Page 4 of Lyric Squared

“Cool. Cool. I was hoping you would. Ima get back to my side. You good? You ate? You bored? Or you’re good?”

I chuckled. He was always concerned.

With my feelings.

With my heart.

With my mind.

With my interests.

With my state.

With my lonesomeness.

With my world.

“I’m fine.”

“Alright. If you need me, you know where I’m at.”

“Where’s Kale?”

“Sleep.”

I nodded.

“See you. Love ya.”

It never failed.

“I love you, too, Keanu,” I professed.

More than you know.

He took off to his home. I closed the door of mine. My feet didn’t stop moving until I was inside my room. I dived onto my bed and shoved my head in my pillow.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I screamed inside of the cushion as I kicked my feet.

My fingertips grazed my diary. I slid it from underneath the pillow and unlocked it. As if it knew where my heart was leading me, it parted where I’d left off. Keanu’s picture stared back at me. I ran my index finger along the edges of the picture I’d cut out. The hearts surrounding it told stories I wasn’t willing to tell aloud.

“Maybe one day I’ll have the nerve to tell you. Maybe I never will. I’m not sure, Keanu. What I am sure of is that this feeling I have when you’re around is far beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. And, sometimes, I wish we could explore it.

“But, you’d never. You see me as someone to protect, love, honor, teach, and taunt… just like them. Just like Luca and Laike and my father,” I whispered, the pain of his proximity made my chest sore. Because he was as near as he was far.

I stood up, pressing my diary against my chest. Where it hurt most. Where I felt the most. Where I was most unbalanced.

The knob of my door twisted before opening. Frozen in place, my eyes bulged and my shoulders locked.

“Lyric?”

My mother’s voice startled me. So did her presence. I hadn’t heard her come inside. Neither had I heard her come up the stairs.

Something touched my toes, forcing me to lower my head. My eyes dropped from my mother’s gaze to the image of Keanu that fell from my diary. I closed my eyes momentarily as I lifted my foot and placed the image underneath it. Mentally, I chastised myself for the one dot of glue on the image that I’d promised to better secure in the future.

“Uh.” I swallowed the lump in my throat as I shifted my weight. “Yes?”

My mother’s gaze had dropped as well. I lured it in with a smile.