Chapter 2: My Thank You is You - Lala

Have I died and gone to heaven? I’m warm, in a bed that feels like a cloud! I feel the weight of an arm and a leg over me, and I’m not that disturbed by it since I was supposed to sleep at Meme’s… Until the weight really sets in on my body. I open my eyes, and came face to face with the unfamiliar jaw of a man that can only be described as being sculpted by God himself. His loose black curls hung messily around his forehead. His perfectly straight nose ties in with his strong squared jaw that rocks a five o’clock shadow and fits his look perfectly. His plump lips are parted as his gentle snores escape him. I caress his cheek and his eyes shoot open, startling me.

As the recognition of his crystal blue eyes syncs the memories of last night with my brain, I sit up in the bed and take in my surroundings. He’s in bed with me in just sweatpants, so this is obviously his bed! How did I get here? Both Kyle and Meme are asleep on the floor!

“What the fuck Meme?” I yelled, making everyone jump.

“Nothing happened Lala, I swear”, she says in her half-asleep state. Like hell, nothing happened… Some guys tried to rape me, then I almost drowned, and waking up in a bed with a total stranger just tops the cake!

I get ready to climb out of the bed when I realize I’m in a tee… That’s it! I don’t even have underwear on. Where are my clothes? Who changed me? “Nothing happened? But I’m in bed with a stranger, and clearly not in my own clothes”!

“Lala I swear”, Meme cries as Kyle gets up from the floor.

“She’s telling the truth Lala”, he actually defends her. “Spin and I heard you fall into the water, so he jumped in after you. You fainted or some shit, so we brought you back here and changed you so you wouldn’t get sick”, he says.

“Just stop!” I ordered. “Who is Spin”?

“That would be me”, says the God of a man next to me, in the sexiest raspy voice I’ve ever heard.

“What kind of name is Spin?” I said to distract myself, causing both Meme and Kyle to laugh.

“I dunno, what kind of name is Lala?”, he counters. “It’s not a name, it's the noise little kids make when they’re trying to annoy their parents! And Spin is an appropriate name for the biker king, don’t you think”? I don’t care how sexy he sounds, he just made fun of my name! Wait… Did he just say, biker king?

“I find it hard to believe the biker king dove into a lake to save some girl he doesn’t even know”, I say skeptically.

He leans in uncomfortably close to whisper in my ear, “well maybe I saw something in you that I want”.

It sends chills up and down my spine, “like”?

“You!”, he whispers, causing me to gasp. Meme coughs, effectively distracting him. When he looks back at me he says, “c’mon, get dressed! Then we’ll talk about how that’s going to work”!

Both Kyle and Meme look at us, but say nothing!

“Where’s your bathroom?” I ask and he points to the door behind me. I leaped off the bed and grabbed Meme, who had my bag and pants from yesterday in her hand, and dragged her into the bathroom.

I turn the shower on and Meme says, “you’re seriously taking a shower here”?

“Yes!” I tell her as I strip out of the shirt and hop in. I shower quickly, and as I hop out she hops in.

“Do you have something in there you can lend me?”, she asks.

“Yeah, but tell me what happened after I fainted”, I told her.

“Kyle and I lifted you out of the water, then Spin. I told Kyle to bring us home but he refused since your foster parents could see us. Spin offered for us to stay here with you. He changed you out of your clothes so you wouldn’t get sick, and that’s it. How’d you end up in the lake anyway”? I’m confused. Who did what now?!

“Wait! Go back, you said he changed me? Meme, I woke up in just a tee”, I reminded her.

“Girl, I was there! He was mad respectful. I promise he didn’t see anything”, she says, like that’s even possible. “Now tell me how you ended up in the lake”, she asks again.

“Some guys tried to get inappropriate with me and when I fought back I was knocked into the lake with one of them”, I told her. When Meme steps out of the shower, I toss her my sports bra since my regular ones would be too big for her, and a tee that says girl power in glitter.

“I’m sorry Lala, I promised I wouldn’t leave you and you could have been raped or drowned because I broke that promise”, she says as she slides on my pants from yesterday. I say nothing in response as I stuff everything back into my bag and we exit the bathroom. Then I grab the rest of my discarded clothes from yesterday off the floor and stuff them into my bag too!

“Let me shower”, Spin says as he walks into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, he exits with just a towel wrapped around him, and Meme shrieks, “what is with you prancing around in the nude”?

“As I told you, it’s my room. Turn around”, he tells her. I started cleaning up the blankets Meme and Kyle obviously used last night to stop myself from looking.

When he’s done, we follow him down to the kitchen where all sorts of fried meats and stuff are left out on an island counter. I’m not eating any of that, so I open the fridge and hear Meme say, “Lala doesn’t eat processed foods”!

“What do you mean by that?”, he asks… Wow, he’s a dumbass!

“It means I’m about to get the best pancakes of my life, right Lala?” Kyle says.

I smile and shrug since I just found a gadget in this kitchen that I don’t even have in my own kitchen. “They have a waffle iron here, I think I’m making those”.

“I’m down for some waffles”, he says as I start mixing my batter and cutting various fruits I found in the fridge.

When I’m done, I place everything down between the four of us. Meme and Kyle jump right into eating and Spin watches me before finally fixing himself a plate. “Amaaaazing, as always Lala”, says Meme, causing me to blush!

“When we’re done, I’ll drive you home”, Spin says to me.

“I can just go back with Meme and Kyle, it’s not necessary for you to drive me”, I tell him.

“But it is”, he says. “We have a private matter to discuss”! I look at Kyle and Meme, who can’t even look at me right now.

“Fine”, I retorted before cleaning up the mess I made and loading the dishwasher.

He leads me outside to a small ass sports car I’m betting cost a pretty penny. Just beyond it in the driveway, I see numerous other sports cars and SUVs in addition to all of the motorcycles. How many people live here? Kyle and Meme get into their car and Spin follows behind them. “You shouldn’t be so uncomfortable in a car alone with me after spending the night in my bed”.

“That wasn’t by choice”, I reminded him.

“It was a first for me too”, he says awkwardly.

Since we’re trapped together in a small ass car, now is as good of a time as any to pull this bandaid off. “Listen, thanks for saving my life and everything. But I don’t know what you are expecting from me as payback! I’m just a broke-ass teen in foster care”.

“Who says I want something of monetary value?”, he says seriously. What’s that supposed to mean?

“I don’t understand”, I say, confused.

“I want you as my payment, your life! The life I saved”, he says, causing me to gasp.

“I’m not having sex with you as a thank you”, I stated defensively.

“Don’t get it twisted, I want so much more than just sex from you Loyalty”, he says callously. “I want your life, you”!

“Who told you my name?” I asked, momentarily angered.

“What difference does it make? It’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl”, he says.

“You’re delusional”, I tell him, my name is awful. This man clearly has rocks for brains! “Besides, I have a boyfriend”.

“So I’ve heard, and you're going to dump him and be with me instead”, he says, like it’s the most obvious solution.

“And what makes you think I’ll do that?” I asked.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll find all of the people you care about and kill them off one at a time until there’s no one left but me”, he says coldly but seriously, causing me to gasp again. “Don’t believe me? Ask the guys from the pier last night what happens when you cross me. Oh! You can’t because they’re dead and nobody will ever find their bodies. If you think for one second that I don’t know why you were knocked into that water last night, you’re dead wrong”! I held back my sob as I felt the tears begin to stream down my face. “I’m taking you out on a date tonight”.

“I already have a date with my boyfriend tonight”, I admitted.

“Perfect! The sooner you end it, the more people you love won’t get hurt”, he says.

“I can’t just end it tonight, I have no reason to”, I say, trying to buy myself some time to come up with another solution.

“Find one”, he says as we park in front of Meme’s house. “My number is already in your phone, if you need me you call or text me”.

“Don’t hold your breath”, I tell him and he grabs my arm when I try to get out, “I’ll be here on Monday to drive you to school”!

“Meme drives me”, I retort.

“Not anymore”, he rebuttals and lets me go!

I walked right into Meme’s house and slammed the door shut before sliding my body on it down to the floor. Meme stands there with a worried look on her face. “That bad?”, she asks as she pulls me back up onto my feet and drags me to her room.

“He wants me to break up with Travis and be with him instead”, I tell her, but she stares back at me like she’s confused about where the problem in what I just said lies. “Meme, did you hear me”?

“Yeah, I heard Lala”, she says. “But you already know how I feel about Travis! And all I’m saying is, any man willing to jump into freezing cold waters to save your ass, then undress you from wet clothes so you don’t get sick, only to redress you in some dry ones without looking at your body or feeling you up because you were incapacitated, is probably worth looking into as boyfriend material”!

“You know Meme”, I told her seriously. “I have no idea how we’re friends, you have such poor judgment of character! He’s the biker king, he’s a gang leader”!

“Yeah, who can provide for and protect you, and take care of your ass in your time of need”, she says, actually defending him. “What is so wrong with that”?

“Other than the fact that the majority of his money is generated illegally?” I asked her seriously.

“Really Lala? Have you ever heard of the biker women going to jail?”, she says even more seriously. “No, you haven’t, because they don’t! And when their men do, the rest of the gang supports her. Honestly, I’m kind of for it”!

“You would be, you weirdo”, I told her as I threw a pillow at her.

I get a text from Travis and Meme agrees to tag along since her latest sex conquest will be there. She changes out of my clothes and into her own before Travis picks us up. We all go to see a movie, but I can’t even be into it since some girls keep pointing over at us and whispering. I’m being paranoid, but it bothers me… Meme’s words are weighing heavy on me!

After the movie, we walked one block over to the diner, because I said I was hungry. But shortly after sitting down, Spin walks in with a herd of his gang in tow. Strong liquor odors radiate off of more than half of them as they pass, but Spin stops at the table I’m sitting at. I’m wedged between Travis and Matthew when he reaches across and turns my face to look at him. “Loyalty”, he says before turning and saying, “Meme”.

When he finally lets me go and walks away, Travis says, “what the fuck was that about”?

“Drop it Tray”, Meme snaps at him. “That guy will break you with one hand behind his back”.

“Nah”, he argues! “He called her by her full government. What the fuck was that about, for real”?

“Just let it go”, I begged. “I changed my mind. I’m not hungry. Take me home”, I said as I started pushing on Matthew to let me out of the booth.

“Chill Lala”, he says as he grabs my hands from continuing to shove him.

“Lala stop, I’m sorry”, Travis pleads, but I’m uncomfortable and really want to go now.

“No, I said take me home. Matt, move!” I shouted, and Matthew no longer resisted. He gets up and lets me out. I stand there a moment waiting for Travis, and when he doesn’t get up I say, “fine! Meme call Kyle”.

Meme starts to climb over the booth and Travis finally says, “alright Lala. I’m coming”! He slides out of the booth as Meme finishes climbing over her side and follows us out. I walked back to Travis’ car in silence, with Meme’s arm looped around mine. He drops us back off at Meme’s and pecks me goodbye, even though we haven’t said anything to each other since leaving the diner.

Once back inside, I headed back into Meme’s room to change into my sleepwear. I’m lying in her bed when my phone buzzes. Thinking it was Travis trying to apologize, I unlocked my phone to get a message from Spin…

***It was lovely to see u, Loyalty. I hope ur progressing nicely towards that break-up with ur unworthy boyfriend!***

Why is this guy such a dick? ***FU! Call me Lala or don’t call me at all!***

***Oh, I intend on fucking u Loyalty, and I’ll call u whatever I want to call u. U belong to me now!***

***Ur delusional***

***Have lunch with me tomorrow?*** What?! I just cursed you out and called you delusional! See, rocks for brains because he clearly doesn’t get it!

***No, I’m going home after breakfast to finish my schoolwork!***

***I’ll be there on Monday morning to take u to school. I’d work on that breakup unless u wanna explain to the fuck-boy y ur getting out of my car!*** Shit! How do I get out of this?

***Ur still delusional***

***Good night Loyalty***

“What’s wrong?” Meme asks as I lock my phone.

“He says he’s picking me up on Monday morning to drive me to school”, I tell her.

“That’s nice of him to make up for being such an ass at the diner”, she says.

“Not Tray, Meme. Spin”, I clarify for her.

“Ohhh”, she says. “Whatchu gonna do about it”?

“Dunno”, I told her.

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world”, she says so casually. “I mean, the car he drove you home in costs over a million dollars”!

“What?! First, you're lying about the cost of his car. Second, you know I don’t care about shit like that”, I say and sigh. “Lastly, I’m happy with Travis”!

“Are you though?”, she asks disbelievingly. “I saw how you were watching those girls. It’s been the same shit the last couple of times we’ve all gone out. Your brain already knows what your heart doesn’t want to admit. So if you’re gonna move on, why not have the biker king as your rebound”?

“Maybe you should give it a go, you’re as demented as he is”, I told her.

“Nah, I’m not into men who want my bestie”, she says as she lays down next to me. “Sleep on it”! Meme turns off the light and I lay there in the dark pondering on her words… Is she right… Is my relationship with Travis really over and I’m holding on to hope for something that’s not there anymore? I feel sick to my stomach as my emotions swirl, but eventually, my physical limitations have been met, and I pass out.