Inevitable (Book One)

Chapter 44

Shawn

I hang up from my FaceTime with Lyla and head into the dining room where my dad is standing beside the kitchen table with a bunch of furniture pieces spread out on it.

"I need a hand assembling this computer chair for your sister," my dad tells me as he eyes over the instructions in his hand. I nod in response and we both start to piece it together. Bailey has gone over to her boyfriend's house for a few hours after we all opened our gifts. He just lives two blocks away and he walked over to pick her up. It was my first time meeting the kid and I gave him my best intimidating stance and it seemed to do the trick because he looked bat shit scared of me and stuttered when he introduced himself.

I pound back another glass of water, willing it to help the headache from my hangover go away. I hadn't planned on getting too drunk last night but when everyone showed up and each person took turns buying rounds it escalated quickly. We ended up shutting the bar down at two and then we all walked back to Greg's house where we continued to have a few drinks. I left around three thirty, only having to walk a few blocks back to my house. A few people tagged along with me and we all peeled off from the group as we hit our houses.

My house wasn't anything to make a deal over. It was a ranch style, only one floor that contained a living room, dining room, kitchen and a hallway with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom to share. In comparison to Lyla's house I'd been staying the past few days this looked like the butlers quarters. But I love it. It's home. It holds all the memories from growing up, including the few I still have of my mom before she passed.

We finish putting the chair together and my dad grins proudly to himself as he takes a seat on it and rocks side to side making sure it doesn't crumble to the ground. I excuse myself to head back to bed and lay down for a bit, still feeling sleepy. My dad tells me I have two hours before I need to be up for dinner and I nod as I walk down the hallway. I fall onto my bed and relax into the mattress, feeling my hangover subsiding slightly from not moving a muscle.

My mind drifts to Lyla as it usually tends to do nowadays. I'm happy her parents both enjoyed their gifts. That Orr photo I won at a tournament when I was ten years old and I had kept it on my dresser, making sure to maintain its good condition over the years. It was a cool piece of memorabilia to own, but I didn't appreciate it enough and knew that Lyla's dad would value it more. Hopefully it scored me a few brownie points with him too.

I can't help the worry that comes back washing over me when I think about Lyla going out to the bar tonight without me there. Hell, without me even being in the same town as her where I can at least get to her if I need to. The fact that her cousins will be out with her, a few of which I know are football players, eases some of my worries. I was pleased to hear that there still haven't been any further phone calls from the unknown number. Maybe I actually got through to the bastard that their game would not end well for them. I close my eyes as I will myself to try and fall asleep for a bit, hoping my hangover will be gone when I open them again.

I wake up to the sound of Bailey and dad's voices carrying down the hall. I am relieved to find that my headache is gone and I roll myself out of bed and up to my feet, stretching my arms over my head. I grab my phone, there's a text from Lyla joking that her mother has put her back to work along with a photo of a giant pile of peeled potatoes that makes me laugh out loud. I reply sarcastically telling her that I think they need more potatoes.

I walk into the kitchen to find my dad and Bailey both cooking away. We are doing our usual Christmas dinner of homemade pizza. Bailey is chopping up different toppings as my dad works on the dough. We are all different types of pizza lovers so we always each make our own individual pizza. My dad splits the dough up, giving us each an even mount as I get to work on my own pizza.