Loving Lyra

Chapter 19

Brandon

Lyra's text caught me completely off guard. It was so sudden. I tried calling but I was sent to voicemail every time.

What the hell happened last night? First Hailey storms off and then Lyra quits?

What am I supposed to tell Macie? She loves Lyra so much. I never thought she'd leave like that.

I tried calling one more time this morning, but it became apparent that she wasn't going to pick up. Why is she avoiding me?

I tried Hailey and this time it didn't go to voicemail.

"What?" She asked.

"What is going on?" I asked. "You and Lyra are acting so weird."

"Brandon. If you don't know what's going on then you're dumber than I thought."

And then she hung up on me. I tried calling her back, but every time it went to voicemail. Damn it!

I threw my phone across the room in frustration and paced across the living room, hands in my hair. I needed to know what was going on, but I couldn't think of anything. Lyra seemed perfectly fine last night, better than fine. Her smile was so bright when she came down the stairs in that beautiful dress. I knew it'd look amazing on her.

And in the limo she was the same. But I didn't see her much at the Gala before she left. Something must've happened when I wasn't there.

But why would she quit? That's what I didn't get. Lyra loves Macie. If anything, I thought she'd stay for her.

Macie was upstairs playing with her toys and I instructed Mrs. Cook to keep an eye on her.

Grabbing my keys, I went down to the garage and got in my car. If Lyra wasn't going to pick up the phone, then she'd talk to me face to face.

I knew the drive like the back of my hand by this point and made it there in record speed. The bakery wasn't open on Sundays so she would be in her apartment. That would make things a little trickier, but not impossible.

The door to the building was unlocked, thankfully, so I made it up to the apartment with no problem.

I knocked on the door expecting Lyra to answer, but instead it was...Hailey?

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I could ask the same of you."

Hailey's voice was like ice. She was never this way with me. Even when we were kids we always got along.

"I need to talk to Lyra."

Hailey rolled her eyes and started to shut to door but I put my foot in the doorway so it couldn't close.

"Please Hailey."

She motioned for me to back up a step so I did and the door closed. I thought Hailey had tricked me, but a minute later, the door opened and it was Lyra. She looked horrible. Not ugly, she could never, but there were dark circles under her red rimmed eyes. Had she been crying?

"Lyra why did you quit?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"It's just not working out anymore."

"What about Macie? She loves you. She will be crushed when she hears about this."

Lyra's lip quivered, but she bit it down. "Please don't make this harder than it already is," she said, voice shaking.

"Just tell me what I did wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Lyra whispered and shut the door.

Defeated, I went back to my car and tried to figure out a way to tell Macie about this. I wasn't lying when I said she'd be crushed. Lyra is her favorite person in the world and The Sweet Spot is like a second home to her.

What am I going to do now?

____________________________________

Lyra

I didn't realize it until I said the words, but Brandon truly didn't do anything wrong. He just loved someone else.

"Hailey, don't be mad at your brother," I said. I didn't want to cause a rift between them. "He's allowed to love someone else."

It hurt to say it, but it was the truth. I couldn't control who Brandon loved just like I couldn't control who I loved. If I could, I never would've let myself fall for Brandon in the first place.

"No. He's just being an idiot. He doesn't actually love Claire and I've seen the way he looks at you!"

"Hailey..."

I didn't need her giving me false hope when there wasn't any.

"No Lyra, I'm telling you! He loves you not Claire. He has to."

Hailey seemed even more upset about this than I did at the moment. "It's ok Hailey."

"God, I want to rip Claire's head off."

I laughed and sat next to Hailey on the couch. "What would I do if you went to jail?"

"Oh right. But I still want to. I just won't."

I laughed again and hugged Hailey. This past sixteen hours would've been way worse without her.

"But I'm serious Hailey. Don't be mad at Brandon."

"Fine. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I won't be mad at Brandon."

Ok. Good enough. "What should we do for breakfast?" I asked.

"Cake?"

"Sounds good to me!"

Hailey and I laughed and went into the kitchen. I almost always had cake in my fridge and today was no exception. You never know when you'll need some cake.

I pulled the cake out and placed the whole thing on the table while Hailey grabbed the forks. And then we dug in.

"I love you Hailey," I said through a mouthful of cake.

"I love you too Lyra."

It felt nice to have a friend. A best friend.