although, I don’t appreciate the girl I like being compared to my sister.”
Shiloh turned in her seat to slap the both of us.
After a beat of silence, I rubbed her thigh to gain her attention.
“You’re feeling better, yeah?” I asked, flicking my eyes over to her face long enough to scan her features for signs of being unwell.
“Yeah,” she nodded with a smile. “I’m sorry you always have to deal with me being sick.”
“What? No! I feel awful that you’ve been sick so much lately. The stomach flu sucks. I’m just happy that you’re able to come tonight.”
“Me too. I didn’t want to miss his birthday party.” Shiloh blew out a breath before continuing. “I can’t believe he’s twenty-two, married and has a baby. It’s just…wow.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, they kind of get that a lot. Ruthie wasn’t exactly a planned pregnancy. But the second they found out, they got married.”
“Oh, no…I didn’t mean it as a judgement or anything. It’s just wild to think about how much has changed since the last time I saw him.”
I hummed in agreement, nodding absently as I focused on the road. “Yeah, when was the last time you guys had seen each other?”
“Uh, jeez, I dunno. At least seven, or maybe eight years ago.”
“Yeah, I can imagine a lot has changed since he was fourteen. You guys were close?”
Shiloh shrugged. “I guess so. I honestly don’t really remember much of my childhood, but from what I do remember he was like an extra older brother.”
I glanced over to see Shiloh chewing her lip in thought as she stared out the window.
“He was different than my brother. More…gentle. He tended to baby me more than Javier did, more than anyone else in my life did, and I think I kind of liked that. My dad and my brother weren’t really emotional people, I guess you could say.
But Sebastian…I dunno, he was just different.
He’d hug me and ask me about my day, carry my backpack when we walked home from school, and goof around to cheer me up if I was sad. He was just…Seb. And then he was gone.”
“And you guys or your brother and he didn’t stay in touch?”
Shiloh sighed, fidgeting with the hem of her sweatshirt.
“Not that I know of. Seb’s uncle had purchased a farm, you’ve seen ‘em probably, all those cornfields west of the lake. Anyways, Seb’s dad was going to move them all onto the property to work with his brother, but his mom saw it as a chance to escape.
His dad’s a real piece of shit and she saw her opportunity to get out and took it. ”
I blinked, slightly stunned by the information. I had speculated but hearing it from Shiloh meant that I was right about Sebastian experiencing abuse. I wondered if it was difficult for him to return to Granby so often.
“His dad’s still in Granby?”
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
We let the music fill the silence and I hummed along to the beat, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel as I drove. Jae looked like he’d fallen asleep in the back. I turned the music down when I heard Shiloh sniffle and saw her hand quickly brush at her cheeks.
“Hey,” I crooned. “What’s wrong?”
I placed a hand on her knee as I tried to get a peek at her face while driving safely. I saw her wipe her nose on her sleeve in my peripheral and gave her leg a light squeeze.
“I swear I’ve cried more times in my entire life since I met you. This stupid fucking song is really sad.”
I looked at the media console to see what song was even playing and I realized it was pretty melancholy.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” I said as I scrambled to change to a more upbeat playlist.
I chewed on my lip nervously as I continued watching Shiloh in my peripheral vision. I’m so stupid. I didn’t even think about the music I was playing in the car. I just liked the sound of it, the lyrics tuned out as background noise.
“Are your eyes bad?” I asked softly, returning my hand to the steering wheel so I could make a turn.
“Um, sort of,” she mumbled, flipping the passenger visor down to look at herself in the mirror.
She laughed at herself, shutting the mirror and turning to face me directly.
“I can’t see for shit,” she chuckled. “I’m assuming I look like a raccoon just tried to scratch my eyes out?”
I stifled a laugh, biting my lip. Not because she looked funny, but because of her self-deprecating humor.
“I’m getting off here to stop at the gas station and get you something cold to put on your eyes,” I said.
“Great,” she groaned. “I always have something wrong with me when I see your family. They probably think I’m psychotic.”
I could hear the bitterness as she muttered her last words, and I scowled.
“Shy,” I drawled. “You’re not psychotic. Don’t say that. And don’t listen to anything else that douchebag said before I got there, okay?”
I gave her an ‘I mean it’ look not realizing until after that she probably couldn’t even see it. I pulled into the Sunoco, parking right in front of the minimart.
“I’m heading inside. Do you want anything in particular?”
“No,” she mumbled, tipping her head back against the seat with her eyes closed.
“Are you going to go inside or just sit there and stare at me?”
But you’re so cute.
“If Jae wakes up, tell him I’m getting him something too.”
I quickly made my way to the soda fountain, grabbing the biggest cup.
Shit. Is this too big? I stared at the size of it, and shook my head, exchanging it for a smaller one.
I filled it to the brim with ice and grabbed a couple handfuls of napkins.
My hands were full before I made it to the register with drinks and a snack for Jae.
I could see Shiloh through the window from where I was standing in line and tried not to stare.
She was mesmerizing. It was hard not to.