Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Lydia’s P.O.V

The restaurant was almost empty at ten thirty in the night, but the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. Spring was giving way to summer and soon enough, the little chill still hanging in the air would be all but gone, giving way to patchy summer nights.

“Lyric, my boy!” And elderly man came out from behind the counter and engulfed Lyric in a hug before he turned his eyes on me. “I see you brought a friend!”

The man had short grey hair with a few strands of black thrown in the mix, from what I could decipher from under his baseball cap. He wore a red shirt and grey pants with a white apron on top that now contained numerous stains from all the food he must have served his customers throughout the day. His face and hands were covered in wrinkles and he was sprouting an enormous beer gut and if I had to guess, I’d say he was in his mid sixties to early seventies.

“Matt, this is Lydia,” Lyric introduced us as he pulled me closer with a hand on my back. “She’s a friend from college.”

“Well, it’s extremely nice to meet you Lydia,” Matt took my hand in both of his in a fatherly manner, giving it a light shake. “This one rarely brings friends over so I guessed he didn’t have any. Take care of the boy, will you?”

“I don’t think Lyric needs much taking care of.” I gave Lyric a narrow eyes glance from the corner of my eyes as he smiled sheepishly at me.

“Indeed!” Matt laughed; the sound loud and open and infectious. “Come on, kids, choose your seats. What can I get you tonight?”

“I’m feeling ramen.” Lyric said before turning to me. “You okay with that?”

“Yes.” I nodded instantly. I like noodles in general but it had been a long time since I had ramen.

Matt disappeared inside a door right behind the counter after chatting with us some more and Lyric led me to a booth near the back which provided a good view of the restaurant while also giving us privacy. Once again, Lyric pulled out the chair for me, showing me that his chivalrous streak was going strong. Maybe it wasn’t an act? Maybe he was genuinely a nice guy with a bit of anger issues? Or maybe I was thinking too deep into things I shouldn’t be concerning myself with.

“So,” I began once I’d settled in. “How come you’ve never seen Avery before if you’re friends with her brother?”

“George and I aren’t friends, more like acquaintances.” Lyric clarified as he folded his arms on top of the table and leaned forward, the bulging muscles of his forearm straining his shirt. “He helps me out with homework sometimes and I take care of his tuition fees in return. I also get him Starbucks gift cards occasionally.”

“Seems like a fair trade.” I said, thinking back to another boy who had been used much the same way by his classmates, his friends, until he had broken irrevocably under the strain and painted the school blood red. But when I looked up at Lyric, I couldn’t compare him with those people who had hurt Roy. He was nothing like Calvin, the boy who I had thought to be my best friend but had deserted me the first chance he got after the accident, his parents having relocated overnight to the other side of the country.

The biggest proof that I’d misread Lyric had come tonight when George had come running straight to Lyric when he felt that his sister was in danger. The students at Rosewater University might fear Lyric for being a bully, but they trusted him on a deeper level. Trusted him to keep them safe and help them when someone threatened their safety, even if that meant Lyric had to be the villain.

“Here you go!” Matt appeared at our table with two steaming bowls of goodness right then. “Dinner’s on me tonight! This one’s for pounding that wrestler guy into the ground the other day, helped me earn a good few bucks. Enjoy!”

I looked at Lyric pointedly when Matt had left us to greet another group of late night customers, construction workers from the looks of it. Lyric shrugged while picking up his chopsticks and digging right into his food. The fragrance coming from the ramen was delicious enough to make me salivate, so I decided to try the broth first. I picked the soup spoon from the table and scooping up some of the clear broth, brought it to my lips to blow at it. One sip and I was a goner. I moaned deep in my throat, eyes closed as I savored the ridiculously delicious pork flavored broth. And when I opened my eyes to look across at Lyric, I couldn’t help but tell him. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

“Is it?” Lyric’s eyes were emeralds on fire as he stared at me from across the table, chopsticks held halfway to his mouth with practiced ease. The look in his eyes was pure sexual desire and it made my stomach tighten in knots, my thighs clenching of their own accord. A drop of broth rolled down the corner of his lips and all I wanted was to sit on his lap and catch that stray drop…with my tongue.

The next instant, Lyric noticed the drop that had now rolled down to his chin and was hanging for dear life as gravity threatened to pull it under and dabbed it away with a paper napkin. And that easily, the spell holding me hostage to Lyric’s raw hunger was broken.

No! I couldn’t go there, not today or any other day and especially not with someone like Lyric who was the kind of person who always got what he wanted.

Wrenching my visceral reaction to Lyric under iron control, I shifted in my seat uncomfortably as Lyric continued to watch me as a predator watched its prey. So I decided to ask the question that had been on my mind before I was sucked into the vortex of sudden desire.

“This wrestler that Matt just mentioned,” I asked him with a voice gone hoarse before I cleared my throat and tried again. “Is he the guy that beat you up that first night I patched you up?”

“Yes,” Lyric shrugged. “I hadn’t known he was a former wrestler when I got into the ring that night. But I beat him up the next day so my reputation and ego are still intact.”

“How about the bruised ribs?” I’d almost forgotten about that until Matt reminded me. “Are they healed? Did you get professional opinion about it being broken or not?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.” Lyric smiled his most charming smile that was sure to melt any girl’s panties right off her. “Dr. Miranda was very pissed that I hadn’t come to her sooner but I told her that I had been in very capable hands. She did an X-ray and everything seems fine so I got to go home with a dressing, pain meds and a lollipop. The bruises are still there but I can see the edges turn light purple. It’ll be fine in a week or so.”

I felt relieved that he hadn’t gotten a broken rib but at the same time, I wanted to shake some sense into him. But what good was that going to be when it concerned Lyric? He pretty much did what he wanted to do and nobody seemed to mind or care what he did. Did he ever get in trouble with his parents? I knew for sure that Nate and Steph would be in deep shit if they ever dared do something risqué like this. Both my brothers had been perfect role models ever since I was little. They didn’t really have a choice though, since my family was influential and we were always under public scrutiny.

At that moment, I decided to tell him a secret that I hadn’t told anyone before. I don’t know what prompted me to tell him but I decided it was worth a shot. If Lyric wanted to harm me, he wouldn’t have stood up for me when I was cornered by everyone.

“It’s called facial paralysis, Bell palsy to be precise.” I told him as I dropped my futile attempt at managing the chopsticks and reached for the fork instead. Lyric gave me a loopside smirk when he saw what I was doing but didn’t say anything.

“What?” I snapped, I wrinkled my brows the tiniest bit in an attempted frown, it was the only other part of my face that was functional other than my lips. “I can’t use chopsticks, okay! I never learned and I don’t plan on learning either.”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything,” Lyric shrugged nonchalantly as he grabbed his chopsticks and pulled out a string of noodles from the broth with practiced ease. “Anyway, facial paralysis?” He asked through a mouthful noodles before he swallowed and reached for the soup spoon to sip on the hot, delicious broth.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I had plastic surgery done to my face.” I told him and winced inwardly as he almost spat out the bite he had taken before dissolving into a coughing fit.

I nudged the glass of water towards him as I ate another bite of noodles with my fork. Lyric had a hand over his heart while the other covered his mouth as he coughed. It took him a good two minutes to get his coughing under control, the soup having travelled down the wrong pipe, before he reached for the water and gulped it down all in one go. When he finally had himself under control, he gave me the most incredulous look he could master. “Excuse me?”

“My facial paralysis comes from the fact that the bullet is stuck in an area in my brain that gives signal to the facial nerve to conduct muscle movement.” I explained. “Since the source of origin of my paralysis is in my brain, one half of my face was completely paralyzed and I wasn’t able to close my eyelids properly. The doctors recommended plastic surgery to correct the problems and I took the chance. Its one thing having a bullet stuck inside your head but to have that affect show on my face at all times was unacceptable to me. I know a lot of people wear their scars with pride, but I just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t look into the mirror and see a face that couldn’t move and was distorted on one side. And I hated seeing the pitying looks everyone kept giving me.”

“I’m not going to blame you for the choices you’ve made, Lydia, no one is.” Lyric told me bluntly. “It’s your life and you get to decide what to do with it. If you want a plastic surgery then you damn well get it. And people don’t have the right to pity you. You deserve their fucking respect for what you’ve survived; what you’ve endured.”

It took a while for the words to register. It had been easier when I was angry at Lyric for being unreasonable. Be it unreasonable fights or unreasonable visits to my house at odd hours; fighting with him, arguing and snapping back had come naturally and I’ll be honest, it had been fun too, in a twisted sense. I’d been able to vent a lot of the anger that I had pent up for the last three years. But this? Lyric being nice and understanding? It was very difficult to cope with this Lyric. Because he left me flabbergasted, flustered and with certain other emotions that I should not be feeling.

“Thanks…I guess.” I told him at last, unsure of how else to answer him.

“So, is the ramen to your liking?” Lyric asked with a kind of childish excitement that would have made me raise my eyebrows if I could. He was like a child who was asking his friend if they liked the same candy. And I was guessing, in a way he was. Lyric might just have meant it when he had said he wanted to know more about me and it had nothing to do with my paralysis or the inability to show emotions on my face. But I had my doubts that maybe that was what interested him in me.

“I love it.” I told him and watched a smile brighten up his face.

Maybe, just for tonight, I can pretend to be normal, having a normal dinner with a person who I could somewhat consider a friend?