Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Lana perches on the couch with a book in her lap, her hair falling over the back of the couch, and she smiles. I love watching her read. She never tries to hide what she’s feeling. Everything is just there on her face, and there’s no guessing with her.

“It’s almost ready.” I call out to her as I drain the noodles. The sauce is already hot, and the bowls are out.

“Do you need any help?” She drops her head back over the arm of the couch to see me, her hair touching the floor.

“Nope, I got it.” I wave her off. “Enjoy your book.”

“Smells good, love muffin.” She giggles, and I roll my eyes, but I love it. I love it when she uses pet names. It means she’s happy.

“Alright,” I call to her, using the tongs to place some noodles in the bowls and ladling some sauce over it. I peek up in time to see Lana’s mouth drop, and her eyes crinkle. She puts her bookmark into the book and the book on the couch as she pads over to me. She ties her hair back before hugging me from behind.

“Thank you.” She nuzzles my back. “It smells good.”

I laugh and grab the bowls. “It’s spaghetti. There’s not much I could do to mess it up.” I set Lana’s bowl down at the end of the table closest to the window and take the seat beside her.

“You could have burned the sauce,” she says, taking a seat, “or overcooked the noodles.” She smiles and twirls the spaghetti around on her fork. She blows on it before taking the bite way too big for her mouth and drops her head back.

“Mmhmm.” She sighs. “So good.” Her mouth is still full.

I shake my head. I don’t have any words as Lana digs in and mmhhms and sighs. The truth is, this is probably the blandest spaghetti she’s ever had. She uses spices and adds olives, spinach, and basil to hers, but I just heated up some canned sauce and cooked some noodles.

I take a bite of my own bowl, half-expecting to taste something amazing. From Lana’s expressions, what else should I expect, but it’s just as I thought; tomato sauce on noodles. Lana doesn’t let up once though. She cleans her bowl and even gets seconds, repeating the whole thing. I laugh quietly to myself.

Her eyes drift to the window, and she enjoys the view of the city. She loves the lights, the energy. She loves that no one sleeps here.

“Wanna do something tonight?” I ask her.

She nods, her eyes still entranced by the city.

“Wanna call, Alex and Shaina?”

She nods again, never taking her eyes from the city.

“I’ll call them after I clean up.” I take our bowls to the sink and grab some foil from the cabinet.

“I can call them.” Lana extracts her phone from her pocket, keeping her eyes on the city like she’s looking for something, and she’s afraid she’s gonna miss it.

“Lana?” I ask.

“Hhmm.” She tilts her head toward me but doesn’t look at me.

“You okay?”

Finally, she gives me her eyes, and she smiles and nods.

“Of course.” She giggles a little. “Just thinking about the couples dancing. It was so sweet.” She turns her eyes back to the window as she presses her phone to her ear.

“Yeah, it was.” I agree. Lana drifts off a lot but there’s something bothering her, and that phone call she got. She must be waiting for the right time to tell me.

“Shaina!” Lana shrieks louder than I anticipate. I can hear Shaina on the other line, shriek just as loud.

“Let’s do something tonight.” Lana is all excited now, her eyes bright as she stares out the window.

“Oh my goodness, yes!” Lana hops out of the chair.

“Yes, glow up for sure so we can get some pictures while we’re out.” Lana giggles at something Shaina says and leans back against the window frame.

I tuck the spaghetti and the sauce in the fridge for an equally unsatisfying breakfast tomorrow. Lana hangs up and turns to me.

“Where to?” I ask.

“We’re going to the ball.” She bounds past me and down the hall. I smile. That was the place I took her for our first date.

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Hey, you,

I didn’t leave. They need me but I need me too. I don’t know how much time I have but I guess this is it. I guess this is the card I was dealt and I just have to deal with it. I guess I just have to suck it up.

I want to be free, I just want to be free of him.

Lana

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WebNovel Exclusive Bonus Scene:

Lana’s POV

“Did you see that, Lana!” Owen bounces on the balls of his feet. The guy he just clocked, is out cold on the concrete. Owen always gets so uppity when he fights.

“Come on, Owen.” I try to grab his arm but he jerks his arm away from me. “Owen!” I snap. “Let’s go.”

“Shut up, Lana.” He rolls his eyes. “You’re no fun anymore, go home yourself.” He scans the crowd. Innocent party goers that just came for a good time and here he is… ruining everything again.

“I don’t want to walk by myself.” I grab his arm again “Come on, Owen. You promised we’d leave by midnight; it’s one in the morning.”

“F— off, Lana” he shoves me. I trip over something, my own feet probably, and scrape my elbow.

“Owen!” I yell at him.

“You’re always whining about something!” He yells at me, staggering a bit. “Why do you even bother leaving the house if you just want to go right back?”

“What’s going on?” One of the party goers must have finally seen us. He approaches Owen, bad idea.

“None of your business, Mark.” Owen snaps at him.

“You need to chill.” Mark slaps him on the back. “You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing.” Mark leans down to me and offers me a hand up.

I take his hand, “Thanks.”

“Look at that.” Owen scoffs “even my own friend takes your side.”

“No one’s taking Sides.” Mark hold his hand up, cutting me off before I can say anything else.

“The hell you’re not.” Owen snarls at him. “Everyone is always taking her side.” He jabs a finger at me. “but you don’t know her.” He smacks his palm to Mark’s chest. “No one really knows her. Not like I do.”

“Owen, you need to calm down before this gets out of hand… again.” Mark’s shoulders square off. He’s just as ready to fight as Owen is. I don’t think Mark can take Owen.

“What?” Owen laughs. “Are you gonna do something about it?” he palms Mark’s chest again.

“Owen!” Mark snaps again.

“Do something.” Owen shoves Mark again. “Come on,” shove “let’s go.” Shove.

“Owen!” Mark finally shoves him back, just what Owen wanted him to do.

“Come on then!” Owen tackles Mark to the ground and slams his head into the concrete.

“OWEN!” I don’t know how to stop him. I’m not strong enough to. What do I do?