Lionel by L.C. Davis & L.C. Davis

Author:L.C. Davis & L.C. Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: L.C. Davis

Chapter 7

Lionel

I felt like a stranger walking into my own house. It was dark, gloomy, dusty. The balloons and streamers my family had hung up to distract from the dead energy of my abandoned home didn’t help. Wren held my arm like it was my legs that had been destroyed while Jayce got the lights on in such a hurry that it was clear he’d meant to do that before I got home.

The whole family had gotten together to throw me some kind of ridiculous party, “welcome home” cake and all. Streamers and balloons distracted from the dust that had gathered in my absence. A party was the last thing I wanted after being at the hospital so long. What I really wanted was to climb into bed, my bed, and sleep forever. I didn’t want cake, or ice cream, or gifts, or attention.

Jayce led me to the couch and urged me to sit down with Luis. I complied in silence. They were all acting like everything was normal. Like I hadn’t been in a life-altering “accident” that I strongly felt was not an accident at all. It was obvious things weren’t far from normal, though. For one thing, only Luis could look me in the eyes. I had him moving in to look forward to, at least, even if the reason was humiliating. I didn’t feel I needed help, but if it meant getting to be around Luis almost constantly, I could deal with it.

Dylan handed me a mug of coffee as if the caffeine boost would keep my cocktail of drugs from knocking me out. “How are you feeling?”

“On top of the world,” I replied dryly.

“Is it good to be home?”

I nodded. “Looking forward to being in my own bed tonight.”

“I’m sure. Are you and Luis sharing a room?” Dylan asked only to look like he immediately regretted it. He was occasionally prone to asking intrusive questions before he could stop himself.

Luis turned bright red.

“Probably,” I said after a moment as if it was no big deal and insinuated nothing. Luis had said he wanted to sleep together, but there was a part of me that felt like I was just going to keep him awake. Not just because I tossed and turned, but because everything scared Luis and gave him anxiety. He didn’t even like Halloween.

Dylan didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, so he went back to chatting with Jayce about some new brand of baby clothes that sounded like it shared its name with a street drug.

“I tried to talk them out of the party,” Luis said quietly enough that only I could hear him. “I really did.”

“There’s no talking them out of anything,” I muttered.

He rubbed my arm sympathetically. “Can I get you anything?”

I tried to force a smile and stopped when I realized that was probably not helping. “Thanks, but I’m all set.”

Wren and Jayce came over, all nervous smiles and sympathetic glances. “How’re you feeling?” asked Wren.

I had a feeling I was going to be answering that question a lot.

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