Starless Nights (Hale Brothers Series Book 2) (19 page)

I haven’t spoken to Beau since the morning after I spent the night with him. I could tell that there was a big part of him hoping that even though I called it a twenty-four hour truce, it might become permanent. Nope, the next morning I walked out the door and it was as if nothing between us had even happened. This hurt more than I realized, but if I let Beau in, I know that he will break my heart all over again.

I’ve tried to not be as rude to him over the last couple of weeks, but really we just continued as if nothing has changed. He’s tried to talk to me, but I give him one of my classic leave me alone looks, which he is the master of. He always sighs in defeat and then walks off.

I hear a car door slam from out in front of our house. The driveway is only meant for one car and it pulls up to a carport so most people just park on the street. I walk over to the curtains, they are thin enough for me to see out, but thick enough where people can’t see in. I watch him skip up the steps to the front porch, pull open the screen door, and knock. The screen door slings back making a loud bang and I jump at the noise.

What is he doing here?

Slowly, I walk over to the front door and pull it open. Beau is standing on the other side of the screen door and he takes my breath away. He’s wearing a pair of gray dress pants and a light purple button down with the sleeves rolled up. Purple is my favorite color and he knows this.

I watch as his gaze travels down the length of me and even though I am at home, I suddenly feel very exposed. My hair is pulled up into a ponytail, I have on a little purple tank top, and a pair of denim shorts that are cut short, frayed on the edges, and the pockets are sticking out underneath. His eyes linger on my legs and this causes me to shift my weight from side to side nervously.

I don’t say anything. He just stares at me and I stare back at him

“Hi,” he says quietly.

I can’t help but raise my eyebrows at him.

“What do you want?” If he was hoping that I would be happy to see him or at least be a little pleasant, that’s not going to be the case.

“Another twenty-four hour truce,” he says getting straight to the point.

Panic instantly floods through me and my eyes drop and run over the length of him. I’m looking for injuries and then I remember his dad is in jail, and he is safe. My eyes return to his and his eyebrows shoot up in question. He can see the worry as it turns to relief and then curiosity on my face.

“Why?” I have to know.

He takes a deep breath, “Because, I wanted to know if you would like to go to prom with me.”

Prom.

My heart is pounding in my chest and I can feel my hands shaking. I’m trying to process what he just said to me, and it just doesn’t make any sense.

“You want me to go to prom with you?” The tone of my voice gives away my bewilderment. He’s looking at me like he doesn’t understand why I would be surprised by this.

“Yes . . . please say yes.” He sounds so pleading yet hopeful at the same time.

“But I don’t understand. You can go with anyone that you want. I’m sure there are a ton of girls just hoping that you’ll ask them.”

“Maybe,” he ponders with a half shrug but doesn’t appear any less determined, “But the only person I want to go with is you.” He lets out a deep sigh. He looks defeated, like he believes I am going to say no. “All these years Leila, I only ever saw myself going with you.”

And isn’t that the truth. I only ever saw myself with him.

I lean my hip against the edge of the door frame and slowly push open the screen door. He catches it and pushes it the rest of the way with his foot to keep it propped open. A warm breeze blows over us and coconut drifts off of his skin and over to me. I will forever associate the smell of coconut and sun block with him.

“What if I already have a date?” For some reason, this must not have occurred to him because now he looks nervous. He looks away from me and down toward the ground. He shoves his hands into his pants pockets and I see him ball them into fists.

“I . . . umm . . . do you?” Why am I making this so hard on him? Oh, well. He’s hurt me enough, making him sweat a little isn’t such a bad thing.

“I almost did, but I told him no.” I can see his body physically relax. The stiffness that had built up eased out.

“Oh.” He looks back up at me and our eyes lock. His eyes are a mixture of colors to make them such a unique shade of hazel that he hypnotizes me without even knowing it. A moment of silence passes between us and I watch as he pulls his bottom lip in between his teeth.

He’s watching me think about my decision and I can feel him memorizing the details of my face. I can’t help it when I slowly start to smile. “Yes, Beau I’ll go to prom with you.”

He smiles back at me and sparks of electricity flash in my heart.

“Thank you, Leila. You’ll never know how much this means to me.” He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a long skinny box. It is wrapped in white wrapping paper and tied up with a purple bow. “This is for you. You don’t have to wear if you have something else planned, that’s not why I’m giving it to you . . . it’s just, I saw it a while ago and it reminded me of you so I bought it.” I take the box. I can feel him studying my shaking fingers as I begin to unwrap it.

“You bought me a gift?” I glance back up at him and his eyes are warm as he gives me a shy smile.

“Yes.”

“No one has ever bought me a gift before.” I look up at him. “Well, at least not in a long time.” When we were kids, he used to buy me things everywhere we went. I stuff the wrapping paper in my pocket and lift the lid. A small gasp slips out as I remove the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen from the box.

“You’re always wearing bright colors. You light up the world and you don’t even know it actually. It’s not much, but I thought it was beautiful, just like you.” Tears fill my eyes as I look up at him. “I had taken my mom to a winter art festival a few months ago, down in Sarasota and this one vendor had hand designed jewelry made with Swarovski crystals. I hope you like it.” The necklace is made up of different colored crystals that are wired and set together to make beautiful flowers. The flowers are all linked together and they are a little on the large side. It is so sparkly and beautiful that I am at a loss of words for him. There’s a pair of earrings in the box too.

“Beau, it’s so beautiful. I love it more than you will ever know.” Overwhelmed with emotion I lean forward, lay my head on his chest, wrap my arms around his waist, and hug him. I can tell that he wasn’t expecting this, as his body stiffens, but he doesn’t push me off.

I pull back and look up at him. “I’m confused. I don’t understand all of this. Why me? We aren’t nice to each other. You tease me and I hate you. This isn’t us. We don’t spend time together, make plans together, and we certainly don’t buy each other gifts.”

“I know. But it should have been us and these are the regrets and decisions that I have to live with. You don’t hate me. You entertain the idea of it because I’ve hurt you. I have been a complete asshole to you for the past two years and I’m sorry. I don’t expect things to change between us and I don’t expect you to understand the reasons why I have behaved the way I have, but like I said before, I have only ever seen you with me for prom. Twenty-four hours. Thank you for saying yes.” He hesitantly leans forward and places a kiss on my cheek. His lips are warm and I freeze. He takes a step back away from me and slowly starts retreating toward the Tahoe. My eyes watch his every move. He gives me one more small smile before he climbs in and closes the door. I don’t say anything else to him. I don’t have to.

“HEY MAN, THANKS for inviting me over. I can’t think of very many things I would rather be doing on a Sunday, than kicking it with my feet up and watching some football.”

“Yeah, thanks for coming over.”

Nate wanders through the loft and into the kitchen to shove a twelve-pack into the refrigerator.

“I love getting to live at home, and not having to worry about the added expense of a place to live, but sometimes, I just need to get out and away.”

“You know you’re welcome here anytime you want.”

“I know, and I appreciate it but Mom still needs help at night with my sister.”

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s good, a brat, but she’s good.”

Nate finishes unpacking the beer, closes the fridge, and pauses as he reads the invitation hanging on the middle of the door.

“What’s this?”

“What does it look like?”

“So, she’s going to be like the opening act for BLK?”

“I don’t know. I guess something like that.”

“Wow. That’s so awesome.”

“She’s pretty excited.”

“So, you’ve talked to her?”

“A little. You know I saw her at the beach and then she stopped by for a little bit two weekends ago.”

“So you saw her and spent time with her the weekend before Drew’s party?”

“Yep.”

“Then, why didn’t you talk to her? I thought you two were essentially strangers now.”

“I don’t know, she was with that Charlie guy, and I guess in a way we are strangers now.”

“How long have you known her?”

“Since I was eight.”

Nate lets out a whistle between his teeth and glances back at the invitation. “This looks like fun and I bet she’ll be all dressed up and look smoking hot too.”

My eyebrows furrow down, “Stop thinking about her and the way she looks.”

He starts laughing and shakes his head at me. “You should stop thinking about the past and go get her.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“You can’t make someone want to be with you.”

“How do you know she doesn’t want to be with you?”

“She never has before.”

“And you’ve asked her?”

“Well, no.”

“Man, how do you know that she doesn’t think the same thing about you?”

I study the remote for a second to think about his question. “Because she could have had me and she left.”

“Left to go where?”

“Atlanta.”

“But she moved back, right? I mean I’ve seen the picture of you and her over there,” he points to my desk. “And where was that taken? Prom?”

“Yeah, so?”

“All I’m saying is if the girl had left you and didn’t want to be with you, why would she ever go to prom with you? She’s gorgeous enough, I’m sure she had options.”

She did have options and she did pick me. The day I invited her on her front porch, she asked me “why her,” after she said yes, I should have asked her “why me?”

“Whatever dude, enough about her. Grab me a beer too and let’s watch the game.”

When I think back to all of the days and nights that I’ve had with Leila over the years, by far, prom night is one of my favorites. I couldn’t believe that she said yes. For some reason, I had convinced myself she would say no, and I was shocked and elated when those few simple words slipped out of her mouth.