Chapter 9: Chapter Nine

Started With a Lie – Chapter Nine

During the night, Candy and I devise a plan to make everything work. I agreed to Lee’s request and hung up shortly after—only because he said please, is what I tell myself. Our plan is that in the morning, Mom will take her car to her gallery in New York and I will take mine to where Lee is. I’ll avoid Mom in New York City and come back before she even gets home. Everything will be fine.

Though, the plan has no meaning in the morning.

“Ivory, honey, I’m taking your car! My car won’t start up. Stupid freezing weather’s causing my engine to freeze,” Mom mutters in the morning as Candy and I come out for breakfast.

No, no, no, no, I think. I need that car!

“Mom, can’t you just, uh, ask one of your artist friends to come pick you up?” I suggest, trying to hide my motive. “I mean, tons of artists are going. Why can’t you go with them?”

“I don’t want to bother them,” she says, waving me off. “Okay, don’t have too much fun when I’m gone. Love you, bye.”

I’m panicking on the inside as Mom finishes her toast and hops into my car. I barely have a chance to protest before she’s driving off. My chance is gone. How will I get to Lee in time now?

“What do I do now?” I ask Candy, sitting in the living room with my head in my hands. “I won’t make it and I’ll be forever indebt to stupid Lee.”

Candy strokes my hair. “We’ll think of something.” How could I let Mom get away? I should’ve stopped her. Several moments pass by. “I got it!”

She’s always the one with the great ideas and plans.

Hope tugs at me. “What is it?” Candy gets up and runs to my bedroom. She’s gone for a couple of seconds before returning with my phone in her hand. Sitting down, she places it in my hand.

“You need to call him,” she says. “Maybe, you can ask him for help. Maybe, he can drive you. It’s the only way. I can’t drive you—I’m grounded until summer for going to Peter’s party. Lee’s the only way.”

“No, no!” I say immediately. “I am most definitely not asking Lee for another request so I can add ten more years to my debt to him.” There’s the pride thing kicking in again.

“You have to.” Candy pushes the phone closer to my hands. “If you don’t, you’ll make Lee look like a fool in front of his business partners and then he’ll hate you and you’ll still be indebt to him. Wouldn’t this be even worse than creating another debt? I mean, it’s not even a big deal! You just need a ride.”

I hate to admit it… but she’s right.

“Are you sure about this?” I gulp and take the phone in my hand. Candy nods. I punch in Lee’s number and he picks up on the third ring. “Hey, Lee.”

“Mr. Richardson,” he corrects. “Its Mr. Lee Richardson to you. Why are you calling me? Is there a problem?” Lee sounds fairly concerned.

“Lee—Mr. Richardson,” I correct, “there’s a tiny problem.” I hear him groan on the other side of the phone. “It’s not that big! I promise. I just need a ride. My mom took my car and now I can’t get there.”

“Couldn’t you ask your friends or something?”

“No, they’re busy. Besides, it’s not like they’d have the time to drive me to New York City and back. That’s too much trouble. Can you give me a lift?”

After few moments pass, he finally says, “Fine. Be ready in an hour or something, I’ll come. Now, don’t call me again unless it’s an emergency.” After that, he hangs up the phone.

I smile and turn to Candy. “He said yes! Now, I just have to pack up for the trip.” For the next hour, Candy helps me pack clothes, bathroom supplies, shoes, money, and anything else I need for the birthday bash. I even throw in a couple of dresses just in case. My suitcase is full and I have just enough time to get myself ready. I put my hair in a bun and just throw on a long-sleeved white sweater, black sweatpants, and cozy boots.

“I need to go,” Candy announces after I’m ready. “I have to get to my extra math class.” She always takes extra subject classes over break or vacation. It explains why she’s so smart and has solutions to any problem. I wish she’d rest for once, though. But, her parents won’t stop pressuring her into getting into a good college.

“I’ll walk you out,” I say. The weather is bad outside. Snow is everywhere and the sky is a dark gray. We hug goodbye and say we’ll see each other in a couple of days. I lock the front door and make myself a coffee. I’m almost done when there’s a knock at my door. Lee.

He’s standing outside, snow covering his expensive coat. His hair is wet and his lips are almost blue. He’s freezing. I gasp.

“Lee! Get inside!” I say, ushering him in. I touch his arm and it’s so cold I let go. I shut the door and turn back to Lee. He’s creating a pool of melted snow on the floor. Mom will kill me. I get his jacket and hang it, along with his scarf and gloves.

Rushing to the kitchen, I make him some hot chocolate. I push Lee to sit right next to the fireplace so he can defrost. I shove the hot cup in his hand and force him to drink up. After he drinks and his lips turn back to its normal color, I start asking him questions.

“What happened to you?” I ask.

“The weather outside is horrible,” Lee simply replies. “We can’t go out, now. It’s too dangerous. My car almost slipped off the road three times. The wind is too strong, too.”

“But, your birthday bash. What’re we going to do?”

“It’s not until a few days, we’ll be fine,” he responds. He hugs himself to get warmer. He finishes his cup of hot chocolate.

The lights suddenly flicker and then shut off completely. The power is out. I groan. I know I should’ve bought some flashlights before this storm. I get up and take his cup and place it in the kitchen sink. I try to find any type of light, but all I find are some strawberry-scented candles.

When I return to Lee, he’s shivering. I grab some blankets off the couch and wrap it around him. I light the candles over the living room so we can at least see. At least, we have the fireplace too.

“Is that better?” I ask. Lee looks a little confused. I wonder why. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“Why are you—never mind,” he says, looking down. He wraps the blanket closer around himself. I hate when people do that. They bring something up and then they say “never mind” or “I can’t tell you.”

“What is it?” I ask.

The only sound is the fire crackling. It’s a peaceful, cozy night—not counting the blizzard outside.

“Why are you helping me after all the rude things I’ve said and done to you?” Lee says quietly. I watch him—his blue eyes, blonde hair—the typical hot guy. But I also see his walls—his walls that are so high, nobody can get through them. Something really bad must’ve happened to get him this protective of himself. He shuts everyone out.

“A wise man told me that even if you hate someone, you can never let them drown in sorrow while you’re okay because that just means you’re as low as them,” I say silently, my eyes on the fire burning in the fireplace.

“Who told you that?” Lee asks.

“My father,” I whisper, my voice cracking at the end.

“He is a smart man,” Lee says. Tears well up in my eyes. It’s not Lee’s fault. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know my father’s… dead. He’s not from this town where everyone knows everyone.

“He was a smart man,” I say. Lee realizes what I’m trying to say. Sympathy and pity are in his eyes—the same look everyone else gave me when they found out. Everybody’s the same. The tears fall down my cheek without me even noticing.

But one thing is different about Lee.

Instead of speaking, he just pulls me in a hug. I’m so surprised that I think I stop breathing. My face is up against his shoulder and the fire reflects light on his body. My eyes are blurry from tears but my mouth is wide open. I can’t believe Lee’s hugging me.

“It’s okay,” Lee finally says. “I know how you feel. I lost my father, too.” He strokes my hair. I didn’t know that. His father died, too. Here I am, whining and crying while he’s been through more shit that I ever had. I remember how Candy told me he had to take over the company because of his father passing away. I hug him back and sob into his shoulder.

I cry for the both of us.

Never did I ever think that this would ever happen. Lee hugging me—not a fake hug either—a real hug. I feel so perfect in his arms. Everything would be all right if I stayed in his arms. Reality would mean nothing.

“My father used to hug me and stroke my hair like this when I was unhappy,” I whisper. “He would always be there for me. He would be the one that attended all my school meetings, my soccer games, and he’s the one who made my lunch. My mom used to be a normal mother, too. She used to read me stories and everything. Everything changed when my father died. After he passed away, all she ever did was lock herself up in her studio to avoid the pain. She was strong. Never once did she cry in front of me. We both miss him so much.”

The pain gnaws at my heart. I miss my father. After he died, I’ve never talked about him. I’ve never told anyone about him. I didn’t go to therapy or counseling to talk about him. I kept my feelings bottled up and here I am, spilling them to Lee—out of all the people.

“It’s all right,” Lee says. He soothes my back until I stop sobbing. We pull away from each other and I notice that his eyes are red, too. Had he been crying? I’ve never seen a man cry—not even my own father.

“Sorry for rambling about my father,” I say, laughing light-heartedly as I wipe my eyes. I must look like hell right now. Lee doesn’t seem to mind, though.

“It’s fine.” Lee cups my face in his hands. “If you ever need someone to cry to, I’ll be here.” He grins. “Wow, that sounded so corny.”

“Yeah, it did,” I grin. Leave it to Lee to make me cry, smile, and laugh within an hour.

“Now, enough crying,” he orders. “Do you have a radio?” I nod, pointing to the radio up on top of the fireplace. He takes it and turns it on. The only thing I can hear is static. Lee moves the dial until he finds the local radio. At first, I think he’s looking for the news, but he just skips past the weather and news. He finally stops at a slow song—Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran.

What’s he up to?

Lee grins and sets the radio back on top of the fire place, the slow song on full blast. He takes off his warm blankets and wraps them around me. He bows down on one knee with a hand extended. “Would you care for a dance, my lady?”

My eyes widen. He wants to dance with me? I nod anyways and suddenly we’re up in the middle of my living room. Candlelight is the only light guiding me to his face. He looks beautiful. I take his arm, placing my other hand on his shoulder. The blankets are still wrapped around me. The song is instrumental so far, but I hear lyrics come on:

Settle down with me, cover me up, and cuddle me in.

Lie down with me, yeah. Hold me in your arms.

Your heart’s against my chest, lips pressed to my neck, I’ve fallen for your eyes but they don’t know me yet.

And then something strange happens. This weird, tingling feeling—I can feel it inside my chest, around my fingers—on my entire body. What’s going on? Am I getting dizzy? No, it’s not that. I realize I’m smiling as Lee dances with me. And then it hits me. Do I like Lee?

No, I think. I push away the stupid thoughts and feeling. I can’t be… Can I? No way. Just because he listened to me does not automatically make me like him. That’s right. I continue dancing and following the lyrics:

I’m cold as the wind blows, so hold me in your arms.

This song is really nice. It sets the mood. I feel so hazy. Lee is smiling at me, his blue eyes twinkling and his grin as big as it can go. The song keeps going on:

… With this feeling I forget, I’m in love now

Kiss me, like you want to be loved, like you want to be loved, like you want to be loved. This feels like I’ve fallen in love…

Suddenly, Lee’s moving closer and closer. The lyrics are setting in with his actions. He’s going to kiss me. He’s going to kiss me! Our noses touch, and his breath is on my face. He smells like hot chocolate.

Our lips are just about to touch.

I pull away abruptly, realizing what I’m doing. Lee looks confused. “I-I have to f-feed my cat,” I say before disappearing into the kitchen. I can hear the song coming to an end in the living room, as Lee stands there alone.

I sit on the floor of the kitchen. I’m scared. It’s not Lee that’s scaring me. The kiss isn’t what I’m scared of either. Being with a boy isn’t the thing that’s scaring me either.

It’s the fact that I actually wanted him to kiss me.

I love this chapter. I wish I could have a romance like this one day, hehe. Anyways, Ivory is in deep trouble. Is she falling in love?

My laptop's fixed. Yay! I love Ed Sheeran. His voice and lyrics are magic. Pure magic. Just like you. Thank you people so much for all the love you've given me! The votes, comments, fans, and reads are shocking me! Please keep it up!

For the next chapter, let's try to get it up to at least 8,000 reads and 500 votes on this chapter!  Not to mention some comments! Thank you.

xoxo,

Writer Girl. (Yeah, I should just stop being so corny.)

P.S = LISTEN TO THE SONG, GUYS.