Page 26 of The False Start (Off the Bench)

Chapter Eighteen

CAL

W hen we make it out of the studio, the sky is dark, a sure sign of winter in the north, though it’s an unseasonably warm night.

Lila can barely meet my eyes, but she flushed as I spoke to her at the wheel.

She somehow looked incredible even covered in clay, her jean shorts and oversized t-shirt leaving plenty to the imagination, and even more so now that she’s covered up in a mismatched sweat suit.

“You can shower at my place, it’s the closest,” Katie says, leading us toward her apartment.

“I can just shower at my own place. I’d need to change anyway, I don’t have extra clothes with me,” argues Lila.

“I have stuff you can borrow.”

“But—"

“You know you’re not gonna win this one,” Theo says with a laugh.

She rolls her eyes, and I chuckle, laughing harder when she shoots me a glare. There’s a smirk playing across her lips though, almost as if she can’t help not smiling with the rest of us.

Katie’s home isn’t very far, and after only a few blocks, we’re traipsing through her black-and-white-tiled lobby and into the gilded elevator. While my building might be nice, Katie’s screams old money in a way only Gold Coast can.

“We’ll just hang out on the balcony while you freshen up.” Katie waves Theo and I out toward the large double doors off the living room. “I’ll set out the clothes on the bed, and you can use my master bath,” she says, leading Lila through a door that must be her bedroom.

“It’s all set up, right?” Theo asks the second we’re inside.

I nod. “I confirmed with the guy while we were at the studio.”

“She’s gonna love it.”

“I hope so.” I shrug. “I just hope it helps. I can’t see her like that again.” I shudder remembering how broken Lila looked when she fell asleep against me in my apartment after the breakup. Like her very soul had been shattered.

“It’s weird, I never really got the sense they were that serious.”

“I don’t know, mate. She seemed really upset over it, though. They were still together a long time.”

“And you’re okay with that? Being a rebound?”

I scowl at him. “First of all, we’re not together. We’re just friends.” He snorts and I pointedly ignore him. “And second, I’m not a rebound. There’s something about her. I don’t know. If we’re doing it, we’re doing it for real.”

“Damn, so it’s like that?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “It is.” Lila has woven herself into my life in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible until now. I want to show up for her. I want to be there next to her and protect her from pain.

Katie slips out onto the balcony and grins. “Is everything ready?”

“Yup, I was just telling Theo, I confirmed at the studio and we’re good to go.”

“Excellent. She’s going to be blown away.”

“Literally,” mutters Theo as he adjusts the hair that’s blown down into his eyes.

“They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing,” Katie teases.

“We both know that’s not why they call it the Windy City,” grouses Theo.

“Whatever.” She shrugs.

I pass the next few minutes in silence, mulling over the conversation with Theo while the man in question whispers to Katie. I have a suspicious feeling that they’re talking about me but realize I don’t actually care. If Katie’s on board, I’ll have even fewer obstacles.

Lila joins us not long after, with her long hair still damp and curling softly around her face. I’ve never seen her without makeup before, and my eyes are drawn to a freckle just above the corner of her mouth. I didn’t even know she had freckles.

“This is really what you want me to wear?” She gestures to her outfit, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans hugging her legs, a soft-looking grey hoodie hanging off her. “I thought we were going out.”

“You’re perfect,” I say dumbly. She looks at me, meeting my gaze finally and blushes. That damn freckle winking at me as the corner of her mouth lifts.

“No, he’s right. It’s fine for where we’re going,” Katie confirms.

“Should I at least dry my hair?”

“Only if you think you’ll catch cold. But it’s pretty warm out tonight, so you’ll probably be fine.”

Lila shrugs. “If you say so.”

We head back out into the city, down to Oak Street Beach and find Manuel at the tunnel entrance leading out to the beach, standing with crossed arms.

“Hey man,” I say. “Thanks for setting it up.”

“No problem. Everything should be good to go. Just call me if you need anything. My team is nearby.” I shake his outstretched hand and nod.

“What’s going on?” Lila asks.

“It’s a surprise,” whispers Theo. She scowls at him. “Oh, come on, everyone loves surprises.”

“No, Theo, they really don’t.”

“Well, you’ll love this one. I promise,” I say, jumping in.

As we cross onto the beach, we all remove our shoes, carrying them as we step onto the sand. The wind is whipping around us, blowing Lila’s hair around her face like a small hurricane.

“There!” I call out, pointing toward the setup down the beach a hundred feet or so.

There’s a large blanket laid out with a few pillows on it, a mini wooden table in the center, and a big basket full of what I know to be food and wine.

There are small paper lanterns set up around the edges, bathing the area in a soft glow, and blankets to protect against the wind if it picks up again.

Lila gasps, and my stomach does a little flutter. “It’s beautiful,” she whispers.

“Come on.” I gesture forward, and she leads us to the blanket, sinking down onto one of the pillows. I lower myself down between her and the basket, leaving Theo and Katie to find spots on the other half of the picnic blanket.

I take wine glasses from the basket and set them on the table, handing Theo the wine to open and pour. I reach in again to find the wrapped charcuterie board and fruit tray and place them on the center of the small table.

“What is this?” Lila asks quietly.

“What do you mean?” I pause in rummaging in the basket and look up at her.

“Why’d you do all of this?”

“I just thought you deserved something to remind you of how much you matter to the people who care about you,” I murmur, not really needing Theo or Katie to be part of this conversation.

“You didn’t have to do that.” I can see her flush by the light of the lanterns.

“I wanted to, though. You deserve to be shown how important you are.”

“Come on, you guys,” interrupts Katie. “Stop whispering, and let’s eat.”

“Alright, alright, calm down.” Lila flashes me a quick grin, before taking the full glass of wine Theo’s handing her.

“What’re we eating then?” she asks, looking over the trays of food.

“We also have some little sandwiches and some sausage rolls,” I say, pulling them out of the basket.

“How very British of you, Johnathan,” Theo teases in a very bad imitation of a British accent.

“Oh, shut it, or you won’t get any of them.” He salutes me with a grin.

“This all looks so good,” Katie squeals, grabbing a cucumber sandwich from the top of the small basket they’re tucked into.

“Manuel and his team did a great job.”

We all dig into the food in front of us, the wind catching every once in a while, at the blanket, but the air is cool, winter still held at bay by one last warm spell this week.

When the sandwiches are cleared and we’re all picking at the charcuterie, Theo dives headfirst into the deep end.

“So, Lila. Any plans for Thanksgiving weekend?”

“Not really, I’m sure I could go back to my parents, but I might just hang out in the city. There are a couple places that do a pretty nice Thanksgiving meal, even for one, though I guess any of you are welcome to join me. Maybe I’ll see if any of the food pantries need help or something.”

“Well, since Cal and I have to be back on Sunday, we were thinking of heading up to my parents’ lake house, if you wanted to come? We won’t really be doing the whole celebration thing since Cal is British and I can’t cook, but a weekend away is still a weekend away.”

“Where is it?”

“Up in the UP—the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It’s a bit of a drive, but worth it.”

“That does sound kind of nice,” Lila says, hesitation in her voice. “When are you leaving?”

“We’re leaving on Tuesday,” Katie says. “You’ll love it, Lila. It’s so peaceful.”

“I won’t be able to then.” She frowns. “I need to work Wednesday, I have a couple meetings I need to be in-person for before the long weekend, but thanks for the invite.”

“Are you sure? You can work from the house. They have pretty good Wi-Fi.” Katie says.

“Yeah, I’ll need to be in-person with the rest of the team.” Katie pouts as Lila continues, “It’s fine, I’ll be fine here. I’ll probably just get some extra studio time in and watch an entire season of Love Island .”

“I could drive you,” I blurt out. Lila stares at me.

“I don’t want to keep you here.”

“No, I was planning to leave Wednesday afternoon anyway. It’ll only be a couple more hours if I pick you up after work.”

“Are you sure?”

I swallow. Am I sure? Five hours alone in a car with Lila? “Yes, of course. It’ll be nice to have company on the drive.” I smirk. “Just don’t make me listen to one of those murder podcasts you made me listen to.”

“Hey!” she scolds, smacking my arm. “I didn’t make you do anything. You wanted to see what they were about. It’s not my fault that you couldn’t sleep.” She shrugs, and I laugh. “I’m not listening to an ocean documentary either, so don’t get any ideas.”

“Maybe let’s just stick to music on this trip.” I grin at her. We finish the snacks in comfortable conversation joking about TV and podcasts.

“Alright, I have shit to do, so I’m gonna head out,” Theo says, standing and grabbing his shoes.

“I’ll see you all up at the lake house next week.” He turns to me. “See you at practice tomorrow.”

I nod.

“I think I’m gonna head out too. Do you need help cleaning up?” Katie asks.

“Nah, Manuel’ll be back to get everything.”

“Okay, I’ll see you around, Cal. Text me later, Lila.”

And suddenly, it’s just the two of us, alone on the beach. We could be the last two people in the world, and it wouldn’t feel any different.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“Sure, I mean I was pretty hungry.” She laughs.

“I meant from the other night.” I turn to face her.

“Oh,” she says quietly. Not quite meeting my gaze. I reach over and tilt her face to look up at me.

“Lila.” I can see her breath hitch as I say her name. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she breathes. “I just can’t believe you put all of this together.”

“You deserve to be happy. You deserve the world laid out at your feet.”

“Cal, don’t,” she whispers.

“Don’t what?”

“I don’t know if I can . . . I can’t . . .”

“I’m not asking for anything, love.”

“But—"

“Shh, it’s okay,” I say leaning in. “It’s really fine.”

She tilts her face up to meet mine, and I’m a hair’s breadth away from my mouth being on hers, when someone calls out my name.

“Sir, Mr. Basset?”

I lift my head and straighten with a groan. “Yes, Manuel?”

“Do you want me to clean up? I saw the other two leaving.”

Well, I would’ve preferred you wait until I’d called you, and we were also leaving. But since you’re already here. “That’d be great, thanks.” I stand, offering a hand to help Lila which she takes.

“Come on, you up for a walk along the beach?” She smiles at me, offering her hand. I take it, intertwining our fingers, and grab our shoes in the other. It turns out big hands are good for more than catching footballs.

We walk in silence for a few minutes, before she breaks it.

“I’m not ready for another relationship.”

“I’m not asking for one.”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

I shrug. It’s not not what I want. But I want her, and it’s not what she wants. I’ll wait if that’s what she wants. I meant what I said to Theo—if we’re doing it, we’re doing it. If that’s tomorrow or next year, what does it matter?

“I can’t have you just waiting for me. You could have any girl in the city, and I’m not even fully over my ex. It’s not fair to you.”

“Hey, only I get to decide what’s fair to me. But I’m fine with whatever this is right now. I’m not asking for anything else.”

“What if I’m not ready for a long time?” she whispers, and I almost don’t catch it over the sound of the waves crashing against the beach.

“We don’t have to decide anything right now.”

“Cal, I just don’t?—"

“Do you enjoy being with me? Just like this? Hanging out together, talking?”

She nods.

“Then that’s really all that matters right now. We don’t need to put pressure on it or make it anything else. We can still just be friends.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” We’ve walked to a little raised area, and I drop down into the sand, pulling her down next to me.

“You and your ocean sounds,” she teases.

“Technically, it’s a lake,” I point out. “Fresh water and everything.”

“It’s basically a freshwater sea. There are literally tides. Normal lakes don’t have tides.”

I roll my eyes. She shivers next to me.

“Are you cold?”

“A bit. I think the wind is getting to me.”

“Do you want me to call an Uber?” I ask, my heart sinking. I never want this night to end. Once we leave this beach, we’re back to real life. But here, on the sand, looking up at the stars in the sky, it’s just us.

“No, it’s okay.” She grins at me, and I drape my arm over her shoulders, tucking her into my body warmth.

“Better?”

“Much, actually.” She rests her head against my shoulder, and I’m momentarily back in that moment we first met. But this isn’t the club. It’s quiet here, and more innocent that it was then.

I rest my cheek on top of her hair and stare out at Lake Michigan, the lull of the water like waves of peace washing over us.