26. Kayla
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
KAYLA
“ S hit !” I hiss, scrambling up from the couch in my living room. “Shitshitshitshit SHIT !” I throw magazines and remotes off the coffee table in front of me, looking for my phone. The alarm didn’t go off. Or I didn’t set it. Did I turn the sound back on after work? I was so tired last night; I don’t even remember.
“What’s going on?” Chase yawns from the couch. I drop to the floor, seeing if my phone bounced underneath the sofa.
“We fell asleep, and my alarm didn’t go off. I’m supposed to be at the diner at five to have breakfast started by six, but I can’t find my phone.” The words rush out of my mouth as fast as the racing pulse I feel spreading through my chest. My mind is hazy from sleep, and heat rushes to my face in my panic. I’m about to start throwing couch cushions when Chase stands and grabs a hold of my shoulders.
“Hey, breathe.” He strokes my cheek, reaching for his phone in his pocket with his other hand. “It’s five-fifteen. Grab your stuff, and I’ll meet you in the car.” He leaves a quick kiss on my forehead and heads outside.
I race to my room and throw a bra and uniform shirt and pants out of my closet and onto myself as if I’m going to miss a flight. After stumbling into the bathroom for a haphazard tooth brushing, I leave the toothbrush unrinsed on the sink and run back through the house. Grabbing my shoes and bag from the entryway, I hurry outside, barefoot, pausing briefly to lock the door.
Chase is tapping away on his phone when I get to the car. “Hey…” He reaches up, loosening the scarf tied around my hair. It drops to my shoulders, and I snatch it up and stuff it inside my bag. I quickly wiggle my feet into my shoes. My finger scrapes away at the cuticle on my thumb as we round the corner out of my neighborhood. Chase must notice it, too, because his hand snakes around mine, and he lifts my thumb to his lips, kissing it lightly before moving our conjoined hands to his cheek. “Stop. Breathe. It’s going to be okay.”
He drops me off in the back lot of Patti’s Place. I manage to remember to squeeze his hand and thank him before running toward the door. Muscle memory takes over, and my arm is halfway up to the light switch before I realize the lights are already on. Was I so tired last night I didn’t turn them off? Momentum takes me into the supply room to start the preloaded washer, which is also already running.
Weird.
I walk slowly down the hall, confusion settling in the closer I get to the dining room. The smell of freshly dripped coffee permeates the air, and the mixer in the corner whirs away with muffin batter. Patti stands at the prep station, cutting up fruit for pies as she dances to whatever song is in her earbuds. I put my hand on her arm, wondering what she’s doing here.
“Oh! Kayla!” She jumps, clutching at her chest before slipping out an ear bud. “You scared me! What are you doing here? I gave you the day off…”
“Um, no? You called me yesterday during lunch saying you needed me to open…”
“I woke up around ten-thirty last night feeling wonderful, so I sent you a text with the schedule change. I thought, worst-case scenario, you’d see the message when you woke up.”
“I lost my phone,” I say, wondering if this is some kind of stress dream I’ll wake up from and realize I really am late for work.
“Well, get your buns back home and take a nap or two. Maybe spend the day with your friends out there.” She nods her head toward the window where, to my surprise, Ashlie is standing next to Hunter and Chase. “Go have fun. You deserve it,” she says as she nudges me toward the door.
I walk out the front door with my face scrunched, holding onto the strap of my bag like it’s a lifeline to reality. I’m still not completely convinced I’m awake.
“What’s going on?” Hunter says with a yawn.
“Apparently, I have the day off…”
“Bruh.” Hunter turns to Chase. “You woke us up at the ass crack of dawn, and she doesn’t even have to work?”
Chase shrugs, looking to me for the answer.
“I did have to work, but I guess Patti texted me to cancel my shift last night. And I lost my phone, so I never got the message…” I lift an eyebrow at Chase and ask, “Why did you call them at the ass crack of dawn?”
“My girlfriend was panicking, and I thought she could use some reinforcements.” He shrugs, grinning like his explanation is the most logical conclusion to come to at five-thirty in the morning.
“ Girlfriend? ” three voices say at once. Ashlie’s smiling, Hunter nods with approval, and I, well, I’m speechlessly slack-jawed, staring at Chase as he quirks his eyebrow back at me.
“Besides…” Chase continues. “…I think the better question is why they were together at the ass crack of dawn.” Ashlie’s smile falls, and Hunter kicks at the ground, suddenly fascinated with the cracks etched into the sidewalk .
“We were just hanging out and fell asleep…” Hunter says, glancing at Ashlie. His face is unreadable, and Ashlie looks everywhere except at me.
“Uh-huh,” Chase says suspiciously. “And that hickey there on your neck is just what? A mosquito bite?” He points right at Ashlie’s collarbone. Her eyes widen, and she tries to cover up with her jacket.
“ Spill it! ” I gasp, looking between her and Hunter.
“Can we not do this here?” Ashlie whines, bouncing her knees. Her eyebrows knit together, the slightest quiver taking hold of her upper lip. She’s about to break down, and to spare her the embarrassment, I let it go.
“Yeah. Okay. Give me a ride home?” I ask.
She nods and ambles over to wait in her car.
“What? Wait.” Chase turns to me. “You have the entire day off. I was thinking we could spend it together…”
“That’s what you get for being a snitch.” Hunter snorts.
“Hey, why don’t you go wait in the car?” Chase grabs his keys from his pocket and tosses them at Hunter, nodding toward the black crossover parked next to Ashlie’s. Hunter takes the hint and strolls toward the car, and as soon as he gets there, Chase turns back to me. His hands circle my waist, drawing me into him before he captures my lips in an embrace. “I really can’t take you home?”
“I think Ashlie needs me right now…” I say, remembering the tortured look in her eyes.
“Okay. I get it. I should probably check on Hunter too. But I called you my girlfriend…” He bites his lip. “Is that okay?”
“I’ll let you know when you pick me up for our date,” I say, kissing him quickly and stepping backward toward Ashlie’s red hatchback. “Crystal Beach. Three o’clock.” A goofy grin slides across his face, and if this is all a dream, I think I’ll be okay with it lasting a little bit longer.
Ashlie backs out of the space before I can click my seatbelt in, quietly navigating the familiar streets of my neighborhood. Pulling up to my house, she shifts into park and lets out a shaky breath. I look over to see tears free-falling down her cheeks, leaving wet marks on her jacket as they flow. Whatever is going on is big.
“We broke up,” Ashlie says, voice shaking while we sit in my driveway talking about Bryan. “We had a fight last night about him coming here with his parents next week. He kept telling me what he thought I needed to do instead of listening to what I was saying, and I went off.”
“I’m sorry, Ash,” I say, rubbing her back. “What did you tell him?”
“That I didn’t want to have his ashy babies.”
I cover my mouth with my hand, trying to keep a serious look in my eyes while I hide my smile. “Oh, no…”
“It’s okay, you can laugh. Hunter laughed, too, when he heard me say it. I don’t even know why I’m so upset. Bryan and I haven’t been on the same page in so long. But after two years together, I thought we’d figure it out.”
“So you broke up with your boyfriend and went over to Hunter’s place…?”
“I was already over there because we’re friends now… were friends… I don’t even know anymore. I…messed everything up.” Tears flow freely from her eyes as she sobs, all traces of her bubbly personality overcome with grief.
“Messed it up how, Ash? I’m confused.”
She shakes her head. “I know this is a really shitty ‘best friend’ answer, but I don’t want to talk about it. Ever.”
My mind swims with possible answers for what she got into with Hunter last night, but I let it go for her sake. “Do you want to come in? We could have a girl’s day with junk food and trashy TV.”
“No, girl. I think I gotta put my big girl shoes on for this one. I should get home anyway. Mom’s been blowing up my phone all night. ”
I point at her. “Okay, but you call me if you need me. I’ll check on you tomorrow?”
She nods and shoos me out of her car, swiping at her cheeks as she checks her face in the rear-view mirror.
After hanging my bag by the door, I start searching. My feet sink into the plush beige carpet in my living room as I stoop to clear the rummaged chaos I left in my panic this morning. I find my phone wedged between the cushion and back of the sofa, with the missed message from Patti and a good morning text from Chase sent two minutes ago. Scenes from last night flow through my mind, and a smile spreads across my face.
We had some big revelations on this couch last night. Between the EdTechU son-of-a-multimillionaire shocker and my ex-boyfriend sob story, I could have easily let it come between us. We’re from different worlds, much like how it was with Evan. But at the end of the day, Chase is still just the helpful guy trying to care for me. He rushed me to work after being jolted awake by my panic. He called my friends to come help me. He calmed me. How I ever found similarities between him and Evan is beyond me. Chase is in a class all his own.
The door thuds as it closes, and I bolt upright. Through the bleariness in my eyes, I can barely make out the large, fluffy coils wearing scrubs and glasses. “Mom?” I say, rubbing my face. “What are you doing here?”
“My Bakersfield contract got cut short, but I’ll be heading to LA in two days for a new one. No work today?”
“Nope. Patti gave me the day off.”
“Good! You work too much anyway, Kay.”
“Says the lady speeding all over California for a living.”
“I guess you came by it honest. I’m going to shower and then, let’s get groceries? Maybe lunch? ”
“Yes, to groceries, but lunch has to be quick. I have a date.” I stand from the couch and inch toward the hall.
“A date ?” she teases. “It’s that cute White boy from the hospital, isn’t it?”
I shrug, wiggling my eyebrows while walking backward to my room without answering. I’m not giving her any information before I have to. She’ll find out when Chase picks me up later anyway.
Navigating the store today is so much easier than the last time we came together. The lines are within the range of normal, and the bread is fully stocked. We don’t have to split up this time, so I push the cart, hopping up with my feet on the basket to glide down the aisles. Mom is in the middle of telling me all about the drama between her coworkers in Bakersfield when she bumps into someone tall. The glasses fly off her face and slide along the floor.
“Oops, I’m sorry. Let me grab those for you.”
“Kendall?” I say, recognizing Hunter’s dad immediately.
“Kayla, hey,” he says distractedly, handing the glasses back to Mom. He freezes once he finally gets a clear view of her face. Mom cleans her lenses on her shirt, scrunching her nose as she slides them back over her eyes.
“This is my mom, Karla,” I say. “And this is my friend’s dad, Kendall.”
He sticks his hand out, looking at her intensely despite the smile on his face. “Nice to meet you.”
Mom stares down at his outstretched hand for a couple of seconds before clearing her throat and giving it a shake. Her eyes flick up to his and then back down as she takes a step backward.
“Is Chase bringing you over for dinner tonight?” He turns his smile on me.
“Yeah, he just texted me about it.”
“Great,” he says, nodding and looking at Mom again. She’s distracted herself with a cracker box on the shelf, so he turns back to me. “Well, we’ll see you later then.”
“See you later!” I wave as he leaves. Kendall looks over his shoulder once more before moving to the next aisle. Turning to Mom with raised eyebrows, I ask, “Not your type?”
“No one’s my type, Kayla. I’ve got bills to pay,” she snaps, throwing the crackers in the basket and grabbing the cart out of my hands with a huff.