Finding Laila: Some Changes are Necessary by T.K. Rapp Page A

feeling
subsided and things went back to normal —where
Haden was my friend and I no longer had to fight the things inside of me.

Chapter 8 ~ Finding
Compromise
    “Mom. Dad,” I call out, running down the
stairs, “Haden’s here—heading to Cole’s.”
    “See
you there,” Dad answers but Luka stops me.
    “Lala,
can I come with you?” she asks from her seat in the living room with a sweet
smile. Well, others think it’s sweet. I
think it’s shifty.
    Usually,
my stock answer is a solid “no,” but looking at her dressed in her play
clothes, it’s easy for me to consider. Besides, I have an ulterior motive: if I
take her with us, then she will serve as a distraction for the rest of the
group.
    “Ask
Mom,” I tell her, knowing that Mom will definitely welcome the break.
    “Make
sure you have her booster” is all she says from the kitchen.
    I knew she was listening.
    “C’mon,
brat, let’s jet. Haden’s waiting.”
    She
walks over and takes my hand, and for once I let her. I know I sound like an
awful person, but I really do love my sister; she just annoys me.
    Every . Day .
    I
catch her going through my purse, or sneaking into my room to try on my shoes.
The kid is five; we have nothing in common. But for whatever reason, when I’m
home she shadows my every move.
    Haden
opens his car door when we step onto the front porch and flashes a huge smile
at me. I watch as his eyes move down to Luka before he looks up at me and cocks
his head to the side. He raises an eyebrow and I mimic the gesture before he
crosses his arms over his chest, revealing his chiseled biceps, and I lose the
rest of my thoughts.
    Well played, Searle; you
win this round, Searle.
    Maybe
Mom was right… maybe I never really did get over him.
    “Hey,
Lukadoll!” He walks over to her and picks her up for a hug and seemingly
dismisses me. “You comin’ with us?”
    “Yeah,
Mommy said I can but I have to get my booster.” She smiles as he sets her to
the ground. She runs off to get the seat from the minivan, leaving us alone.
    “What
was that?” He nods his head to the porch where I was standing moments before.
    “I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie with a smirk.
    “Thought
you’d bring your sister to protect you from me, huh?” he grins.
    Busted!
    “What?
No—” I can’t seem to defend myself appropriately. “She wanted to see her
boyfriend.”
    “I’m
not her boyfriend, Lai. I hope that I’m already taken.” He looks at me
sincerely. “Unless this is your way of telling me no.” He raises his eyebrows
in question and leans in to whisper in my ear, “But I really hope it’s a yes.”
    My
eyes flutter shut and I know that it’s a yes. There’s no sense in fighting it,
but I’m only able to nod.
    He
steps back and worries his lip with a nod of his own. “So you don’t even want
to try?”
    “Yes,”
I answer without hesitation. “I do want to.”
    “Want
to what?” Luka interrupts and looks between Haden and me.
    His
smile is back in place and he reaches down to take the booster in one hand and
picks up my sister in the other. “She wants to be my girlfriend,” he tells her
with a huge smile on his face.
    I
open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
    “But
I’m your girl, Haden,” she pouts.
    He
kisses her cheek and she laughs. “Yes you are. But your sister’s been my girl for
longer. She just didn’t know it.”
    Luka’s
little lip juts out, but she nods her understanding and laughs when Haden blows
a kiss onto her cheek. I lose myself watching him buckle her in, and find the
last twenty-four hours to be the most active and confusing of my life.
    “You
comin’?” he asks when he’s buckled Luka in her seat.
    I
nod and smile before making my way to the passenger side, but he beats me to
it.
    “What
are you doing?”
    “Being
a gentleman.” He winks.
    He
opens the car door, but before I can get in, he takes me in his arms and gives
me a simple kiss—that is not so simple