A few weeks later and Kevin and Lila had grown alot closer to one another than before. Both were getting comfortable with seeing one another as more than friends.
Kevin was carrying Justin around the house while he did some stuff. Lila was outside in the flower garden she had started, planting and weeding stuff. Justin was content just being carried around and getting to try to root around in whatever Kevin happened to be playing with.
Kevin gathered up a bunch of papers and took them outside, Justin on his hip. He sat Justin in the walker thingie that Lila had just bought and set some toys in front of him.
Lila looked up, "Hey..."
Kevin smiled, "Hey..I figured I could maybe get some stuff done out here..."
"It is nice, huh?"
"Yea..it is.."
"He okay with you?"
He nodded looking at Justin, who was happily drooling on his toys, "Yea..he's been good.."
Lila nodded, standing up, and wiping her hands of the dirt she had been playing in. Kevin had ducked his head down to read over the papers. Lila took a step and out of the corner of his eye, Kevin saw her kind of twist her ankle and almost fall. He looked up, "Lila?"
She straightened, "Yea...I think so...I just stepped on a rock..," she then took another step but almost fell again.
Kevin was at her side within a second and helped her stand up, "Did you hear anything pop?"
She shook her head, "No..I don't think so.."
He helped her to the patio and helped her sit down. Lila lifted her foot up, her ankle was slowly turning a lovely shade of purple. Kevin took it in his hands, looking at it, "Does this hurt?"
Lila jerked her foot back, "Yeeesss..."
"Sorry..hold on a second, I'll be right back.," He said getting up.
Before she could protest, Kevin was inside and back again with a bag of ice. She gratefully took it from him and placed it on her swollen ankle, "Thanks Kev.."
He smiled, "Not a problem...now give me your ankle."
"Why? So you can hurt it again??"
He smiled, taking her ankle in his hands, "No..I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I don't think it's broken..I think you just sprained it.."
"Yea...I think so too..."
Kevin slowly began to massage her ankle, trying not to hurt her anymore than he absolutely had to. "I thought you were trying to work?"
He shrugged, "Nothing I can't do tomorrow or next week.."
She smiled, "If you say so.."
Justin had, by now, made his way over to his mother and Kevin. Lila picked him up and sat him on her lap, he was still drooling on one of his toys.
Lila limped slowly into the kitchen where Justin was crawling on the floor. "Justin..come to mommy...come here Justin..."
Kevin had gotten called in for a late meeting and had left Lila there. Her ankle was still swollen and bruised but after laying off of it for a few hours she could actually manage to get around a little bit. Justin had taken the opprutunity to take off for the kitchen while Lila went to the bathroom and she was afraid, when she got back, that he was going to get himself into trouble as he was liable to. Justin scooted out of the way of Lila's arms and she groaned, "Justin, now is not the time to play around..come on...I'll get your juice and we'll put in one of your tapes."
Justin finally sat down on his diapered bottom and looked up at his mother before laughing. Lila couldn't help but smile before she finally reached down and picked him up, settling him on her hip, "That wasn't funny Justin...come on, let's go watch a video.."
Justin reached out, attaching himself to a clump of her hair. Lila winced but didn't stop in her trek to his playpen. Justin then began to talk in his baby talk, getting louder and louder. In the background of Justin wailing and "talking", Lila heard the doorbell ring. She groaned and finally got Justin's hands dis-entangled from her hair and put him in his playpen. The doorbell rang again. She rolled her eyes, someone was sure being a little impatient. She limped, as fast as she could, to the door, pulling it open to see a woman, about her age, standing there. The woman looked up as the door opened, "Hi..is Kevin here?"
"Umm..no..he had a late meeting to go to..can I help you with anything?"
"No..do you know when he'll be back?"
"He just left about twenty minutes ago..I don't think he'll be back for awhile."
The woman nodded, "Ok..I'll just call later or something.."
Lila turned as she heard Justin begin to whine from the living room. The woman's eyes darkened and she said, "You're busy. Just, if you see him whenever, tell him Carrie stopped by, ok?"
Lila nodded, "Yea..I will."
"Thanks.," Then, she left.
Lila watched as the woman walked down to her car and drove out of the driveway a minute later. Lila shrugged her shoulders before closing and locking the door.
Justin was standing in his playpen, his hands holding onto the edges, whining at the top of his lungs. Lila sighed and popped in one of his favorite tapes; he finally quieted down.
Kevin fumbled for his keys in the dark, trying to find the right one for the house. It was going on 11:30 and he was tired, ready to fall into bed and sleep for a couple days. He finally got the door unlocked and stepped inside, finally noticing that the house was completely dark. "Hmmmmm...," He mumbled to himself as he finally found the hallway light and flipped it on, flooding the front hall and part of the kitchen with light.
The tv in the living room was on, playing some infomercial. He spotted Justin lying on his stomach on his blanket in the middle of the floor. Lila was on the couch, her sprained ankle foot propped up on one pillow, her other foot was hanging off the edge.
Kevin set his keys on the counter and she jumped, looking up, "Geez, Kev, don't scare me or anything."
He smiled, going over to her, and kissing her gently, "Sorry..I thought you heard me."
"No..I wasn't paying attention..how was the meeting?"
"It was okay...boring. I'm tired."
She reached out, brushing his hair back gently, "I bet.."
"How was the kid?"
"Ok..a little rowdy, not too bad."
"How's the ankle?"
"It's alot better than it was."
"Good..."
She yawned and then smiled as he yawned, "Sorry, it's contagious."
"Yea..it is...come on, I'll get him and then me and you can watch a late movie or something.."
She nodded, getting up, "Sounds good to me."
As Kevin tucked Justin into his crib Lila suddenly remembered the woman who had paid her a visit earlier, "Oh yea, Kev?"
"Yea?"
"I almost forgot, but some woman came by earlier looking for you.."
"Oh really? Who?"
"Ummm..she said her name was...Carrie?"
Kevin's whole body tensed suddenly and he pulled back from the crib. He turned, his eyes dark, "Who?"
"Carrie...I think that's what she said her name was..."
Kevin brushed past Lila coldly. Lila shut Justin's door before following Kevin, "Kev....Kevin? Who is she?"
"No one."
"Bullshit!"
Kevin spun around, "She's noone Lila."
Lila about skidded to a stop to avoid colliding with Kevin, "Well apparently she's someone or you wouldn't be so cold all of a sudden when not five minutes ago you were all warm and cuddly and all about kissing me."
"Just don't worry about it."
"Kev...I thought we didn't have any secrets between us..."
"She's someone I'm not proud of knowin', ok?"
"Where are you going?!"
Kevin had gone into his room, putting clothes into a bag, grabbing some shoes and toiletries and was now going down the stairs. He turned, "Look, I'll explain in the morning."
Lila stood at the top of the stairs, her arms crossed in front of her, "Did Scott know her?"
Kevin stopped, "Yes.," then continued on.
"Was I with him?"
Another stop, "Yes."
"Kevin...why won't you just tell me?"
"I'm not proud of knowing someone like her."
She sighed, "Fine. But when you come back, Kevin, I'm not so sure I'm going to be willing to listen with such an open mind."
Kevin turned just as Lila disappeared from the top of the stairs. He sighed, a little dejected, before he moved towards the front door and going to his car.
Lila watched from the window in her room as Kevin threw his things in the back of his car and getting in and pulling out of the driveway. She sighed, something was up....now she just had to rack her brain to remember Scott talking about someone named Carrie.
Lila sat in Justin's room in the rocking chair, the window open slightly to let in the warm breeze. It was going on 2 a.m. and Kevin still hadn't come back. Justin was tucked in her arms, his blanket around him, sound asleep. He had woken up about an hour before and she was up anyways. She rocked slowly back and forth.
She suddenly sensed his prescence behind her and said, "I know who she is Kevin. And I'm not going to judge you."
She heard him sigh and he stepped into the room, "I'm sorry.."
"Where did you go?"
"Brian and Leigh's....they told me to come back here...so I've been driving around the rest of the time.."
"I remember...Scott used to talk about you all the time...tell me stories about you two during your childhood..he also told me all about the group and stuff and some stuff you all had done together over in Europe...he thought it'd make me like hate him or something, but it didn't..I thought it was funny. But I also remember him talking about your ex-girlfriend, Carrie. And how she was such a bitch and was just using you for your money and fame. I couldn't believe someone would do that to a person. Now, why would you be ashamed of telling me that if you care so much about me Kevin?"
He was kneeling beside the chair now, his head hung low, "I'm ashamed of alot of things I did in the past..emabarrassed..everything. I don't know..but I'm just not particularlly proud of the relationship me and Carrie had...she was bad...she was pretty much a hooker..."
"I'm sorry she hurt you."
"Me too..for awhile, I thought I'd swear off women."
Lila smiled, lightly touching his face, "Well, I'm pretty glad you didn't."
"You don't hate me?"
"Oh, I'm mad you didn't tell me and you've kept me up practically all night...but Kevin, I could never, ever hate you."
He looked up, "Really?"
She smiled, leaning forward to kiss him, "Of course not."
He smiled, finally, "I am sorry Lila.."
"I know you are.."
"How can I make it up to you?"
"Put Justin to bed, first."
He did so, without another word. Lila pulled him closer, "Now, I just want you to kiss me Kevin..and promise me, no more keeping stuff from one another."
He nodded, obliging her with the kiss before pulling back, "I promise."
"Now what are you going to do if she shows up again?"
"See what the hell she wants and then tell her to get off my property."
Lila raised an eyebrow and smiled teasingly, "Ooooo I love it when you get demanding."
He smiled, "I figured you would."
"Now..can we please go to sleep?"
He nodded, "Yea..I'm worn out."
She pulled on his arm, "Come on Mr. Popstar."
Kevin went into the bathroom and threw his clothes somewhere and pulled on a t-shirt and walked out in that and in his boxers. Lila pulled the covers up over her legs, "Ok...why do you get such a comfortable, big ass bed?"
He smiled, climbing in, "Cause, I was here first. Why, do you not like your bed?"
"No..it's not that..I was just playing around."
"Oh okay.."
"Now, no gettin' freaky with me Mr. Richardson, you stay on your side and I stay on mine."
He nodded, "I agree.," he then turned off the light.
It was silent for a few moments before Kevin finally spoke up, "Can I hold you?"
Lila laughed, "I thought you'd never ask!"
Kevin chuckled and scooted over in the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist, "Sorry, I'm a little slow."
She kissed him slowly, "I know you are...but it's so endearing."
Kevin rolled his eyes in the darkness, "Whatever...now, go to sleep."
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