Sweet Heart by Trina T (best books for 20 year olds .txt) 📖

a question!”

“Sorry…” I heard my dad come in through the front door and my heart skipped. “Shit, Mayla, I have to go.”
“Text me later.”

“Will do.” I slammed my phone shut and threw it on my bed.

“Cole!” my dad bellowed from the living room.

“Coming!” I ran as fast as I could to meet him in the living room.

“What were you doing?” he looked pissed already.

“Umm…well, I…I was talking to Mayla…”

“Yea, sure, what are we having for dinner?” he asked pushing past me.

“S-Salom and chips…?” I didn’t mean for it to be a question. But it came out like one, I was hoping he wasn’t going to catch it.

“Was that a question or a statement?”

“St-stament.”

“Fine, get started. Make extras too.”

“Why?” I was confused.

“David is coming by.”

My blood ran cold. David was my dads best friend. David also liked to try and get a little too friendly with me. I always dreaded him coming over. As I started to make the dinner I thought about my brother. I missed him so much. He left the house four years ago and hasn’t come back. Sometimes, every few months, he sends me some money to my work address. But other than that, I don’t hear from him. It was nights like what tonight was going to be like that I missed him the most.

“Hey, little lady. What you cooking?” I jumped at the sound of his voice and his hands on my waist. I turned to see David standing right there.

“Salmon a-and chi-ips.”

Yum!” David said licking his lips, getting a little too close to my mouth. I pushed him away gently, trying not to cause a scene.

Dinner went off without a hitch, which I was thanking my lucky stars for. But just as I thought tonight was going to be just fine, it took a turn for the ugly.


Ryder
“Dude, I can’t believe your back!” John
said.

“Yeah, we didn’t think we’d ever see you again! How come you came back?” Eric mumbled threw a chocolate chip cookie.

I took a deep breath, taking in my surroundings before I answered their question. Actually there really wasn’t anything too interesting about my re-arrival at Valley. My uncle worked more than a human being should and of course without his supervision I got into some trouble. What normal teenage boy wouldn’t? He finally got tired of me and sent my packing to live with my brother. I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to see Cole again and todays encounter with her had proved me right. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t actually happy to be here. As much as I wanted to get out of this fucking town two years ago, I had really missed it.

“I just, you know, got into some trouble. The usual.” As I kept my eyes averted.

The guys and I had decided to go to an old coffee house that we frequented before I left. Actually, all of Valley came here and all the workers were students so it was always a great place to meet up with people.

“Meet any hot girls?” John asked. Eric laughed and I rolled my eyes. Johns mind had been on girls even when we were little kids.

“Of course, it was California! Girls there walk around in bikinis. It was great until the novelty wore off.”

“Novelty? Are you fucking with me? There is no such thing as novelty when it comes to girls in bikinis!” Johns eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head.

“Ok, man.” I started “So what have you guy been up to scenes I dropped off the face of the earth?”

“Anne and I are looking at some collages where we could go together.” Eric’s eyes lit up as he talked about Anne, like they always had. That was one thing I was glad to see that hadn’t changed.

“Wow, how long have you guys been together?” I wasn’t really surprised they were still together, the two of them were a perfect match.

“Almost four years now!” Eric’s smile got bigger.

“Congrates, man.” I smiled. I was happy for them, only a little jelous.

“I cant believe you and her have been together that long! You have to at least do it with another girl when you get to collage!” John looked annoyed.

“Don’t start again!” Eric moaned.

“Has this been a constant battle?” I asked the both of them, with only a hint of amusement.
At the same time Eric said yes, John said no. I busted out laughing.

“John, what about you?” I asked after I recovered from laughing.

“Well, I did see Mayla for awhile but that’s done with now.”

“What? She too much of a woman for you?” I teased. From what I remember of Mayla, as much as I loved the girl, she was strong willed and even stronger spoke.

“Hell no!” John snapped.

“Uh huh…”

“Speak of the devil.” Eric tilted his head up towards the door.

“That’s Mayla?” I was shocked. She was a completely different person. Gone was the strong looking sexy blonde. In her place was a girl with back length, raven black hair with at least five different color streaks running threw it. She had metal stuck out of almost every thing you could stick medal threw on her face. Her eyes were smeared with heavy black makeup and her clothes matched her black theme. Wow, what the fuck happened to the blonde prep I left behind? I thought

“Guys have you seen or heard from Cole?” She asked as she rushed over to our table. As she got closer I noticed her eyes were watery and her makeup was starting to run down her cheeks. She looked worried. Eric and John both checked their phones.

“Nope.” John stated coolly.

“I have a text from Anne asking the same thing but I haven’t heard anything from her.” Eric looked a little worried.

“What’s going on? Is Cole ok?” I asked, nervous for the answer.

“Ryder? OH. MY. GOD!” Mayla screamed and gave me a hug. Well she look different but she still had the same preppy attitude.

“Wow, you look so grown up!” she said as she let me go.

“And you, you- um, you look different…´ I stammered. I had no clue what to say.

“Shut up!” She said slapping me slightly.

“Mayla, what going on? What happened with Cole?” I asked trying to bring Mayla back to the now.

“Um, I’m not sure.”

“Liar!” I could always tell when Mayla and Cole were covering for each other. Like she was doing right now.

“Ryder , you know as much as I would like to tell you, I cant…I’m just looking for her ok?” She was trying to get me to drop it, but I was stubborn.

“May…” I said using my nickname for her. Calling her May always got me what I wanted.

“I just, I know she’s not ok. Ok? I don’t know what happened but I know something is wrong.”

“How?”

“We have a code. She sent me a text using the code for the worst situation. So I came out looking for her.”

All four of us, including Anne, knew Cole and Mayla had a rough home life. So it didn’t surpise me or the guys that they had a code.

“Do you need help looking for her?” Eric asked.

“I don’t think so. I’ll just text you all later when I know she is ok.”

Mayla turned to leave. I grabbed my coat “Wait, I’m coming with you.” And I was out the door with May into the cold night air.

“Where do you think she is?” I asked Mayla

“I have no clue! I’ve looked everywhere.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I think I have an idea.” I grabbed Mayla by the coat and pulled her in the direction of the park.


***
It was 11:30 at night and I had just finished my paper for Mr. Stickles English class. I changed into basketball shorts and turned off my light. Just as I laid down and got comfortable my phone
vibrated. “Fuck!” I sneered. I hated it, whenever I was just about to sleep, someone always called or texted me. I tried to ignore it but curiosity over took me and I reached for my phone. I clicked the message “Ryder meet me at the swings.” It was from Cole.

I looked at my clock again; 11:45. I looked at my phone again and checked to make sure it was from Cole. It was.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my gym shoes and I was out the door. Walking to the swings, I thought about Cole. I loved her so much. I’d do anything for her. As soon as high school had started almost two summers ago Cole and I had been attached at the hip. She tried to play hard to get at first but I knew she liked me. Ever sense freshman year I have been able to call Cole mine. But walking to the swings, I was worried. Despite me being in shorts and gym shoes I was sweating in the warm night air. Sophomore year had just started and things couldn’t have been better between me and Cole. But I knew something was wrong, I could feel it.

I walked up to the park, I could see Cole, her back was to me as she slowly swayed back and forth. I whistled a low whistle to get her attention. She turned and smiled. I walked up and hugged her from behind, forcing the swing to still.

“Sweet heart, what are you doing out here this late, by yourself?” I asked gently.

“Do you think the moon get lonely?” Her voice was lower than a whisper.

“What do you mean?” I was a little confused. I wasn’t expecting that as a response to my question.

“Well the moon, it’s all by itself. The sun comes out and people are buzzing around under it. But the moon, the moon comes out and people go inside and leave it all alone.”

I looked down at the top of her head. Even though I couldn’t fully see her face, I knew she was sad about something.

“I don’t think the moon is lonely.” I said squeezing her shoulders.

“How so?” She was curious, always curious.

“Well look at it.” I pointed to the full moon. “Look, the moon has all the stars surrounding it. All the stars keep the moon company.” I paused for a moment. “ And well, you do too…” I could feel Coles smile.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Making me feel better.” She twisted and hugged