Page 24 of Lilah

"What do you call a female pimp?" I question aloud to Mr. Terrip.

"Azalea, read your book," he sighs disappointedly and I bite my lip to hold back a giggle.

After an hour of reading, I'm ready for adventure.

"Is there anything you would like me to do?" I lean up against Mr. Terrip's desk. He shoos me away with his hand and I hold back the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

I just decide to enjoy the fact that my music playlist is completely and utterly psychotic.

It's a wide range of music genres. Like unnaturally wide.

Stevie Nicks:Edge of Seventeen,Børn:Electric Love,Queen:Too Much Love Will Kill You,Greta Van Fleet:Edge of Darkness,Kacey Musgraves:Butterflies.

Heck, I've got any song ranging from the Beach Boys in the 50s to Blackstreet in the late 90s, until now.

But, the well-known basics don't tickle my pickle. For example, the band Toto is most famous for its songAfrica. It's a great song, no doubt. It just doesn't butter my biscuit the wayHold the Linedoes, which is by the same group.

Dolly Parton's9 to 5is great.Love Is Like a Butterflytruly does it for me.

The basics are great but that shouldn't be what all great artists are known for.

With me slightly bored out of my mind, I decide to fulfill a dream. I crank upOld Time Rock N Rolland head to the back of the store.

Although I'm wearing a knee length sundress and not boxers and a button up shirt, I do the Risky Business dance. Tom Cruise would be proud.

Of course I can't slide with flats on but the open space in the back of the store is perfect for any dance routine. And boy do I enjoy making up dances.

I ignore the pain in my knee as I run down the tall row of books, not so successfully attempting one of those ballerina jumps.

I land back on my feet, just barely, and when I look up,darkblack eyes are staring right back at me.

Well darn if he didn't just see the next star in Swan Lake.

I forget for a quick second that he hates every fiber in me. I remove my earbuds my ears and I look down at my flats feeling my cheeks heat up just a tad.

For a minute, I think I'm hallucinating and that he's not actually here. So, I peer up through my blonde locks and there he stands, tall, strong, and undeniably gorgeous.

His eyes travel down my attire. They stop on my leg, my fudged up leg. I move my leg from his view, placing it behind myother one in an admittedly odd stance but hey, he already hates me why don't I just make him think I'm weird too.

"Hi Grey," I murmur quietly and his eyes dart back up to mine. Good Lord every time he looks at me I feel like he knows everything bad I've ever done in my life.

"What are you doing here?" I question him, worried he'll snap and tell me off.

But I'm prepared. I have a whole list of comebacks. Comeback 1) 'Your mom'.

"What's on your arm," he speaks lowly, his deep voice rumbling through his chest and making me turn shy.

He's such aman.

"My arm?" I question. Last time I checked the only thing on my arm is pure muscle. I wish.

He grasps my forearm and I nearly faint when his skin touches mine. Why am I like this? Am I having a mid-life crisis?

He lifts my arm ever so slightly and I look down at it. A light but there bruise sure enough sits on my arm just above my elbow.

Where my father was holding when he dragged me up the stairs.

I guess I didn't see it in the lighting of my room but here in the store, you can see it.