Chapter 10
L ila exited the RBG building and made her way to the Brad. She'd just finished her last final of the semester and breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, it had been an essay test, which was her personal favorite. She was a political science major with an English minor, and so she'd just gotten to write a paper about the intersection of American exceptionalism and toxic masculinity in 20th century literature. It was a blast.
In the time since her now legendary face-off with he who shall not be named, there was an unspoken agreement that she was granted joint custody of Knight and Jason, along with the rest of their friend group. She initially thought that they were going to all drop her too, but Knight made sure that didn't happen. Jason, for all of his mischievous ways, also surprised her when he apologized for introducing her to King in the first place.
When she was still hanging out with King, she'd gotten into the habit of meeting up with them all for lunch. That continued, though she only made an appearance on the days that she knew King had class or would otherwise be away from that area of campus. Wren would also accompany her on the days their schedules aligned, which helped bolster Lila's confidence.
She approached the table of the impossibly good-looking athletes, knowing that jealous eyes were upon her. The fact that the football team was playing in a major bowl game and the soccer team had the best record in their conference heading into the second half of the season were just two more reasons all of the players were getting even more attention from the student population.
Jason spotted her first. "Yo, Alexander! How was the final?"
She slid down in an empty seat between Will and Bear. "It went well, I think. I got to be all nerdy and analytical, which is basically my favorite thing in the entire universe."
Jason chuckled and asked if she'd be willing to swap shifts at work. While they were working out logistics, a large disposable coffee cup, complete with lid and two skinny straws, was placed down in front of her. She smiled and glanced over her shoulder. "Hey, big bro."
Knight smiled down at her. "A hazelnut hot chocolate with extra whip for my favorite little sis." Then he rounded the table and took a seat.
She took a sip and moaned in delight. "You are officially my favorite person, Knight Donovan Patrick."
He shot her a wink from across the table and then started talking bowl game strategy with Benny, one of the wide receivers. She sipped contentedly, catching snippets of conversations and contributing when engaged. She shot off a text to Wren, who was working a lunch shift, because they had plans to hit a movie after she got off work. The hairs on the back of her neck raised, and she sensed a shift in the energy around her. She looked over at Knight, his tense expression telling her everything she needed to know.
King Spencer was officially in the building. And there were no empty chairs to be found.
It had been over a month since that hellacious Halloween night, and the once-searing pain that had radiated in the center of Lila's chest had tamped down to a dull ache. They'd managed to avoid each other up until now, and she knew that it was time to establish their new normal, to show him that she wasn't going anywhere.
Everybody was watching the two of them to see what was going to happen, and before King could say anything, Lila picked up her drink and stood up. Then raised her eyebrow at Knight, hoping he'd pick up on what she was planning to do and be okay with it.
"This seat's open," she said over her shoulder as she made her way over to Knight. He patted his knee, and when she sat, he wrapped an arm around her waist. She didn't spare King another glance as Knight and Benny roped her into a discussion about the best movies from the nineties.
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'd say that Silence of the Lambs , 10 Things I Hate About You , Clueless, and Pulp Fiction are all in my top ten. Ooh, and My Cousin Vinny ."
"Those cover a lot of bases, Li," Knight laughed. "I never thought I'd hear Silence of the Lambs and 10 Things I Hate About You brought up in the same sentence."
"Well, now you have." Lila took another pull of her hot chocolate. "Hot damn, Knight, this is so effing good."
"Only the best for you, Li. Besides, we're celebrating. One more semester down, am I right? Also, thank you for taking the time to proof that paper for me. You are quite literally the best. I know I'm not the only one at the table who thinks so."
Will, overhearing their conversation, chimed in. "Seriously, Lila, you saved my ass. I ended up getting a B+ on my humanities paper. Thanks so much for taking a look at it."
"You're very welcome, Will I Am." Lila smiled. "It was the least I could do after all of the stats help. That is a class that I will not miss." There were a couple of sympathetic rumbles from around the table because they'd been there, done that, plus that particular stats professor had a superiority complex and made the required general class absolutely miserable.
"But you're still getting an A, right?" Knight bounced her a bit on his knee.
Lila pursed her lips. "Probably."
"Atta girl. Look at you, going for that 4.0."
"I mean, it might be an A minus. We'll just have to see what the damn curve is," Lila grunted. Because she really wanted that A. The last A minus she'd gotten was in the seventh grade, so she wanted to keep her streak alive.
Benny whistled. "Damn, Lila. You're telling me you're not only smokin' hot, but a genius too?"
"Oh stop it," Lila said, while jokingly motioning for him to continue. While she didn't ever look at King directly, she kept feeling like he was looking at her. When the guys started enthusiastically talking about their fantasy sports leagues, Knight leaned in to whisper in Lila's ear.
"Your boy's been staring at you this whole time."
She tilted her head so she could whisper back. "He's not my boy."
Knight's chuckle rumbled through his chest. "You should probably tell him that, because he looks like he's about ready to murder me."
"I'm sure it's because he's mad we're still friends. You know what happened on Halloween. Whatever was between us is done."
"And I support you 100%, Li. You deserve the world."
She ruffled his hair lovingly and then checked her phone. Wren had just gotten off work, so it was movie time.
"Wren's ready. Gonna go," she said. Knight kissed her on the temple before she stood up and said her goodbyes to the group. She threw away her empty drink and headed out the south entrance of the building.
Lila stepped to the side of the path so she could pop her earbuds in and almost dropped them as she startled at the sound of a deep, dark voice.
"So you're with Knight now, huh? Can't say that I'm surprised."
Her head snapped to the left where King was standing, a hardened glare on his face. After a month and a half of radio silence, he'd chosen this moment to follow her? To goad her?
She rolled her eyes. "If we were, it'd be none of your business, King."
He scoffed. "That's not a denial. Were you with him when you were with me?"
Lila had had it. She whirled on him, eyes ablaze. "I'm not even going to dignify this bullshit line of questioning with a response, because not only is it wholly offensive, condescending, and ridiculous, it's also none. Of. Your. Damn. Business."
She paused and drew in a breath. "And we weren't together anyway, right? So what the hell does it even matter?"
King crowded her so her back was against the red brick wall, caging her in with his arms. He leaned down so that they were nearly eye to eye. "It. Matters." King's expression was an intense combination of irritation and intimidation.
Lila rolled her eyes to stave off the intensity of his glare. King didn't let up.
"Are you with Knight? Yes or no?"
Lila refused to be intimidated. "Why don't you go ask him? Since you seem to be so concerned about his well being and all."
She couldn't lie, his frustrated growl was music to her ears. But there was pain there, too. Just briefly. It flashed across his face like a streak of lightning and was gone just as quickly.
Lila knew she didn't owe King a damn thing, but she wasn't heartless, either. So after she ducked under his arm and started down the path, she stopped and turned back, just for a second, and said, "No."
And tried not to notice the way King's shoulders seemed to slump in relief.
Instead, she popped her AirPods in, cranked up her angry music playlist, and walked home.