The Year of Falling in Love

  "Isa, would you please stop staring at me?" His gaze glides to me, and he bites on his bottom lip. "You're giving me a complex."

  "I know that's not true. No one could ever give Ego Man a complex," I retort, using the superhero nickname I gave him earlier today, trying to lighten his mood.

  "That's not true." He steadily holds my gaze. "Every superhero has a kryptonite."

  "You're saying me staring at you is your kryptonite?" I ask with skepticism.

  He shrugs, but doesn't say anything, zoning off again.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" I ask.

  He nods then gets up and heads for the doorway like it's on fire. "I'm going to go make some more popcorn. I'll be right back."

  I look down at the bowl in my lap, half full of popcorn. He obviously wanted to leave the room, but why? What is he hiding from me?

  Chapter 2

  Kai

  I wake up on the sofa with a warm body pressed against mine. At first I'm confused as hell. Then I catch the faintest scent of popcorn and the fogginess in my mind gradually lifts. Zombie movies. Popcorn. Milk Duds. Isa.

  She's fast asleep with her head resting on my arm, her hand on my chest, and our legs are so tangled I can't tell where her's start and mine end.

  We must've fallen asleep during the movie. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I mean, sure, it's a fantasy come true waking up with her practically lying on top of me. But I'm supposed to be keeping this thing with us strictly a friend thing until I can get my act together, and she can get over this stupid idea that she's supposed to be with Kyler. Plus, her elbow is putting pressure on the ribs T cracked his knuckles against yesterday. I'm pretty sure one might be broken, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've broken a couple of ribs before in football and know the healing process consists of taking it easy and not moving the area much.

  I'm deliberating what I should do when Isa lets out a soft moan and nuzzles closer to me.

  Fuck it. This is definitely a good thing.

  I rub my eyes with my free hand and relax, wondering what time it is. Sunlight is peering through the cracks in the curtains, so it has to be at least seven o'clock. I should probably wake her up and explain that we fell asleep. But it's too nice holding her, and I end up just lying there, watching her sleep like a creeper.

  She looks so relaxed with her face resting in the crook of my arm, her lips parted as she softly breathes. I wish I could let her lie like this all day, but eventually, she's going to wake up and I'm going to have to tell her that her mom's alive but in a prison in Virginia for murder charges.

  I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear then graze my knuckles across her cheek. Her skin is so soft and warm--

  "What the hell's going on?" Kyler's annoying voice cuts through the moment.

  I let out a frustrated grunt. Great. Here comes drama.

  I fire a shut-the-hell-up look at him. "Keep your voice down or you'll wake her up."

  Kyler's face turns bright red. "Why is she here with you when she was supposed to be on a date with me last night?"

  I hesitate. I'm not sure how much Kyler knows about what's going on with Isa. The longer I remain silent, the redder Kyler's face gets. I consider not uttering a word, letting him come up with all kinds of ideas about what Isa and I were doing last night. It's not like the two of them are officially together. They haven't even been out on a date yet. But I'm not sure Isa waking up to Kyler all pissed off at her is a great idea.

  "Would you chill out?" I say, resisting and eye roll. "We were watching a movie last night and fell asleep. Nothing happened."

  He crosses his arms, dumbfounded. "She blew me off so she could stay here and watch a movie with you?"

  "No, you dumbass." I carefully slip my arm out from underneath Isa and stand up, wincing as my ribs groan in protest. "Something happened yesterday that upset her, so we hung out and I distracted her with a zombie movie marathon." When he continues to look irritated, I add, "Nothing happened." I want to add, but it wouldn't matter if something did happen because she's not yours.

  His jaw ticks. "Why didn't she talk to me?"

  I keep my elbow to my side, hoping to reduce some of the pain in my ribs "Huh?"

  "When whatever happened that upset her. Why did she ask you for help instead of me?"

  "She didn't come to me. I was just there when the shit hit the fan." It nearly kills me to say it, to tell him that Isa didn't choose me over him. I was just the who she ran into first.

  For as long as I can remember, Kyler has gotten whatever he wanted whenever he wanted: from his choice in girlfriends, to positions on the team, to making everyone in our school worship him. He's always been better than me in sports and hooked up with girls I liked. I put an end to the sports problem by quitting, and it was a huge relief. I was tired of living in his shadow and wanted to find my own thing that didn't include being compared to my older brother. As for dating the girls I liked, sure it pissed me off, but I got over it.

  Isa, though... She's different. She's seriously the sweetest, coolest, most beautiful girl I've ever known. I just wish I could've seen that back in seventh grade. But I was a stupid kid who wanted to fit in with the in-crowd. Still, I liked her way before Kyler did, before she started wearing makeup and dressing more like a girl. I know the only reason he likes her is because he thinks she's hot. He doesn't even know anything about her.

  Kyler gradually unstiffens. "So maybe she would've talked to me if she hadn't run into you first." An arrogant smile rises across his face.

  I want to punch him in the face, but I don't want Isa to wake up to a fight breaking out. Plus, more than likely, my dad would come in and chew my ass off. He can't stand me right now and is looking for any reason to punish me. I think he wants to kick me out of the house.

  "You're eighteen years old," he said to me a couple of months ago after I came home trashed. "Maybe it's time for you to move out."

  I wanted to argue that I wasn't ready to move out, but my pride got in the way. "Maybe I should."

  He gave me the same condescending look he always gives whenever he's about to prove how much of a loser I am. "Well, you better start looking for places then." He slapped the newspaper onto the kitchen table in front of me. "Good luck trying to find a place when your dumbass doesn't have any money."

  "Honey, watch your language," my mom intervened as she piled fruit into the blender. "Kai, what I think your father is saying is that if you can't clean up your act, we may have to take a more drastic route. We love you, but I'm not going to stand around and watch you throw your life away."

  "This is so fucking stupid." I shoved the newspaper away as I rose to my feet. "Kyler got drunk all the time when he was my age and you guys never did anything."

  "Kyler was also the captain of the football and basketball teams and was an honor roll student." My father looked at me with disgust. "You barely even go to school anymore. You're wasting your life, partying and coming home wasted every weekend. If you keep going down this path you're going to end up a dead-beat, pumping gas for a living."

  "No one pumps gas for people anymore," I mumbled then left the kitchen before he could ream into me more.

  "Umm..." Isa's startled voice yanks me away from the memory.

  I glance over my shoulder at her.

  She's sitting up, fussing with her hair, and her eyes are darting back and forth between me and Kyler. "What happened?" Her bleary gaze lands on me. "Did we fall asleep watching the movie?"

  I nod. "Apparently even you can get tired of zombies."

  She rolls her eyes like that's the silliest thing she's ever heard. "I'm not tired of zombies. Just tired." The second she spots Kyler she goes from playful to shy. "Hey."

  "Hey... So, you canceled our date last night so you could sleep with my brother?" He winks at her. "I think that might be a first for me."

  Isa's cheeks turn pink. "I didn't sleep with him. Well, I did, but not on purpose. We just sort of fell asleep while we were wat
ching a movie."

  Kyler chuckles then pushes past me and sits down beside her on the sofa. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. Kai told me what happened."

  "Oh good." She looks away from him as she runs her fingers below her eyes, trying to wipe away some smeared makeup. "Sorry I had to cancel our date, but a bunch of stuff happened and I would've been a downer to be around."

  "It's okay." He brushes a strand of her hair out of her face. "Is it anything you want to talk about?"

  I stand there, hoping Isa will duck from his touch, but I can tell she likes it by the way her eyelashes flutter.

  I don't want to wait around to hear her answer. I don't think I can take it if she tells him about her mom and what's going on with her family, like she told me.

  "I have to go." I back toward the doorway, tucking my hands into my pockets. "You two kids have fun. And don't do anything I wouldn't do."

  Isa gives me a pleading look, like she doesn't want me to leave yet. I almost stay. But when Kyler puts his hand on her knee, I know if I stick around I'll lose my shit.

  After I leave the den, I go into the kitchen to grab something to eat. As I'm pulling out a couple of Toaster Strudels from the freezer, I check the time on the clock. Shit. I'm supposed to be at Big Doug's place already. Last night I told him about the mess I've gotten into with T. He told me to come over today because he might have some work for me to do where I can make some cash fast and get T paid back ASAP. I've done some work for Big Doug before, but stopped when we almost got busted tapping into a bank's security cameras. To this day, I'm still not sure why we were doing it. But if we'd gotten caught, I could've ended up in jail. Which is why I hate that I have to go back into that world. But, at the moment, I don't see another alternative.

  I shove the Toaster Strudels in the toaster, pop some painkillers, then head toward the stairs.

  As I'm rounding the corner in the hallway, Isa walks out of the den. The two of us collide hard.

  "Aw, fuck," I curse, hunching over the pain radiating through my side.

  "Oh my God. I'm sorry. I didn't see..." She trails off.

  I glance up at her, wondering what she's doing.

  Her furious gaze is fastened on me, and her hands on her hips.

  "What the hell is that look for?" I try to keep my voice light, but I sound strained. I force myself to stand up straight and keep my arm at my side. "All right, what'd I do now?"

  Her pointed gaze travels to my injured side. "I knew you were hurt. Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Yeah, I'm hurt because we just crashed into each other," I lie, sidestepping to squeeze by her.

  She sidesteps and blocks my path with her arms stretched out to the side of her. "No way. You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong."

  I bite back my amusement over how unintentionally cute she's being right now. "And what if I don't? What're you going to do?"

  She mulls it over for a second or two then her arm darts forward. She grips the bottom of my shirt and lifts it up to peer underneath.

  I should probably stop her before she sees the gnarly bruise on my side, but as her knuckles graze the bottom of my stomach, I get too turned on to care.

  "Oh my God, Kai," she gasps at the sight of the purplish-yellow marks dotting my ribcage, reaching forward and tentatively touching the area.

  My muscles constrict from the contact, and she immediately jerks back, but I catch her hand and hold it against my side.

  Her gaze elevates to my face, uncertainty filling her eyes. "Who hurt you?"

  "It's not a big deal. I just got into a tiny, little fight." I wink at her. "But you should see the other guy."

  "Was this..." She struggles for words, her fingers trembling against my side. "Did that T guy do this to you?"

  I open my mouth to lie, but then I realize I don't want to lie to her anymore than I already have. "Yeah, and--"

  "Hey, so I was thinking, since you didn't want to go home yet, that we could go get some breakfast," Kyler says, strolling out of the den.

  Isa steps back from me. "Are you sure? I don't want to put you out," she says to Kyler.

  I grind my teeth. If Kyler knows she doesn't want to go home, then does that mean she told him what's going on? Jealousy burns inside me, and I hate the feeling so much. I've spent way too many years carrying it around. It's part of why I decided to quit sports, change my life, who I was.

  Muttering a goodbye, I haul ass to the stairway. I half-expect Isa to call out to me, but she doesn't. It's probably for the better. I need to focus on getting out of this mess with T right now before I even attempt to go down any sort of romantic relationship road with Isa. At least, that's what I try to convince myself, but deep down, all I want to do is go back, grab Isa, and kiss her. And for real this time, when we're both sober and can enjoy it.

  As I enter my room, my phone buzzes from inside the pocket of my black jeans. I dig it out as I rummage through my dresser for a clean shirt.

  T: If you don't get me my grand in three weeks, yesterday is going to seem like a fucking cakewalk.

  I swallow hard. A thousand! Mother fucker! I didn't realize Bradon owed T that much. How the hell am I supposed to come up with a thousand bucks in three weeks? There's no way I can make that much in three weeks working for Big Doug. I have no clue what I'm going to do, but I better come up with a plan. And fast.

  Chapter 3

  Isabella

  Kai walks away from Kyler and me like we're carrying some viral disease and are about to infect him. I open my mouth to call after him, because I'm not about to let him leave until he explains what kind of trouble he's gotten into, but Kyler snags my hand and steers me in the direction of the kitchen before I get a chance.

  Normally, I'd be all over the fact that Kyler Meyers is holding my hand, but my mind is on Kai and those bruises. They looked really bad, and he seemed in a lot of pain. I wonder if his ribs are broken.

  "Just let him go," Kyler says. "When he gets like this, it's better you just leave him alone."

  "Gets like what?" I wonder if Kyler knows what's going on with Kai.

  Kyler shrugs as he leads me to the mudroom then releases my hand. "Pissy and upset. He's been like this since we were kids. He gets into trouble and then sulks about it and makes everyone miserable."

  I start to slip on my shoes. "Do you know why he's upset?"

  He sits down on a wooden bench to slip on his sneakers. "Who knows? He's been a real asshole lately. My parents think he's on drugs. I heard them talking about sending him to a rehab or something."

  I shift my weight, feeling uncomfortable talking to Kyler about Kai, like I'm betraying Kai. "Kai's not on drugs, Kyler."

  He peers up from tying his shoelaces, brushing strands of his light brown hair away from his forehead. "How do you know that?"

  "He told me he doesn't do them." Anymore. But Kyler doesn't need to know about the anymore part.

  "And you just believed him?"

  "He's my friend. He wouldn't lie to me."

  Kyler stares at me dubiously, seeming unhappy with my answer. But he pushes the irritation aside and rises to his feet. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he's not on drugs, but there's definitely something going on with him."

  I keep my lips fused. It feels wrong to be talking to Kyler about Kai. Now, if I find out what's going on with Kai and it's really bad, then that's a different story. I'll do what I have to do to help him, even if it means getting help from his family.

  "Where do you want to get breakfast?" he asks, grabbing a jacket from a coatrack.

  "Anywhere works for me." I glance down at my wrinkled clothes. My breath tastes like rotten broccoli and I'm sure my makeup is smeared all over my face. "Can I go home and change first?"

  "Of course." He opens the door and motions for me to go out first. "But I thought you didn't want to go home?"

  Very true. I don't want to go home and honestly, I doubt I'm allowed to. Still, I should get my stuff. If only there was a way to get into my room
without actually having to go through the house...

  I dare a look over at the driveway of my house. Hannah's car is parked behind Lynn's and my dad's. They're all home, probably sitting around the kitchen table, eating breakfast.

  Kyler joins me outside, closing the door behind him. "Isa, can I... Do you mind if I ask why you don't want to go home?"

  I haven't told him anything, and I really don't want to. While I have a major, borderline-stalker crush on Kyler, I don't know him well enough to trust him that much. I want to. Like a ton. But establishing trust requires getting to know him as something other than the gorgeous, popular guy who lives next door, who talked to me a few times and gave me a rose once.

  "I'm just fighting with my parents." I decide to go with the partial truth. I eyeball the banister of the deck attached to my bedroom. If only I had a Pegasus or fairy wings so I could fly right up there or perhaps Spiderman web fingers so I could scale the wall... Wait a minute... "Do you by chance have a ladder?"

  He tracks my gaze and his expression plummets. "You seriously want to climb up there just to avoid your parents?"

  I bob my head up and down. "It's better that way. Trust me." Yeah, it might be a little drastic, but it's way better than dealing with the drama waiting for me inside that house.

  "If that's what you want, then you got it." He rubs his hands together, backing down the stairs and toward the garage. "One ladder coming up."

  I smile at him gratefully then plant my butt on the railing and wait for him to return. A light fall breeze kisses the air, and clouds shadow the sky. It's the beginning of October and some of the neighbors have already pulled out the decorations, the Meyer's yard included. Inflatable pumpkins and plastic tombstones cover the front yard and a giant spider is perched on the basketball hoop. I remember all those times I sat out on my balcony, watching Kyler play basketball in his driveway, and wishing I was with him. And now I am over here. Funny how life changes. The thought gives me the tiniest drop of peace in the sea of depression swishing around inside me.

  Optimism, I remind myself. Lynn may have said all those horrible things about my mom but, like Kai said, she's not the most reliable source. So, until I have the actual facts in front of me, I can't believe my mom's dead or that she was a bad person.