Chapter 11

H oliday break flew by quickly, and Lila enjoyed spending time with her parents and four younger siblings. She'd returned to the same house she'd spent the bulk of her childhood in—the one that was always filled with freshly baked cookies, the laughter of siblings and friends, and her parents' adorable, perhaps slightly nauseating, PDA.

Bradley U was about 50 miles away from the suburb where she grew up, providing just the right amount of distance between her and family. Because even though they were pretty damn great, Lila relished the opportunity to be on her own, completely autonomous. Her parents were well-meaning but overprotective, and her siblings delightful but in a different phase of life. Though she tried to make the drive home at least once a month for extended family Sunday dinner, she didn't really visit on the weekends because of her job. The break from school and the family time had been just what she needed to recharge before second semester started.

She'd especially enjoyed spending time with her 16-year-old sister, Layla. Layla and their mom were the only ones who knew the basics about King, mainly because they'd surprised her one day at work and he happened to be there at the same time they were. When they saw him interact with her, they knew something was up. That all happened before the Halloween disaster, however.

Layla was the only one who knew exactly what had happened, and Lila hoped to keep it that way.

It was the first day of class for winter semester. She was currently sitting in her democracy and social justice class, which she'd wrangled Wren and Julia, one of her roommates from freshman year, to take with her. When they'd scanned the small auditorium style room for seats, Lila spotted King's roommate, James, and Nate, who was the soccer team's goalie, trying to get her attention.

"Come sit by us, ladies," Nate crooned, his eyes taking in her friends with unabashed interest. So she found herself flanked on one side by her friends, and on the other by two soccer players. Their professor jumped right into the deep end of the pool, so Lila concentrated on furiously typing out notes.

As they were all packing up their stuff, James leaned in, just a little bit. "We miss having you around, Lila. King's been such an asshole lately. You seemed to mellow him out."

"You mean he's being an even bigger asshole than his normal level of assholeishness?" she remarked sardonically as they all filed out of the row and headed out of class.

James laughed and slowed his stride so they were walking side by side. Wren, Julia, and Nate were following close behind. "Exactly. Plus, we all miss hanging out with you. Even if that means you're kicking our asses in poker."

Lila returned his laughter and waggled her brows. "I am pretty good, aren't I?" She lifted a shoulder. "There's no rule that we all can't still hang. You're always welcome to come into the restaurant. Jason isn't the only one who can hook you guys up. Plus, I work more than he does because of all the sports ball he plays."

"True, true." He turned back to Nate then nodded in the direction of the athletic facilities. "This is us. Later, Lila."

"Bye, guys," Lila and her friends said as the two men made their way west.

"So Nate is pretty hot and tall enough," Julia sighed. Julia was even taller than Wren, standing at 6'2", and was a dead ringer for Naomi Campbell circa 1992. Nate was at least 6'5". Needless to say, even when she wore heels, Lila was always the short one amongst her group of statuesque girlfriends by a large margin.

"He was totally scoping you out during class," Wren said with a smirk. "Lila, you need to make this happen."

"On it," Lila replied as she quickly pulled up his Insta and typed out a DM. Nate's response came so quickly, it was almost comical. She looked (way) up at Julia. "Can I give him your number?"

"Absolutely." Julia nodded in the serious, almost solemn way she adopted when she was analyzing information. Then the corners of her mouth turned up and her excitement became more visible.

"Done." Lila turned to Wren. "Need a date coordinator? Because apparently I'm really good at it."

Wren rolled her eyes lovingly. "If you happen to find someone who wants to have intellectual conversations about legal theory and wears the hell out of a pair of glasses, sign me right on up."

"I think we both know you've already found somebody like that," Lila said knowingly. Wren had long been holding a torch for her childhood best friend turned first love, Aaron. He'd taken off right after their high school graduation, for…reasons. But theirs was a complicated history, one that Wren kept a tight lid on, and Lila was one of the few who knew the whole story about why he left.

The short version? He'd made plans to come to Bradley with Wren but then had taken off without a word to her, leaving a brief note for his family. That he'd been battling a secret addiction to pain medication was something that only Wren had known and why, she suspected, he'd disappeared in the first place.

Wren sighed but didn't contradict her. Julia had another class, so she waved her goodbyes and headed across campus.

Lila slid an arm around her friend's waist. "DDPs at the Brad?"

Wren put her arm around Lila's shoulders. "Only if you're buying."

"Obvi."

They stayed that way as they walked east toward the Brad. Wren's arm tightened around Lila as she whispered, "He's back, Li."

That stopped Lila short. She dropped her arm and reached up to grab her friend's shoulders. "Aaron's back?"

Wren nodded. "I don't know what to do."

"We need to continue this conversation over drinks and perhaps a cinnamon roll or five," Lila murmured.

"Agreed."

So they made their way to the Brad, grabbed reinforcements, and sat down at their usual table. Wren desperately tried to keep it together as she filled Lila in on what had transpired in the past few weeks. How Aaron had showed up at her parents' house late one night and wouldn't leave until she showed up. Wren's family lived across town, and so she'd made the short drive in record time.

"He wants to… I mean… He thinks we should…" Wren breathed.

"You mean that he finally realizes that leaving you for two years was the worst idea ever and that he misses the hell out of you and wants you back?"

Wren's exhale was wobbly as she took a long pull from her drink. "Yeah, pretty much."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I don't know how I feel about it."

Lila slid the giant cinnamon roll she'd just bought in front of her friend. Wren took a huge bite, then another, and took her time swallowing. "He promised me he's clean now. That he needed to get well on his own, and now he's doing better." Then she looked at Lila with a pained, guilt-ridden expression. And Lila had a feeling she knew why.

Lila placed her hand on Wren's. "It's okay if you want to move home, Wren. It's okay if you want to be closer to him. I want you to be happy. And we wouldn't be farther away from each other than we already are. It's just in the other direction."

At that, Wren started crying, which was a rare sight. "I'm sorry, Li. I really wanted us to have the whole roommate experience together. But I can't not do this."

Lila wrapped her arms around her friend. "I know, and that's what I want for you, too. Aaron's been a part of your life for a long time, and you deserve to do what you need to do. I'd be mad at you if you didn't. Besides, it's not like we can't still have sleepovers and stuff. We'll still see each other all the time. I'll find somewhere great to live that doesn't involve sharing a room with someone who thinks that waking up at 3:00 a.m. to run is a good idea. Everything's going to work out the way it's supposed to." Lila gave her friend her best intimidating stare. "But if he hurts you? His ass is grass."

"I love you to the moon, you know."

"I know."

"Thanks for being in my corner, Li." Wren held up her cinnamon roll, which Lila bumped with hers.

"Forevs and evs."